BRAIN Dealer Tour plies Austin’s prime paths

Dealer Tour riders along the Boardwalk Trail at Lady Bird Lake.

AUSTIN, TX (BRAIN) — Rolling on pink-accented tires provided by sponsor Hutchinson and attired in Sockguy socks bearing slogans like “Save the Ta Tas” and “Cancer Sucks” in recognition of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, BRAIN’s Austin Dealer Tour kicked off Tuesday sampling some of the Texas capital’s growing network of premier cycling infrastructure en route to four shops, including multisport specialist Jack & Adam’s Bicycles and multi-store powerhouse Bicycle Sport Shop.

Robin Stallings, executive director of advocacy group Bike Texas, led a crew of about 20 riders on a mix of paved, dirt and gravel paths and protected bike lanes. “Austin is one of only three or four cities in Texas that understands protected bike lanes,” Stalling noted.

The tour also rode the newly opened Boardwalk extension of the Ann and Roy Butler Trail, a $25 million over-water path that closes a 1.2-mile gap in the hike and bike trail around Lady Bird Lake. One beneficiary of the new path is Rocket Electrics, a three-year-old seller of e-bikes in the rapidly gentrifying East Riverside neighborhood adjacent to the Boardwalk. The shop’s mission is “electric bikes as transportation tools,” and general manager John Dawson believes attracting the non-enthusiast customer is vital to growing a broader base of support for cycling projects like the Boardwalk and safe routes to navigate the increased motor traffic accompanying Austin’s explosive population growth in recent years.

“We have to continue to push the politics because we have to fight for our right to bike,” he said, adding that recreational cyclists are already “a slam-dunk” on supporting bike infrastructure.

Austin faces a watershed election next month that threatens the City Council’s pro-cycling majority. Up until this year, the six members of the council have been elected at large from throughout city rather than by district. But this year 10 members, plus the mayor, will be elected by newly drawn districts, with all seats up for grabs.

“Right now we have a generational change happening in our council,” Bike Texas’ Stallings said.

Stakes are high. The city has drawn up a $150 million cycling plan, to be implemented over five years, that would link together current cycling routes and create a complete bike network for Austin, according to Stallings. “That’s where we’re going to get the big mode shift,” he said.

If the plan goes through, Stallings said, mode share could vault to 7 percent throughout the city—a ridership level seen in pockets of Austin but not citywide.

But activists and city officials already appear to have made significant strides for cycling in Austin.

Emil Ellis, an Austin transplant from Louisiana who manages high-end mountain specialty shop Cycle Progression, commuted by bike for five years after moving to his adopted hometown. “In that time it’s progressed so much,” he said of bike lanes and other local cycling infrastructure.

Ridership has also been buoyed by Austin’s B-cycle bike share program. Since its launch in December 2013, the program has grown from 11 stations to 45, and monthly trips topped 100,000 in August—six months ahead of projections, according to a report on the Austin American-Statesman website.

Rocket Electrics owner Dawson sees the high ridership as a boon for his shop rather than a threat to sales. “Bike share is good for business because it raises bike awareness,” he said.

Hutchinson outfitted all of the Fuji bikes ridden at the Austin Dealer Tour with pink Fusion 3 tires in recognition of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. The company is also donating to the Susan G. Komen Foundation from the sales of pink tires during the month of October.
Pretty in pink: Also in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, riders wore pink “Cancer Sucks” and “Save the Tatas” socks, courtesy of SockGuy. The Fuji bikes also were outfitted with pink ribbon.
Rocket Electrics’ Nicole Zinn, owner, and John Dawson, general manager, opened the first e-bike only store in Austin in July 2011. The 1,700-square-foot shop in Austin’s East Riverside corridor, a recently gentrified neighborhood, has a 40-bike rental fleet and has carved out a niche running foodie and music tours in the city that draw, on average, 60 people. Their approach from the start was to engage non-cyclists and to promote e-bikes as a transportation tools.
We rode along the Boardwalk Trail at Lady Bird Lake from Rocket Electrics to the second shop of the day. The $25 million over-water path opened in June and is an extension of the Ann and Roy Butler Trail, closing the 1.2-mile gap in the hike and bike trail around the lake.
Cycle Progession’s pup, Gigi, greets customers and guests.
Emil Ellis is one of three employees at Cycle Progression, a boutique shop specializing in custom MTB builds, suspension service, warranty and tuning. The shop also services hydraulic brakes and does a fair amount of custom drilling of frames and wheel builds. The average bike rolling out the door is $5,000, Ellis said. The shop’s biggest sellers are Ibis’ Ripley and Pivot’s Mach 429. “Our biggest struggle being the high-end guy is fighting online pricing,” he said.
When multisport retailer Jack and Adams Bicycles moved for the third time in their 11-year history to their current location in June, it doubled its square footage. Owners Jack Murray and Stacy Keese were able to stock twice as many bikes and also expanded the store’s running department. Retail design consulting firm 3 Dot Designs laid out the new store. Jack and Adams also gained a bigger service area, more private and larger fit area, room for events and classes and the space for showers. A local juice company will soon be serving juice out of a 200-square-foot space in the front of the store.
Left to right: Owners Jack Murray and Stacy Keese and general manager Angie Balentine of Jack & Adam’s Bicycles. The 5,000-square-foot store’s biggest brands are Felt and Scott, but it also carries Guru, Surly and Orbea.
A view of Bicycle Sport Shop’s massive 22,000-square-foot store on Lamar Boulevard. The space, a bowling alley in the 1950s, displays some 350 bikes at any given time with another 700 to 800 bikes in back stock (storage off the main floor). The store serves as a feeder store for inventory to Bicycle Sport Shop’s two smaller retail storefronts, in addition to a 15,000-square-foot warehouse.
Bicycle Sport Shop general manager Marty Muehlegger has worked there for 27 years. “I’ve done this [worked at retail] since I was 9 and I’ve never seen it evolve at this pace,” he said. “Retailing isn’t what it once was because consumers have so many ways to purchase stuff. We know that retail is evolving at a very fast pace and we’re trying hard to stay with it.”