Save $25 on an Electra bike at GHY in Renton

Cool cruiser your style? See GHY in Renton for $25 off an Electra bicycle.

Phone
425-227-HUCK (4825)

Address
G.H.Y. Bikes
909 S. 3rd St.
Renton Wa. 98055

Hours
Weekdays 11-7
Sat 10-6
Sun 12-5

Ask for Jesse or AJ and tell 'em Nate sent you.

Torker shots

Here are the pics from the Torker 2011 catalog that I'm in...

The electric-assisted T-450e.


The stylish T-530.

TORKER 2011 catalog is out

See if you can find me.

the photo shoot

A cell phone pic from this morning's photo shoot...



The company's catalog is released in about 6 weeks for Interbike in Vegas.

Seattle Bike Expo weekend is here!

I think I'll be down there tomorrow.

Bike Expo info...

UPDATE 3-18-10: I was lame and totally missed the whole thing!!! A very long story, multiple things came up, and kept me from heading down to the Bike Expo.

new bike(s)

I got a new 2009 model close-out bicycle - a really nice bicycle recently - more on that eventually. What I also picked up (from a guy selling off lots of stuff since he's moving to Europe) recently are two new-to-me older bikes: a '96-ish Cannondale R600 and a 19?? Gary Fisher Big Sur.

The Cannondale has some rough spots, but frame is in good condition with only minor paint scrapes, and as seen below, is still pretty dirty. It goes through the gears well and stops fine - though I am replacing the brake pads ASAP and need to true the rear wheel slightly. Of course, I am noticing that an aluminum frame road bike is very different feel from the steel Allez I was riding last weekend (25 miles around the south end of Lake Washington - sold it this week since the frame was considerably small for me) and for a few rides prior.



I was principally interested in the Cannondale but the Big Sur was sort of an impulse buy, like buying batteries at the grocer's check-out stand. For the price, it couldn't be beat. It was like the price of two really decent road bicycle tires. Also, I figured even in the general dirty condition it was in, it rode well (like the Cannondale) and being a GF, would be worth fixing up if it needed a lot of R&R. Plus, I am always eager to take a new bike up each summer camping season for running trails with the family or friends.

OSO - a single-speed bike with a rear drum brake

After I stumbled across this bike company on a list of companies making or importing single speed an fixed-gear bikes, I had to find out a little more. I had never heard of them. I eventually read some online reviews I found and the web page for the TX-based importer of the messenger bike inspired OSO.



The importer describes the roughly $400 bike as "a mix between a cruiser and a road bike... simple and easy to maintain like a cruiser, but fast like a road bike". I can see how this might be true and at first I thought it was nothing more than a single-speed messenger style bike until I got to this: "there are no cables because the brake is in the pedals (coaster brake)". What!? Now that's unique, isn't it?

I think NYC Bikes offers this as an option, but I'm not certain.

I wonder, from anyone who's ridden one of these, what's it like?

electric bikes at a car show

I went to a car show in Seattle this weekend - we took the bus there to avoid traffic and paying a lot to park.

I was amazed to see an electric bicycle company with a few on display including the A2B from Ultra Motor.





There was also another electric bicycle on display, a mountain bike (looked like a Montague, aka "Swiss Bike") that was just shy of $5K. (!!!!) Note: upon a quick internet search, I guess someone does make a Montague electric bike now.



Looks like both bikes have some sort of hub motor to drive the bicycles. I have not yet looked into it further. Also, I didn't study up on how weather-repellent the bikes are.

The staff at the booth were pretty busy and they didn't appear to be set-up for demos. It would have been interesting to see. I just wonder who their demographic is. I would think cyclists might not take them seriously - nor would the people who came to the show to look at cars, trucks, and SUVs. I think quite a few (non-cyclists) would laugh at the notion of paying close to $5K for a bicycle and others (the cyclists) would know exactly which other $5,000 bicycle (or just frame and fork) they'd spend their money on - which would likely weigh 1/5th of the A2B's 72 pounds.

Something tacky about the electric bicycle booth was the inclusion of two (of the same model) of a Segway knock-off, similar to this. These three-wheeled electric-powered "podiums with bike saddles" were quite a bit cheaper than a Segway or one of the electric bikes on display, however, I think they had more in common with an electric mobility chair (like the Rascal) than they did with the Segway or an electric bicycle. Maybe this was in the spirit of showing "green mobility options" - the e-bikes were at the end of a line of other pure electric vehicles.