CABDA & The Future of Cycling
Last week my wife and I attended The Chicago Area Bicycle Dealers’ Association trade show (CABDA). While it is not what it was during the bike boom of The 70’s, it is still the largest and quite the eye opener. Oddly enough, it was located in Schaumberg, probably the least bike friendly town in The Chicago area.
Chad, from The Bicycle Station, pointed out that last show was maybe 15% e-bikes. This year it was easily 85%! TBH, I was disappointed by how few truly cutting edge options were on display. Pretty much every booth had the same things. In spite of my misgivings, hub drives appear to be here to stay, but everyone was boasting the launch of their new mid-drive offerings. There were more torque sensing options, sane tire widths and competitive prices. Mfg’s are paying attention to our request for lighter, easier to handle bikes. Also interesting was the fact that all were promoting cargo bikes. Those aren’t bike replacements. Those replace a car for many trips!
Conspicuous by their absence were Giant, Specialized and Trek. Complain all we will about Direct To Consumer and discount store bikes, their absence really opened the door for some of these companies to poach their dealers. I can now offer most DTC bikes, assembled, for the price offered online. Dealers are searching for affordable and profitable alternatives their customers are buying online anyway. Interestingly, Amish and Mennonite dealers were everywhere and they had no interest in anything that wasn’t an e-bike!
When I see slow to change places, like The Quad Cities, building around segregated bike paths and more towns throttling traffic for pedestrians (bless you LeClaire), I know bikes are more and more becoming car replacements. .Cyclists like myself will always prefer the simplicity of the traditional bike, but it is clear e-bikes are replacing cars for many trips. We are seeing segregated paths built out to places like Bettendorf, Iowa’s popular Bettplex. Just today plans were announced to tie downtown E.Moline more closely to their Rust Belt, Bend and even out to The Hennepin Canal across Illinois. These reflect a desire to be near bicycle traffic. Small wonder, nearly all Quad Cities major attractions are within two blocks of a multi-use path (looking to lead a ride proving this some time early this Spring…let me know if you are interested). I would bet this is probably where your community is headed too. Is it time for you to consider alternative transportation for some of your trips?