TIME: Almanac 1993/TIME Almanac 1993.iso/time/081991/0819200.000

Text File | 1992-08-28 | 8.9 KB | 188 lines

                                                                                BUSINESS, Page 42

SPORTING GOODS

Rock And Roll


Propelled by the mountain-bike craze and hassle-free models,
cycling zips to new popularity

By JANICE CASTRO -- With reporting by Kumiko Makihara/Tokyo and
William McWhirter/Detroit


    Every industrial revolution starts with a great notion.
In the Smithsonian Institution, resting only a short stroll
away from Charles Lindbergh's Spirit of St. Louis, is a newer
icon of American ingenuity: Stumpjumper, the first mountain
bike. A crossbreed of rugged utility and European racing
technology, the Stumpjumper scurried where 10-speeds would have
crumpled: down mountain slopes, across fields and over city
curbs. The chunky two-wheeler, manufactured by Californian
Michael Sinyard in 1981, has helped transform the U.S. bicycle
industry from a sleepy business to a $3.5 billion family-sport
industry as millions of Americans mount up. Sinyard's goal:
"Durability and comfort, a bike that is easy to ride."

    Idiot proof and practically maintenance free, the tough
cycles are the transportation equivalent of the first oversize
Prince tennis racquet introduced in the 1970s. Both represent
high-tech sports magic in accessible form, an Everyman's ticket
to an activity usually ruled by youth and muscle. Behind the
growing bike boom in America are all those adventurous teenagers
reawakening in millions of overtaxed grownups. Frustrated with
sore knees, joggers are turning to biking. Desk jockeys once
intimidated by drop-handle 10-speeds can now handle as many as
21 gears on a bike that looks more like something the paper boy
would ride. And they can even take to the streets in outfits
like those of three-time Tour de France winner Greg LeMond.

    Mountain bikes, also known as all-terrain bikes (ATBs),
borrow sophisticated metal alloys, titanium lugs, carbon-fiber
tubing and other materials from the aerospace industry for
lightweight strength. Average weight: 28 lbs., vs. 20 lbs. for
a far more fragile touring bike. Perhaps most important, ATBs
feature flat handlebars for upright seating and thick tires that
take to sand and gravel as easily as to pavement. While these
features have practical appeal for rough-riding wilderness
cyclists, the changes also take the hassle out of bike riding
for ordinary pedal pushers who never stray more than a mile or
two from the nearest McDonald's.

    More than 93 million Americans of all ages now ride
bicycles (up from 72 million in 1983). Some 25 million ride at
least once a week. Americans buy more bicycles (10.8 million in
1990) than cars (9.3 million), and ride them everywhere, from
church to mall to office to beach. In spite of generally
depressed U.S. consumer spending, bike dealers say sales this
summer are running as much as 30% higher than last year.

    Ten years ago, the lean touring cycles popularly known as
10-speeds accounted for 80% of U.S. sales. But today mountain
bikes make up more than half the total and are gaining ground.
Cross-bikes, a fast-growing hybrid of ATB grit and sleeker
10-speed styling, account for an additional 10%. Sales of ATBs
and cross-bikes more than doubled during the first three months
of this year, compared with 1990. The easy handling of mountain
bikes has vastly broadened biking's appeal. Says Net Payne, 21,
a Cornell University senior: "Before, bicycling was only for
kids and racers. Now it's a family sport. Anyone can do it."
Another measure: more than 10% of Americans over 65 are
cyclists, according to the National Sporting Goods Association.

    Since the Stumpjumper first appeared in shops, Sinyard's
Specialized Bicycle Components, based in Morgan Hill, Calif.,
has grown into a $100 million enterprise and has helped spawn
a frenzy of furiously inventive competitors. Trek, a struggling
little 10-employee maker of bicycle frames back when the
Stumpjumper appeared, is now a leading ATB manufacturer. Based
in Waterloo, Wis., Trek expects to sell 500,000 cycles worth an
estimated $200 million this year, 10 times its 1985 sales.

    After the entrepreneurs established the new market for
ATBs, industry giants Schwinn and Huffy began mass-producing
them. Chicago-based Schwinn, long better known for inexpensive
children's cycles, now is making top-of-the-line Paramount
mountain bikes priced as high as $3,000. Ed Schwinn Jr., who
heads the firm co-founded by his family in 1895, concedes that
the bicycle business is still fundamentally an industry built
on the ideas of backyard inventors. Says he: "We look at what
the tinkerers are trying to accomplish and adapt the best of
that."

    The dramatic changes in styling and materials have powered
American bicycle designers to the head of a global business long
dominated by the Italian masters. Says Marco Rocca, owner of a
bicycle-importing firm in Turin: "There is an invasion of
imported mountain bikes!" French manufacturers sold more than
1 million velo tout terrain bikes last year, up from 1,000 in
1984. Such Japanese firms as Bridgestone and Fuji are ATB top
sellers in the U.S. But back home, many Japanese consumers
prefer American bikes from Diamond Back, Specialized, GT,
Schwinn, Trek and Cannondale. They are also snapping up stylish
U.S.-made cycling clothes from Nike, Hind and other firms.

    While the companies to beat are American, most of their
cycles are made in Taiwan and other low-cost overseas
manufacturing centers. Just last week Schwinn announced that it
is closing its last major U.S. factory, in Greenville, Miss.,
and shifting production to China and Taiwan. One of the world's
largest bicycle-manufacturing centers, Taiwan last year exported
6.4 million bikes worth $740 million. Giant Bicycles of Taiwan
(employees: more than 1,000), a longtime Schwinn supplier, is
marketing its own brands in the U.S. and Europe.

    Anyone who still remembers bike shops as dark, cluttered
places smelling of oil and rubber would be startled to walk into
a modern American bike outlet. Spotless and often carpeted,
crawling with salespeople and outfitted with dressing rooms,
specialty bike shops rely on high-margin clothing and cycling
gizmos for up to 25% of their revenues. The glamour of biking
now draws neophytes who browse through racks of hip-hugging
shorts and brightly colored shirts even before they know the
difference between a derailleur and a train accident.

    An average bike today costs $300 or more, but a superior
mountain bike starts at $1,000. What's the difference between
the two? "Ten minutes," says a store manager in Manhattan,
explaining that it takes him 35 minutes instead of 45 to cover
his 12-mile commute on his new high-priced cycle. Reason:
lighter weight, superior components and a more rigid frame that
absorbs less of the cyclist's energy. Most owners of the top
models, however, are more concerned with quality and status than
winning the racing edge.

    As doctors, lawyers and bureaucrats pull on the skintight
colors (now available in extra-large sizes) and don crash
helmets, they also deck out their cycles with an ever growing
array of mileage computers, ergonomically correct seats,
gel-filled grips, rearview mirrors and other color-coordinated
gadgetry. One hot new gizmo is a cyclist's heart monitor that
transmits a continuous pulse readout to a special wristwatch.

    Amid all this glittering change, some still yearn for
grand old bikes with big fenders and coaster brakes. In
Manhattan earlier this summer, an elegantly dressed woman
strolled into a bike shop and bought a $1,500 replica of a
green-and-white '50s-era Schwinn Columbia to hang over her
living room couch as art.

    Some enthusiasts want a bike to suit every occasion. While
one is fine for long solo rides, another might be more
appropriate for family outings. Even Michael Sinyard, a regular
racer in his spare time, often spends the afternoon on a
Specialized Deja Two tandem with his seven-year-old daughter.
Says he: "She loves it. She says, `Dad! This is a great bike!
My legs never get tired!' " Other parents tow their youngsters
in the $300 Cannondale Bugger, a polyethylene shell that allows
the whimsical child to sit facing backward, watching the
landscape spin away.

    The inventions and gizmos keep coming, and the competition
is constantly taking notes. Some companies offer an automatic
transmission, a motorcycle-style gearshift system built into the
handgrips. Several firms are preparing variations on
Cannondale's new suspension system. Borrowed from motorcycle
design, the technology guarantees aging cyclists a smoother
ride. Last year Specialized introduced Air Lock, a self-sealing
tire that eliminates fear of flats. Still trying to grow fast
enough to stay ahead of the big boys, pioneer Sinyard drives his
troops with the company slogan "Innovate or Die!" That's a
fitting sentiment in an industry whose forebears included Wilbur
and Orville Wright.