We were in Taiwan a couple of weeks ago meeting with our manufacturing partners. The Taiwanese are foodies and the local blue-collar lunch cafes are a real treat. They are unpretentious places with sparse décor, but offer beautifully colorful dishes of fresh greens, fish, noodles, etc. I noticed that pink was the dominant color on the tables and walls, and then I began seeing it everywhere around us – on the streets, in the sinks, on signage, on guys’ shirts in the factory, in the hotel lobby, everywhere. Pink is as ubiquitous in Taiwan as Orange is in Holland.

Spotting color is a good sport; determining the cultural relevance is a bit trickier. The origin of pink is tied to roses. Victoria’s Secret (of course) has tried to claim it. Communists were called “pinkos” when I was a kid. Blake Edwards used pink (and Peter Sellers) to create the most famous feline in cinematic history and a highly memorable Henry Mancini soundtrack. We found it was a favorite color in the hip Portland biking scene a few years ago, and we wrote it up in Men In Pink. Our friends at Rapha like it a lot.

Google ‘Pink’ and you will get a wide range of interpretations: girly, gay, sexy, connected to tranquility. Chasing pink around Taiwan was a stress-reducing activity, so we’re nominating the softer, less violent red as “best cure for jet lag.”

Rob is the Chief PUBLIC Servant. He founded PUBLIC because of his belief that well-designed PUBLIC spaces are the bedrock of civilization.

Put yourself in the position of a young child. You are given the choice of how to get to school, or to the store, with one of your parents on any given day. Do you want to go:

This would be an easy choice for most kids. It would be like asking a dog if he would rather have his car window rolled up or down. But kids and dogs do not get to make these decisions on their own. Parents decide these things, based mostly on convenience, safety, or on fear. And thus we have major differences in various countries and cultures.

One of the most visible differences between US cities and cities like Copenhagen and Amsterdam is that kids and parents are both highly visible on the streets in those foreign cities. They are everywhere omnipresent. I saw so many young parents with children on the streets on bikes that I actually asked one mother if the birth rate was especially high in Denmark. She laughed and replied: “No, our birth rate is actually one of the lowest in Europe. But the government makes it so easy for us to take our kids out on trips that you just see more of us in Public.”

Almost 50% of young children get around Copenhagen on bikes with their parents. It looked like these percentages were higher in Amsterdam. One in four parents in Copenhagen have a specially designed bicycle rig – cycle carts – for hauling their kids around town and are given special bike storage spaces on their neighborhood streets.

I have to believe that this bodes well for a child’s development. What is the lifetime value of experiencing the world from the front of a bike versus the rear seat of a car in early youth? What is it worth to learn to approach the world with a sense of adventure instead of fear? From where do we get our sense of confidence, independence and social connection? How cool is it to spend time with your parents doing something physical and fun everyday?

These thoughts were on mind as I watched so many parents pedaling their kids around the city. My Mom did not pedal me around in Pasadena where I grew up – we rode bikes ourselves, but I do remember how cool it was when my Mom got a convertible car. What is the value of fresh air and wind alone?

I cannot advocate the Amsterdam/Copenhagen bike mode for parents in many US cities that are not very bike family-friendly at this time. But I wish I could. What would it take to make more of those Danish kidmobiles common on our streets? It will take governmental policy, community leadership, courageous smart Mayors, separated lanes for bicycles, and a lot more people riding and having fun on their bikes. Let’s get there.

- Rob Forbes

Photos taken in Amsterdam and Copenhagen

Also, this week at PUBLIC:
- Free Shipping Ends Tonight
- PUBLIC Jobs
- Special Deals On Clothing

Rob is the Chief PUBLIC Servant. He founded PUBLIC because of his belief that well-designed PUBLIC spaces are the bedrock of civilization.

When was the last time you saw a carpenter carrying a ladder on a bike while drinking coffee, or woman carrying two purses on handlebars, or a newspaper chain guard, or a pink bike-parking facility on the street? Danes are known for pragmatic design and keep efficiency at the core of their bicycle culture. Riding bikes is good fun in Denmark, so no surprise that one third of Danes use a bike on a daily basis.

The Danes have a longstanding reputation for design based on principles of practicality and simplicity. The 20th century Danish Modern movement advanced these ideals. They pioneered sustainable woods (teak), enduring metal (stainless steel), and they turned recycled wood scraps into plywood, which led to some of the most iconic pieces of modern design. Legendary designer Nana Dietzel told me once that there was a reason for their pragmatism: Danish designers mostly came from backgrounds in cabinetry, not architecture. They are makers, not theorists.

While Danish Modern faded as a movement in the latter part of the 20th century, the Danes have resurfaced as international leaders in design of the contemporary “livable” cities movement—Copenhagen is the poster child. Danish city planner/designer Jan Gehl is as widely respected for his city design as Arne Jacobsen for chair design. We witnessed this Danish practicality and attention to detail in design examples seen on the streets:

As pragmatic as they may seem with their common sense design approach, it is their resourcefulness, humor and style and that make them especially relevant. And filmmakers like Mikael Colville-Andersen and Copenhagen Cycle Chic are making biking more than a practical option.

In Taiwan the buildings stretch upward and a sea of scooters flows between them like no place we know in Europe. The scooter population is such that separate lanes have been set-aside for them on some freeways. Parked scooters dominate the sidewalks. Huge packs of scooter riders mass at stoplights where the car drivers allow them to go first when the light changes. They have special scooter-specific graphic messages on the pavement.

In short, scooters set the pace and the tone for movement around their cities. They are like the taxis in New York, except that they lack color. They form a sort of moving grey monolith – like government issued, anonymous machines. There is none of the style or glamour of the Vespas in Italy, but neither is there the noise level. These scooters are much quieter than their European counterparts, and Taiwan lacks groups of kids noisily terrorizing peaceful piazzas or quiet streets. In Taiwan scooters create an omnipresent, but fairly quiet, visual and auditory background drone.

The helmets on the riders of these non-descript scooters are, on the other hand, all about diversity. Sitting at a busy intersection watching the throngs of riders go by, I noticed many styles and colors of helmets, most refreshingly free of any commercial branding. Offer a population a very limited range of choices and they will still find ways to express their individuality. The bouquet of helmets scooting by made for an optimistic contrast to the otherwise pervasive asphalt gray.

PUBLIC Helmets

Protecting your noggin is important, and we try to make the daily ride a little more fun – and your head little more visible – at the same time. We sell a few helmets that are not designed for scooters but bikes.

Special Deals this Month

Free shipping on bikes. A good way to view the details of our bikes is on this short video clip courtesy of Fast Company.
Apparel Sale. All of our clothing is On Sale.

Thanks to Fast Company for making this video of our D3. You can read the complete article on their website.

We took a look at bicycling attire on the streets of Copenhagen and Amsterdam recently. This was good fun, as you can see the friendly faces of people riding around when they are not concealed under a helmet. We noticed that there were actually more scarves than helmets on riders. It’s not that they are more concerned with fashion than with safety abroad. It’s rather that scarves, like front zippers on jackets or gloves, allow you warm up, or cool off quickly. They are an easy way to adjust to changes in weather from morning until night. They allow people to ride more often, and in greater numbers. This might be the real key to safety.

Facts: Safety in Numbers

Cars respect cyclists in these cities. Riders have some special rights and privileges, like dedicated lanes. Serious bicycle injuries have been in decline in recent decades in Copenhagen and Amsterdam because more people are riding. A recent 20% rise in cycling was accompanied by a corresponding 20% decline in injuries in the past decade. The same dynamics occur in US cities. When more people ride, the streets are safer as the car drivers and bicyclists pay more attention. There is safety in numbers.

PUBLIC Gear

We recommend helmets for bicyclists in the US and we sell a few that are quite special. We also sell some gloves and other accessories for comfort—some are On Sale right now. We look forward to a time when we will have separated safe lanes and paths for bicyclists in US cities, more respect from car drivers, more scarves than helmets, and more hard-core commuter footwear like this on the street.

Bicycle theft is a sad fact of life in every country we know. It sucks. And most of us have had a bike or bike component stolen at some point. Depending on our mood, theft hits us somewhere along the unfair–depressing–devastating continuum. Is there any way to see something positive in bicycle theft? Not really, but if one had to try, studying the scene in Holland offers some rich material.

We learned on a recent trip to the Netherlands that 750,000 bikes get reported as stolen every year. That’s about 2% of all bikes in that country. The Dutch typically employ a standard rear wheel clamp to deter petty thieves, and a hunky steel chain sheathed in fabric to discourage hard-core thieves. These Dutch chains and locks are as ubiquitous in Amsterdam, and they make for some compelling compositions – studies in contrasting materials, color, and form. The durability and permanence of steel in our world of plastics and virtual safeguards is a compelling story. And chains and locks are quite brilliant low-tech solutions that have endured without much change since the advent of civilization. There is something cool about that.

These compositions are as individual as the bike riders themselves and offer us one chance (admittedly desperate) to put a happy face on bike theft.

A Gallery of Bike Locks

Bike Locks

We sell two basic solutions that work for most situations in the US. Our Kryptonite u-lock will keep most hard-core thieves away, and using a cable lock in addition will offer even better protection. Using your good senses and defensive instincts are the best deterrents to bike bandits, and most thefts are a result of bicyclist naïveté. If your PUBLIC gets stolen keep in mind that we have the serial number on record to help track down your bike.  

Also, please check out our Shoes and Socks Sale for the month of July.

We’re teaming up with our friends for a rather unique Bikes & Boudoir event this Friday, July 16 from 6-8 pm at My Boudoir on 2285 Union Street @ Steiner in San Francisco.

It’s not often you see bikes and boudoir in the same sentence, but we’re joining forces with My Boudoir and Pedal Panties to celebrate “Where the PUBLIC Meets the PRIVATE.”

My Boudoir is a highly regarded retailer in San Francisco’s Union Street whose mission is to fill a woman’s ever changing lingerie mood.

Pedal Panties’ Bicycle Lingerie brings you a fashionable alternative to traditional bike clothing.

Besides being with friends for happy hour, you can test ride PUBLIC bikes, get special deals on PUBLIC accessories, get 25% off great lingerie from My Boudoir, and also discounts on Pedal Panties.

We are also converting four parking spots into gathering areas in front of the My Boudoir store for this event – inspired by PARKI(ing) Day and our friends from REBAR.

You can RSVP or use Facebook to invite your friends.

I took a break from the VELOCITY 2010 conference and rode to the Copenhagen street corner billed as the busiest intersection in the city. A meter there counts the number of bikes that pass by as they cross the bridge. 27 cyclists cruised by during one light change; 15,000 in all on that day; and 1,815,570 so far this year. Quite cool. The stream of cyclists felt like the very definition of freedom and self-reliance. And people looked happy and alive as they pedaled along on their way to work or school—it was a collective experience of a high order. I submit that this counter is as good a “civilization meter” as anything that history has provided.

Traditionally we have used other data to decide what makes a great civilization.

If cultural output is the yardstick, Egypt and Classical Greece are looking pretty good. But did enough of the community share in the greatness? If civilian enlightenment is the measure, China during the Sung dynasty (9th Century) comes out well: their civil servants had to pass tests that included writing poetry and painting landscapes. What about those who never took the test?

The US considers itself highly civilized based on education standards, citing statistics about how many people have college degrees. But Native Americans – who greatly value their connection to nature – might see things a bit differently.

Whichever aspect of civilization you value more, it seems fundamental that a truly civilized society has to be one in which the greatest number of people feel safe and secure as they move around and congregate in their public spaces. This is where life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness take place, where they are visible. And you can judge the greatness of a city by the percentage of people using and enjoying the public spaces.

This brings us to bikes.

The Danes consider themselves as civilized as it gets. They take pride in their egalitarian and democratic principles, and they have become tireless advocates of rights for pedestrians and cyclists. More than one third of Danes ride a bike everyday to school or work. They have become synonymous with cycling (along with the Dutch). Over the last 50 years they have weaned themselves away from cars in urban areas, and they have increased the amount of public spaces devoted to pedestrians, cyclists, sidewalk cafes, etc. Denmark now leads the Livable Cities initiatives internationally. And they can quantify the advance of their civilization:

• 16% of all transportation trips taken in Denmark are by bike
• 45% of all kids ride a bike to school everyday
• 25% of all parents bike their toddlers around the cities
• 20% fewer bike injuries have occurred as cycling has increased 20% in recent years
• 9% of the population in Denmark suffers from obesity

(30% of the US population suffers from obesity. We ‘lead’ the world in this metric)

Warehouse Sale this Saturday

If you happen to be in the Bay Areas next week, please come to our first ever warehouse sale. We’ll have bikes, samples and all kinds of things. The location is right on Harrison Street. See more details on our Sample Sale.

I was with a group of American friends last month, riding around the streets of Copenhagen. We were checking out the way the Danes have made cycling the appealing, logical, and safe choice of transport in the city. The most noticeable differences, after the sheer number of people riding, was that there are as many – or maybe even more – women than men on bikes and that people wear their everyday clothes while riding.

There is still the expected competitive cyclist attitude with faster riders forcing slower riders to get out of their way, but it takes a different form:

“Back home the riders passing me are typically aggressive guys in bike shorts and cleated shoes on racing bikes pumping away with their heads down. Here it’s women in leggings and sandals, or some guy with dress shoes, on three-speeds sounding a warning from behind with a bell.”

– New Yorker bicyclist

Here is a sampling of some hard-core commuter footwear from Copenhagen.