By Gary J. Boulanger

Mergers, buyouts and bankruptcies are grabbing the headlines, while margins continue to shrink. 

The bicycle industry is morphing into a curious oddity to the rest of the world, and a few forward-thinking individuals are doing their best to save what little big-business respect we have.

But these individuals aren’t CEOs, board members or marketing directors. They’re regional, state, and national bicycle advocates, and you’d be surprised at their effectiveness in challenging, changing and setting policies which affect millions of cyclists.

Recently, I had the chance to chat with a group cyclists were chatting about the potential powerful impact bicycle advocates have on society. It was their general consensus that most manufacturers and dealers focus on the bottom line, selling bicycles, while advocates sell cycling. A symbiosis needs to exist to bring our industry out of its current rut.

Leading the charges in this national movement is the Thunderhead Alliance, the national coalition of organizations advocating for cyclists. Its mission is focused on increasing the capacity -- funding, membership and strategic ability -- of state and local bicycle advocacy organizations and representing cyclists’ interests at the federal level.

There’s a strong grass-roots effort to use the “strength in numbers” method to gain a larger voice. Combined, nearly 60,000 members and a $4 million budget comprise the collective Thunderhead Alliance membership.

Thunderhead, along with Bikes Belong and the League of American Bicyclists, are ramping up for the 2003 federal reauthorization (TEA-3) of several billion dollars for bicycle projects. These organizations are working hard to keep cycling pertinent in our culture. Thunderhead's goal is for bicycling to serve 15% of all trips in America by 2015.

The most important issue facing bicycle advocacy today, according to Grant Petersen, owner of Rivendell Bicycle Works, is conveying the message that bikes are practical and useful for anybody.

“I’m afraid so much of the image we have of bikes comes from racing and the body-carving folks, and that’s hard for children to identify with,” he said. “Children today don’t ride as much as they used to because the roads are more crowded, and parents are understandably paranoid about psychos out there. When I was eight I would ride my bike five miles to the bowling alley, or golf course, and it was on roads, not trails.”

Echoing Petersen’s logic is Dave Snyder, executive director for the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition. Snyder believes besides giving money and other forms of support to advocates, the most important thing manufacturers can do is orient their business more toward the utilitarian market

“It's taken far too long to bring to market an affordable and effective headlight,” Snyder adds. “The new white LEDs have the potential to save thousands of lives and promote nighttime utilitarian cycling. Thinking bigger, the European market has figured out how to provide fully equipped commuter bikes (fenders, racks, lights, etc.) at an affordable price and without excessive burden on the retailers. The U.S. bicycle industry hasn't figured out how to do that, so almost no bikes are ever displayed with those components attached and most customers have to ask and pay a lot extra to get what are truly essential parts of a utilitarian bicycle.”

Bicycles can change the world, no doubt. And there are many target groups to consider, but a change in lifestyle may be the key, and that’s no easy task.

Tom Armstrong, Cannondale’s communication director, compared our society's dependence on the automobile is like the chain smoker who can't stop puffing. “It's not that we don't understand the benefits of changing our ways, it's that we lack the resolve to do it,” he said.

One potential opportunity is with aging-but-active baby boomers. They are the nation's most powerful political constituency, says Chris Morfas, executive director of California Bicycle Coalition. We must connect with them. 

“Ensuring that the communities in which they live offer real transportation choices is critical,” he says. “For many older people, especially those suffering from arthritis, bicycling is actually much less demanding than walking. We have a fantastic opportunity to engage these high-propensity voters by building more trails and traffic-calmed streets, producing comfortable bicycles and tricycles, and creating mixed-use communities with services near homes.”

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Gary Boulanger is the executive director of Bike Miami Valley (www.bikemiamivalley.org), a nonprofit bicycling advocacy group in Dayton, Ohio. He’s also a board member for the Thunderhead Alliance, Dayton Cycling Club and Ohio Bicycle Federation.

© 2001 Bill Communications, a VNU Company. Reprinted with permission.