It's all about a sustainable bike

Frame and Wheel is spending the long weekend in Vermont at the Green Mountain Stage Race doing research on the market and suffering on the climbs in search of glory. This morning Frame and Wheel listened to an interview by the BBC with Ellen MacArthur, a woman who sailed around the world singlehanded. This woman is a strong advocate of sustainability, and has established a foundation called the Ellen MacArthur Foundation. Frame and Wheel has linked to this blog and will spend more time exploring the notion of bicycle manufacturing and sustainability: indeed, this is one way the company plans to differentiate itself from the market. 

Frame and Wheel is reading It's All About the Bike by Robert Penn. This is a book about a man who sets out to build his dream bike: he has a frame custom made from steel, he goes to Seattle to get a Chris King headset, he goes to Italy to get a Cinelli handle bar and a Campagnola Record group and to other parts of the world to build up this bike. It is a good read and he explains a lot about the history of the bicycle, which is fascinating. In the early 90s, Frame and Wheel retired from competitive and did what Mr. Penn did: purchased a "dream" bicycle. This was a custom made steel Moots Mountain bike: at the time I thought I would keep it forever. I still have it, but it spent a good ten years in the attic, before being returned to use. When Frame and Wheel started riding it again, bicycle technology had changed so much that the bicycle was really more of an antique than anything else, and despite great charm, it was difficult to service and difficult to obtain replacement parts. Frame and Wheel appreciates the desire to have a bike that will last (this is indeed the pitch made by Seven, the titanium frame manufacturer), but the fact is that they do not even if they are made of steel. This lesson is why Frame and Wheel will have a sustainability strategy for its frames. As Ellen MacArthur notes, "A carpet is a carpet is a carpet" This could mean that a bike is a bike and then its a bike again or something useful or something that reflects the awareness that there is not an infinite supply of oil, plastic and other raw materials out there for use in making bicycles.