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Nearly every person who walks in the door of Treadly Bike Shop is a prospective Tokyobike owner, whether they know it yet or not. There are very few cyclists who couldn’t benefit from adding a Tokyobike to the stable, and very few inner-city lives which would not be improved by the addition of one of these classically-styled and seriously cool commuters. Some might be put off by the quill stem, the 26" wheels, the 7- and 8-speed drivetrains, but those three things are some of our favourite features on these bikes that have proven themselves time and again to be the perfect bike to get around Adelaide on.
Quill-style stems make adjusting handlebar height to tweak your ride as easy as turning a single bolt, and the 26" wheels make for super easy acceleration to cruising speed without sacrificing much (if any) top-end speed. Smaller wheels means shorter spokes, shorter spokes means less broken spokes - and as any Tokyobike owner will tell you, broken spokes are veryvery few and far between on these bikes, even on those from years and years ago. 7- and 8- speed chains are a little (read: less than a noticeable amount) heavier than the same length 11-speed chain and the cassettes have slightly bigger jumps between gears for the same range, but as the late, greatSheldon Brown once said, "the fancier parts aren't always the most suitable, in the same way that a Ferrari, while it is a great racecar, isn't at all as good for daily transportation as a Toyota -- there are practical issues of cost, reliability, serviceability and durability."
There's a grassroots push from many small bike business here and abroad toward sustainability, an attempt to create products that cut through the ever-complicated online market but allow them not to have to turn inside out to reinvent themselves every year to keep up. Alongside that push comes a sense ofsafeness perhaps, for better or worse, as the big brands seem to be the ones pushing the boundaries of innovation and adding proprietary features that will make your commute fifteen seconds faster and 2 percent less sweaty. Tokyobike doesn't so much thumb the nose at innovation as smile knowingly at it from across the room, proud of its own balance of comfort, speed, ease of use, andstyle.
I think it's safe to say we've seen all manner of commuters in our eight years here in the East End. From flat-bar conversions on Italian steel roadies to touring bikes, old carbon roadies to full-suspension mountain bikes with slick tyres, any bike that gets commuted on qualifies as a commuter. In our eyes, The Tokyobike Bisou and Classic Sport are as good as any (and better than most) at getting you and your precious belongings around town reliably, quickly and comfortably and doing so for many years to come, and we're excited to seemore and more shops worldwide step away from the new-bike-every-year model and back a bike that doesn't date immediately and feel like it needs upgrading all the time!
Tokyobike Bisou and CS (including Limited Edition colours and styles) bikes are available from us in store at Treadly, online at treadlybikeshop.com.au, or from Tokyobike Australia direct if you're not in Adelaide. Loads of accessories from fenders, racks and baskets to hand painted bells and leather trim goodies are available for these excellent bikes as well!
