It was an incredible day for Bike to Work Day—according to the SFBC there were twice as many bicycles as cars headed downtown on San Francisco’s Market Street on the 14th annual Bike to Work Day. Bicyclists made up 64% of the eastbound traffic at Market St. & Van Ness Ave., while motorists comprised 32% between 8am and 9am today. (The remainder was transit vehicles and taxis). This is a nearly 31% increase over the number of people biking last year on Bike to Work Day. The counts were taken by the Municipal Transportation Agency.
It was also an incredible day in San Francisco period. The weather was 85+ degrees which means that being in a body of water was mandatory. So Keri and I opted to crash the downtown Holiday Inn’s swimming pool. Pretty much the best thing ever.
The current standings of Timbuk2’s Team Bike Challenge is:
The Missing Link: 128 points
Spandex Jump Suits: 121 points
Roid Rage: 119 points
Team in Training Wheels: 81 points
Team Rabid Squirrels: 78 points
Perry’s Kids: 13 points
I don’t know what to say about Perry’s kids…
our man in the factory (Dan) send us this update about our newest custom bag… i thought it might be interesting to share with you, internet.
Cargo Tote Update:
It’s been a couple of weeks since we launched the cargo tote. The 1st few days were difficult since this product was new and the orders were high. But this is to be expected whenever there is a new product launch. Now that we have made 116 units, not including many samples, we are on track to even reduce the time further. During the first few days it was taking us an hour to make each bag, now we are down to an average of 35 minutes. There are other methods we can incorporate to bring down this time by a few more minutes, which we are poised to use in short order. Stay tuned.
it’s interesting to see how much work goes into our bags..especially a new one that we don’t have down to a science yet. making pictures of bags on the computer, however, is pretty easy. so, here are a few artist renditions of the cargo totes our customers have purchased so far:
marketing made me put this here (just kidding): build a custom cargo tote.
cnn has an article about our lamitron bags and trash in general. but i think the most important feature of the article is the fact they said what no one else would dare…
here’s the updates and information regarding this whole lamitron idea. including a real cease and desist letter from target!
After week one of the Bay Area Team bike challenge, here are the current standings for Timbuk2’s teams:
Spandex Jump Suits: 73 points
Team in Training Wheels: 58 points
Roid Rage: 57 points
The Missing Link: 57 points
Team Rabid Squirrels: 47 points
Perry’s Kids: 5 points
Bike to Work Day is next Thursday. For more information, check out sfbike.org.
From Jonny’s blog:
The rad people at Timbuk2 hooked me up with an awesome new space (at 16th and Alabama) to make belts and spread the good biking word… so I spent this afternoon packing up all of ZPG’s worldly possessions and then unpacking them much faster on account of all the coffee I downed half an hour before. Speaking of fast action and spreading the good biking word, in celebration of Bike to Work day, Timbuk2 is sending out a ZPG sticker in every bag they sell this month — Wahoo!
New visiting hours will be posted soon…
*And yes, my giant ball of rubber is coming along very nicely, thank you very much.
**And yes, we are putting one of his Zero Per Gallon stickers in every online order for the month of May. Ride on!
We donated 500 bike to work day t-shirts to the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition for Bike to Work Day, that we had to deliver to their office. It seemed wrong to deliver Bike to Work t-shirts to a bike coalition by way of car so Cole and I schlepped all 500 in our bike trailers. If you are interested in doing more errands by bike check out Cetma Racks. Lane makes killer steel racks for the front of bikes that makes hauling a breeze.
For over 3 years I’ve worked alongside all these fixie fiends and somehow I managed to steer clear of being on two wheels myself. It’s not that the bike babble escaped me completely. I get that fixed gears have no brakes and track stands mean you don’t put your feet down at stop lights.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not addicted to a car or anything, in fact I don’t even have a drivers license. Instead my aversion seems to be for all things wheels. Hell, even my preferred public transit runs on cables (Cable Car) or rails (BART).
This year my Bike To Work Team Challenge Captain Ryan managed to wear down all my defenses and has somehow peer pressured me onto a bike. I thought I had some good excuses:
I haven’t been on a bike since I was 16.
I live on an uber hill in North Beach.
I don’t have a bike.
I just had a baby who likes having a mother.
Ryan had an answer for everything, so I gave in, and this morning, I DID IT!
I can’t say I’m converted yet, but I’m not as scared to head home as I was before and maybe I’ll get some sleep tonight knowing that I made it once. Maybe I’ll even loosen my grip some. Maybe.
Yesterday Timbuk2 launched a new custom product—our cargo tote is now being made in our SF Factory. You will see it on our website, and in our retailers soon. We are very proud of this product and the hard work that went into designing, and building it. It is also the first product to come out of a newly redesigned San Francisco Timbuk2 factory.
Since 1988, we have a tradition of building quality bags. Any product we make we build it to outlast you.
In or factory we strive to create a great environment. We want our staff to be happy to work there, and all of us to be proud to show the factory off.
We make bags in our SF factory, and around the world. We make bags here in SF, and yes in Asia: China, Vietnam and the Philippines to be exact. We are proud of all of our products and where they get built. The factories in Asia we work with provide fantastic work environments, and the highest quality goods possible. We make decisions on where to build products based on making the best quality possible and offering the highest level of service we can offer you.
Even still, our focus for growth is here in San Francisco. This month we are pleased to complete the remodeling of our own factory. We set out to first create a work environment like no other. A facility our employees are excited to work in. Plants in the production lines (with more changes to come) bring the outdoors in as much as we can. Good lighting and plenty of space were also key components in our redesign. Our newly configured lines will also increase production capacity, hopefully by 20% or more. With the improved efficiency and room for expansion we are poised to for growth. For, it is truly our hope and goals to provide even more Timbuk2 products from right here on 16th & Alabama.
Thanks.
Mike Fowler (COO), and the Factory
I just wanted to congratulate Laura for her first time on a bike in over 14 years! We road to the mission and back yesterday to get her comfortable on a bike and she did awesome! Team Bike Challenge starts today, I hope the other teams are ready because team Missing Link is going to dominate!!!
Timbuk2 has put together six teams of five to compete in 511.org’s Team Bike Challenge throughout the month of May. How does it work? Each team must log the number of days they ride on 511.org and the team with the most total days ridden at the end of May wins.
It’s no secret that Timbuk2 employs many bike enthusiasts, so naturally the competition among our six teams is quite steep. Yes, the Team Bike Challenge is about loving and protecting our (mother) earth by choosing to cycle rather than drive. But it’s also about blood, sweat, tears, and victory!
