Anthropologie Bike

[Moveitfred]

Thought some of you might be interested in this, both for the bikes and the context of the presentation.

Over lunch today, my wife (aka, standard American catalog consumer) passed across the table her holiday gift catalog from Anthropologie with a page open for me to see. Among the photographs of gaunt models shouldering lacey garments was a page displaying a "grocer's bicycle (http://www.anthropologie.com/jump.jsp?itemID=14270&itemType=PRODUCT&crawl=4)" for sale. The bike is a Pashley (http://www.pashley.co.uk/index.php) model from England.

The Pashley site has quite a collection of various utility bicycles. I'd be interested to know 1) how many "units" were moved through the Anthropologie catalog this holiday season and 2) the demographic of the buyer and receiver of this gift.

For some additional context, here's a pair of Figgy Puddings (http://www.anthropologie.com/jump.jsp?itemID=14163&itemType=PRODUCT&crawl=4) one can purchase from Anthropologie for about the price of a Campy carbon crank.

[Serpico]

http://www.pashley.co.uk/products/tsr8.html

[manet]

http://www.pashley.co.uk/products/tsr8.html

deerfield... let's see if stevep approves.

[edouard]

deerfield... let's see if stevep approves.

what's he charging nowadays for just thinking about something

[ti_boi]

I really like that bike...I have an old Armstrong from the U.K. that I would love to modify to accomodate a basket that large....two smalls dogs could fit nicely in there along with pillows...... :beer:

[Kevan]

you'll be out of the saddle just to get over speed bumps.

[Fat Robert]

two grand for that ?

[djg]

two grand for that ?

I can sell you something just as good for 1800--call me.

It's a strange looking thing and a mighty pricey experiment from the perspective of this guy's wallet. I'm all for alternative bicycle design and construction and usage that is functional, even if its pretty well removed from the sport of cycling. I think that some of the ANT designs are cool, for instance. But the basket just looks too high and too large to work in a decent way. The stand is a good idea--you don't want it tipping over while you set your groceries in the basket--but when the stand folds up (I assume it must for riding) you'll have a huge load hanging off the bars. The basket itself looks pretty hefty and it looks like it will take 40-50 pounds or more of groceries without a problem. That's weight carried high and far-forward of what would otherwise be the center of gravity. So then how do you ride the thing? Very, very carefully? I've seen folks at the grocery store with panniers and I've seen folks with bob trailers and both seem way better solutions for carrying a load of stuff (and either can be attached to an extant bike, or a new one, for much less money than 2k).

Maybe I'm just too hung-up on the price. This could be a well-made thing, for all I know, and if the deign is functional then the aesthetics are worth what someone wants to pay. Based on nothing more than a photo and a quick look, though, I find myself really wondering about the basic functionality of the thing. I wouldn't buy it at half the price, but to each his or her own.