The AIDS epidemic peaked in the mid-90s, and nowhere was this more evident than in San Francisco, where I was living at the time. I had done some volunteer work bringing meals to AIDS patients and had seen up close what the disease did to a person. By 1994 AIDS had become the leading cause of death for all Americans ages 25 to 44. 1994 was also the first year of the California AIDS Ride. Roughly 500 riders participated in the ride, which raised more than $1.6 million to fund AIDS research.

They planned to go even bigger for 1995, with over 1,500 riders expected to participate in the 525 mile ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles. The organizers put out a call to bike mechanics all over the city. On May 14, 1995 I rounded up some fellow bike mechanics from Start To Finish (where I was working at the time) and I took a truck down to the Moscone warehouse in the Marina with several Park stands.

It was a total mob scene. 1,800 cyclists flying in from all over the country, all their bikes shipped to this central location. A cyclist would find his or her bike box in the sea of boxes and then bring it to a mechanic, who would then build it while they watched. There was a pretty wide variety of bikes, but mostly road bikes and hybrids. Some weren’t in the best shape for a long ride, but we did our best to get them up and running quickly.

We built 15 to 20 bikes each. It felt great to be helping such a cool event, which went on to raise over $5 million that year.

I recently found this video online (title of the video on YouTube is wrong, it's definitely 1995 and not 1996). You can see me at the 1:35 mark in the black polo shirt and baseball cap (or anyway, I’m 90% certain that is me).



Tanqueray gin was the main sponsor, pic of an ad for the ride below.

This week's Seller Spotlight is on David Johnson! He currently has several incredible vintage bikes from his collection for sale on BikeList, including this 1955 Rotrax and this 1960s T.J. Quick!

Now for our five easy questions!

How did you get into bikes?
I have been riding bikes since I was a kid. I am now 72. I started more serious riding in the 1970's on a 10 speed Raleigh Grand Prix then moved up to a custom Raleigh USA racing bike with full Campagnolo. Twelve years ago I opened a bike shop as a side business to serve people on Iowa's High Trestle Trail. I rented and repaired bikes and built up an extensive collection of English, Italian, French and American bikes. I sold my bike building and downsized to repairs only. With a smaller space I ended up selling most of my collection. I have about a half a dozen classics left, but I am keeping a 1947 copper plated Wilier with Campy Corsa shifting and a mint condition 1974 Raleigh International with full Campy.

What bike do you ride the most?
I ride an ICE trike on the trail almost exclusively. My aging body likes the recumbent position plus I just enjoy the trike viewpoint.

What is your favorite bike ride?
I have ridden many segments of RAGBRAI over the last 40 years. My favorite ride of all time was the Eroica California a few years ago on my 1961 Hetchins. Iowa's BRR Ride in February is my current favorite. RAGBRAI has gotten too big and commercial for my tastes.

Campy or Shimano?
I prefer Campagnolo on my classics. I had a Raleigh Prestige with Suntour Superbe Pro that was excellent and I put thousands of miles on that ride. I have also used older Shimano DuraAce on an Eddy Merckx and DeRosa.

Any big plans for the next year?
I plan on to keep riding the trails in Iowa to stay in shape and meet interesting people from all over the world. I also volunteer on several committees to promote trail building and tourism.

E-bike sales were up a whopping 240% last year, but some companies have clearly grown too fast and are now faltering. Rad Power Bikes' struggles have been well publicized, and they recently announced they are pulling out of Europe. And now VanMoof has filed for insolvency in the Netherlands.

What do these companies have in common? A lot of venture capital funding, plus little in the way of bike industry knowledge or experience. The VanMoof media kit even touted their "lack of background in the bike industry."

So who is doing it right? What are the e-bike companies to watch? I'll bet on companies founded by folks who have already been successful in the bike business. Like Tern, started by the owners of Dahon folding bikes. Or Benno Bikes, launched by the founder of Electra. Both companies are building quality products that customers want, and growing at a slow and sustainable rate.

I just noticed from our Instagram feed that we've had a lot of yellow bikes and frames listed lately. And I personally have two listed right now--a Slingshot and a Bike Friday.

When I think of yellow bikes I think of Jobst Brandt's Ritchey or the classic Schwinn Heavy Duti. It's just a great color for a bike and really pops!

Check out this diverse group of yellow bikes!

1986 Specialized Rockhopper


Black Mountain Cycles Monstercross


Sarto Dinamica


Scapin road frame


Slingshot


Bike Friday

Back in February I met Larry from InsideRide at the Seattle Bike Swap, and I got a chance to demo his E-Flex Plus rocker plate. At that point I was on the verge of buying a Saris MP1 platform, but after a short demo on the E-Flex Plus, I was in love. The E-Flex Plus felt totally natural and fun, and seemed like it would solve many of my issues with stationary trainers. And there were a few things that made it immediately more appealing to me than the Saris: a lower price, a smaller form factor and lower bike height relative to the floor. And the E-Flex Plus just seemed a lot more dynamic, allowing the front of the bike to steer and lean.

There was only one problem: I had recently purchased a Zwift Hub, and the E-FLex Plus was only available for the Wahoo Kickr and Core smart trainers. Larry made me an offer: if I sent him my trainer, he’d use it to adapt the E-Flex Plus to the Zwift Hub, and send me back a new E-FLex Plus for free. It was too good a deal to pass up! A few weeks later I shipped my Zwift Hub down to Oregon. And a few weeks after that, Larry sent it back with the newly-adapted E-FLex Plus. I now had the first one in the country!

I’ve been riding it for a week now and I can tell you: it’s fantastic. This is not a full review because I don’t consider myself an expert on smart trainers or rocker plates. And, as mentioned above, I received the product for free in exchange for letting Larry have access to my Zwift Hub for a few weeks.

I’ve never really been a fan of stationary trainers. I used Kreitler rollers exclusively for the first few decades of my biking life. Rollers are much more dynamic and natural feeling. But they do require more attention. And they get kind of boring. When the first smart trainers came out I had to try them, and purchased a Tacx Neo, which seemed to be the best one at that time. I loved it, and I loved riding Zwift, but I still hated the static nature of it, and always felt like I was fighting the bike. My ass would also start hurting after 30 minutes. So I sold the Tacx and forgot about smart trainers for a while.

But then the new Zwift Hub was so affordable at $500--I had to check it out. I felt like the Zwift Hub was nearly as good as the Tacx and I liked the lower bike height relative to the floor. But it was still very static feeling and I was still uncomfortable after 30 minutes.

All this has changed with the InsideRide E-Flex. I rode for an hour yesterday (around Lago di Garda in Italy via Rouvy–more on Rouvy later). I don’t remember the last time I rode on a trainer for more than 30 ro 40 minutes. I got used to the motion of the E-Flex immediately, and no longer feel like I’m fighting the bike. My core is engaged and overall it’s just a lot more natural feeling, a lot more comfortable and a lot more fun.

Want one for yourself? The E-Flex Plus for Zwift Hub is now available to purchase on BikeList, directly from InsideRide! Just $595!

Be sure to note the warning from InsideRide:

NOTE: Due to the realism of the PLUS system, it may not be a perfect fit for all riders. Motion platforms require active balance to ride, which takes practice if you have spent a lot of time on rigid trainers. Before you purchase, consider if you are willing to make the transition to a naturally balanced system.

If you mostly ride a bike outside, have good bike handling skills, or are used to rollers, the E-Flex should be great. But if you do all your riding on a static bike trainer, or have balance issues, it may not be right for you.

@bikelist Watch Larry demo the @insideride E-Flex trainer, which is integrated with the Wahoo Kickr. Larry invented this cool system to make days on the trainer more natural, more comfortable and more fun. I got to try it and loved it. I was leaning toward getting the Sarris platform but now I think I want this instead. Seems much more dynamic. Plus it’s got a smaller form factor and the bike remains at a natural height relative to the ground. I plan to talk to Larry more about how to get it integrated with the Zwift Hub. #insideride #zwift #wahoo #wahookickr #bike #bikel ♬ original sound - BikeList

Instagram launched its new social network called Threads just moments ago and we jumped on it and got posting! Threads is a lot like Twitter, but with less Elon. A quick search shows not many bike websites on there yet (hi Seattle Bike Blog!). Let's change that. You can find us at https://threads.net/@bikelist_

It's getting tough out there--especially for brands not part of the Trek/Specialized/Giant/PON monoliths--and employees of Kona's flagship Bellingham store found out the hard way when the store was closed suddenly at the end of May.

From Bicycle Retailer:

Kona was purchased from its founders in January 2022 by Kent Outdoors, an Ohio-based outdoor sports group that also owns Arbor Snowboards and the O'Brien watersports brand, among others. Kent Outdoors — no relation to the New Jersey-based bike maker Kent International — is owned by a Boston-based private equity firm, Seawall Capital.

After being led for a third of a century by its charismatic founders Jacob Heilbron, Dan Gerhard, and Jimbo Holmstrom, many retailers are suspicious of the brand's new ownership.

Kona has been trying to develop a new DTC strategy to better compete with the big brands, but independent dealers so far have not been happy about it. Let's hope Kent Outdoors can turn things around.

Full story at Bicycle Retailer

Shop Kona bikes on BikeList!

I saw the new Greg LeMond documentary last night: The Last Rider. Here are some quick notes (not a full or formal review).

It doesn’t bring anything new to light that LeMond fans won’t know already. It may be good for new audiences, though.

Like the film Slaying the Badger, which bent over backwards to make Hinault “the bad guy,” I’d say The Last Rider works too hard to paint Fignon as the villain.

Greg’s last time trial performance in the '89 Tour was amazing. He got back almost a minute on Fignon and won by the slimmest margin ever. But it has been well documented that this was largely due to his use of the Scott aero bars. From Wikipedia: "A November 1989 Bicycling article, supported by wind-tunnel data, estimated that LeMond may have gained one minute on Fignon through the use of the new aerobars." There is virtually no mention of this in the film.

The theme of the film is “trauma” and there is a lot of focus LeMond’s past as a sexual abuse survivor, and then the 1987 hunting accident.

Doping is painted in a very black and white way, and there is even a little dig at Lance at the end. But Pedro Delgago is one of the main narrators of the film, and there is no mention of Delgado testing positive for the known masking agent Probenecid during the 1988 Tour.

Here’s a longer review that I mostly agree with. If you haven’t seen it, I’d wait til you can stream it somewhere for free.

Meanwhile, I want to read the Fignon book and learn his side of the story.

Have you seen it? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!

Shop LeMond bikes on BikeList!

The 110th edition of the tour starts on Saturday, and the website Rouleur asks “How Sustainable is the Tour de France?”

“Cycling, we all know, is going to help save the world, but only if professional cycling doesn’t ruin it first. The Tour de France, and professional cycling, is so bad for the environment that comparing it to the important and beneficial movement of encouraging cycling and active travel in our cities is like looking at two completely different things.”

I would agree that the Tour probably has a larger carbon footprint than the Super Bowl, NASCAR and Burning Man combined. But let’s leave racing aside, how green and sustainable is cycling in general?

People in the bike industry love patting themselves on the back for being environmentally conscious. And sure, we all love nature. But is the bike industry really that green? With planned obsolescence, increased use of carbon fiber, and the trend toward the electrification of everything? I know that my newer 11-speed drivetrains are not gonna hold up as long as my 8-speed drivetrains. And nowadays most of the bike manufacturing is done out of sight out of mind in China, and who knows what the practices are like over there. Not that everything was so great “back in the day,” either. I remember in the early 90s when Klein got a heavy fine from the State of Washington for dumping paint in the river.

Here in Bellingham, Washington, where most of the great trails are literally within a mile or two of downtown, most people still choose to drive to the trails. And many of those riders shuttle to the top, too. Meanwhile road cyclists increasingly use their cars to transport their bikes farther away from–you guessed it–cars.

I’m not innocent, either. Other than maybe tires, chains, tubes and lube, I have enough bike stuff in my house to last me several lifetimes. But I’m guilty of buying new stuff, too! I want a new dropper post. And that new Shimano GRX stuff is HOT!!!

There are some ways that cycling is truly green and helps build a better future:

 • E-bikes are increasingly being used as car replacements.
 • Local bike co-ops and non-profits do a terrific job of repurposing, reconditioning and recycling. Please support them!
 • Recommerce sites like BikeList, eBay and PinkBike help motivate people to get those old bikes out of the garage and into the hands of people who will actually use them.
 •  Companies like Time and Chris King are making serious efforts to work on sustainability.
 • There’s even some hope on tire recycling!

So yes, I still think bikes can be fairly green. The WorldTour? Not so much.

Did I wake up on the wrong side of the bed? Am I being too harsh? Let me know in the comments!

Photo credit: Dan Cavallari

We've seen a recent increase in scammers sending private messages to BikeList sellers. They usually provide their phone number and ask for the seller to text them. This is a marketplace scam used to dupe sellers into helping the scammers get a Google Voice number set up using the seller's identity.

More information can be found from this local Boston news station's article or directly from the FTC.

If you receive one of these messages, contact us ASAP and we'll disable the user's account. If you see an account with the word "scam" in it, we've already disabled it and put that label on it. :)