We have been having a blast this summer attending many of Vancouver’s bicycle events: bike to work week (VACC), bike month (BEST), critical mass rides, the Velo-City exhibit at the Museum of Vancouver, Commercial Drive Car-free Days and the opening of the Central Valley Greenway. Now it’s our turn…Bikes on the Drive has decided to organize some fun of our own!

When Robert first joined our team, as web designer extraordinaire, in the early summer we knew he was quite the coffee aficionado. But what we grew to learn about coffee and what Robert grew to learn about The Tree had a lot in common with each other.

One day over a couple of americanos Robert and I had this coffee tour idea that was done exclusively by bike. We hit a few coffee shops on Commercial Drive and then take the 10th avenue bike route to Main Street and finish up just off Broadway.

Both Robert and I thought this would be a great way to do some education and advocacy of coffee, showcase some excellent roasters, cool cafes and a great commuter bike.

Will be meeting outside Bikes on the Drive on the morning of Saturday July 11th and if you arrived with a flat will be able to fix any small problems you might have to get the tour underway.

Here are the Details:

The East Van Biking Coffee Tour

Sponsored by: Bikes on the Drive & Vancouver Indy Coffee Scene
Meet: 10:30 am at Bikes on the Drive 1350 Commercial Drive ~ Rain or Shine.
Day: Saturday July 11, 2009
Cost: Your choice of coffee beverage at cafes we will go to.
Distance Travelled: 9.5 kilometers
Finishing around: 2:00 pm give or take time taken at cafes.

Will have some funky door prizes at the last cafe and hope you can attend.

Category: News

Tags: bicycle, car free, coffee, commercial drive, culture, Tree bike

We at Bikes on the Drive had a very special event last Sunday, June 20th. Fawzia Ahmad of Canopy (formerly Markets Initiative) came to give a product knowledge session about her organization.
She came in to our regular Sunday staff meeting to talk about the mission of Canopy and how their mission coincides with what we are doing with The Tree.

Canopy has been a driving force in lobbying book, magazine and newspaper publishers to change from paper printed on old growth forest to post consumer paper product. Throughout our product knowledge session we found out that Canopy was behind the Canadian printing of Harry Potter series on Ancient Forest Friendly paper.

What does Harry Potter have to do with The Tree?

Well, we think The Tree is a pretty magical, but really, both are more sustainable products that were designed and implemented to improve and inform consumers of a more sustainable culture. With this being said, Bikes on the Drive is donating a portion of all Tree sales to further Canopy’s mission.

They have also been successful with newspapers too. Just last week The Globe and Mail committed to using Ancient Forest Friendly paper in the printing of their daily newspaper in plants across Canada. With the success of such successful campaigns, Markets Initiative decided to re-brand itself as Canopy and with the new name they decided to hold a bike scavenger hunt, and here are a few details:

The Great Paper Chase

• has been canceled. We at Bikes on the Drive look forward to the event in 201o

Well when we heard about this the entire staff wanted to drop everything and go!  Unfortunately for some of us we do have to keep the shop open, but we will certainly be sending a team of Tree-wheeling scavengers to take part.

Free for Tree’s

ilan did one better – for anyone who has purchased The Tree this summer, Bikes on the Drive will pay your entry fee to this event. This is our way of saying Thank You for making this first year of The Tree a success.  If you have purchased a Bikes on the Drive Tree from us this summer and you want to attend a scavenger hunt along with a wicked BBQ, here is your chance!

Not wanting to be out done by ilan, Autumn then suggested the staff donate our July tips to Canopy and with a unanimous raising of hands the deal was done. The product knowledge session ended with a round of applause, which by all accounts was a first in the history of our shop.

Test Ride

Fawzia then took out a Tree for a test ride.  She was used to riding an old heavy mountain bike and living in the heights of Burnaby she detested the hills on the ride home. But with one test ride, and a couple of hills under her belt, she liked our bike and decided to purchase one herself! She has been biking to work ever since.

We will be working more with Canopy in the months and years to come and we hope it fits as well as the Brookes saddle Fawzia likes so much.

You can read more about Fawzia’s little investment on the Canopy blog. Here is a excerpt.

I became aware of Bikes on the Drive’s new creation – The Tree – for some time now.  The first time I saw it in the shop I thought what a sensible bike – not flashy- but it stood for values that I believe in.  It’s a sustainable bike and that was enough to turn my eye.   Every time I walked by the shop for the past month or so I stopped and looked at it.  Did I fall in love with it at first sight?  No.  But the more I learned about it the more I wanted to give it a try. ~ Fawzia Ahmad ~

Category: News

Tags: Advocacy, bicycle, branding, charity, commercial drive, recycling, sustainable, Tree bike

Bikes on the Drive woke up early on Sunday morning and we hit the streets like a bunch of guerillas and a few tree stencils and a bunch of green chalk.

One of our new employees Cam Macleod was given the task of stenciling over 100 tree symbols all over The Drive for Car Free Days. Cam has a bit of a marketing background and was up to the task.

It was quite the community effort with my next door neighbor Andy Hurcum building the plywood stencils for me it was a lot better the the cardboard contraptions I had made.

Cam and I had tons of fun stenciling trees all over The Drive.  There were lots of questions about The Tree while we were out and about. We talked and chalked and had tons O’fun.

Once we ran out of green chalk we decided to call it a morning and head back to the shop to help open up.

We set up out booth with a couple of nutcase helmets some Chain J and our beloved Tree.

By the time we had set up shop and grabbed our second cup of joe for the morning, it was time to give away our second Tree of the summer. We shut down the shop for 15 minutes and joined the party on the street ilan gave a talk about why we put our time and resources into the The Tree.

During ilan’s little bike evangelism we amassed quite the crowd of people. It was really nice to capture the attention of the drive community on one of the biggest days of the year.

The draw was made and we are pleased to announce that Deepak Vyas you are the winner of a Bikes on the Drive Tree by Devinci.

Other area’s of interest we wanted to make note of:
Instead of commuting to work why not just bring work with you, Driven by Profit won hands downs for the most unique use of a boardroom table ever. We just not sure commuting on top of a boardroom table is the most sensible and eco-friendly way to commute. But guaranteed you’ll never be late for your next meeting.	Driven by Profit mobile board room
The free hugs girl outside Bikes on the Drive who gave well over 1000 people hugs that day.	Free Hugs Girl
The mimes (Victorian era ?), They were just amazingly awesome to watch and how they interacted as they strolled down the drive.	Mimes on the Drive
Our friends on eight wheels instead of two at the roller disco on Graveley St. They were really kicking the tunes and looked like they were having a great time.	Roller Disco on Graveley St

Also did you enjoy car free days? Well if you did you should let your mayor and counsel know.  Drop them a line I am sure they would love hearing some positive feedback from the days events.

Category: Advocacy, Events, News

Tags: Advocacy, bike evangelism, car free, celebration, charity, commercial drive, culture, draw, guerillas

Ahh Car Free Days, Who doesn’t love when they close down the drive to motor vehicle traffic and open up the streets to entertainers, street vendors and community groups.

We at Bikes on the Drive will be giving away one of our Tree commuter hybrid bicycles. And you can either fill out a entry form in shop  or download the entry form at bikemonth.ca and drop it off at the shop, 630 Commercial Drive, before 6:45 PM on June 13, 2009.

The draw will take place at Bikes on the Drive at 12 Noon, June 14, 2009.

Along with the fab-tree give away we will have a table out front that might have a few specials for you to gander at and one of us will be out their talking about the Tree.

See for us The Tree is more then just a bike we sell it is about the ideology of what we see in a new urban commuter for Vancouver and being the advocates of sustainable culture that we are we’d really like talking about it. (Were total bike geeks, but you knew that)

So we hope you’ll stop by the shop amongst the Old School Roller Disco, knittervention, and street hockey and I what I am sure will be day full of merry mayhem (car free of course).

Category: Events, News

Tags: Advocacy, car free, commercial drive, sustainable, Tree bike

Our major goals at Bikes on the Drive (BOTD) is advocacy, education and awareness of bike commuting, bike culture and overall community building in the East Vancouver community itself. For any business owner it just makes sense to be an active, contributing member of the local community.

One way that we do this is through supporting Global Agents for Change. This registered non-profit was founded in January 2007 by a group of young professionals, university students and social change agents from Vancouver, Canada.

During one of the many conversations ilan has with his customers, he heard about Global AFC in 2007. Being the sociable and knowledgeable guy that ilan is, (yes he did pay me to say that), ilan offered some tour consulting to new riders who might be going down in the group.

“I invited the senior people of the group down to the shop and I gave them the full run down on touring bikes; The challenges people have with bags, peddles, shoes, living out of a bike for a month,”

What we found out was that it was the first time they were given this type of knowledge and information, which you really only find out by doing or talking to someone who has.

The result was that they booked the entire team of riders to come in and talk with ilan.

It was also a complete coincidence for ilan, a former financial planner who dealt in-risk management and lending and now manages  BOTD, to find a charity that dealt in touring, cycling and microcredit lending to break the cycle of poverty in developing and third world countries. It’s a good fit to say the least.

Since that time we have offered both education for riders on repairs and maintenance of their bikes while on a trip, along with a safety briefing and equipment knowledge.

The shop also sells gear to the riders at cost to the shop.

“We had sold really strong touring packages worth up to $3,000 for $1,800 and donating all the labour associated with bikes and components,” said ilan.

With both a Mexico and European tour with a total of 71 riders, the shop was a little packed this spring and the boys (and Jaimie) were a little busy in preparing a number of bikes for the trip.

Two additional things happened this year: One with the launch of The Tree commuting and touring cycle first aid attendant, Agent Bugsy Delesalle purchased one of the first BOTD Tree by Devinci after talking with Autumn, and had it loaded for bare as she left Vancouver for Mexico: Two, ilan had gone a step further and approached the supplier and manufacturers of components and equipment for the BOTD and told them about Global AFG. As a result Brodie, Arkel, Avid, Tubus and Shimano either offered at cost or at a discount on top of whatever BOTD was offering the riders.

And while according to the official Global AFC blog, Bugsy offically hates hills. Apparently she is doing fine and heading to Seattle as we speak.

Category: Advocacy, Events

Tags: Advocacy, Agent for Change, bicycle, Canadian, charity, commercial drive, Devinci, Global, microcredit, non-profit, sustainable, touring, Tree bike