The word Provolution is a word that was sometimes used in black churches. It simply means 'Taking the best of the past and bringing it forward into the present and carrying that ideal into the future.' Many other industries do this when designing product. Yet, the bicycle industry seems not to be in step with this. The are many challenges when designing bicyles, but going forward into the future, they are going to have to step up to the plate. There are bicycle design competitions all over the world. I recently saw the 2nd place winner in the Tiawanese design competition held every year. The bike was called 'Wild Buffalo'. This design was HOOTTT! That being said, in the market right now, it was totally impractical for mass production.

If you are wondering where I am going with this, the term Provolution applies. Bringing the best of the past forward into the present requires not that some designer comes up with a new hand brake system, or for design, those things are basic and there are only so many variations of them you can use. The good news is that when one focuses on the young adult, kid and junior bicycle market, kids don't care about innovative design, they care about whether they like their bikes and can they have fun on them! I challenge any of you with children to relay a story to me when you took your child to get a bike and they said "Well mom and\or dad, I really don't like the braking system on this bike and the rear wheel base is 2 inches to short for my taste." I raised two kids and I never heard any of that from them. It is about asthetics to them!

When they look at the bike, will they get excited, or will they say "I wish you would have bought me a video game instead." My next post will deal with the biggest enemy of the bicycle industry today (Video Games and gaming systems). Let those of us who love bicycles and like to design them keep the thought of 'Provolution' on our minds and I promise, the industry will sit up and take notice!

This post is going to deal with a simple question posed by one of my readers. At the top of my blog is the logo I will use on many of my bicycle designs except for my line of Urban Choppers called 'Bindian'. Some of you have said 'That head badge can't go on your neck tubing, it won't fit because it is a flat logo and the tubing is round.' Readers- who said that neck tubing even has to be round? What if someone totally bypassed the whole neck tubing design thought process and was more 'Stem Functional'?To get all of your creative juices flowing, and I hate to do this, but I will answer that question with a question and doing so is never more appropriate than now! Who said that my logo is even going to go on the neck tube? When did I ever state that my logo is going to serve the function of a head badge? I will start off with a very short answer to the 1st question. Just because that is what everyone else does with their logos and head badges, it doesn't make it right or wrong, it is just what they do because they don't know any better, or in the case of designers working for companies such as Pacific Cycle or Huffy, their hands have been shackled and their creativity stifled.

When thinking about the branding on my bicycles, what is important is that they present as much as 'RYDZ' as they do a bicycle. That will require mixing in the best of car design while staying true to the tenants of great bicycle design. I am unable to accurately paint the picture to you of what this will look like but as 'Old Folks' used to say when I was growing up 'I'm gonna show you better than I can tell you.' Imagine this very logo sprawled across the top tubing, centered, and 'Iced Out'! Close your eyes and marvel at this 'Iced Out' logo mounted on a thin strip of aluminum connecting the right and left side of handle bars appearing as hood ornaments do on cars......Can't give you anymore than that right now because I feel you freaking out already.
As a great orator once said when presenting his case for freedom 'Not only that!' I am going to give you, my consumer, a web purchasing experience never before conceived of since the World Wide Web was conceived! What if when you went to my website, I could actually show you what you would look like on Marshall Taylor RYDZ?......Chew on that for awhile......and imagine!