We're two inventors working away in a sweet little workshop in Berkeley, California, pushing the limits of party bike culture. Our dream is to help spread the spirit of the bike into the broader culture by organizing, entertaining, inspiring, and educating people, young and old, and by inventing new accessories and customizing bikes to help our customers spread the message in their communities. The bike is about so much more than transportation or environmentalism or physical fitness. It's about bringing the element of magic into our communities. You can't ride a bike and not be part of a community. We hope that our inventions and outreach efforts help more people experience this magic.
We're developing a new school of bicycle advocacy, working off of the old writer's adage "Show, don't tell." If you want more people in your community to ride bikes, then get out their and make it look fun, cool, and sexy. We make bikes that make die-hard car people want to ride bikes. We get pulled over by cops when we're riding. Not because we've done anything wrong. They just want to know where we got our bikes. The 'sex appeal school of bike advocacy' is not about guilt-tripping and alienating people. It's about shining our light brightly and spreading a positive message in the community.
Take a look at some of the achievements made by the Rock The Bike team over the last few years.
1. Media coverage in the New York Times, BBC1 (Europe's largest television network), MTV, The San Francisco Chronicle, Mountain Bike Action, Velovision, BRAIN (the largest bicycle industry trade magazine) among others.
2. Developed high-performance bicycle blenders in use by leaders in the restaurant and cafe business.
3. Invented and marketed the Down Low Glow, the only safety product bicyclists can't wait to use. Says Peter Eland, editor of Britain's Velovision Magazine:
"A red carpet rolls out under the bike, easily visible under streetlights but stunning on unlit roads or paths. As well as making you more visible -- and boy does it do that -- there's a feeling that it's defining your personal space on the street. The extents of the red glow, easily a metre or more each side, give passing motorists a clear idea of your territory. I never got cut up riding with the Glow."
4. Set the unofficial World Record for smoothies blended by bicycle in a 1-hour, 1-day, and 2-day period (60, 320, and 540 smoothies, respectively.) Record set at the Juice Pedaler booth at the 2005 Whole Earth Festival in Davis, California.
5. Recognized as experts in bicycle-based hi-fi and PA systems (i.e. Soul Cycles) for playing clean powerful, upliftiving music at street festivals and off-grid parties. We have demonstrated the Soul Cycle mobile party at San Francisco's Stern Grove Concert Series, San Francisco July 4th celebration, KFOG Kaboom, Shrimpfest Music Festival, Marin Biketoberfest, Sausalito Street Fair, Whole Earth Festival, Harmony Festival, and San Francisco's Castro Halloween Street Party.
6. Led human-power demonstrations for the Berkeley Public Schools, numerous summer camps and festivals.
Rock the Bike began as a partnership between Fossil Fool (Paul Freedman) and the Juice Peddler (Nate Byerley). We're Berkeley bike entrepreneurs who have been sharing workshop space, and volunteering for Worldbike together since 2002.