Upcoming Event!

Kick-off tour for Jon Watts

Cruiser Ride and

Cycle 9 Open House

Hey all – wanted to announce this cool upcoming event at Cycle 9. Late last fall I got a visit from Jon Watts. He is a spoken word/music artist and was going on tour in the spring, but wanted to do by bike instead of car or train. He had found our shop and came to test ride our longtail bikes – the perfect setups for him to carry his guitar, amp, and other items he’ll need on the trip. I spent some time talking to him and listening to his music and found him to be a very interesting and spiritual person who was serious about his music, but also serious about living out his ideals. Thus, the bike tour.

So we decided to sponsor his trip via Xtracycle Radish, from Richmond to Boston. As a kick-off, he’s giving a show here in Carrboro and we’re having some other fun stuff to go along with it. You can find links to Jon’s website and music samples below. And here are the particulars of the kick off event:

Friday, March 19th

Cruiser Bike Ride, starts at 6PM at Cycle 9. Open to all levels and ages! We’ll cruise around Carrboro and Chapel Hill for about an hour, just for FUN.

Jon will perform at the Looking Glass next door starting at 8PM

We’ll have an Open House at Cycle 9 from 7-9 for anyone wanting to check out the bikes.

Jon Watts is a Quaker spoken word poet, guitarist and producer. The Radish is a longtail cargo bicycle that Jon is loading up with gear and riding from Richmond to Boston on the 2010 Two Wheel Tour.

See Photos of Jon and his Radish

Read his blog entry on why he’s decided to bike this one

Jon lived in Carrboro for the last year and a half before moving back to his native Richmond, VA. He is excited to be back and celebrating the beginning of his ambitious tour with the bike shop that has been so supportive. The public is invited to join us in an hour-long cruiser ride around town (to meet at Cycle 9 at 6pm) before settling to hear some music and see some sweet bikes just next door to Cycle 9 at the Looking Glass Cafe.

Jon’s music has been described as:

“Amazingly Fresh.” – Niyonu Spann, leader of Philadelphia based Tribe One
“Deeply Moving.” – Max Carter, Director of Friends Center at Guilford College
and
“Remarkably Original.” – Chuck Fager, The Journal of Quakers in the Arts

Read more testimonials

Check out the music at
www.jonwatts.com

At Cycle 9, you’ll find kids bikes for ages 2 through first adult bikes.

For your littlest riders, ages 2-5, we carry Balance Bikes by Kazam. What’s a balance bike? This is a short little bike that has no pedals. Your toddler sits on the seat and walks along, holding onto the handlebars. The advantage of this is they learn how to balance the bike in an upright position. As they get a little older, they can run along and cruise on the bike while picking their feet up off the ground. They get the idea of balancing right from the beginning without training wheels, and then add pedaling skill later.

Kazam balance bike

For 4-6 years old, the 16″ wheel bike is the way to go. We have bikes from Marin bike company in this category. They come with training wheels installed which can be removed once they aren’t needed anymore.

Marin Kids Bike 16"

From there, it’s leg length that determines how quickly they move up in sizes. We have 20″ wheel bikes in a mountain bike or beach cruiser style, and 24″ bikes in a mountain bike style. The 24″ bike will last until they reach their teenage growth spurts, at which point, they’ll be needing a bike with 26″ wheels, the standard wheel size for most mountain bikes. When they get to this point, look for a bike in a small frame size with adjustable seat post and handlebars to get the most years out of the bike.

The bike designs change a bit from year to year, but here are some photos of the bikes.

Kids Beach Cruiser

Marin Hidden Canyon Kids Bike

Another reason to buy a Kids bike from Cycle 9 is our Trade-Up Program. Get up to 50% of the value of the bike towards the next size up. Read more about it under our “Why Shop Cycle 9” tab.

You may have heard of an electric bike before and asked yourself, “what the heck?”

I must admit, it sounds like an odd contraption, adding an electric motor to a bike.

If you are like most people, when you first heard of it, you may have had a reaction of “I don’t need that, I wouldn’t get exercise.”  Or “it would be cheating.”  Or “people would think I’m wimping out.”

I had a reaction like that the first time I heard about them, way back in the early 90’s.  But then the idea wouldn’t leave my mind.  I eventually called up to order one, because I thought it would be nice to have a bit of extra help in my every day commute.  Plus I like trying bleeding edge contraptions.

And I was most surprised by one thing: how fun it was.  Once I was on the bike cruising around with a human-electric hybrid, I quickly lost the notion that it was an odd contraption.  I really liked it.

The thing I realized is that it was so fun that it encouraged me to bike more often.  I started biking lots of places instead of driving, because the bike had become so much more fun.  Especially in the hills.

Many people who come in the shop have the same reaction as my first one (and perhaps yours): what the heck?

But for those that overcome the reaction and try one out, they almost always come back from their first e-bike ride with a big smile on the face.  It is a transformational experience.

I don’t know what it is.  It is more than a decade later, and I still have trouble explaining why it is so fun.  It just is.

Maybe it is because I can readily cruise up the hills, even if I’m tired or it is hot outside.

Maybe it is because I feel like a much stronger biker (sort of like being bionic).

Like you may have, sometimes I’ve wondered whether I get enough exercise.  But I can spend months only riding the electric bike (no gym, no other exercise to speak of), then get on my road bike and ride very fast.  I seem to stay in good shape.

I know a lady who bought an e-bike kit to put on her bike, and enjoyed it so much that she rode every day, loosing 80 lbs.  She must have been getting some exercise.

It seems to encourage me and many others to ride their bikes so much more, that we get a lot more exercise than we would otherwise.

When you buy a car, do you look for the most spartan, uncomfortable car possible?  Or do you go for a car that will transport you around with plenty of power and in comfort?  If you are like me, you prefer having a bit of power and comfort.

But people are funny.  When it comes to buying bikes, I encounter many people who think they should buy a bike that forces them to work hard all the time.  Maybe that’s why a lot of those bikes sit in the garage unused.  If you have to work hard every time you get on the bike, you might not be so inclined to use it.

But if it is always fun to use, you might be more likely to use it.

That’s why I think electric bikes are great.

If you are someone who goes out and rides 50+ miles on your bike on the weekends for fun, you don’t need an electric bike.  But if you think that 10 miles is a long distance to go on a bike, then you may be the perfect candidate for an electric bike or hub motor kit.

Electric bikes

Electric bikes are made from the start to incorporate the electric features.  The main difference from a regular bike is that they usually have a spot for a built-in, lockable battery, like on this bike:

That’s the battery behind and under the seat.  Looking at this bike, you might not have even realized that it was electric.

You can control the power with a throttle on the handlebar.  If you just want to pedal, you can leave the throttle in the off position.  If you want full power, you just twist the throttle all the way.  If you want just a bit of power, you twist it a bit.  You can use any combination of pedaling and/or motor power that you want.

Electric hub motor kits

Electric hub motor kits are meant to be added onto your own bike.  They come in front wheel and rear wheel versions.  They are great if you already have a bike that you like, but want it to be electric.  The work just like a regular electric bike after installation, with the same kind of throttle activation.  You can still ride it just like your bike, or you can turbocharge your ride using the throttle.

With either the electric bike or the e-bike kit, when you get to your home or office, you just plug in the battery for a charge.  It only costs 1 to 2 cents to charge up, and usually takes about 3-4 hours.

Most of these can go around 20 miles per charge, though if you like to pedal a lot, you’ll probably get more than that.  If you’re really not into the pedaling thing all that much, then you might get just 17-20 miles.  That’s still a pretty good distance.

If you’d like to check out some of our offerings, you can have a look at our pre-made electric bikes in our online store.  Or if you are more interested in an electric bike conversion, have a look at our electric bike kits here.

Get free minor tune ups for the life of your bike!

Buy any bike from Cycle 9’s Carrboro/Chapel Hill location, and you can bring it in for free minor tune ups/adjustments for as long as you own the bike. This is a $25 value on each visit!

If you choose to have a major tune-up instead, you’ll get a $25 discount on labor from that, any time!

So buy your bike from Cycle 9 with confidence that you can bring it back and we’ll get it humming quickly, any time.

The discount applies to labor, parts excluded.

In June, Cycle 9, along with the other bike shops in Chapel Hill and Carrboro, won an award for working together to promote bicycle transportation as an alternative to cars. The award reads: