Bike Friday is more than a family business for the Scholzes.
That’s because cycling is part of the fabric of their lives.
Alan Scholz, the co-founder of Bike Friday, cracks a wide smile when he thinks about today’s cutting-edge cycling publications that are geared toward young families. Magazines like Momentum and Bicycle Times.
These are the kids who grew up in Burley Trailers, says Alan, the man who designed the Burley Trailer in the ’80s to transport his daughter Hanna as they lived a car-free life.
Now they have kids of their own, and they have cycling in their blood. It’s part of their life and they want it to remain part of their lives and their children’s lives.
While Bike Friday has built an international reputation with its travel and folding bicycles, tandems always have held a special place in the company’s DNA.
When Alan and his brother Hanz decided to try their hand at designing bicycles, their first creation was the Burley Duet Tandem.
The brother duo raced tandems, and put their designs to the ultimate stress test.
That knowledge is built into every Bike Friday tandem.
All Bike Friday tandems break down and fit into two TravelCases for air travel.
And the Bike Friday Two’sDay folds to conveniently fit in the trunk of most sedans or the back of an SUV.
There is great utility in our tandems, Alan says. But more than anything, they are built to be legacy tandems. They are built to last and to be handed down from generation to generation.
When Alan’s youngest daughter, Sarah, came along, Alan designed the Bike Friday Family Tandem. He quickly learned the magic of a tandem.
Sarah was only four years old and we had it under the tree for Christmas, Alan remembers, noting that the stoker seat was set for a child, one of the benefits a Bike Friday tandem can offer. When we came out, she was already sitting on the stoker. Even a young child can see it’s right for her.
The Bike Friday Tandem XL Select is set up as a great mix of components to give you the best ride at the best price.
Tandems are a Family Affair at Bike Friday.
One Response
After being married for over 27 years and owning a tandem for 26 – I can attest to the bonding power of a ‘bicycle built for two’. Our first years of marriage without children saw lots of riding on an old, 5-speed tandem. We talked, shared experiences and enjoyed riding as hard or as little as we liked together and never got separated on a trail. When children came along, we added a Burley D-Lite trailer and proceeded to wear it out over four children and 12 years of use. When the children moved on to their own bikes, we have upgraded to a Family Tandem. Now it goes where we go in town and when traveling. It’s been an awesome bike and we still get lots of looks as we ride the bike “with the funny little wheels” past children, teenagers and adults. It’s been a delight to ride and Bike Friday has truly made themselves our sole source supplier by the bend-over-backwards attitude! Keep it up!