Swobo to market bike line; hires former Bianchi boss

A respondent to the blog asked: "Are these yet to be made bikes going to be made in the USA by passionate cyclists or made in Taiwan by human robots?"

Parr replied: "I think the brazing will be done by C3PO, and the assembly by R2D2… That way we get the Passionate/Human/Robot/USA thing all in the same package. But to answer your question, no, we’re not going to do the small frame builder thing with this project."

The bikes will be produced starting spring 2007.

"As you might imagine Swobo bikes won’t be just any bikes," said Parr.

"We will be injecting the same performance design vibe that guides our apparel designs into our bike designs.We want a bike that will create a quantum shift in the way that young, urban dwellers think of bikes. Throwing your leg over a bike has got to be made ‘cool’…for a lack of any better word. We want to make the bicycle an article of personal expression….like clothes are."

But Parr admitted he didn’t "know shit about designing bikes."

Hence the new MD. "In order for us to successfully realize our visions, we have hired the best person available to guide our bike efforts: Sky Yaeger," said Parr.

Yaeger previously worked on Bianchi North America’s product development.

In the spoof press conference, she said:

"To launch the concept, we will work with select retail partners that we consider solid IBDs with the right mix of customers, as well as incorporate a pretty aggressive online sales model. We hope to initially seed the products and brand through these controlled channels and then expand from there."

Parr said the bikes "will be more technical and performance-oriented than beach cruisers. Think tech, urban, bike, skateboard, cocktails, iPod…Ron Burgundy.

"Swobo street bikes will be driven by design. We see an opportunity to take bikes into what some would consider a more mainstream market, and we’re going to do it from a different angle, a different tact than has been taken before. We don’t know what it will look like, yet. But we know how to find out."

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