For the most part, we feel that keeping a pulse on the latest trends / ideas / influences in the bike industry is an important part of operating a niche business in the cycling world. Thankfully, cyclist seem to be especially “gifted” when it comes to blogging, vlogging, tweeting, Book Facing, and just about every other form of social media*.

Especially during the past week, there is a recurring theme recurring throughout the blogosphere. It is not a new topic, but one that has made a few rounds already. Maybe we have just picked up this viral train of thought at its zenith, or maybe our own thoughts have been along the same stream of consciousness, but for whatever reason, it feels different this time.

Recommended reading from ’round the Interwebs (and note the posting dates):

• Rick Vosper’s What the Bike Business is Coming To — The Bicycle Retailer Interview Reloaded: A Five-Point Manifesto — 10/06/09
• Bike Snob NYC — The Irrelevancy of Time: Bicycle Products Don’t Spoil — 10/20/09
• Steve Can Plan — Making Cycling Normal (series) — 11/01/09
• Let’s Go Ride a Bike — Marketing the Simple Bicycling Lifestyle — 11/02/09
• Mike Flanigan’s antbikemike — Bike Sharing/Renting Programs — 11/02/09
• Ecovelo — Natural Selection — 11/04/09
• Commute By Bike — The Perfect Commuter : Bike Type — 11/04/09
• Utility Cycling — Thoughts on Re-Imaging the Bicycle — 11/04/09
• Urban Velo — Vélib’ on the Skids — 11/05/09
• Let’s Go Ride a Bike — Marketing the Simple Bicycling Lifestyle, Part 2 — 11/06/09

So … is there something in the water, or are we just imagining a collective theme of revisionist thinking?  And these articles are just pulled from a small fraction of the bike blogs available.  Maybe it has something to do with …

• Bike Portland — Want to be like Copenhagen? Think about vacuum cleaners and raging bulls

And even though the theme of #CyclingForTransportation has been largely ignored by the Industry as a whole, some of the Big Players are definitely showing their interest:

• Commute By Bike — 2010 Felt Bicycles
• Chris Writes (Specialized marketing guru) — Designing the New Awesome

Does this mean …

• We approaching the critical mass of the transportation cyclist?
• There is a grassroots voice of a special interest group that was once mainstream?
• The inclusion of the bicycle as a practical means of American transportation is about to be “tipped“?
• Anything at all?

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* — Personally, I think it has to do with cherishing and connecting on a “fringe” sport that necessitates and flourishes in groups, but that’s just one man’s conjecture.