I read about what Shimano, Trek, Giant, and Raleigh are doing with their Coasting initiative a couple months ago. The idea is to make bikes for people that don't already bike.
Coasting is about making bikes that are easy to ride and not intimidating for someone who hasn't ridden a bike since they were a kid. Most are set up to allow you to stop flat-footed and some use Shimano's fancy shiftless hub so you don't have to worry about shifting.
Pretty cool to see an ad for this locally. I think Orange Cycle was one of the initial retailers in the area that was going to be part of Coasting.
[tags]coasting, westorangetrail[/tags]
