Trek Lime : Juicy Green Bicycle
by Warren McLaren, Sydney on 03. 7.07
“Chill. Explore. Dawdle. Lollygag. First one there’s a rotten egg.” Follow this advice and Shimano reckons you’ll soon be having fun on your bike. They are so keen for Americans to get on their bikes that they’ve dedicated a (slightly clunky) website to cruisey cycling, which they tag as ‘Coasting.’ The Coasting hub, is like an automatic transmission for bikes, it changes gears for you. Brilliant for city riding when you come to traffic lights or stop signs. We are confused to see it described as ‘new’ though, because Shimano have had such a hub in their range for easily 10 years under the name Nexus. Also on the Coasting site you’ll find out about the brands and models that use their internal hub system of the same name, like the Giant Suede, Raleigh Coasting and the Trek Lime (shown above). Trek themselves don’t offer any details yet on the Lime, but some info has escaped their recent annual dealer meeting. Trek added the automatic hub to their very spiffy looking Lime, and gave it some smart enclosed chain detailing. The bike (which does come in other colours), is aimed at the 65% of Americans who currently don't own or ride a bike. Or as it was otherwise put, “for cruising down the neighborhood at slow pace, in plain clothes and without breaking a sweat.” Our bike readers will love that last bit!
In other good recent news for Trek is they were recognised with Environmental Stewardship Award from Orion Energy Services, (who it turns out has Trek as one of their clients - but nevermind.) They scored the kudos for reducing the electric power consumption of their Waterloo, Wisconsin, manufacturing facility by 435,488 kilowatt-hours (kWh) per year, “the air scrubbing equivalent of an 80-acre forest or the conservation equivalent of removing 70 cars from the road and saving 35,950 gallons of gasoline each year.” Much of which it seems was achieved by replacing old metal halide lamps with energy efficient lighting, thus dropping Trek’s lighting power usage from 900,008 kWh per year to 564,520 – a savings of 435,488 kWh.
Lime story via ::Bike Gallery, from a tip by Lloyd.
The Nexus hub does not automatically change gears for you. It allows you to change gears manually when stopped, and it's internal so road gunk doesn't foul up the mechanism. The Coasting hub sounds a bit like a cross between the Nexus and whatever mechanism was used by the AutoBike, an auto-shifting bicycle sold by infomercial.
From the Shimano FAQs
"A. Is it true that Shimano makes internal hubs that shift by themselves?
Q. Yes, Shimano makes a three and a four speed automatic shifting system called AUTO-D. The concept is to free the riders from the difficulty of choosing gears and be able to focus on enjoying the ride. The auto-d system shifts for you by knowing your speed and gearing and selecting the proper gear."
Not that it's especially green, but Trek also runs an amazing program that lets you donate bikes to AIDS workers in Zambia -- 180 bucks a bike, I think. Fantastic. I bought two as Xmas gifts for my family. http://www.worldbicyclerelief.org/
The real question is always price. It seems that everyone who comes out with these commuters expects people to ony up $800-1000 for one. That is never going to get people to buy one, especially first-timers. It always amazes me that entry level bikes at Wal-mart are $150, but so poorly designed for commuting and so ugly that they probably turn people off of biking. Anything above $300 is probably not going to convert anyone who wasn't going to anyway.
filipo, Kona runs a similar program called Africabike, HQ'd at . Good program.
I just want to clarify pricing for the Lime bike. The Trek Lime bikes which are available in North America come in two versions: Lime and Lime Lite.
The retail price for the Lime is $579USD and the retail price for the Lime Lite is $499USD.
You can learn more at www.trekbikes.com and www.trekbikes.com/lime.
"for cruising down the neighborhood at slow pace, in plain clothes and without breaking a sweat"
- All I can say is IT'S ABOUT TIME!
I have wanted a bike for years, but everytime I go shopping, it is all bike jocks in the shop with NO conept of just having fun & relaxing without have to "prove myself against nature/my fellow rider/the urban jungle" or "win". I am a middle aged woman who wants to ride with her kid around the neighborhood, in the park, or up to the farmers market in her normal clothes, without getting digustingly sweaty, and without have to study a book before I get on my bike. If I have to buy additional clothes or learn some technical crap just to go riding, it isn't worth it. I'll just walk.
I also don't want my butt sore for days or my neck and shoulders stiff from being bent over and leaning forward requiring a trip to the message therapist so I can go back to work.
And finally, ITS A BIKE. Like the comment above, who can afford $800-$1000 for a bicycle? You see what you want and you might even be willing to pay $100 more for it, but when someone says $500 +, it just becomes a moot point. I don't know any middle class working family with kids in school that have the cash for a $500+ non-essential item that only 1 person in the family can use. If they are aiming for the 65% of us who don't own a bike, they might consider WHY we don't own them.
Lori
I already own two bikes, one is a road bike and one is a mountain bike. I don't seem to use either of them because I'm a 60 year old female, who would much rather cruise along. than race around on the bike trails...I've already done that. I don't enjoy riding the mountain bike because I have to lean over and it's much heavier than I would like.
I think the trek lime is a fabulous idea but should sell in the $250 price range. If you're using a bike for racing, or mountain climbing then you are apt to spend more I hope they rethink the price range $500 is an enormous amount to spend when you are crusing!!
The "Lime" never needs batteries, because it has a generator in the front wheel hub, that powers the automatic shifter. I have two questions?
1) Where does the electricity go that is not used to shift?
Your not shifting all the time, sure there has to be a little bit used to sense when it needs to actually shift, but that shouldn't use up much and there's no battery on board to store any excess unused electricity.
2) How difficult would it be to put a battery charger in the seat?
There is a mention of storing an Apple Ipod in the seat. Apple sold over 100 million of those and is coming out with an Lphone. Not to mention every other companies cellphone, portable game, personal organizer, GPS, flashlight, laptop, etc. These all contain batteries that need to be recharged. I'd Co-Market the "Lime" with Apple and anyone else that would pick up half the advertising cost and let 3rd parties sell the chargers. A bike that changes colors, recharges your favorite toy, low maintenance, is good for your health, saves on gas and the environment, How COOL is that!
Just briefly on the technical front Shimano has previously sold both an Auto D shift as mentioned above and another all automatic component SMOVER. The smover did auto gear change and also auto suspension and lights. Was taken up by company's including mercedes who tried to sell all auto bikes for close on $4000 Australian. Suffice to say SMOVER has passed away relatively quietly and unused.
Whilst the lime may seem pricey it is really a very clever and simple way to ride and people may well be willing to fork out the extra $300 US for a lime when they consider what it will save them in gasoline and car rego costs. Bikes that cost more tend to be ridden alot more and if that means you use your car less then it doesn't take long to recoup the extra outlay cost. Similar principal to things like Solar Hot Water and Rain water tanks.
Perhaps the most interesting thing about the lime seems to be the fact that Treks designers have learnt from the IPOD phenomenon that if you design something to capture peoples imagination then price will become far less of a concern.
the comments about the pricing are correct. look at this bike: SE Draft 700 It is a single speed, very simple, commuting/messenger bike. $249 retail. I rode it and it is well well worth it. sebikes.com
The idea of spending $500 plus for a commuting bike is out of reach for most people, and if not out of reach....still hard to justify. They have to think about making them affordable and cheap so that people will catch on to the idea and try it, and also it won't be so terrible if it gets stolen.
I test rode a Trek Lime and liked it a lot. I almost bought it on the spot, but didn't because the front wheel is not removable due to the generator in the front hub.
Because I can't remove the front wheel, I can't fit the bike into the back of my SUV, which is my preferred method of transporting my bikes (reduces weather/road wear and risk of theft/vandalism).
If I bought the Lime at its already premium price, I would also have to invest in an external bike rack. So, I think I'll wait for future versions to see if the price comes down after the novelty wears off, or the front wheel becomes removable, or hopefully both.
I'm a very happy 50 year old Trek Lime owner. It's wonderful to be able to just hop on and go. I don't have to think of shifting, or speed or anything. It just rides at my pace with its automatic shifting system. A Fabulous Shimano invention. You can change the trim color. I have two colors (called Peelz) pink and the lite blue. I go to the Marina area, boardwalk at Mission Beach, the parks, neighborhood bike paths, or campgrounds - it's perfect. All mechanisms are safely enclosed. Even though it's a Cruiser, if I want to go fast, it goes FAST! No biggie. I'm reading comments about the price being around $500. I realize you can get a cheap bike for $150 to $200, but not with much of a warrantee. Trek offers Lifetime adjustments FREE and they're made so much better than the discount store type cheapies. To me it's like an investment - a good bike cost a little more. I'm lovin' it.
I've been looking at commuter bikes for the last year. The cheap bikes are clumsy, uncomfortable, and frustrating for commute. Several quality ones are made in Holland/Germany and sell here for $1,000 - 3,000, if you can find a distributor. I am ecstatic the Lime is priced so low. If the ride is acceptable, I hope to get one this weekend.
Trek does seem to be missing the marketing angle however. Mostly it is just emphasis on cool and new. I do not know why so much info is filtered through the distance/race cycle bunch. So many of the reviewers exhibit a condescending paternalistic tone and go so far as to imply that long distance or race junkies are the only ones who deserve to be called cyclists. Makes those of us who want to use bicycles for the original Ipurpose of transportation sound like simplistic, incompetent lollygaggers.
I would have expected the marketing target to emphasize energy savings and health benefits.
I just bought a Lime Lite today and I love it. I'm a 46-year-old female, and I agree with Lori's comments above, sometimes you just want an easy bike to ride.
If the front wheel doesn't come off, how do you change a popped tire?