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This past week I made it my mission to see what was going on in downtown Manhattan. A well-timed email here, a hastily caught train there, and I found myself at the headquarters of Priority Cycles — a NYC-based bicycle startup that got its wheels on Kickstarter back in 2014.
Raising over $565k for its original city bike, called the Classic, resulted in the birth of a niche category: bikes that you could throw around without much need of maintenance, if any. Isn’t that what you’ve always wanted from a bicycle?
But my visit to the new headquarters of Priority Cycles wasn’t to window shop or to look at the bikes of last year, but to speak to co-founder Dave Weiner, and see the next bike in the lineup. Turns out, it’s a surf bike: characterized by a relaxed riding stance, curved handlebars and mount accessories to accommodate things you’d use at a beach, like a surfboard. Weiner calls it the Priority Coast.
While the model seen here is a prototype, the core materials and aesthetics will remain the same, with indigo, black, white and “sunset rose” colorways available through the Coast’s Kickstarter page. A single Priority Coast will go for $349, but alas, that’s only for the first 100 backers; the final retail price will be $399.
With a name like that and a clean aesthetic, the Priority Surf looks — picturesque. Made of aluminum and stainless steel with sealed cartridge bearings, sand and water will have a hard time ruining your fancy new surf bike. Also, note the lack of traditional bike chain: a Gates Carbon Grease-free belt drive is used instead, meaning this is a fixie surf bike.
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Despite never having needed a surf bike, I can entertain the need of having a rust-proof bike. However, personally I don’t take too much liking to relaxed riding — chalk that up to being a “young man.”
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