Transportation in the Round

One recent Sunday afternoon, upon sighting a candy-apple red contraption maneuvering the chilly streets of downtown Minneapolis, a shopper called out from the sidewalk, “What is that?” It’s a question Paul Selcke finds himself answering frequently. “It’s a conference bike,” he said, dinging his bell for emphasis. Monday through Thursday, Selcke makes his living teaching ESL at the Mall of America, but on weekends he’s the entrepreneur behind Cycle Seven, the first conference-bike-tour company in the Midwest. The bike, which essentially looks like an overgrown tricycle built to accommodate seven riders, is available by the hour to business groups, family parties, tourists, and whoever else—it’s even been used by speed-daters. Riders benefit twofold, from the exercise and an innovative design concept that inspires conversation among the participants; hence, the “conference” in the appellation. Selcke originally planned to start a pedicab company, but online research led him to the conference bike, and he became smitten with its efficiency and unique design.
A frigid afternoon in December may seem an unlikely time for a leisurely bike ride, but the jovial Selcke insists that, like any other winter sport in Minnesota, the key to comfortable conference biking is to dress for the weather. Clad in Sorels, a green, puffy jacket, and woolen hat, Selcke, who officially took Cycle Seven to the streets in the fall of 2005, leads by example. He likens the level of activity to cross-country skiing, and even suggests a family jaunt on the conference bike as “the modern alternative to the sleigh ride.” Though Cycle Seven operates year round, business in the winter months is, predictably, slow: Selcke books an average of two to three hours a week, compared with the ten to twelve weekly hours he has the bike out and about in more inviting weather.
The conference bike is equal parts form and function. The circular frame creates a round-table environment in which all passengers face one another—a set-up that facilitates conversation and, according to the inventor’s website, “lowers inhibitions.” While riding the conference bike, one person steers and operates the brakes, leaving the remaining six passengers free to pedal, or not, depending on respective energy levels and inclinations. Currently, riders must be at least twelve years old, but Selcke says that a new seat is in the works to allow kiddies in on the fun.
The creation of Eric Staller, an American living in Amsterdam (ground zero for global bike culture), the conference bike was designed as a part of his ongoing public artwork series Urban UFOs. The first in this succession of mobile, socially interactive art pieces was a Volkswagen Beetle covered in more than 1,600 computerized lights, appropriately dubbed the “Lightmobile.” The conference bike first appeared in 1991 as the Octos: an eight-seater tricycle with a circular frame. The bike as it now exists emerged in 1996.
At four hundred pounds, the conference bike is by no means lightweight, and the mechanics are correspondingly sturdy. In fact, the contraption is a marvel designed by automobile engineers, who borrowed here and there from the bike’s motorized counterparts: The steering is made by Porsche. The frame is crafted from powder-coated steel and outfitted with motorcycle wheels and hydraulic brakes. Over flat terrain, its average speed falls between ten and twelve miles per hour, but the hills of St. Paul are another story entirely. “With seven passengers, it’s gone as fast as thirty to thirty-five [miles per hour] down Kellogg and Wabasha,” boasts Selcke.
Perched on the bike, one feels rather like a pageant princess, returning the smiles and waves that are the almost-universal reaction generated by the appearance of this innovative transport. (Visibility has proven to be Cycle Seven’s best advertising: Selcke cruises populated areas of the Cities, giving free rides to drum up business.) Cars honk their horns in appreciation. On one recent trip, an SUV pulled over to better allow all four of its college-aged occupants to hang out the windows and yell, “You guys are awesome!” According to Selcke, this kind of thing happens all the time. He’s had a few negative experiences as well—run-ins with drunks and rude or inattentive drivers (as frequently happens with riders on run-of-the-mill bicycles), but overall, the response has been overwhelmingly positive. As one conference bike rider put it, “I don’t know when I’ve ever seen my fellow citizens being so friendly!”
While Cycle Seven may be a part-time endeavor at the moment, Selcke has big plans for the future. “This is a back-up now,” Selcke, his glasses fogged from the cold, admits. “Eventually I’d like to do it for a living.” Ideally, he says, access to the bikes could be free and underwritten by sponsors, which would be a perfect fit at public events and around shopping malls. He’d also like to have more bikes stationed around the city so he could retire the trailer he now uses to transport the bike, thus rendering the operation entirely fossil fuel free. This environmental consciousness is an integral part of Selcke’s philosophy, and part of the reason why he thinks he can be successful. “There have to be alternative ways to get people around. This is efficient transport,” he says. “Look around. All of these cars are emitting carbon. We’re leaving no footprints.”


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