by dan ackman

steedman bass thinks he has a product that sells itself. The question is whether it will sell enough of itself to turn bass' bikelink international into a thriving business.

in 1998, bikelink became the exclusive u.s. distributor for strida bicycles, an unusual folding bike manufactured in southern england. the bike is said to be lightweight, greaseless, maintenance-free and ultra portable, but it is distinguished mostly by its unusual triangular frame, which makes the strida look something like a unicycle with a front wheel attached. it was developed as a university project by british engineering student mark sanders in 1987. bass says the strida represents "the first fundamental redesign of the bicycle frame in 100 years" when the wright brothers were building, but not inventing, bicycles in dayton, ohio. (since then mountain-bike makers have reinvented the frame yet again.)

as good as his product may be, bass, 31, still faces an uphill climb. americans are not particularly avid cyclists, and the ones who are haven't been inclined to buy folding bikes. bass, then, is selling to a niche within a niche and has focused so far on boaters who want some two-wheeled transport when they reach port. to sell more, he will have to reach different breeds of customers and enter new channels of distribution instead of relying exclusively on the internet.

bass started in the folding bicycle business eight years ago, soon after he graduated with a history degree from hamilton college. living in traffic-snarled boston, fed up with parking and maintenance hassles, he sold his car and started cycling around town. soon after, a friend got him a job at montague, a small company that makes folding bikes as an accessory for bmws. there, says bass, "i got very interested in the whole area of folding bikes."

he left montague for another career (he refuses to specify what) and worked on his family's organic egg farm in western massachusetts. but "once the bug bites you, it's there," bass says. "like a lot of people in the bike business, i headed back into it against my better judgment." seeing a picture of a strida on the internet spurred his return. though the design struck him as "semi-improbable" he ordered one with the idea of setting up a bicycle rental business for college students.

soon after the bike arrived--he says he was able to ride it "literally within 15 seconds of taking it out of the box"--he called the manufacturer, roland plastics of widkam market, england, to ask about its u.s. distributor and found that it didn't have one. "at that point i saw a real opportunity," bass says.

he called bill bennett, a family friend who introduced yoplait yogurt to america, and picked his brain about how to pitch roland. while drafting a proposal, he rode the bike hard and found it required little or no maintenance. "by that point I had a pretty high impression of the product," he says. afew months later, in june of 1998, bass and bennett were in england, along with two other friends who provided informal financial advice and support, to meet with roland executives, who were impressed enough to give bass and his company, based in somerville, mass., the exclusive rights to sell stridas in america for three years.

from the beginning, bass' idea was to sell the bikes on the internet. for that plan to work, they would have to be easily assembled. the strida, he says, folds up in just seven seconds to the point where it can fit under a desk. it sells for $395 to $649, depending on accessories.

next page...