Bowery Lane Bicycles

Local food, local….bikes? Yes, there is a super cool bicycle being built in New York City - Queens, to be exact - out of American steel and I saw it firsthand today in the sweltering heat at the New Amsterdam Market. Three guys with a desire to make a traditional cruising bike at an affordable price founded Bowery Lane Bicycles in 2008. Patrick Bernard, Sean Naughton and Michael Salvatore thought there ought to be a comfortable, easy to maintain, good-looking bike to get city dwellers around town. With leather saddle seats, sustainable cork handles, theft-resistant features (this is NYC, after all), and wood crates handcrafted by a father and son in NJ, the Broncks Black, Broncks Raw, and Breukelen models fit the bill. Big tires absorb the shock of uneven, bumpy roads and single or three-speed options suit the flat terrain of the city perfectly.

I was immediately drawn to the simplicity of the design, not to mention the charming wood box on the back for hauling groceries or “two six packs or 25 LPs” as their website notes. Biking in Manhattan has always seemed like a scary proposition to me, but with a bike-loving mayor putting in more bike lanes every day, maybe it’s time to get a helmet, buy a Breukelen, and go.