Electra Attitude Cruiser EBC 93 3i
Price £699.95, electrabike.com
Frame Aluminium
Gears Shimano Nexus
Brakes Disc
Tyres Schwalbe Fat Frank
Close your eyes and picture a “cyclist”. Chances are the image spinning in your mind is a figure hunched over their handlebars as they grimly speed through the traffic. It’s not a joyful picture, but it is accurate. And what makes it sadder is that it is so far removed from what cycling should be about. It should be all bright colours, laughter and freewheeling fun. A couple of months ago, academics in Australia went so far as advising we avoid the term “cyclist” as it has a dehumanising effect. Almost a third of respondents in their survey rated cyclists as “not completely human”. The suggested alternative? “People who ride bikes,” which is not exactly catchy.
While we wait for a new term (maybe veloists?), the best thing you can do is recapture some of the simple, primal, wind-in-your-hair joy of riding a bike. And your first step could be to get yourself on a bike that’s made expressly for fun. Not one that’s fast or light or cheap or handles well or climbs mountains effortlessly or grinds out the commute efficiently, but one that is all about the pleasure of the moment. In fact, a bike like Electra’s latest Attitude Cruiser.
Electra was founded in 1993 in California by Benno Bänziger, a Swiss national who grew up in Berlin. As a teenager he was obsessed with all things American. He moved to the East Coast as a jobless graduate and set up a design company in 1990. His plan was to create snowboards or skateboards, but he kept coming back to bikes and particularly the idea of “bikes that were fun”. He met Jeano Erforth, a fellow émigré, and the two of them pooled their savings and founded the Electra Bicycle Company. They had one model to their name: the Cruiser. “Dealers laughed at us,” recalls Bänziger. “But people soon started to realise that they didn’t actually need a mountain bike to go to the grocery store.” Sales picked up, mostly by word of mouth. The Cruiser’s combination of retro looks, sweeping lines and modern features appealed to people who didn’t want to race and who just wanted to ride.
Electra is now one of the leading “lifestyle” bike brands in the US and has more 200 upbeat designs for those ready to “outride boring”. Still based in Vista, southern California, the company exudes an infectious, beachy, sun-tousled sensibility. Its tagline is: “While Electra is serious about making bikes, we aren’t so serious about riding them. Our bikes are the official bikes of nothing official.” You’ve got to love that!
Having passed its 25-year milestone, it introduced yet another special-edition Cruiser. This time inspired by Alexander Calder’s iconic red and white BMW Art Car – Electra has a history of creating quirky bike-shaped homages to iconic designs. The bike has a two-toned custom paint job. The ride is super cushy thanks to its “Fat Frank” balloon tyres, sweptback handlebars and easy-to-use, click-round hub gear. It’s a bike that cries out for a chilled-out ride along the beach front...
Cool kit
Hose down your ride with this Muc-Off blaster, the first pressure washer designed purely for bikes.
Whether you are a hardened mountain biker used to rinsing off the mud after a tough day in the rough, or a commuter who wants to strip the city grime from your frame, this is the product for you.
Blasting your bike is nothing new, but all too often the pressure is too high for the more delicate parts of a bicycle. The Muc-Off unit, however, comes with a choice of three lances. These allow you to control the intensity of the jet: you can choose the more powerful blast for motorbikes and trailers or hard to shift dirt; and the less-intense blast for when you don’t want to risk damaging surfaces or bearing. There is also a bespoke third lance which allows you to select the exact pressure you need for the job at hand.
Each part of the washer’s gun and lance is coated in a soft-touch matt black finish, not only for user comfort but to lower the chance of damage if the nozzle knocks accidentally against your bike. A high-pressure hose with metal contact points for durability is also included.
Combine washing your bike with some of Muc-Off’s other cleaning products and you can turn what often seems like a chore at the end of the day into a far-more satisfying job. I found the pressure washer was also ideal for hosing down my bike shoes, bottles and rucksack after a day out on muddy trails. It’s easy to use and robustly made. For convenience it also all packs away into an easy-to-store bag. Pressure washer, £79.99, muc-off.com
Email Martin at martin.love@observer.co.uk or follow him on Twitter@MartinLove166
