Yesterday, I went with John (owner of bikes@vienna, my employer) to the Patagonia store in Georgetown, in Washington, DC. We had been invited to show off folding bikes to the staff and customers at their shop as part of their "Bike to Work Week", which strangely falls several weeks after most other folks' "Bike to Work Week".It was a slow day of business for them, unfortunately, but it was still fun to do and we did get the word out a bit about folders. We had a sampling of Bromptons with us... each of the three bar styles as well as each of the gearing systems we have in stock - two, three, and six speed. In addition we had catalogs and pricing sheets to hand out, along with some freestanding banners provided by Brompton. Several of the shop staff took test rides, as did some of the customers. All seemed to really enjoy themselves and were surprised at how easy and fun they were to ride.
As it turns out, this may have been a good "practice run" for us, as the folks at Patagonia would like us to come back on a busier day to show off the bikes. Anything we can do to get the word out helps, so we'll make the trip down there again.
While I was there, I also took the opportunity to take one of the bikes out on the street, where I unfolded it, hopped on, rode around a bit, then folded it back up again... all in front of a bus full of tourists. I clearly caught a lot of people's attention, as I heard comments as I did this. Next time I'll make sure I have business cards and brochures to hand to the folks on the bus!
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