CYCLESENSE ROAD TEST degree seat-tube angle. (See why I remem- YAN LYANSKY’S FOLDING BIKE ber my trigonometry? So I can figure out stuff like this!) If the bike had a top tube, Yes, it’s about the bike. But it’s also about the changing face of capitalism. it would be a long one — 22.5 inches — by John Schubert but the handlebar stem has no forward reach. So the bars are maybe two to three inches closer than they would be on your Bikes are sold through careful marketing plans. Dealer relationships, strategies to average mountain bike. keep the perceived value high, and careful attention to profit margins are essential. This puts the rider in a very upright riding position. It’s quite comfortable, Enter the Downtube. And it breaks all the rules. Say what? DOWNTUBE? excellent for city traffic, but this position Could you ever find a more self-effacing name for a bike company? Who was the image causes the body to catch as much head- wind as possible. consultant who picked that name? What does a Downtube cost? How much do you want We usually don’t review sub-$300 to spend? They’re auctioned off daily on eBay, and you might get lucky and buy one for a bikes, typically sticking to the fancier stuff for sophisticated and discerning a song. You’ll be buying bicycle tourist, and a Adventure Cycling members. But to me, it from the same compa- software expert. Lyansky this story is as much about Lyansky’s ny, with the same war- came to the United approach to commerce as it is about this ranty as the guy who States with his family His teaching career recovered. replace if I owned the bike. Both models entry level (but well-made) bike. went to downtube.com when he was three. Lyansky has been a visiting professor of have suspension front forks. More mod- I asked Lyansky why he auctions and paid $269 (which is “You were lucky to mathematics at a number of well-known els, including one with hub gearing and bikes on eBay instead of controlling the still a fabulous value, by get out of the Soviet colleges and universities (this year, it’s another with no suspension and skinny price by selling them all at his retail price. the way). Union,” I said. Coker College in Hartsville, South tires, are planned. “It lets the market set the price,” he Where’s tech sup- “We’re Jewish,” he Y Carolina). The Downtube is a good folding replied. “I think that’s good.” Only once port? It’s the founder’s replied. “They didn’t ULER The bike business, now Internet- bike. No, it doesn’t compare with a Bike has he been hosed badly; the bidding was G cell phone number. Who want us.” And he KRE based, was far more successful the second Friday or a Brompton, but it’s about one light one day and a bike sold for a bit over Y B handles warehousing and shrugged. The man is S time around. He assembled a handful of fifth the price, and it is a good value in its $100. But most days, the winning bid is O shipping? It’s outsourced not introspective. T people to do the day-to-day work while he own league. The oversize aluminum in Lyansky’s profit margin area. and it’s cheap. A ware- Lyansky started a PHO taught, and he handles tech-support calls frame is reassuringly rigid, the suspension I also asked Lyansky about compet- house in the Philadelphia side business selling bike on his cell phone when he’s not in the fork worked quite well on the potholes of suburbs charges $250 parts while he was get- classroom. Gross sales reached around a my unpaved road, and the eight-speed dri- per month to warehouse ting his Ph.D. at million dollars per year, and a good chunk vetrain gives a nice range of gears for gen- a container of bikes and Philadelphia’s Temple of that was selling DaHon bikes on E-bay. eral-purpose use in hilly areas. Lyansky $1.50 per bike to put University in the 1990s. “There was a huge demand for fold- says it weighs twenty-eight pounds with one on the loading dock He invested heavily in ing bikes, and DaHon was out of stock rack, kickstand, and fenders. To my and slap on the new owner’s address label. UPS, located next overstock of SunTour components when the original Japan- half the year. I sold 350 DaHons my first delight, the included carrying bag is of door to the warehouse, delivers the bike. based SunTour went toes-up. He became the go-to guy for year, and could have easily done double good quality. What’s the advertising budget? Minimal. They place a few SunTour lovers and stocked other components as well. But it that, if they’d been in stock.” I would use this bike with great small ads in Bicycling and Road Bike Review. wasn’t a rip-roaring success. He was earning about $20,000 per Deciding he had a few ideas of his enthusiasm for errands and city riding, Dealer support? They gave up on dealers, finding that they year packing stuff in boxes. own about folding bikes, Lyansky found a but not for my weekend three-hour rides. sold more bikes, quicker and easier, by going through the So he quit the bike business. His Ph.D. had arrived, and it supplier in China and collaborated on the The cockpit dimensions are just a little Internet. And their marketing and communications consists was time to go teach math at a prominent university. Downtube’s design. A new bike was different from those of a conventional largely of watching happy customers speak their minds on Teaching wasn’t an instant success either. “I thought, ‘this born. bike, and they are optimized for commut- www.bikeforums.net. really sucks. The bike stuff sucks, but this sucks even more.’” The line consists of two models: a ing, not for long-distance touring. If all of this makes you a bit uneasy, that’s okay. Change can One day, he walked into the department chair’s office and quit in $299 model with swing-arm rear suspen- Specifically, the seventy-degree seat-tube be disorienting. disgust. He’d been asked to “adjust” a slacker student’s grade sion, and the one I tested, the $269 hard- angle puts your feet about an inch and a The Downtube is brought to you by Yan Lyansky, a one time too many. With no job and a mortgage, he revived his tail model, which has fenders, a light-duty half farther forward than they would be Russian émigré, a math professor, a two-time transcontinental bike business. rear rack, and a big fat saddle that I would with a more conventional seventy-three- 40 ADVENTURE CYCLIST APRIL 2006 ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG ADVENTURE CYCLIST APRIL 2006 ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG 41 ing with the image and prestige of other tory is so good that he simply doesn’t have electric motor, and a Nexus hub. One rates with some unnamed people in China Specifications: Downtube VIII well-known folding bikes. There, too, he many warranty issues. metal-working expert rearranged the folding to design a bike; the price varies every day gave a new-age answer: “If nobody has a Lyansky had a disappointing experi- handlebar mechanism to make the bike fold and the seller doesn’t care; and the retailers brand name, then everybody has a brand ence trying to sell his bikes through bike more compactly. were indifferent so they got pushed to the name.” In the world of Internet sales and shops. Most shops don’t sell folders, and if I grew up in a world where folding curb. global word-of-mouth recommendations, they do, they probably want to sell DaHon, bikes were designed by famous geniuses The change is killing me. But the bike you don’t need the usual resources to the most well known brand. He couldn’t like Alex Moulton and David Hon, where is quite nice, and that makes the change build your brand name. Longevity counts reach an agreement with even one shop to perceived high price was a marketing must, easier to get used to. for less. DaHon’s twenty-five-year head sell his folding bikes. and where retailers are absolutely necessary start matters little to someone seeking a Folding-bike customers are an original to guide you through buying the bike. Technical Editor John Schubert hangs out at recommendation for a bike to buy now. bunch of people. Lyansky’s customers have, Now, we’re in a world where a part-time [email protected]. The rules have changed. at various time, added a gasoline motor, an Russian-American businessman collabo- I don’t think of importing products and fulfilling orders as a job one does part time, let alone a thousand miles away from the loading dock, but it works for Lyansky. Everything I thought would be a problem he has found a solution for. For example, like all mail-order merchants, he Price: $269. Price may vary. Tires: Kenda 47-406, 20 x 1.75, 40-65 gets an occasional bike returned. What to Seat to crank spindle: adjusts from psi do with those? He sells them at discount 23 3/4“ to 30” Crank: swaged aluminum. to Coker professors. Warranty issues? o Seat angle: 70 Rear derailleur: SunRace M50 The biggest one he had was broken reflec- Chainstays: 16“ Shifter: SunRace twist grip indexed.