“How many times have you found yourself in need of a tube, flat repair kit, or pump and the local bicycle shop was closed?”
On July 1st, Trek installed the very first Trek Stop in front of Machinery Row Bicycles in Madison, Wisconsin. It didn’t take long before it caught the attention of locals and bloggers a like, and word of mouth spread. What is a Trek Stop you might ask? The Trek Stop is a vending machine for basic bicycle parts, anything from patch kits, spare tubes and chain lube to water bottles and energy bars and gels. The kiosk sports a bike repair stand and floor pump to aid in the repair of a flat or perhaps a busted chain. If you’re not sure how to repair your bike, a video in the kiosk will serve as a guide for minor repairs such as flat repair.
The lone kiosk in the pilot program sits outside of Machinery Row Bicycles in Madison (the largest metropolotian city closest to Waterloo, Trek’s headquarters). And is slated to run for the remainder of the summer before Trek evaluates it’s success.
We caught up with Rebecca Anderson, director of advocacy for Trek’s ‘One World, Two Wheels’ campaign and Michael Hammond, Trek Design Engineer to find out more about the program.
What prompted the Trek Stop program?
Rebecca - Trek Stop is not meant to replace a local bike shop, but rather just be an extension of one. Auto drivers have all sorts of support from service stations to tow trucks but there isn’t much for cyclists so the Trek Stop is meant to help fill a gap.
Michael - Trek Stop is a direct result of user research. Trek’s ACG and Industrial Design groups spend a lot of time talking to real cyclists to understand needs. With the data we get from our users, we generate new concepts - some of the concepts go to production, some do not.
How long is this pilot program slated to run for?
Rebecca - We’ll keep it running through August and figure and decide from there.
