Knob Magazine

Bicycle retailer reported this morning that Eurobike had signed Nissan as its title sponsor. While their report focuses strongly Nissan targeting cyclists on consumers, this feels decidedly different than previous automotive cycling sponsorships. To be sure, automotive companies have long wanted to tap into cycling as a way of identifying their brand with a young and healthy lifestyle. Who can forget the VW/Trek, Kona/Ford, and, of course the ironic combo of anti-car advocate Gary fisher and Subaru. That of course was a few years ago, when gas was two bucks a gallon, and mountain bikers, riders who largely depended on cars to reach the trailhead, were the primary growth market in cycling. Today, however, gas is skyrocketing and the bikes are less an accessory for the automobile, but an alternative to it.

So why is Nissan sponsoring its competition? My best guess is this has less to do with reaching out to new customers, but with redefining the brand within public view. In the past year Nissan debuted a new line of Hybrids, 09 will see the debut of the Cube, a micro-utility vehicle, and an electric car is slated for 2010. In short, this looks like bike washing. Nissan has fallen far behind Toyota and Honda as “green” car manufacturers, so like Exxon developing solar panels, sponsoring a bike show positions Nissan as a steward of green living.

Of course one shouldn’t go too far, as this is Eurobike, and European consumers have long been pro-bicycle and small car. Nonetheless it is hard to shake the feeling that this time the sponsorship is different. How far will the new relationship between automotive and bicycle companies go. Are Nissan branded bikes in the future, or will we see bike brands gobbled up by automakers to enhance their portfolio of transportation options. In a way it is a bittersweet moment for cycling advocates, we have long been a form of alternative transportation, and with that title cyclists have enjoyed the comforts of a subversive and anti–corporate image. As cycling as transportation becomes more mainstream it seems inevitable that it will become ever more corporate than it already is.