Q: Welcome back, Aaron. You've piled up an impressive body of work since our previous interview. Is this pretty much the line, for a while, or are you still sweating over the drawing board? A: My drawing table never gets rest!  Typically, I work 1-2 model years out.  Before any given model is "finished", the gears are already turning for the next iteration.  I have a few new frames in development that won't be ready for a while because of their complexity, but for the most part, I've been focusing on new cruiser components.  New saddles, grips, handlebars, and tires.  The next generation Flame-tread tires, the "Fatass" 24 x 3.0 and the "Badass" 26 x 2.125, will be in stores by Spring! Q: Great news about the goodies. We are so into cruiser bits around here, that it would be funny, if we weren't so deadly serious about them. Bring 'em on- and we'll buy them! I presume the bits are actually available, or will be, through the Nirve site? And, on a related note, you mentioned the future availability of 24" X 3" tires? That seems to be shaping up as a hot new format, lately. Great news to us, as there's no such thing as too fat a rear tire, in my opinion; and 24" is one of my personal faves for moto bikes. But how does it fit into the current marketing scheme? Is the projected usage that they'd be fitted on the rear, with a 26" front? I presume that the outer tire diameter would be pretty close for the the two, with 3-24" on the rear and 2.125-26"up front. Is that the scheme? A: All Nirve cruiser parts will be available at authorized Nirve cruiser dealers and through our web site.  The "Fatass" 24 x 3.0 tires are currently available.  Our first shipment disappeared virtually overnight, which means they are in stores now.  Although the rim dimension of the tire is 24 inch, the overall dimensions of the tire is still equal to a 26 inch tire.  I paid close attention to the dimensions on frames and forks, so that our "Fatass" tires will retrofit onto most existing makes and models in the front or rear.  The tires don't change the geometry or ride of your bike.  They will only change your image!  One of our new cruisers the "Fifty Five", featuring a hand airbrushed skull paint job, has the "Fatass" tires on the front and rear.  It rocks.  Q: Yeah, now that you mention it, I remember thinking that one looked especially butch. I hadn't had a chance to really study it to figure out what accounted for that impression. Now I know. You're right, that thing does rock, and the skulls kick ass, too. I won't even ask how you manage to get hand-airbrushed graphics on a production bike in this price range, unless answering the question won't get you in trouble with the Immigration and Naturalization people, or those human-rights killjoys. You know, Aaron, I'm astounded at the changes in this market since BR&K started up about four years ago. Back then the only kool kustom parts to be had, even theoretically, were from GT/Dyno, and we all know what a joke that availability was. So everybody was stuck using lowrider bike stuff if they wanted to tweak their rides. It seems to me that we're entering a new golden age of bike kustomizing we haven't seen since George Barris was designing all those great bits for Iverson and SafTee, back in the '60s. Do you have any theories as to why we're suddenly being blessed with all these goodies?

Q: Those are interesting points, and they make a lot of sense. That MTB craze had another stupid aspect, too. The assumption seemed to be with that bike style, that everyone's going to be using it for thrashing down a mountain, or something, and never actually going to be sitting on the saddle. In reality, most people got them for just cruising around. I'll bet a lot of people went once around the block on their Huffy "Grand Guignol" or whatever, and hung it up forever, due to the derriere trauma. I've been seeing a lot of low-end torture cycles at garage sales and thrift stores lately, hardly used. I notice that your saddles look mighty comfy. Is it a big deal to design a saddle which doesn't feel like the business end of a meat cleaver? And, in what other ways did you design these bikes for pleasurable riding? A: That's so true, Jim.  The bike industry has a lot of problems.  It's typical of the bike industry to develop products for themselves rather than the consumer.  I've found that very little market research is actually done in the bike industry to determine consumer's needs and wants.  I attributed this to the fact that our industry is full of bike geeks who grew up, didn't get an

A A R O N   D R O P S   T H E   O T H E R   S H O E : In which Mr. Bethlenfalvy reveals the second installment of his new designs for Nirve Sports, and gets down with the details: BikeRod&Kustom Interview by Jim Wilson All designs © 2003 by Nirve Sports Ltd.

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Q: Welcome back, Aaron. You've piled up an impressive body of work since our previous interview. Is this pretty much the line, for a while, or are you still sweating over the drawing board? A: My drawing table never gets rest!  Typically, I work 1-2 model years out.  Before any given model is "finished", the gears are already turning for the next iteration.  I have a few new frames in development that won't be ready for a while because of their complexity, but for the most part, I've been focusing on new cruiser components.  New saddles, grips, handlebars, and tires.  The next generation Flame-tread tires, the "Fatass" 24 x 3.0 and the "Badass" 26 x 2.125, will be in stores by Spring! Q: Great news about the goodies. We are so into cruiser bits around here, that it would be funny, if we weren't so deadly serious about them. Bring 'em on- and we'll buy them! I presume the bits are actually available, or will be, through the Nirve site? And, on a related note, you mentioned the future availability of 24" X 3" tires? That seems to be shaping up as a hot new format, lately. Great news to us, as there's no such thing as too fat a rear tire, in my opinion; and 24" is one of my personal faves for moto bikes. But how does it fit into the current marketing scheme? Is the projected usage that they'd be fitted on the rear, with a 26" front? I presume that the outer tire diameter would be pretty close for the the two, with 3-24" on the rear and 2.125-26"up front. Is that the scheme? A: All Nirve cruiser parts will be available at authorized Nirve cruiser dealers and through our web site.  The "Fatass" 24 x 3.0 tires are currently available.  Our first shipment disappeared virtually overnight, which means they are in stores now.  Although the rim dimension of the tire is 24 inch, the overall dimensions of the tire is still equal to a 26 inch tire.  I paid close attention to the dimensions on frames and forks, so that our "Fatass" tires will retrofit onto most existing makes and models in the front or rear.  The tires don't change the geometry or ride of your bike.  They will only change your image!  One of our new cruisers the "Fifty Five", featuring a hand airbrushed skull paint job, has the "Fatass" tires on the front and rear.  It rocks.  Q: Yeah, now that you mention it, I remember thinking that one looked especially butch. I hadn't had a chance to really study it to figure out what accounted for that impression. Now I know. You're right, that thing does rock, and the skulls kick ass, too. I won't even ask how you manage to get hand-airbrushed graphics on a production bike in this price range, unless answering the question won't get you in trouble with the Immigration and Naturalization people, or those human-rights killjoys. You know, Aaron, I'm astounded at the changes in this market since BR&K started up about four years ago. Back then the only kool kustom parts to be had, even theoretically, were from GT/Dyno, and we all know what a joke that availability was. So everybody was stuck using lowrider bike stuff if they wanted to tweak their rides. It seems to me that we're entering a new golden age of bike kustomizing we haven't seen since George Barris was designing all those great bits for Iverson and SafTee, back in the '60s. Do you have any theories as to why we're suddenly being blessed with all these goodies?

A: (Part one)  Our custom airbrushed graphics are done just like kustom car graphics.  It's a multi-part process which involves a lot of labor. Through my person experiences with kustom cars, I've been able to develop some techniques which helped refine the process for a production situation.  Techniques which I'll have to keep secret, of course, but in a nutshell here's how its done:  The frame is primered, hand sanded, the base coat color is applied, the graphics are masked, then airbrushed, then clear coated 2X, then wet-sanded by hand, and finally power buffed to a mirror finish.  The result is a finish that is unparalled.   The maximum capacity for our factory is only about 40 of these kustom frames a day. (Typically, with a decal-style graphic application, the maximum capacity for the factory is about 800 frames a day!) A: (Part two) You'll probably think I'm a nut job, but here's my theory: On a macro level we are shaped by the world around us; and right now the world is going through a technological revolution.  With a focus on technology, industry starts to compete on specification and loses sight of the consumer's primitive psychological needs.  The end results are products that lose "soul" and consumer's, overloaded with technical information, are left yearning for simplicity and style.  On a micro level, in the bike industry, mountain bikes were originally designed as a new means for consumers to experience the outdoors.  This appealed to the consumer's primitive psychological needs by invoking pleasure.  Our industry lost sight of the mountain bike's original intent, by turning the focus from the "experience" to "technology".  Within the course of only a few years the "experience" of riding turned into a competition for who had the latest, greatest triple-crown inverted multi valve forks with "smart brain" (for example).  The end result was the unfortunate loss in the pleasure.  Today, cruisers are filling the void that the mountain bike has left.  They are putting the pleasure back in riding by allowing consumers to express their individuality while experiencing the outdoors on a very simplistic product.  All the major bike companies are starting to realize this and have jumped on the cruiser wagon in a hope to gain market share.  Hence, all the new cool widgets that are becoming available for cruisers!

education, realized they needed to get a job and riding a bike was their only proficiency.  In their minds, this makes them afficianados on everything bike related so who's to tell them what people want from a bike?  I couldn't begin to tell you how many arguments I had with higher-ups about ex-pro racers whom they wanted to place in my design department as designers.  I would consistently use this analogy:  If you make coffee every morning do you feel you're the best person to design the next generation coffee maker?  Saddles are probably the most difficult bike part to design from scratch, and one of the most important aspects in a pleasurable riding experience.  It is impossible to simply sketch out a shape and have a factory whip up a sample that resembles what you saw in your minds eye.  The concept of our saddle came from the shape of a tractor seat.  Farmers spend countless hours behind the wheels of those things without significant discomfort, so why can't cruiser riders?  I then went to the drawing board and constructed numerous renditions of concepts, extrapolated some cross sections from my renderings, made a hand sculpted sample in the shop, made an RTV mold of the sculpted form, cast up some foam samples in the RTV mold, put them on some existing saddle pans and let people ride them.  I went through this process three times before I had it right. I have also done significant ergonomic research for proper grip dimensions, tire research for lowest possible rolling resistance and frame geometry research by creating more frame geometry samples than I care to remember.

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GOD'S STILL IN THE DETAILS: Aaron Sweats The Small Stuff.

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Q: Reality-based industrial design- what a concept! I think the bike business has a double whammy going against it. At the low end, the thinking seems primarily driven by toy marketing, where you have the same junky fake-BMX product available in a dozen different day-glo color schemes and decals. And at the high end there's the thinking you have to deal with- racer manques  who can only think in terms of what bike athletes would like. How many of that type of customers are out there? And don't they usually have their bikes custom built anyway? The most ludicrous example of that mindset I can think of is from back in the '70s- 10-speed lightweights. Sure, a fairly lightweight multi-geared bike is a great idea for adults, although 3-speeds would suffice for most riders. But most of that huge adult market at the time wasn't going to be running in the Tour De Bloody France, so why force them to buy those stupid dropped "racing" handlebars along with it? And then sell them those silly brake-lever extensions so they could actually use their brakes while in a comfortable riding posture. And then, of course, the steering leverage length from the stem to the hand would be maybe 3 inches. What a joke! Don't you think, though, that a lot of this type of idiocy rests at least partially with the consumer? Little kids don't know any better, of course, having no experience, and only want what they saw in a TV commercial on a cartoon show. But adults should be capable of knowing what they plan to use the things for, before shelling out several hundred bucks for them. Do you think that some sort of paradigm shift in consumer thinking is allowing you to "indulge" in rational bicycle design?

A:  I don't feel that there has been a significant paradigm shift in purchasing habits.  Purchasing habits are definitely regional.  In the US, our buying decisions seem to be driven by the product's ability to increase our status within society.   In all honesty, I really don't think that consumers know what they want other than an obvious categorical need (i.e. I need to buy a car).  Marketers have keyed into our psychological desires and dictate to us what we want.  We all fall victim to it.  Hell, I needed to buy a microwave recently and couldn't just get the cheap-ass one.  I went and got the high-end stainless steel model, which was twice the price.  Why, you ask?  Because, I saw Emeril had one on his show and maybe people will think I can cook like him. . . status! "rational bicycle design",  "creative self expression", "rolling functional form", call it what you will.  Just as long as people enjoy them I'm happy. Q: My approach to consuming is a little different; I buy the cheap-ass one and kustomize it. Flames are so appropriate on a microwave, I feel. Maybe it's just a new synergy: kustom-hipster guys like you are getting to design bikes; and kustom kulture now conveys hipster status to consumers, with their asses benefiting as a side effect. Hmm, maybe this really is the golden age, for everybody. As usual, Aaron, it's been pure pleasure having you here. Do you have any concluding remarks for us? A:  You're probably right, Jim.  There is a new wave of people designing today's consumer products.  People whose lives were shaped by a completely different set of challenges and experiences than our predecessors. As a final note, BR&K rocks.  Without your support in spreading the kustom cruiser word, I'm certain that our industry wouldn't have grown in the direction it has.  Thanks for making my job easier, keep cruisin' and you are what you ride.  Celebrate your individuality, embrace your freedom, and enjoy your life. . .Ride a Nirve!