Is there any activity that helps people of all languages discover new curse words more than assembling Ikea furniture?
Well, put on your bike helmet and get out the swear jar: The Swedish-based home furnishings company is getting into the bicycle business.
Meet the Folkvänlig, an $1,000 electric bicycle that it hopes will get more commuters out of their cars in cities worldwide. The product's name is derived from the Swedish words for people and friendly.
Here are the details (or "detaljernas"):
- The frame, which holds the rechargeable lithium-ion battery, is aluminum; the front fork is steel.
- The electronic "pedal assist," which gives riders a boost when they start to run out of gas, er, steam, is powered by a 250-watt motor with a range of 37 to 45 miles. (Not bad at all.)
- A Shimano transmission provides six different "driving" modes.
- It's 60 pounds, which is typical for e-assist bikes.
- All of the bike's parts (including the mysterious extra piece that will inevitably be left over after you've assembled it) come with a two-year warranty.
- There are models for men and women.
- Ikea Family members get a $150 discount.
The bike is not available at the Portland Ikea store. Yet.
Ikea is gradually rolling out the bike, starting with two stores in Vienna, Austria, and expects to expand to other test markets in the coming months.
Given Portland's reputation as the nation's most bike-friendly city, it seems to be just a matter of time before Folkvänlig arrives in the Rose City.
Another reason the Portland seems like a given for a mainstream e-bike: The city wants 25 percent of all trips to be made on bikes by 2030.
Rising oil prices, environmental concerns and an aging population point to the rise of the eBike. A lot of Portlanders say they would love to ditch their cars, if only the transition to bicycling wasn't so extreme.
Folkvänlig could be a game changer.
Still, if you want your local Ikea store to carry the Folkvänlig, it wouldn't hurt the company an email.
In many ways, the idea of Ikea selling its own bicycle isn't that crazy. In fact, the company has been recognized as one of the world's greenest corporations, building wind farms, growing more wood than it harvests for products and even selling solar panels at some stores.
Of course, Ikea's announcement doesn't answer two questions: Will assembly require a finger-chewing hex wrench? And can you carry a Klippan loveseat on it?
-- Joseph Rose