Jeff Selzer: Bike Innovator

July 16th, 2009 · No Comments

I recently spoke with Jeff Selzer, a Silicon Valley innovator who has some great ideas regarding bike parking structures in urban areas.

Occupation: Co-Founder Bike Arc & General Manager Palo Alto Bicycles

Hometown: Mountain View

Bay Area Zip Code/Area Code: 94040/650

Helmet or no helmet: A bit of both

Miles from home to work: 10 miles

Type of bike(s): Ritchey Breakaway/Klein QPRO XX/Calfee Tetra Pro

Describe what you like best about your bikes: They are all very fast!

Describe your cycling experience in the Bay Area: I have been associated with cycling in the Bay Area since the early 80′s I was in school at Cal Poly in SLO and we would take road trips to Hellyer Park, and races like Burlingame and Cats Hill. I moved up here in the early 90′s and have never looked back. The riding here is second to none anywhere in the world!

Favorite time or place to ride: Favorite time: Anytime I am awake! Place to ride: I love riding to the coast. Down 84 to San Gregorio back through Pescadero back up to Skyline and down Page Mill. Great climbing, awesome scenery.

Artist most commonly played on iPod at the moment: ELVIS BABY!

Describe your personal style: Casual low key.

In a nutshell, what is Bike Arc? Bike Arc is a modular outdoor bike parking system that gives a bike a place of honor in the world!

What fancy adjectives would you use to describe the Bike Arc? Beautiful, artistic, efficient and FUN!

How is Bike Arc contributing to a better biking community? Our hope is it will help elevate the bike to a position of respect as a mode of transportation. On a side note, a person who used the Umbrella Arc we have off of High Street in Palo Alto said it made him want to commute by bike to work (he works in downtown Palo Alto) because he felt good about leaving his bike locked in the Arc.

In your opinion, how do cyclists contribute to a better community – period? This is such a vast question… We contribute by decreasing auto congestion on the city streets. We help reduce noise pollution, exhaust pollution, and visual pollution. We are improving our health which lowers the burden on the health care system. And finally we are improving our mental and physical stamina. It is hard to overstate the value of getting on a bike and riding it!

What do you foresee in bicycling cities of the future? Well there are currently some cities in Europe that are starting to adopt a car free community. Cars are required to stay on the out skirts of the city. The only access is on foot or by bike. Wow – what a great idea. For here in the US in the next 5 years??? I would like to see cycling treated by our politicians with a greater level of respect. We are still seen as the little redheaded stepchild. Right now we have something like 1% mode share (people who commute by bike). What would 5% look like or 10% – wow, that could have a major effect on our world in a very positive way!