Lochside Bikes gives cyclists in Tectoria the opportunity to cruise our bicycle-friendly streets in style without breaking the bank.
Launched earlier in 2014 by brothers Brian and Richard Kirk (they’re Campbell River transplants) and local off-shoring guru Jeff Zamluk (who, as seems to be a common theme with these B-Side blog posts, had a previous career in Victoria’s burgeoning craft brewery scene), Lochside Bikes designs and sells cool-looking bicycles with an urban sensibility for a fraction of the price.
Lochside is the first Victoria-based company of its kind to focus on our thriving commuter cycling scene, and offers an impressive range fixed-gear and Dutch-style shopping bikes.
The team designs their bikes right here in Victoria and has them built in China (that’s where Zamluk’s skills as an expert at offshore manufacturing comes in handy).
Lochside then sells their bikes in several bike shops in Victoria, Vancouver and Courtenay, and through a direct-to-consumer online service on their website.
This is an innovative development for the bicycling industry, which typically has little time for selling effectively online, as marketing is something that has to be squeezed in between getting out for a good, long ride.
Starting at $400, Lochside’s bikes are as affordable as they are attractive. With eight beautiful models to choose from, there’s truly something for everyone.
What made these entrepreneurs decide to launch Lochside in Victoria?
Victoria-based Zamluk had been helping bicycle manufacturers around North America source overseas for ten years. A conversation with his friends the sports-mad Kirk brothers made the trio realize there was nobody in Victoria actually manufacturing bikes locally.
Making bikes locally seems like a no-brainer for Victoria, the cycling capital of Canada.
We have a love affair with bicycles in Tectoria, thanks to our relatively warm, dry winters, and our network of regional bike trails that stretch from Sooke to Swartz Bay.
Lochside Bikes, of course, gets its name from the popular 30-kilometer cycling trail that connects downtown with Sidney and the ferry terminal.
As more people are move to Tectoria to fill the nearly insatiable demand of local technology companies for tech workers, and as every municipality continues to find ways to promote cycling, local demand for bicycles can only increase.
A growing population of cyclists, especially among downtown residents, means more demand for the beautiful, budget bikes offered by Lochside Cycles.
Tectoria Cycling Stat Geek Out
Tectoria has the most active commuters — those who bike or walk to work — per capita of any city in Canada, according to a 2011 Statistics Canada survey (we’re sure that number could only have increased over the last couple of years).
BC’s capital and second-largest tech hub has one commuter in six who either walks (10 per cent) or bikes (5.8 per cent). In Vancouver, 6.3 per cent of those surveyed in 2011 walked to work and only 1.8 per cent biked to work.
The commuting data was compiled as part of the Statistics Canada’s 2011 National Household Survey.
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