Q and A with Nick from Charge Bikes

1. Name, Age, Occupation?
Nick Larsen, 33, Charge Bikes, Tea Boy

2. Were does Charge Bikes live?
Deepest darkest Somerset countryside, UK

3. What are you riding these days?
Charge Duster Titanium Mountain Bike, Charge Mixer, Charge Blender and some prototypes.

I use SRAM, Rockshox, Truvativ, and Avid bits with Charge Saddles and posts and grips, Bontrager or Charge Wheels, Crank Brothers pedals and Sugino stuff. And Knog lights of course.

4. How and when did Charge Bikes start?
It was about 4 years ago, just saw some gaps in the market and off we went.

5. Tell us about the local cycling scene were you are from.
It is all about off road riding where I am from, and I, myself, the designer of the Plug bike have not ridden a fixed gear bike more than a mile, ever. There is an interesting fact for you. Fixed is just not a practical form of transport where I live. I am a mountain bike rider and racer through and through.

6. Have you seen a jump in business in the last few years with the fixed gear craze?
Yes for sure. I think the fixed gear craze is great. Anything that gets new and more people on bikes is great in my eyes, both from an environmental and sales point of view.

7. Charge Bikes has a pretty awesome roster of riders. Are there any new riders that you have been looking at that we should know about?
My good friend Chris Akrigg. He is the best bike rider in the world (in my opinion).
On the fixed side there's a whole bunch of young kids based in London who are getting pretty good on their bikes, but if I told you who, then I'd have to, um, do something nasty to you.

8. Please tell us about the new Charge Scissor? When will it be available for USA distribution?
The Scissor F+F is a combination of what our riders Tom Lamarche, SuperTed and I wanted to produce as a tough street bike. It has been through quite a few prototypes and incarnations until we were all happy with the final frame and fork. It should be available in the USA just before Xmas through our distributor there BTI.

9. Charge makes a wide variety of different style bicycles. What do you see more interest in? Are the kids in the UK into different styles compared to the kids in the states?
700c sales (not just fixed and single speed) are currently a pretty good proportion of our sales, but much of that can be attributed to the increase in sales of commuting bikes in addition to the fixed bikes. We started in Mountain Bikes, where my passion for riding lies, and we continue to sell strongly in that area too.

I'd say the kids in the States are pretty much the same as those in the UK in terms of their styles... apart from you guys like wearing flat peaked caps (New Era or something like that) and white socks more than we Brits do. We shake hands and you high-5.

10. What is on the Charge plate for the future? Anything new and exciting that we expect to see?
The 2011 range that I am working on now, sees a focus on all terrain bikes - cyclocross and MTB. We're going to be doing some interesting colabs. too. Watch this space.

11. Is there anything else that you would like to add? Like when we are going to see a Charge Team Demo roll through the States?
Umm. not really, I'd love to see a Charge team demo roll through the States... I will put it at the top of my to do list, right after this interview.