Found this little gem on Urban Velo. I’m so glad to see Gary Fisher investing in the cycling lifestyle with gusto.

When I was working at Fisher, I had the great pleasure of spending time with the man himself. His wild energy and boundless imagination were difficult for me to keep up with sometimes. My philosophy at the time was to listen intently, and take notes furiously. Because I always walked away with a list of ideas that may or may not change the world.

Gary was traveling a lot at the time, and came back from the Netherlands and Asia raving about all of the utility bikes that crowded the streets there. He started talking about the joys of riding slow, and totally integrating bikes into life.

We took a few of his ideas and started creating some city bikes, but nothing that fully captured his vision. Then, after I left, the Simple City came out. That bike was certainly a step closer to Gary’s vision. Now I see that the El Ranchero is in the works.

The El Ranchero is a ‘long-bike’, built to carry massive amounts of cargo. The bike is long for stability and capacity, but when designed properly, still handles well and is relatively lightweight. According the the Fisher designer:

This project was done as a pure concept. We recognize the potential of long tail bikes as a real solution to people’s everyday needs. Everyone needs transportation and everyone needs to transport their stuff. We’d like to help people with that task by making the whole scenario easy. It’s another part of One World - Two Wheels.

Our research showed a real need for people to carry their kids to school, soccer practice, or with them while they run some errands. The supermarket, home improvement store, and transportation to work were some of the common scenarios. To make this all easier, we added a dedicated child’s ‘cockpit’ complete with saddle, bars, and foot pegs. The bags keep your stuff dry, swallow a week’s worth of groceries, and instantly fold up to keep the bike narrow when not needed. We also added a front bag to keep some of the smaller items in easy reach and it’s detachable so you can take it with you. While loading up everything, the double kickstand keeps the bike planted so there’s one less thing to worry about.

I gathered from a friend that just got back from the GF factory show, that this bike is on the list for production. But i wouldn’t expect to see it in the showroom soon. I have a feeling though that Gary is going to be pushing hard to make it happen. Plus, I trust that Aaron, Chris and Mikey up at Fisher are also going to fight the good fight to make it happen. Good luck fellas.