Shelby's new pedal powered cruiser.
We happened to run across this while looking for a good cruiser bike and were immediately conflicted; is it cool or dorky?
These kinds of bikes are pretty much just for tooling around swap meets, pits, beaches, and whatnot and generally emphasize personality and style. Sprayed in Wimbledon White paint accented by Guardsman Blue, it’s at least the right colors- and the Springer style forks, fat tires, and retro styled frame give it a vintage look. Parts of us likes it if for nothing other than the official Shelby logo and the GT350-esque VIN plate with numbering.
But, on the other hand part of us says anything with a Shelby logo on it should at least be performance and/or race derived- something a cruiser bike definitely isn't. Maybe we’d understand a road racing bike of some kind built with the latest in lightweight composites…
That's not to say that Felt bikes aren't nice, they are in general and this one uses Felt's hydro-formed aluminum tank frame and has three-speed Shimano Nexus internal gearing and 36-spoke wheels.
So is it just us, or do names get tossed around a bit too easily? Smart marketing, or watering down of the brand? Then again, what do we know; Trump made his fortune by building a name and licensing it for everything in sight.
Source and Photo: Shelby American via Autoblog