By Amy Zimmer
DNAinfo News Editor
MANHATTAN —A free-wheeling advertising campaign is giving a shop owner the chance to peddle his high-priced folding bikes through Manhattan.
Bert Cebular, owner of Yorkville's NYCeWheels, is organizing a bike tour Thursday with free use of 10 of his bright yellow Brompton cycles.
It's the first of what he hopes will become a weekly showcase of his store's wares.
"It’s like, hey we've got these bikes here and you just show up and have a good time," said Cebular, whose shop at 1603 York Ave. at 85th Street specializes in folding and electric bikes.
"It's kind of a win-win we figured," he said. "You get a free bike tour with a guy that loves bike riding and giving tours, and we get the exposure by having the 10 yellow bikes out there."
Ralph Perri, a long-time Brompton enthusiast, will be leading Thursday's tour. The route has yet to be set.
"They'll adjust the pace to the slowest rider," Cebular said. "I think Ralph will ask people how comfortable they are with hills and wing it from there."
Cebular invested $8,000 in the fleet of yellow bikes for the express purpose of doing the tours. They're handcrafted in England and their inventor, Andrew Ritchie, has won the Prince Philip Designers Prize for its folding ingenuity.
"They are great bikes. It's our best-selling product," Cebular said. "In New York City everyone has space problems. You can take this bike into movie theaters and restaurants, and carry it upstairs."
Cebular sells the 25-pound bikes, with lights and hubs, for $1,400. They can be made lighter with titanium for an extra $800.
He envisions volunteer guides will dream up an array of tours, from moonlight rides in Central Park to slow-paced sojourns to sidewalk cafes. Maybe some tours will have competitions on folding the bike, Cebular offered.
"It's not about riding fast and far at all," he said.
A test tour with an NYCeWheels employee and one of the shop's customers did, however, last for five hours, Cebular noted.
The tour costs $30 to register for but, if you show up, you get your money refunded, Cebular explained. The tours are limited to 10 people because that's "a crowd most places can handle" and anything beyond that might be more difficult to keep the group together, he said.
While some bike shops near Central Park might be feeling negative impacts from the police crackdown on cyclists, NYCeWheels hasn't taken a hit.
"The ticket blitz was caused by guys on fast road bikes doing time trails in the park," Cebular said. "We don't sell those bikes, so are not really affected by it."
An RSVP is required for the NYCeWheels bike tour, which meets at 1603 York Ave. at 6 p.m. on Thursday, April 7.
