Demo day at Kamikaze in Collingwood

Photos : Eric O'Brien
OGC / Opus Rep

A team of urbanistas take to the streets of Vancouver

IMPACT Magazine > News > Articles A team of urbanistas take to the streets of Vancouver to celebrate Bike Month in BC

Vancouver, BC (June 4, 2009) – Dressed for downtown – no spandex here – eight urbanistas from Opus Bikes will be travelling throughout Vancouver today to celebrate Bike Month in BC and to show Vancouverites that riding the right urban bike is the new, sophisticated way to travel. Team Opus will be riding Urbanistas, a collection of urban bikes that put a modern spin on the classic, upright bike that comes complete with lightweight fenders (keeps the dirt off this season’s latest fashions), rear rack (to secure small packages) and a kick stand (handy for that quick dash into Starbucks). Fashion friendly and designed for the casual, city rider, the Urbanista bikes pay respectful homage to European styling. Like fashion-forward Europeans, Vancouverites are fashionistas on the go. Comfortable, stable and robust, the Urbanista bikes are perfect for riding to work, school, or around town in style! Get a glimpse of our Urbanistas and meet Dave Cressman, urban cycling expert, who will be kicking off the tour around downtown at the corner of Robson and Burrard. Dave can speak to the emerging trends in urban cycling and how Vancouver is poised to become one of the most cycle-friendly communities in Canada. EVENT DETAILS What: Urbanistas Hit the Road to Celebrate Bike Month Who: Vancouver’s own Team Opus Urbanistas Where: Corner of Robson & Burrard When: Thursday, June 4, 2009, 11:45 am – 12:30 pm

A full Opus podium

Mitch Bailey

Impressive results from Opus XC racers this weekend at the first Nationals in Tremblant. Natasha Oldcorn form Team Jetpower got a 3rd place in Junior Women's standings.

A full Opus podium for the Junior mens with Mitch Bailey (Jetpower Team) winning followed by Antoine Carron (Genetik) and Steven Noble (Jetpower Team) rounding it out at third

Mike Garrigan, Jetpower Team manager and coach also won the special Red Bull Uphill / downhill race were a DH racer and XC racer team up.

"My favorite road bike this season"

from Impact Magazine May June 2009

These new designs get around

Original text from The Gazette

These new designs get around
St. Laurent firm creates bikes for city
MIKE KING, The Gazette

Published: Thursday, May 14, 2009

David Bowman is peddling two new bicycles geared to the growing number of city pedallers.

"There has been a huge change and acknowledgement that cycling has a role in urban transportation," noted the president of Outdoor Gear Canada, the St. Laurent designer and manufacturer of the Opus brand of bicycles.

"There's more urban infrastructure for cycling in the city core now and we're seeing an enormous increase in urban bikes," Bowman said from his $8-million building headquarters and main plant/warehouse. The recently rebuilt and expanded facility earned silver LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification in early March.

He cited an announcement last month by Montreal municipal officials about expanding the city's already extensive network of bike paths by 60 kilometres this summer, bringing the total length to 560 kilometres. The transportation plan adopted by Montreal in 2007 called for the city to double its bike path system to 800 kilometres by 2014.

This week, the city's short-term bicycle rental system, dubbed Bixi (short for "bicycle" and "taxi") got rolling. Named by Time magazine as one of the best inventions of 2008, Bixi plans to offer 3,000 bikes at 300 locations in central neighbourhoods.

Bowman called the rise in urban cycling "the most interesting and important development in the industry."

With that expanding market in mind, Opus in March launched its new Urbanista collection, made up of the Classico and Cervin models, both described by Bowman as based on a traditional Dutch design but built as "a safe, comfortable and attractive form of commuting."

So impressive is the design, he noted, Le Château stores in Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver as well as Lululemon outlets here and in Vancouver used Urbanista bikes in their clothing display windows this spring. Pistachio, an environmentally conscious stationary shop in Toronto, did the same thing and now is interested in selling the bikes.

OGC has been distributing its bikes - there now are 48 models, all but 16 of them built here, the rest outsourced to China - through nearly 300 authorized Opus dealers across the country. More than half of sales are in Quebec, with a quarter in Ontario.

The company's pre-Urbanista urban bike sales rose 31 per cent last year from 2007; sales of the Mondano and Urbano city models were up nearly 40 per cent alone.

Opus sold more bikes in the first four months of 2008 than throughout the entire previous season, for a 40-per-cent jump, and 2009 pre-season orders were up 17 per cent, compared with 2008.

The suggested retail price for Opus bikes - which include urban, road and mountain models (a children's model is planned for next year) - range from $520 to $7,400.

On the Web: www.ogc.ca

mking@thegazette.canwest.com