Michigan Trails & Greenways Alliance

Ideas for a non-motorized future are rolling forward, cycling businesses are forming and improving the quality of life. The two-wheel economy has reached its own critical mass in Detroit. Though minuscule compared with Detroit’s car companies, the manufacture, sales and service of cycling is gaining legitimacy as an industry.

Perhaps most symbolic, two months after the 2012 North American International Auto Show, Detroit Bike City was inaugurated, the region’s first annual bike show and swap meet.

A century after Henry Ford transformed the quadricycle into an automobile, urban Detroit is re-discovering two-wheelers. Roads are becoming bike-friendly and people are taking cycling seriously as a means of transportation as well as leisure. More about the cycling industry by Dennis Archambault in Model D.