Tour de Fat Car/Bike Trade
New Belgium Brewery’s Tour de Fat bike festivals have raised over $800,000 for charity. Now they’re offering to trade your car for a bike.
Grab your bike and slip into your alter-ego because New Belgium’s Tour de Fat will once again be meandering and pandering through 11 western cities spreading the good word about the positive societal offerings of the bicycle. Costumes and decorated bikes reign supreme as the participants come to ride in the bike parade, then gather in the merriment of good music, entertainment, and tasty beer. Amid the hoopla, Tour de Fat raises money — $806,000 to date! — for local charities, increases awareness for reducing your waste stream, signs people up for Team Wonderbike, and culminates in a Car Bike Swap, where the winner gets a custom Black Sheep New Belgium Commuter bike. Admission to the Tour de Fat is free. All profits from beer sales go to local non profit organizations.
It’s a contest, so there will only be one bike traded at each stop on the tour, but it’s a cool promo nonetheless.
WHAT IS THE CAR/BIKE TRADE?
It’s when one fortunate soul hands over their car, title and keys to the Tour de Fat altar in exchange for a bike. Not just any bike, a New Belgium, fully-loaded, hand-crafted, Fort Collins-built commuter bike and trailer. There’s 11 Tour de Fat stops — surely one near you — and that’s 11 car/bike trade opportunities. It’s about weaning yourself off the petroleum teat. It’s about not paying $4.00 for a gallon of gas. It’s about rediscovering the cultural thrill of public transportation.
WHO CAN DO IT?
You! (Maybe). By agreeing to trade your polluting car for a new bike and committing to sparkle-motion, human-powered transport on stage at Tour de Fat, you become an inspiration to the congregation and beyond. Your vehicular cleansing is filmed, as are your car-free trials and triumphs over the following year, causing thousands to idolize your efforts and begin commuting by bike (we hope).
More Information
Car/Bike Trade entry form (PDF) →
Tour De Fat Website →
6 Responses to “Tour de Fat Car/Bike Trade”
So the “winner” is the person who gets chosen to hand over their car? Maybe they should take a cue from the “Toys for Guns” program. It doesn’t really seem like something where there should be a winner.
And what happens to the car?
I’ve had at least two cars I would’ve loved to trade for a bike. One was so bad that when it failed to pass CA smog I gave it up to the Bureau of Automotive Repair under their $1000 “retirement” program. I definitely got the better end of that deal.. :-)
http://www.smogcertificate.com/vehicle_retirement.htm
i STILL want a “tadpole trike” style motorcycle, to keep up with the jones’s.(and they’re the only motor vehicle that fits my ergonomic needs). i saw 2 of them the other day. or a motor kit for my bike to..climb hills.
but my favorite scenario REMAINS hitchbiking, with a folder, or a unicycle. i’m the little fish that hitches a ride on the shark.
i’m the unicyclist that catches the city bus.
@ Andy
I keep seeing a few of those tadpole trike motorcycles around town. I’d love to ride one. I can’t imagine how they’d feel. Like a snowmobile I’d guess.
I’m saving my pennies for a hydrogen powered motorcycle. It’s how I’ll learn to stop worrying and “ride” the bomb.
did’nt i just see a movie where the hero rides a bomb? he was very tuckered afterward. but i just watched THE MIRACLE MAKER and that movie is the bomb. my friend used to drive a dodge “colt” and i’m always watching for “the newest colt” out of my favorite bike maker’s stables
But I don’t own a car.