BikeBike Explores The Legacy Trail, at night!

The Legacy Trail, running between Canmore and Banff, has in it's very short lifespan become one of the most popular trails for cycling in the area.  It basically parallels the TransCanada highway, starting in the east at the Banff National Park gate, and when completed will connect to the #1A highway west of the Banff townsite allowing cycling between the two towns without having to ride on the (scary) highway shoulder.

We've been out to ride it a few times before but this was the first time we decided to ride it at night.  We checked into the Park Gate Chalets, dropped off our gear, and suited up for the ride west to Banff.  With bluebird skies and a setting sun to ride into we turned on the tunes and started the 19kms of steady uphill and light headwinds.

Here is the Strava profile of the ride to Banff.

Rest stop, on our way to Banff, looking east towards Canmore.

Banff Ave is 40kph, felt safe to cycle into town on it.

Eddie's Burger Bar was bumpin' and pumpin' out burgers like crazy.

The ride west to Banff was fun as usual, although not as easy as the ride back due to the consistently uphill profile.  As we got closer to Banff the headwinds started to increase making the last 4-5kms a little tougher than the beginning of the ride, but not hard or unenjoyable, and with burgers waiting we were very motivated to get this segment in the bag as quick as possible.

After fuelling up at Eddie's Burger Bar on one of the best burgers we've ever had we bundled on some extra layers and set off under clear skies, full of stars.


The ride east back to Harvie Heights is slightly downhill and thankfully, a slight tailwind combined with our heavy Dutch bikes pushed our full bellies along for many kilometres with ZERO effort. It was magical to be in your biggest gear, standing tall, and coasting towards home.  At that time of night there is not much traffic on the TransCanads highway making it very quiet for long periods of time too.

Here is the Strava profile of Banff to Harvie Heights.

By the time we got back to the cabin we were both tired from the almost 40km round trip after also working a full (record breaking) day at BikeBike.  But the tiredness was no match for the great feeling buzz created by all that great food, music, laughs, and spooky bike riding in the mountains.

For those who are interested in riding the Legacy Trail, here are a few things to think about...

- Trail info, courtesy of Bike Pirate

- The pathway starts right now at the east gate of Banff National Park but getting safely onto the pathway is still a challenge.  Some people park in the highway median just before the gate and carefully frogger across the highway when its safe.  Others park up in Harvie Heights and ride the wrong way down the exit ramp to get to the trailhead.  Both options suck but it sounds like help is coming.  My understanding is a connection is going in to connect the current trailhead to the Canmore Visitor Centre.  I have no idea when it will be completed.

- There is a bus service that runs between Canmore and Banff - ROAM - and all the buses have bike racks.  If you want to ride the trail in one direction only consider using the bus service.

- You will be in a mountain environment - even if it's beautiful out and the forecast is good, pack extra layers and be prepared for any kind of weather, including snow, even in July.  There are no services along the route, save for one washroom so bring water and snacks.  Stopping along the way is encouraged.

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Tariffs on Bicycles Imported to Canada

The vast majority of bicycles sold in Canada through all the retail channels including Costco, Walmart, Canadian Tire - and of course the "mom and pop" bike shops (shops like us) come from the far east - place like China, Taiwan, Indonesian, and Vietnam.  And that's cool.  Those countries make awesome bikes and they're full of cool people.  Bikes from brands like Trek, Specialized, Giant, Linus, Norco (really, name your brand)...brands you may know and even own, are all made there.  Those factories have the latest frame building and robotic technology and can produce bikes of amazing quality - very often far better than what can be made in Canada.

These bikes are subject to various import duties, that in some cases go as high as 63%.  Here is an example - if BikeBike buys a bike that was made in one of these countries that bike is subject to a 13% duty if it is a complete bike or an 8% duty if it is just a frameset (frame/fork). If we want to buy a bike from one of these countries that is below the $225 FOB that duty goes up to 63%.  Think about those numbers.  That 63% duty means a shop like ours finds it basically impossible to offer adult bikes below $400.  Do you ever wonder why stuff is more expensive here?  Well, it's staring you in the face with regards to bicycles.

Here is another example - a small Canadian bicycle company called Beater Bikes cannot even sell their bikes in Canada because of the 63% duty.  A Canadian company that cannot sell their bikes in Canada, what's wrong with that picture?

Tariffs are suppose to protect domestic production, right?  Well, as far as can can tell, the biggest mass producer of bikes in Canada is Cycles Devinci - makers of mostly "enthusiast" type bikes and, maybe as importantly, makers of the BIXI bike share bikes, which are available in bike share schemes in Montreal, Toronto, Ottawa, London UK, New York City - and one or two I can't remember right now :)

Cycles Devinci make nice bikes, much respect.  But does one manufacturer deserve such protection?  Do these tariffs even help this company, considering so much of its business is derived from its international bike share operations?  Do these tariffs make sense in a country where bicycle use is booming, where cities across the country are adding bike infrastructure as fast as they can (except Toronto, curse you Rob Ford!), and where health epidemics like diabetes, heart disease, obesity are strangling budgets? 

I like to suggest that these tariffs are bad for small business in Canada.  And small business is the undisputed engine of the economy.  The tariffs make it not just difficult, but impossible for small bicycle shops to compete for business on inexpensive bikes in Canada.  These tariffs have essentially sliced the biggest portion of the bike business out of the pie and handed it over to the mass market operators on a silver platter.  We don't even get a chance to compete with the "big boys" - and I know many bike shops would happily compete - if the rules were fair.  Independent Bicycle Dealers (IBD's) in this country are competitive, creative, connected to their communities, and perfectly capable of competing with the mass market if the playing field was level and the rules fair. 

Tom Babin at The Calgary Herald delves deeper into the issue here. 

The Bicycle Trade Association of Canada has a petition here.

Please take 5 minutes to reach out to your MP - find them on Twitter, email, Facebook, whatever - just make an effort to tell them you think tariffs on bikes should be abolished.