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Bike Club, 'the world’s first blockchain-based cycling club', launches with 10,000 NFT avatars available to members

Cycling artist Rich Mitch is part of team behind blockchain-enabled venture which promises members exclusive offers including chance to ride with the pros

Richard Mitchelson, the cycling artist better known as Rich Mitch, is part of the team launching a new blockchain-based project called Bike Club to bring together cyclists from pros to everyday riders, with members able to claim one of 10,000 unique avatars in the form of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) that he has designed, serving as proof of membership. Bike Club claims it is "the first-ever blockchain-based cycling club and NFT project built for the global cycling community."

Joining him in founding the venture, which will also donate a percentage of proceeds to cycling-related charities, are Shane ‘Scoop’ Cooper of sock firm DeFeet, Tyler Benedict of cycling website Bikerumor and a former Z Vetements pro rider turned World Cup mountain bike racer known as ‘Wolf’.

While it is the NTF aspect that is bound to grab attention and get people talking, the benefits promised by the club  - including exclusive previews of new products from partner brands, or the chance to ride with pros – are tangible enough, and underline that this is much more than a gimmick.

Those benefits are also said to include “access to special events, private chats and AMAs ['ask me anything'] with pro athletes and industry stars, early access to new bikes and products, and qualify to win or earn gifts, special deals from brand partners, and so much more!” 

A number of major brands have already signed up to the project, including bike manufacturers BMC, Felt and Parlee, the saddle maker Prologo, components firm 3T and the helmet business, Kask.

As far as the avatars are concerned, Bike Club says that “each Rider is randomly generated from hundreds of traits to ensure every one is uniquely collectible and will never be reproduced.

“For the cycling fan, the digital tifosi, your Bike Club Rider is the first point of entry into the future of cycling.”

On its website, Bike Club has set out a ‘Roadmap’ split into four phases to highlight how it is planned to evolve, with the first of those, the pre-mint stage, including launching the website and publicising it, as well as announcing partnerships with athletes and brands.

‘Mint Day’ itself – when membership opens and the avatars go on sale for an as-yet undisclosed fee – is scheduled to take place in mid-January – and constitutes Stage One of the Roadmap. This will be accompanied by charity donations and major prize giveaways as and when certain percentages of them are sold.

Stage Two will see the club expand to include mountain bikers, plus “some hidden traits will be revealed for the original Rider avatars that will unlock new capabilities and opportunities,” with “special airdrops and partner promotions planned for this phase and continuing on indefinitely,” as well as regular charity donations.

Stage Three, meanwhile, seems to be something of a work in progress and we imagine will evolve as the club develops, with the website saying: “Gamification in the Metaverse? Our own virtual world to ride and train in? Community led projects IRL? The creation of a Bike Club DAO and our own $BIKE token will allow us to become a fully community owned and operated entity, with Riders steering the Club’s future direction.

“The $BIKE token will allow Bike Club to return more value to its members and reward participation, create additional features like special Bidons that could give your Rider new powers, and more.”

NFTs are unique digital artworks such as those auctioned in recent days by Wout van Aert to commemorate his biggest wins, and the one-off Colnago bike image sold earlier this year for $8,600.

Proof – or indeed transfer – of ownership is achieved through blockchain technology, best known for its association with crypto currencies such as BitCoin and, specifically in the field of NFTs, Ethereum.

However, the huge amount of computing power required to power blockchain technology has seen crypto currencies, and indeed NFTs, strongly criticised on environmental grounds.

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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24 comments

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Timsen | 3 years ago
0 likes

I personally don't do Zwift but isn't this a bit like ( i.e just the same as) the Avatars that already exist on there ?

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henryb replied to Timsen | 3 years ago
0 likes

Timsen wrote:

I personally don't do Zwift but isn't this a bit like ( i.e just the same as) the Avatars that already exist on there ?

Yes, but this is giving you the opportunity to own - sorry, to "own" your avatar...

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henryb | 3 years ago
0 likes

Quote:

"will also donate a percentage of proceeds to cycling-related charities

So, 0% maybe?

Quote:

"...one of 10,000 unique avatars in the form of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) that he has designed..."

Quote:

"...as far as the avatars are concerned, Bike Club says that each Rider is randomly generated from hundreds of traits"

Hmmm...

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mdavidford replied to henryb | 3 years ago
1 like

henryb wrote:

Quote:

"will also donate a percentage of proceeds to cycling-related charities

So, 0% maybe?

Bike Club wrote:

We're pledging to donate 10% of our revenue from the original mint, plus 10% of the ongoing royalties, to charities that promote safer cycling, build trails, get more people on bikes, and otherwise improve their communities through bicycles.

(That bit only seems to appear on an image, though, so road.cc weren't able to copy and paste it.  )

henryb wrote:

Quote:

"...one of 10,000 unique avatars in the form of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) that he has designed..."

Quote:

"...as far as the avatars are concerned, Bike Club says that each Rider is randomly generated from hundreds of traits"

Hmmm...

I would guess that means he's designed e.g. 6 types of hair, in 8 different colours, 3 types of sunglasses, with 12 different colour frames, etc., and then it randomly picks one variant of each to create an avatar.

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Steve K replied to mdavidford | 3 years ago
1 like

mdavidford wrote:

I would guess that means he's designed e.g. 6 types of hair, in 8 different colours, 3 types of sunglasses, with 12 different colour frames, etc., and then it randomly picks one variant of each to create an avatar.

Maybe it's just me, but if I were to do something like this (whatever it is - I still don't understand) I think I'd want my avatar to have a vague resemblance to me and not just be randomly generated.

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mdavidford replied to Steve K | 3 years ago
1 like

Yeah - I think the idea is that they generate them, then you get to look at them and (provided no-one else gets there first) pick one you want to buy, rather than just fronting the money and getting something random. It's not particularly clear, though, and to be honest, I'm not interested enough to dig any further!

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peted76 | 3 years ago
3 likes

Oh joy another virtual money pit, how lucky we all are to have this opportunity to buy nothing and own nothing.

Shoe event horizon indeed. 

 

I'm to old for this crap.

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brooksby | 3 years ago
0 likes

Crypto means cryptography!

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mdavidford replied to brooksby | 3 years ago
0 likes

Crypto means concealed.

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JL77 | 3 years ago
2 likes

Road.cc wrote:

However, the huge amount of computing power required to power blockchain technology has seen crypto currencies, and indeed NFTs, strongly criticised on environmental grounds.

Well, in case of crypto currencies, it is not only the blockchain transaction to prove ownership of a given amount that is consuming energy, it is also/mostly the "mining" that consumes a lot of energy. (more or less: make a computer solve complex riddles and get an amount of the crypto currency in return; most of those computers mine 24/7)

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hawkinspeter replied to JL77 | 3 years ago
3 likes

Apparently, more energy is used for mining than the whole of Argentina.

https://www.cnet.com/personal-finance/crypto/heres-how-much-electricity-it-takes-to-mine-bitcoin-and-why-people-are-worried/

Blockchains are a great technology, but the energy consumption makes it useless in my opinion. (Chia is an alternative which uses disk space instead, but it's still very energy intensive).

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chrisonabike replied to hawkinspeter | 3 years ago
0 likes

hawkinspeter wrote:

Apparently, more energy is used for mining than the whole of Argentina.

https://www.cnet.com/personal-finance/crypto/heres-how-much-electricity-it-takes-to-mine-bitcoin-and-why-people-are-worried/

Blockchains are a great technology, but the energy consumption makes it useless in my opinion. (Chia is an alternative which uses disk space instead, but it's still very energy intensive).

Clever, but as you say hugely wasteful and clearly not "what we need". However the question is always "qui bono" and the answer doesn't always have to be "humans in general". Plenty of things exists because they benefit - or once benefitted - some humans. Or because once they came into existence if you didn't have then you could lose the advantage to others. Note the development and continued presence of nuclear weapons - extremely costly things which haven't been used for their main designed purpose since 1945 and which don't have obvious benefits for most people.

An interesting practical illustration is the "Universal Paperclips" game illustrating the "Paperclip maximizer" thought experiment - think Douglas Adams got there first though in parts of the Hitch Hiker's Guide. ** EDIT Mungecrundle got there first - the Shoe Event Horizon **

I consider these as like a product of an evolutionary arms race. Sometimes competition leads to animals spending inordinate amounts of time / energy or evolving into very odd shapes to either keep ahead of the baddies or keep up with the Joneses.

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JL77 replied to chrisonabike | 3 years ago
3 likes

Let's not confound blockchain with crypto currency mining. The latter makes partly use of the first.

The first is a technology that has benefits in certain applications.

What crypto currencies are concerned, chrisonatrike, it would be fair not only to talk about the benefit that there is for a limited amount of people, but also the detriment it causes for humanity and the planet as a whole.

Yes, things like entertainment activities can also be seen as something that can have a detrimental effect, and may be looked at. But they serve a human need in the first place.

Crypto currencies are currently about trying to make money out of consuming energy and hoping that somebody will spend real money to obtain the digital object they consider to be a form of money.

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chrisonabike replied to JL77 | 3 years ago
0 likes

JL77 wrote:

Let's not confound blockchain with crypto currency mining. The latter makes partly use of the first.

The first is a technology that has benefits in certain applications.

What crypto currencies are concerned, chrisonatrike, it would be fair not only to talk about the benefit that there is for a limited amount of people, but also the detriment it causes for humanity and the planet as a whole.

Yes, things like entertainment activities can also be seen as something that can have a detrimental effect, and may be looked at. But they serve a human need in the first place.

Crypto currencies are currently about trying to make money out of consuming energy and hoping that somebody will spend real money to obtain the digital object they consider to be a form of money.

Good point - blockchain stuff itself is distinct from said mining. But my point about arms races still stands. These things essentially progress under their own power and rationale, not especially because they "serve people". They certainly serve some specific people.

To make an analogy with bikes if you will: we started with no locks, but obviously bikes get stolen, so pretty quickly people started locking them. When enough people lock their bike you're penalised for not doing so because thieves will preferentially steal bikes without locks. Then people get specific bike locks, more secure locks (heavier / better bypass and picking resistance) and again others need to keep up. I'd say where we are now in computer security terms is everyone has locks - and indeed keys - so massive that we need motorbikes to carry them around. And every Sheffield stand has to come equipped with a giant combination lock. Anyone trying to turn back the clock with a lock light enough to be carried on a bicycle now marks themselves as an obvious target. No slowdown in sight, Moore's law still applies and I suspect the rate of increase in use of computing is still increasing.

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mdavidford replied to chrisonabike | 3 years ago
3 likes

Sooner or later, someone's going to come along with a quantum angle grinder and render all those locks useless.

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Mungecrundle | 3 years ago
10 likes

Another way to expend stupid amounts of computer energy calculating blockchain equations that produce bugger all benefit to humanity. Douglas Adams (Shoe Event Horizon) would be in awe of our ability to destroy an entire civilisation in the pursuit of virtual wealth.

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chrisonabike replied to Mungecrundle | 3 years ago
1 like

Mungecrundle wrote:

Another way to expend stupid amounts of computer energy calculating blockchain equations that produce bugger all benefit to humanity. Douglas Adams (Shoe Event Horizon) would be in awe of our ability to destroy an entire civilisation in the pursuit of virtual wealth.

Thanks - I couldn't remember it but the Shoe Event Horizon I was grasping for in my paperclip post!

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brooksby replied to chrisonabike | 3 years ago
1 like

chrisonatrike wrote:

Mungecrundle wrote:

Another way to expend stupid amounts of computer energy calculating blockchain equations that produce bugger all benefit to humanity. Douglas Adams (Shoe Event Horizon) would be in awe of our ability to destroy an entire civilisation in the pursuit of virtual wealth.

Thanks - I couldn't remember it but the Shoe Event Horizon I was grasping for in my paperclip post!

I think you just need to have a sense of perspective about these things.

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Steve K | 3 years ago
4 likes

Yep, still don't understand any of this.

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espressodan | 3 years ago
4 likes

And cycling wedges just a few inches further up it's own arse..... Loving 2021.

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srchar | 3 years ago
9 likes

Nothing to do with cycling, everything to do with taking money from fools.

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WBoy | 3 years ago
3 likes

OK I'm getting old, but can somebody please explain what on earth 'blockchain-based' means? In my youth a 1" pitch block chain was something used by Reg Harris.

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Captain Badger replied to WBoy | 3 years ago
2 likes

WBoy wrote:

OK I'm getting old, but can somebody please explain what on earth 'blockchain-based' means? In my youth a 1" pitch block chain was something used by Reg Harris.

It's veeeerrry complicated

By the bye, interested in a bridge by any chance?

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Freddy56 | 3 years ago
11 likes

dear god, remember when we all used to ride bikes.

That sounds as far away from a club as possible.

'How to extract money from lonely cyclists on a friday night after a bottle of wine and then see a missing 80$ on your credit card statment' club

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