One year ago today the first residents moved in, and now Culdesac Tempe is home to over 180 residents. The past year saw new faces, expanding on-site small businesses, and growing community events. Together, we’ve created a thriving neighborhood truly designed for people.
Props to REI for helping drive support for the EBIKE Act.
Today, electric cars get $7500 subsidies and electric bikes get none. Yet all cars already receive enormous subsidies in the form of roads (which cars then destroy).
A subsidy for ebikes is a sensible policy we should
It’s not just Tampa. Everyone is waking up to how deep the demand for walkability is. 92% of Gen Z would pay more to live in a walkable neighborhood.
Every city is in a dogfight to become more walkable before the others do. Even if they don’t know it yet.
I’ve had hundreds of people tell me they bought their first ebike as a result of this sale.
We subsidize electric cars to the tune of 15 times the price of this bike.
We don’t subsidize electric bikes at all. Imagine the impact if we did.
Lectric just announced a trike and as usual, wow on the price
- $1499
- hydraulic brakes
- foldable
- comes fully assembled
If you don’t understand why ebike companies are rushing to launch trikes, you don’t understand the silver tsunami. Where did they announce it? Facebook
Yesterday was a great day to buy your first ebike. Today is even better. Rad just dropped the price of the RadMission to $900, and that will shake up the entry level of the market. If you want an ebike that looks like a regular bike, you'll love this.
Bike use is in the virtuous cycle. Protected lanes and a bike sharing network encourage more bikers. They whiz by gridlocked traffic, which is as good an advertisement for biking as there is.
Yesterday we moved into our new office in Tempe, 1.5 years after we gave up our SF office.
Twice the space, half the price. Just as nice, and a lot safer.
It’s in the densest part of Arizona, and it comes with 30 surface parking spots that we’re converting into two parks.
The holy grail for the home finance market is portable mortgages.
That product will exist one day. It was my goal at Opendoor.
That would be an especially compelling product in the current environment. Today, millions of homeowners can’t sell their home without giving up
I wanted to celebrate 10 yrs of being car-free, and I thought maybe others would want to join in on the fun as well. So we made a whole series of laptop stickers.
Want your own? Reply with how long you’ve been car-free and we’ll mail you one to commemorate.
New survey results confirm: Most Americans don't want car-oriented suburbs. They want walkable mixed-use neighborhoods and will pay more to live in them.
They will choose an attached home over a detached one if it means a shorter commute and walkable community.
Modeled by Culdesac’s own
@vanessa_valen
, the new most important vehicle in America is the Lectric XPedition
- Car replacement at a shockingly low price
- $1399, unsubsidized (let’s change that!) Dual battery $1699
- Throttle!
- Hydraulic brakes
- 450 lb capacity
- Running
Ebikes are not a niche product. They are already the best selling Electric Vehicles, and they are growing as quickly as a cloud infrastructure company.
Seems like VanMoof isn't our Tesla: lessons from a bumpy ride, and what I want to replace it.
---
Recently I removed the VanMoof from my recommended bike list due to the unfortunate news that they have stopped taking orders and are pursuing a sale. They were innovators, and
Gave advice to aspiring generalists today. Some that went over the best
1. Want to be a pm? Also consider bizops, especially around internal tools.
2. Don’t just network upward. Lateral and downward pay dividends later.
3. Aim to be high IQ + high EQ + relentless drive.
A new bar opened up 1/2 mile from Culdesac today. The owners get it and see bikes as letting them accommodate more customers with less parking. So if you arrive on a bike they give you 10% off. You’re going to start seeing a lot more of this.
These are some of the amazing parts of this city. And like other places in the world, there aren’t as many walkable neighborhoods as people who want to live in one. So we should build more
You thought your family was going to be talking about crypto and web3 this Thanksgiving. But they’re actually talking about ebikes. Let’s help you prepare.
@Bro_Neill
Exactly. The majority of Americans want to live in walkable neighborhoods, not just college students.
It’s why college campuses will continue to be valuable even if education goes remote.
Here at
@culdesac
we’re bringing walkable neighborhoods back, for everyone.
REI launching its own ebike is big news.
So they’re a retailer getting into making bikes.
DTC bike companies like Rad are opening retail.
Porsche just bought an ebike company.
This is such an exciting and evolving industry.
Here is the latest Culdesac Tempe construction video. Things are moving along nicely and we actually just pushed *up* the move-in dates on several buildings to September.
The last of these 35 buildings should open within 6 months, and an additional 25 buildings are underway.
What a 1.5 million lb slab of concrete looks like.
Pouring this involves 40 cement trucks arriving at precise times starting at 1am.
Below this is our grocery store. Above this is apartments.
The Paseo connects our residential buildings, our plaza, our grocery store, our coffee shop, our microretail, and more.
It’s an expansive, beautifully paved path. Usually a path this wide would be paved in asphalt and given over to cars. Those cars would clog the road, create
Might just be a coincidence, but with AZ at peak heat this weekend, we’re getting more press inquiries to talk about Culdesac Tempe.
My first question is, are you visiting in person? As you’ll see, it’s not as bad as you think, and Culdesac has multiple tactics to reduce the
Dropped off our car at Costco Tire Center for tire rotation. I learned from Nick Molden, CEO of Emissions Analytics, that EV tires have 2x the surface area (& 2x the VOC emissions) of tires from similar size cars.
Right now is a rare opportunity for cities. People are realizing how much more beautiful LA looks without smog, and how nice it is to hear birds in NYC. There’s new energy around how we can remake spaces for people, and we’re all paying attention to which cities take action.
Checking out its updated website, and
@culdesac
is definitely one of the coolest new companies out there.
@ryanmjohnson
any sights set on the tri-state area? Lots of 50-100 acre plots in Jersey 😎
First meal at Cocina Chiwas, the restaurant at Culdesac Tempe.
It was surreal seeing their handwritten menu and remembering when Culdesac Tempe was itself just an idea on paper
Reminder that the best-selling electric vehicles are ebikes.
One stat:
@lectricebikes
sells more electric vehicles than Ford and GM combined. All while competing on a massively uneven playing field with electric cars receiving enormous subsidies
Carmakers are getting into ebikes, and
@Porsche
came out swinging with the Cross and Sport. They called me to tell me mine were the very first one of each.
And I gotta say, “I ain’t ever seen two pretty best friends.”
Local news asked if they could interview us about Culdesac Tempe in light of high gas prices. We said instead what they should tell their viewers about is ebikes 🚲🚲🚲🚲⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️. And they said okay!
Books I’ve been recommending to college students
- Be So Good They Can’t Ignore You (how to think about career)
- How to Win Friends and Influence People (how to build EQ)
- Order Without Design (how to think about cities)
Interested in a short stay at Culdesac Tempe? We'd love to have you. We have a few select units you can book that'll help you experience what it's like to be car-free in Tempe
These aren’t even professional shots - our team took these after work.
It might not be the most beautiful place I’ve ever worked - I’ve worked at Grand Central Terminal, after all. But it’s easy to come to work in the morning when it looks like this.
@travis_robert
@BIKABOUT
We’re at the iPhone moment for businesses doing a 180 and saying they want people, and not car parking, in front of their stores
What we’re doing
@culdesac
wouldn’t be possible without the insights from
@opendoor
. Chief among those - that there is enormous demand for walkable neighborhoods.
When your apartment complex has zero bike racks but includes a free parking spot you don’t need, it’s time for a little
#tacticalurbanism101
.
Progress pics to come!
We’re about to share a little piece of Culdesac news but then this just arrived, and I couldn’t help myself.
The LeMond Dutch. Weighing in at a pinch me 27lbs.
One of our engineers lives in a second floor walk up, so we’ll see if this solves that challenge.
Congratulations
@RadPowerBikes
you have dethroned yourself. The RadExpand replaces the RadRunner as the most popular of my bikes
Its $1300 (vs $1500). It has an easier (though less sturdy) kickstand. It folds
It sells. Ebikes are booming…again. And this is the most booming
The highest complement we’ve gotten about Culdesac Tempe is that it looks like the renderings
I can’t believe I live here, and I can’t believe how good the paseo is going to be when it opens in 2 months
Early data on closing Market St to cars suggests it follows the footsteps of NYC 14th St as a home run
More bike trips, faster buses, and minimal impact on surrounding streets
@culdesac
, carfree enables 55% green space. We call it the car-free dividend
After a multi-month wait, I finally have a Tern GSD. This is the R14, their top of the line.
128 mile range, automatic shifting, and all that other goodness.