For every stainless steel water bottle Miir sells, the Seattle company gives $1 to a charity that provides a year's worth of clean water to someone in need. Now, Miir is selling three types of bicycles with a similar aim, with proceeds going to World Bicycle Relief and the Boise Bicycle Project.
"The thought was, what if we could carry this model over to bikes?" said Miir's Travis Wals.
Miir started with stainless steel water bottles
Miir was inspired by — and now partners with — One Day's Wages, a Seattle nonprofit that asks people to give one day of their earnings to charity. One Day's Wages was started by Eugene Cho, a Seattle pastor who traveled through southeast Asia and was moved by the poverty he saw to act.
"He and his wife gave a year's wages to kick it off," Wals said. (One Day's Wages' website has a PDF of a $68,000 donation by Eugene and Minhee Cho.)
After finding a receptive audience for their colorful stainless steel water bottles, Miir is creating steel singlespeed and 5-speed city bikes. Each bike comes in two colors and four sizes. The singlespeed is $699 and the 5-speeds are $899 for men's and women's models. For each bike sold, Miir will donate almost $100 to both World Bicycle Relief and the Boise Bicycle Project. For $134, WBR can provide a durable bike to someone in need.
The split top tube of the Mixte 5-Speed
"The bikes have a classic Euro style, but with a little more aggressive position for pulling on the handlebars to get up hills," Wals said.
The singlespeed has a flip-flop hub for freewheel or fixed-gear riding. The men's and women's 5-speed bikes feature Sturmey Archer hubs with internal shifting, which gives the bikes a clean look like the singlespeed.
As with the bottles, the bikes are sold on Miir's website.
Miir is also selling memberships to its Founder's Circle for $1,000, which includes a numbered bike, an invitation to the company's trips to Africa where it donates bikes, a custom Chrome messenger bag and other swag.
Steel is real... generous, in Miir's case
