Speaking of Massachusettes design news, Bay State local paper The Somerville Journal's got a piece up on the Dutch Bicycle Company, a Mass'-based operation founded by Dan Sorger and Maria Salve in 2001 (originally in Florida). Starting out as bicycle importers, Sorger and Salve moved to Massachusetts in 2008 to expand into bicycle design and production after concluding that Dutch bikes were great for Holland, but American cities required a design all their own.

The duo hired industrial designer Brian Piper to work on their Swift bike:

...Sorger wanted engineers to keep a few things in mind: The bike had to be able to handle hills and snow; it needed to be designed for speed and maneuvering through traffic; and it had to be light enough that a rider could carry it up several flights of stairs to his or her apartment. The Swift also needed to be high quality, especially since it comes with a lifetime guarantee.

Bicycle geeks and anyone lucky enough to have purchased one of Core77's Dutch Masters will already know this stuff, but for the uninitiated, here's Piper explaining design-relevant bicycle geometry:

Read the full article here.