The Babymaker
by Big Al • June 22, 2023
On the way in to the shop yesterday I found this in my path and it stopped me in my tracks. I was confused and curious at the same time, actually it was more liked baffled. A large box about the size of a bike box with the picture of a fish tank and a product name of "The Babymaker II". Why would two otherwise seemingly incongruous things be associated with each other? Is it a tank specifically designed for breeding fish? Or a nursing tank for baby fish? Furthermore we are a bike shop, why do we have or even need a fish tank to breed fish? To be fair we've had some pretty strange things come through Bikeman but for me, this mystery took the top spot of weird.
Luckily for my quickly depleting brain cells the guys in the repair shop got me up to speed pretty quick. It is in fact a bike box, a bike actually came in the box and that said bike is actually named "The Babymaker II". "The Babymaker II" is a Gates belt drive single speed urban e-bike. I looked it up on the interwebs, it's for real. They are sold direct to consumer by FLX Bikes in San Diego, California. Apparently a customer purchased a "Babymaker" and shipped it to us for assembly.
All this information still leaves me scratching my head. Why would you name a bike "The Babymaker" in the first place and why would you think it was such a good idea that you would follow it up with "The Babymaker II"? I guess it's not for me to wonder why, I don't presume to be a marketing expert and apparently it's working for them because one found it's way to our door.
Perhaps the thing that strangely makes the most sense is the fish tank picture. Apparently it's a tactic to covertly persuade delivery drivers to handle the box with care by making them think there might be glass inside. At the very least maybe it keeps them from running a forklift fork through the middle of the box. Maybe that's the tactic of calling the bike "The Babymaker" as well but I'm not sure even the most gullible would think there's sensitive fertility equipment inside. I have to admit though, it did cross my mind when I first saw it.