Eleven years ago in August 2004 The Hub was born. Then just a rudimentary, glaringly yellow message board populated by little more than a handful of users. We’ve certainly come a long way. From those humble beginnings as a small side project to the largest cycling website in South Africa and among the top 15 cycling sites worldwide.
Last month we saw 175 000 unique visitors viewing over 4.7 million pages on the site with an average of 1 minute 20 seconds spent on a page. That’s a total of 104 444 hours / 4352 days / 12 years spent here just last month.
Over the 11 years of our existence the platform and community has evolved. We’ve grown and, in many respects, matured. What began as a hobby is now a full-time business with actual offices, staff and, most importantly, a couch.
Our very yellow beginnings in a pre-Facebook and Twitter world.
By 2008 we’d dropped the yellowness and adopted a look ‘n feel which in part carries through today.
So what’s in a name?
Over the years many have asked “Why The Hub?”. To me it was always a natural choice. “Hub” describes a central meeting point, a central connection point in computer networking and, of course, is an integral part of any bike. It speaks to a lot of what the site is about. So “The Hub” it was or rather The Hub SA (www.thehubsa.co.za) thanks to someone squatting on the much desired domain www.thehub.co.za.
One of the many branches of The “other” Hub causing some confusion.
While to me “The Hub” has always been obvious, it’s not something that immediately shouts bicycles. As a result of the generic appeal of “the hub” it turns out there are many other “The Hubs”. From clothing stores to community groups, building complexes and even Chain Reaction Cycles’ version of The Hub.
More recently we’ve been getting messages from friends and family cheekily enquiring about our new “offices” and rapid expansion. To the point that when new acquaintances ask where I work they immediately respond “oh, that clothing store”. No!
While the arrogant side of me wants to say “come on guys, we are THE Hub”, it doesn’t make sense to get lost among all the other hubs, diluting our brand.
The solution?
Simply: Bike Hub. We get to keep our “Hub” heritage and maintain our identity as “Hubbers”, but add an important distinction which ties us more closely to our vertical: bikes and bike riding.
What does this mean? Practically not all that much changes. Our logo sees a slight tweak, our official domain name will become bikehub.co.za, but all old links and thehubsa.co.za remain intact and we continue on as Hubbers.
Whats next for Bike Hub? Symbolically it’s a significant shift for us. We’ve survived our “tweenage” and adolescent years, now grown up and ready to take on the world.
Thanks for the support from the many Hubbers, old and new, over the years. Without you, the community driving the site, we’d not exist!
Here’s to the many ahead. We’re excited to get going!
Matt Eagar
Founder – The Hub Bike Hub
Some house keeping:
Initially the changes will mostly be cosmetic. From today (Friday, 21 August 2015) you’ll notice the logos and naming on the site change over, along with our social media accounts.
Over the course of this weekend you’ll begin to see requests to www.thehubsa.co.za automatically redirected to www.bikehub.co.za as it becomes our primary domain name.
Our social media accounts will be updated as follows:
– Twitter: @bikehubber
– Facebook: Bike Hub
– Instagram: @bikehubber
– Google Plus: Bike Hub
– YouTube: Bike Hub
Nice change.
I have a suggestion though.....The logo has been blue for many years.
In the interests of attracting more lady hubbers can we make the logo pink?