First websites with new gTLD .BIKE domain names

Sometimes things launch big with a loud splash; sometimes things launch slowly and build momentum over time. The Internet namespace is experiencing its largest expansion in history, as an estimated 1000+ new generic top-level domains (gTLD) are launching in the next 2 years. Right now this expansion program is looking like a slower launch (even though 50k+ domains with new gTLDs have been registered so far) and would build momentum over time, and accelerate exponentially when something disruptive happens

So, what does this Internet expansion actually look like? Let’s look at some real active websites running on the new gTLDs. Here are the first websites using a .BIKE domain name (that I could find) (and don’t you think the new domain names are better than the old ones?) ::

• iswe.bike was indianasmallwheelenthusiasts.com
• avt.bike was aspirevelotech.com cf. Aspire VeloTech One of the First to Be Granted New .BIKE Domain
• republic.bike was republicbike.com (maker of the Google Bikes)
• adelaidetour.bike was adelaidetour.net.au
• pamporovo.bike was veloparkpamporovo.com
• schlitter.bike was schlitterbikes.com

Found a report that researched how the top 20 American bicycle brands were responding to the .BIKE gTLD. As of 2/10/14, all 20 brands were registered as .BIKE domain names but only 4 of the 20 brands have clearly been registered by the actual brand owner. And when I checked during the writing of this blog post, none of those 4 are live yet (as either websites or redirects.)

In subsequent posts of this blog series (tagged gTLD), I’ll be working off the list below, to find real websites up-and-running on these new domain extensions. Last week on 2/5/14, this Internet expansion went mainstream with 7 new gTLDs becoming available for registration by the general public:

• .bike
• .clothing
• .guru
• .holdings
• .plumbing
• .singles
• .ventures

And 7 more gTLDs became available to all on 2/12/14:

• .camera
• .equipment
• .estate
• .gallery
• .graphics
• .lighting
• .photography

On 2/19/2014, these 7 gTLDs will become available to all:

• .construction
• .contractors
• .directory
• .kitchen
• .land
• .technology
• .today

And there’s more, much more, to come. Here’s 3 of the best ways I’ve found to keep track of the newest gTLDs launched:

• namestat.org
• www.calzone.org
• www.101domain.com/new_domain_extensions.htm

This Internet expansion program is much more complicated and multi-layered than I’ve presented here, with lots of moving parts and multiple phases of launching a new gTLD, like testing, delegation, sunrise phase for trademark holders, landrush and early access phases, prior to a gTLD becoming available to the general public. I won’t be getting into all of that technical detail and the precision that would necessitate using verbose words to explain more accurately that would be more legally acceptable.

[disclosure: my interest in this topic is informally related to my work as a member of the .BIBLE Registry launch team]