I was born in the city nearby and then we moved to a small beach town in the 70's (5,000 people). That's been me ever since, even on vacation. I didn't hear of the term beach bike or beach cruiser until very recently, just cruiser. To me it's who you ask or the context of the conversation. Back then in our town only the the surfers & the ultra chill types rode cruisers. For some it was about style, but for everyone it was about state of mind. Slow pace most of the time unless you're late for work or big waves rising. The brother mode of transportation was the skateboard. On these you're relaxing, you're going somewhere, you're arriving in no hurry, the wind is in your hair, there's a breeze on your face and you'd have it no other way. The skateboard helped keep your balance sharp for on the surfboard and doing tighter maneuvers, the cruiser gave you opportunity to work on your flow...along a wave and in life in general. We rode our cruisers on the beach 1 or 2 times, then took them apart & found sand in the bearings and never rode them on the sand again. In our town that was stupid. But we didn't have extra money then either.