Wider and busier
woowoowoo discovered recently that on Google Streetview, the Moonee Ponds Creek trail is wider and busier than he remembered it. Heh.
Now THAT's a SUV
Holy crap, look at this thing! The Dogsled. No one's going to laugh at that 'bent or they'll get squashed!
In the News
I found this article in the New York Times on urban cycling to be relatively balanced, but your mileage may vary (as did Dave Moulton's). [via Bike Snob NYC] Some good follow-up comments at Commute By Bike.
And then something a little less "nice" in The Economist, but as Chris writes there's good advice at the tail: just calm down and get along people. [via Commute by Bike]
University=Parking lot
Universities spend a lot of money, and occupy a lot of space, making car parks. (Yes, I am looking at you, Deakin Burwood Campus!) So why don't they spend a comparatively smaller amount of money reducing the need for this, making their students healthier and their campuses more pleasant? Now there's an idea [via Commute by Bike]
Divorce machine
Anyone who thinks a tandem is a "divorce machine" has obviously never tried one with their partner. [via carectomy]
Bring the kids
Cycloculture reviews offspring haulers. Kids: don't leave home without 'em.
Mucking about
Speking of bike trailers, these canoe bike trailers are just the thing for the cyclist who is also into mucking about in boats. Just watch the turning circle!
NRMA the new home of spin and bullsh*t
Alan Evans being caught out talking utter crap surely sends a big message to motoring organisations: your members don't just drive cars. Oh yeah, and don't talk sh*t. [via Human Powered]
Helmet head
tom adds this to 'how to get kids to wear helmets': bike helmet that looks like a hat
DIY
Make your own bike panniers.
Comments
Doesn't the helmet hat make your head look big? I know it is not PC but we just threaten our kids that if they don't wear their helmet we will call the police and they will take them. I know, I know. This will make them fear the police. But after seeing that YouTube from yesterday about the cop body checking a rider that may actually not even be all that silly.
On the tandem, my grandparents had one. It remained unused for 5 years hidden in the attic because of the war (this was Holland in the 40s). After the war my grandpa dusted it off, greased it and put it back together. He sold it 2 weeks later, but my grandparents avoided divorce and remained married their whole life. I have been passed on a tandem mountainbike on a downhill. Man, these things fly!
What was weird about The Economists' article is that the reactions mostly had nothing to do with the article itself. It's just the usual sh.. uhm, stuff.
The bikes for college students promising not to drive a car to campus made me laugh. When I went to school in the US I was on some student council body. We had a trip to Santa Monica for a national meeting. The number 1 issue facing graduate students in the US in the mid 90s? That's right, parking spaces that made you have to walk "far" and not being allowed to park on staff carparks on campus even though they were teaching tutorials. Since we went to school in New York we went, WTF?!? You guys own CARS?????