Photo: BikePortland.org at Flickr.

Toddlerhood obesity

How does a four year old become obese? I don't think preschoolers should be obsessing about weight, but come on—at that age parents do have almost total control over what goes into their kids mouths. [twitterer]

Meanwhile, in a comparison of youth wellbeing in EU states, the UK, Romania, Bulgaria, Latvia, Lithuania and Malta were at the bottom of the league table.

Bike school bus

All Aboard the Bike Bus! How to Get Kids to School with Safety in Numbers.

Bikes not fumes

The CTC's "Bikes Not Fumes" report outlines "the emission and health benefits of a modal shift from motor vehicles to cycling". That's from 1991, folks.

DIY

On the rack

Bike Racks I Have Known:

I don't trust strap-on racks. I never trust them for good reason. They come loose and drop your bike on the ground.

Can't argue with that.

Innovation

Real Cycling reports on an innovation by BMW to stop lampposts being doored. But why stop there?

To make things even easier for lazy drivers, they could add an automatic recorded announcement that shouts at the cyclist and complains that we don't pay road tax.

Now we're thinking. Come on people, let's brainstorm.

If you're game

Just for a laugh: online cycling games!

Design

A couple of bike-related items among the student entries for the Australian Design Award/James Dyson Award:

  • Station2Station is "a new system of bike storage that could be expanded as demand grew in the future".

  • Switch Commuter Bike is "a high performance folding bike that has been specifically designed for easy handling in crowded environments".

[Thanks Peter]

But when the weather gets nasty, maybe the ThisWay Bike is the way to go:

ThisWay is a unique bicycle design that has a roof intended to protect the cyclist from bad weather like rain and too much heat of the sun…In addition, it also has built-in battery powered LED lights on the front and rear wherein it can be recharged, using the solar cells mounted on the roof.

More here: www.redtop.se.

And to indulge my inclination for folding bikes: [Zoomla folding e][].

New share on the block

Charter Drive (AKA MyCarClub.com.au) is a new player in the car sharing space, with cars in Sydney and Melbourne. And it looks like they'll be putting cars in Brisbane and the Gold Coast soon.

Moralising

Here's an interesting post on Streetsblog about the religious debates in cycling circles about red light running, going helmetless and bike lanes.

And an interesting response on red light running at Eye on Blogs.

Sharrows

Trade-in

Car scrappage scheme should apply to bicycles

Style

According to the New York Times the GFC has born a new trend:

This new It object is the glossy black Dutch bicycle, its design unchanged since World War II. Increasingly imported to the United States and starting to be seen on the streets of New York

Results replicated on return ride

Two years ago I showed that the bike is faster than the train for my commute to work. I recently replicated that result for [the return y][].