[via Neatorama]
Grandpa's bike
Reflect on this
RydeSafe Reflective Bike Decals are a great idea, but I've achieved pretty much the same effect with a roll or two of 3M self-adhesive reflective tape.
Cyclist defined (again)
My own attempts to address the question "What is a cyclist?" is put well into the shade by Dave Moulton's eloquent answer:
I seem to remember that Bike Snob NYC once described a cyclist as one who owned a floor pump; and others who relied on their local gas station to inflate their tires were not a real cyclists.
I think that is a pretty fair assessment; when a person cares enough about riding a bike to start buying other stuff like proper tire inflation technology, they are on their way to becoming a cyclist.
Justice for Ian
Xenophon: Hit-run lawyer Eugene McGee must face tribunal and now is the time to act.
For those who came in late, the story is well covered by Australian Story: Road To Nowhere - Part One and Road To Nowhere - Part Two.
Nutters on ice
Helen Skelton is hoping to become the first person to use a bike to reach the South Pole. [via iSay]
And, indeed, she did it.
A year's worth of learning
Lessons learned as a year-round bike commuter, including:
Bicycle commuting is a great was to refresh oneself and get a good start on the work day. I feel more alert and healthy when I bike commute than when I am stuck in a two-ton metal egg.
It folds (and folds and folds)
This also folds
Whoever truly invents a foldable, pocket-sized bicycle helmet will be hailed as a genius by those of us who live in helmet-compulsory jurisdictions. The inventors of the overade foldable bike helmet appear to be well on the way to genius-hood.
Correlation?
Don't blame mandatory helmets for cyclist deaths in New Zealand.
Suit bag
Whoever truly invents a practical method for transporting office attire by bike will be hailed as a genius by those of us who regularly cycle to work. The inventors of the the Suitpack appear to be well on the way to genius-hood.
Storage
Space Commander Bike Box is kind of like a mini bike shed. [via cubbieberry and damsarahdam]
It's not fare
Outrage at 0% fare rise for cyclists [twitterer]
Thoughts on driver anger
Mark Steel on Belfasttelegraph.co.uk:
After a while, the anger becomes fascinating.
Sometimes a driver will lean out of the window and scream "get out of the way" when you're innocently at the side of the road — if you were in a car, you'd be much more in the way.
And you wonder how exhausting it must be to scream at everything that is, technically, in the way. They must knock at random doors and yell at whoever answers "If these houses hadn't been built, I could have driven through here. Now get out of the way."
Droolworthy
From woowoowoo:
found this info about cycling in Pitztal...
www.imst.at/de/biken
www.pitztal.com/files/laufen/laufstrecken-panorama-pitztal.pdfand then I remembered that everything they do in Pitztal, they do better in Öetztal ;-) www.oetztal.com/main/EN/SO/aktivitaeten/bike_rad/index.html
Murder
Here's why drivers get away with murder in NYC:
The NYPD Accident Investigation Squad [AIS] only has 19 detectives, three sergeants, and one lieutenant, but is responsible for investigating fatal accidents for the entire city. But don't worry, there's always at least one detective on duty at all times.
Elaborate sting
A DIY approach to catch a bike thief.
Pay up
You work 3.84 minutes per day to pay for your bicycle, 2 hours for your car
Riding over 70
Advice From a 70-Year-Old Cyclist:
I am now 70, and I've never gone a year without a bike — not one that collects dust or serves as a clothes hanger, but a bike that is ridden nearly every day. I use my bike for daily exercise and transport to class, work, shopping, tennis, swimming — most everywhere I need to go, as long as the weather, distance and dress code do not make riding impractical.
Meanwhile Frenchman Robert Marchand has established a cycling world hour record for riders over 100 years old, and he says he could've gone harder.
Well that's one way to solve it
I suspect the same sort of mentality that's hammering through the dysfunctional Myki ticketing scheme thought up the solution for this locked emergency gate.
Cool and just a little bit stupid
Custom beach cruiser bicycle with air ride suspension twitterer
Fix it
How to defeat The Puncture Fairy twitterer
Get wood
Masterworks wood bicycles--art you can ride twitterer
Float
Whatever floats your pedal-powered house boat twitterer
Get off the sofa
Catriona Bonfiglioli on The Conversation:
Most of us know that overweight and obesity have reached crisis proportions in Australia but fewer people realise the death toll attributable to inactivity (13,491 a year) is even greater than the deaths linked to excess weight (9,525) and almost as high as for using tobacco (15,511).
Bike grows with the kid
Grow bikes get bigger as your child does:
Ahh kids…But what if there was a way to save the hip-pocket nerve for a couple more birthdays without having the little dears look like they should be riding around with the clowns on miniature bikes at the circus?
DIY
Motorized DIY bike mods [twitterer]
Mountain bikes in the mountains
Some terrific MTB photographs by Andrew Wilz.
[Thanks again to tom for several the above links.]