Get yourself ready for the weekend with a good MTB video. [twitterer]

Take a tip

Bicycle-Safety Tips. Read ‘em and dweeb.

Foldin’ fender

The Quickfix and Foldnfix Foldable Bike Fenders are mudguards that slip over your back wheel, keeping you from getting that damp grey stripe up your arse. More protection than a seat posted mounted mudguard but not as much coverage as full-length guards, they’re a clever design. They look a bit rough-and-ready to me but then I reckon that’ll make them pretty rugged when it really counts. [twitterer]

Turning pedals, turning pages

Kent Peterson recommends:

• 50 Good Bicycle Books
• 50 More Good Bicycle Books

Seven things

Seven things you should give up to be a happy cyclist.

Baillieu ♥ bikes…umm, not

The Victorian Government remains fixated on the costly east-west link , with little relief for public transport commuters and funding for bike works turned down to zero. I don’t often use the term but to me this all seems nothing short of retarded.

[twitterer]

See also: the state of Melbourne’s public transport…yeah, it’s crap. Oh, and no one likes Myki. [twitterer]

Economies of bike

Why bicyclists are better customers than drivers for local business

the economic benefit of bicycling for communities doesn’t end with cyclists’ expensive cappuccinos and impulse buys. Properties near bike paths increase in value 11 percent…access and proximity to walking and biking facilities, especially greenways, makes homes easier to sell.

And on The Conversation Brad Pettitt argues that bike lanes’ economic benefits go beyond jobs:

the economic benefits of bike paths are not simply limited to jobs created during path construction. Long after the bike path concrete has dried the economic benefits can keep rolling, so long as the bike path is well planned and integrated into a broader cycle network.

[twitterer]

Shared paths: not safe?

A study reported in the Canberra Times which “examined the characteristics of bicycle crashes in different cycling environments” with the aim of finding “strategies to reduce bicycle crashes” has concluded in part that:

The number of crashes involving pedestrians and the relatively high speeds of some of the cyclists on shared paths and footpaths suggests that the regulation of cycling in shared areas should be reviewed, formally recognized as a part of the road reserve and appropriate speed limits applied. Such measures would be in the interests of cyclists and pedestrians, as cyclists who crashed on shared paths sustained higher average injury severity scores than those injured in any other road environment.

While I don’t see how shared path speed limits could be enforced, I actually find this report fairly convincing. I found alternative routes for my daily commuting years ago when the daily tangle with bike path racers started getting just a bit too scary.

See the press release from The George Institute for Global Health and the full report is available from NRMA – ACT Road Safety Trust.

[twitterer]

Downright scary

This video of a crazy mobile phone driver ramming a police officer is downright scary. But it’s important to remember that homicidal nutters like this are rare, fortunately. [twitterer]

Driving Mr Hitler

Observes Ian Walker: “So car sharing ads were perfected in the 40s?” Case in point: When You Ride Alone You Ride With Hitler!

Envy

National Geographic has some seriously cool travel biking photos. [twitterer]

And Live Free or Drive is a blog full of lush bike touring photos. [twitterer]

See also Bike tour + Twitter = Map.

How to steal a bike redux

Remember this? How to steal a bike.

Well after seven years, still nobody cares if Casey Neistat’s bike gets stolen.

Of course, there may be very good reasons for that…

[twitterer]

Sting like a butterfly

Having trouble with free-roaming pedestrians cutting you up on your daily commute? Slightly gullible? Well, help is at hand. Maybe. One frustrated London commuter got so tired with SMIDSY peds that he came up with a novel approach to the problem: the Bike Butterfly.

OK, this is getting just a bit ridiculous…

World’s brightest bike light at 100,000 lumens apparently (whatever that means) it sounds awfully bright. [twitterer]

For your own sake, don’t

Nine Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Ride to Work. [twitterer]

Spring classics

Paris–Roubaix: better in black and white. [twitterer]

Hit and run

The fact the people can do hit-and-run makes my stomach churn. So it was good to see this video showing a driver attempting to flee after hitting a bicyclist being blocked by a quick-thinking bus driver. Check it out: Salute to a Heroic Bus Operator. [twitterer]

Then there’s this one caught on camera, which looks deliberate or at least wildly negligent. Unsurprisingly, the car was later reported stolen.

As a follow-up, Cyclelicious summarised recently reported hit and runs. This one particularly caught my eye: “Hit & run with injury. Small child on bike hit by gray pickup truck. Driver of the vehicle gave juvenile $20 and left the scene.” Lovely.

“Need any help, buddy?”

We’ve all stopped to offer help to another cyclist but not all of us have had our good deeds recorded on Google Streetview. [twitterer]

Will make you cry

Take a private 10 minutes to watch this beautiful film Boy, featuring the wonderful Timothy Spall.

For the kids

On Momentum Mag, Tiny Helmets, Big Bike:

Since I’ve started biking for transportation, I feel like a better mother. I am more excited about each day, and less rushed because the journey becomes as fun as the destination. I am healthier and happier and able to watch the world go by at a child’s pace. We still have days where it is difficult to get out of the house and even days where we can’t avoid taking the car. However, knowing that with each pedal stroke I am creating a better future for my children gives me that extra push.

On the other hand, watch out for undesirable self-fulfilling prophecies. [twitterer]

Apropos, could urban planning reduce childhood obesity?

And Northern Ireland’s Health Minister says ‘Cycling can help us tackle obesity epidemic’ [twitterer]

But Grow-up, Australia! – we’re pathetic (link to article in the Hun). Seriously, there are more important things to get outraged about. [twitterer]

What was I thinking?

A selection of rants on one of my favourite ranting topics:

• No play please, we’re American
• Fat-arsed schoolkids
• Unwrap the cotton wool and get real
• What precisely is wrong with playing on the road?

Costly

Create your own cost of driving infographic thanks to Karl’s spreadsheet.

While we’re on the subject, what’s wrong with a car-centric system? [twitterer]

Why do you ride like that?

“Biking in the middle of the lane like that sure looks dangerous.”

No tribes please

Interesting discussion sparked by a cartoon in the New Yorker.

My key point: don’t try to tell me that any flavour of cyclist is more pure at heart—we all love our bikes, we all love cycling—we just do it differently.

Some good follow-up added to the original post later.

For what it’s worth, I thought the New Yorker cartoon was amusing.

History

The Queensland Police Serivce on bicycles, then and now. Cool. [twitterer]

See also these stunning vintage photos of early 1900s Australian bike culture [twitterer]

Holding up traffic

Melbourne’s peak hour myth: it’s more like three. [twitterer]

Suggestion: ride a bike. [twitterer]

Contest this

Elly Blue has opened The Bad Streets for Bicycling Photo Contest.

Design it, print it

Print your own bike parts. I really want a 3D-printer…

Get my drift?

Trike Drifting. Yeah, you’ve probably seen this sort of thing before…doesn’t mean you don’t enjoy watching it again!

The near elimination of private and commercial motor vehicles from Swanston St will make it a more pleasant space for pedestrians and cyclists, but the tram stops themselves will do nothing for cyclist–passenger interaction. By design, foot traffic and bikes are on conflicting paths—just like every at other tram stop that doesn’t have a safety zone.

Visual cues: misread or faulty?

The super stops lack the usual visual cues that help passengers be aware of other through traffic. At a normal tram stop, the overwhelming visual cue is “road”. Passengers can step down in (relative) safety and most people generally cross quickly and directly to the kerb. But at the super stops, the dominant visual cue is something like “train station”, and you don’t think about through-traffic on a train station platform. This means people wander in all directions and at all different paces, helpful line markings and signage notwithstanding. And (as I have noted previously) the pedestrian-friendly design practically encourages people to walk along rather than across.

Looks more like a train station platform than a road

More misread cues

It wasn’t until today that I realised that the super stops are also signalling the wrong thing to cyclists as well—and as a result some riders believe they have absolute right of way here.

Here’s what happened. I was a tram passenger today and at the State Library I noticed a cyclist riding through the stop and past the tram that I was boarding. Normally I’d just shake my head and sigh at such selfishness.

But then the rider shouted at someone for crossing his path to board the tram—a perfectly legal and reasonable thing for a passenger to do. The (usually dormant) angry cyclist in me emerged, leaping to my fellow passenger’s defence. A brief heated exchange followed, including these gems:

"Keep Clear"—doesn't hand over right of way

As you can see, it was a dazzling display of repartee and wit. But the point is that this guy clearly felt that the “Keep Clear” stencils grant riders priority. They don’t: Swanston Street is and always will be street. Road safety rules still apply to everyone. This includes the one about stopping behind a tram with its doors open.

But I’m sure my Selfish Cyclist is not the only cyclist who thinks there’s something special about the super stops.

“It’ll never work…”

We need to adjust our expectations about the new Swanston St tram stops. Stop thinking that this work is being done for “us”—because it’s not—then we’re much less likely to be disappointed when the new super stops “don’t work”.

Of course, they aren’t going to “work”—at least, not for cyclists. And they were never intended to.

I am, however, the world’s worst MTB rider.

No further proof required than this obstacle I tackled this morning:

No obstacle is too small for me to crash on.

Yep, a not-so-chunky fallen branch lying across the path, just tempting me to demonstrate my rad skillz. Hell, I’ve seen 8-year-olds bump over logs like this as if it were a twig. Shouldn’t be a problem.

Fortunately, where my MTB skills are entirely lacking, my falling over skills are right up to scratch. I executed a perfect frontal dismount in the “oh shit!” position, finishing off with a smooth “I hope no one was watching” twist.

Indeed, I do suck at MTB. But one doesn’t improve without practice, so you’ve no idea how devastated I was to find on my way home that the parks and gardens crew had been through and chopped up my favourite new obstacle. What a total lack of consideration for the local MTB numpty!

[via Neatorama]

Wherever you are, ride

Bike Hour:

It’s like Earth Hour, only more useful. It’s like a critical mass ride, only effective. The world’s biggest, completely unorganised, mass cycling rally will happen wherever you are, on Tuesday March 20, between 6 and 7 pm. Why? Because you will be riding your bike.

[twitterer]

And don’t stop there—30 Days of Biking is coming up in April:

30 Days of Biking, whose third year begins April 1, 2012, has one rule: Bike somewhere every day for 30 days—around the block, 20 miles to work, whatever suits you—then share your adventures online. We advocate daily bicycling because we believe it enriches lives and preserves the Earth. A worldwide, thousands-strong community of joyful cyclists has been forming around that idea since April 2010—and will further amass in 2012. We ride our bikes every day!

Grandpa’s bike

Bicycles for Japan’s elderly

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)

dom’s folding bike twitterer

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.”

[twitterer]

Droolworthy

From woowoowoo:

found this info about cycling in Pitztal…
www.imst.at/de/biken
www.pitztal.com/files/laufen/laufstrecken-panorama-pitztal.pdf

and 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

Perth vs Canberra

A sure sign of a civilised city [twitterer]

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.

twitterer

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.]

[twitterer]

New Year’s Resolution

How to give up cycling [twitterer]

Have we got a video?

Says @nonavarnado, “Ever wanted to completely lose yourself in bike videos? @bikeblognyc has you covered.” See Videos on Bike Blog NYC

Roundabout

Bike lane vs roundabout, dilemma:

How to safely turn right when motorists can go straight ahead from the lane on your right, but by law cyclists are required to stay in the bike lane on a roundabout — and not cross an unbroken white line because that’s also against the law.

Approaching from either of the other two directions the bike lane simply ends, at least then allowing you to safely choose the correct lane before riding through.

twitterer

Roundabouts: a sure sign that your local road engineers don’t care about bike or pedestrian movement. Discuss.

The Hurty Dozen

The Dirty Dozen looks like pure pain and suffering on the bike. (There’s more info on the ride on MetaFilter [Thanks tom])

The rise of the child’s toy

Here’s a Goofy cartoon from 1943 in which alternatives to the car are sought due to the gasoline and rubber shortage:

Then like a bolt from the blue came a solution. The answer to a nation’s needs. A simple device once discarded as a child’s toy yet now bids fair to completely replace the automobile…

twitterer

Engineering fail…no wait

Twisted bicycle bridge across the Vlaardingervaart [Thanks tom]

When infrastructure is done right…

Bristol’s Railway Path is becoming a victim of its own success and this Danish study found “that bicycle projects are likely to yield a positive economic return for society, because the benefits of the projects exceed the costs”.

…but it isn’t all about ‘facilities’

How San Francisco became a cycling city against the odds

Put down that damn phone!

Mashable reports that:

The latest findings from the NHTSA study indicate that 3,000 people were killed in car accidents in 2010 due to distracted drivers. Although the study classified distractions as talking and changing the radio to using a mobile device, it noted that reading or writing texts increases the chances of an accident by 2,300%.

The NHTSA also said that drivers who use mobile devices in any capacity are four times more likely to have an accident and injure themselves or others. Car accidents are the leading cause of death for teens in the U.S., and 16% of young drivers involved in fatal accidents were driving distracted.

“Using a cell phone while driving is the equivalent of having a blood alcohol concentration level of .08%, the legal limit in most states,” the NHTSA said in a statement. “Using a cell phone can reduce the brain activity associated with driving by 37%.”

See also the usually thoughtful commentary on this topic by Dave Moulton

Bikeshare works

The Boston bike-share success story:

Commuters coming into North and South Stations now routinely hop on bikes to get to their offices. Tourists use it as a way to better see the sights without the wear of walking. And I personally have found that it changes things: I now readily go places I didn’t. Cars are expensive to park; subways take too long. The bike is quick and easy.

twitterer

Ah, is this what “cycling” is about?

Explaining cycling to a non-cyclist [twitterer]

Conform!

Urban Riding Tips: Tip 142: Ride behind someone with a stupid set-up.: “The kind of people that install experimental portage systems are over-represented in the penal system due to their tendency to commit spur-of-the-moment crimes against the person.”

Soon “normal” may be unusual

National action needed to stop obesity becoming the norm:

By 2025, it’s predicted that ²/₃ of the Australian population aged over 25 will be overweight or obese if current trends continue. To paint the picture more crudely, it means that a person of normal weight will soon be the exception rather than the rule.

It’s electric

The Ridekick Electric Bicycle Trailer must be about the simplest, easiest electic bike conversion ever. [via DVICE, [thanks tom]

Gadgets and Gear

• Old school sidewall dynamo charger for iPod iPhone Cellphone and other devices
• Revolights look pretty cool.
• Or you can go reflective and support Fiks:Reflective Rim Stripes [Thanks tom]
• Fizik Kurve bike saddle goes for the flex appeal [Thanks tom]
• Bicycle with USB ports to charge devices off a built-in dynamo [Thanks tom]
• A battery pack disguised as classic Dutch bicycle repair kit [Thanks tom]

Carpark stalkers

I’m still astonished at the sheer bloody laziness of people who ‘stalk’ others for a parking spot in shopping centre carparks. This article on WSJ.com puts the lie to the myth that shopping centres are always short on parking spaces:

Circling around a parking lot hunting for a space is one of life’s most irritating experiences, especially this time of year. Truth is, though, there are usually available spots—most mall lots fill to just 30% to 35% of capacity, research shows. Shoppers in a rush just don’t want to walk.

The irony is that in taking so long to find a ‘handy’ parking spot, their shopping trips probably take longer.

[twitterer]