A man takes a ride with his best friend

Bike share done right

Streetfilms presents The Biggest, Baddest Bike-Share in the World: Hangzhou China.

A good problem to have

Amsterdam’s Unique Problem: A city with too many bicycles [twitterer]

Fuel for randonneurs?

While investigating possible uses for a batch of marshmallow that didn’t quite work out, I discovered the Flutternutter Sandwich “a calorie-laden sandwich made with two slices of bread layered with peanut butter and Marshmallow Fluff, and sometimes along with the occasional banana”. My first reaction was to hold back the almost overwhelming urge to retch, but on second thoughts I began to wonder if this might become the new fuel of choice of the weary randonneur. Then I saw some actual pictures and my doubts returned.

Hello sailor!

@KarlOnSea thought he’d seen it all. Now he probably has.

‘ello ‘ello ‘ello

Carlton Reid reports on BikeBiz that “Zealous cops in London don’t know their transport law as they prevent woman carting her two kids on a cargobike”.

Meanwhile, ‪caseyneistat‬‏ gets booked for not riding in the bike lane, then proceeds to demonstrate why it’s often not safe to ride in the bike lane. [via Biking in Heels]

The Cannibal

Videos of Eddy Merckx in action.

All the answers

Some answers to just about any bike forum post I’ve ever read. Read of the week.

Consider this

Carlton Reid on travel time considerations by car or by bike.

Danger?

I looked at the The Seven Most Treacherous Paths In The World and thought, “Gee, the Sichuan-Tibet Highway looks like it would be a cool ride!”
[twitterer]

The numbers

From ‘The Vancouver Observer’: More bikers means fewer accidents.

Gear you need

How to get a pizza home on a bike.

Butt ugly

Securing bikes and other very portable but expensive stuff: is the answer to uglify?

DIY

• Bicycle Generator and USB Device Charger
• What the hell is sugru?
• Possibly the most complicated guide to making your own panniers [PDF]
• Helmet mounted LED light? – having it my way!
• Build a bicycle trailer and another approach

Want

Bike Light by Fraser Mort. OK, now I want one of these. [Thanks tom]

Explosion

@_rogers: Brilliant photo of an exploded Mercian bike (pre-assembly).

Small wheels

Another Brompton review: the M2L. Oooh, look a review of the Moulton TSR2 as well. However will I choose?

Bloggage

• Lovely Bicycle!
• Biking in Heels
• A Girl and Her Bike

Great Ocean Road Classic on Vimeo

Instant legend

Susie Weber rode her bike to hospital to deliver her baby. [via JSOnline]

Not being part of the problem

How not to buy stolen bikes online: “There is no such thing as a free lunch or a cheap, expensive bike. If it looks dodgy, it is.”

Cycle chic

• Hot chicks and their fixies
• Bike Fancy

HPV

• The velomobile: high-tech bike or low-tech car?
• Velomobille + ice [twitterer]
• Pedal-powered hydrofoils!

DIY, Mexico-style

Guerilla DIY bike lane created by Guadalajara citizens!

Bottle hygiene

• How safe is your water bottle?
• Cleaning water bottles made easy

Air time

Giants Of Dirt Part 2 featuring one serious nutjob on a BMX. Love it. [twitterer]

Gravel Grinders

Melbourne Gravel Grinders first ride is on next weekend at Hurstbridge.

The last word on lightweight mudguards

Birds of a feather fender together…

Wax it up and ride

Chain Waxing Revisited, “for the non-believers in the crowd”.

Red light runners?

An article in Accident Analysis & Prevention found that “The majority of Melbourne commuter cyclists observed (93.1%) stopped at the red light.” [twitterer]

Tourist-envy

• Cycling Gypsies: “In July 2008 we quit our jobs, sold whatever couldn’t fit on the back of our bikes and pedaled into the sunset with our two doggy co-pilots.”
• “While Out Riding is a photo-story blog charting a bike journey south from Prudoe Bay, Alaska, along quiet dirt roads where possible. At the moment I’m not completely sure where I’ll end up…”

Real leadership required

• Public transport for outer suburbs: Units not crucial
• It’s crunch time for Melbourne: we need a congestion tax
• Beijing car restrictions backfire
• A critical review of the legal penalties for drivers who kill cyclists or pedestrians: “Every year as many pedestrian and cyclist fatalities occur on Britain’s roads as all combined homicides”
• Mia Birk: “What do you see as the biggest obstacle to turning any city into a cycling city? Political will.”

This “war on cars” thingy

• “War On Cars”: A History [twitterer]
• In search of the famous ‘war on motorists’
• The War On the Carless

Commuting and cyclocross

Have you ever considered a cyclocross bike for commuting?

Cyclocross racing and commuting have a few things in common. Both are for the hardy, attracting cyclists who don’t mind riding in foul weather, over imperfect terrain or in adverse conditions.

Kids

• "Get off F—book and go ride a bike!"
• Want a safe place to raise kids? Look to the cities [twitterer]

Design

• Aesthetic of the Impractical [Thanks tom]
• Bike Portage Strap
• Bamboo Bikes [Thanks woowoowoo]
• The Rael road bike concept includes accident recording technology. [Thanks tom]

Smart use of technology

Why cyclists should use GPS

No excuse

The No Excuse Zone Map “shows the distance a healthy person can cycle within half an hour, to or from Melbourne’s city centre”.

Boris Bike hot spots

Boris Bikes/Barclays Cycle Hire Average Journey Times

Find -The Mountain Bike Film on Vimeo.

No longer acceptable

Streetsblog San Francisco asks Why are we building bikes lanes that are hurting people?

It is no longer acceptable to lure people onto bicycles with a network of bicycle lanes that look inviting, but in reality can cause injury or death when used as directed. Our bicycle infrastructure design and our bicycle safety curricula should complement, not contradict, one other.

Indeed. [twitterer]

Time to get seriously scientific

Sara Phillips on the ABC Environment Blog:

Cycling advocates want more bike lanes. They want more people riding more often. They tell us that life is better on a bike; that we’ll be fitter, we’ll emit less carbon dioxide and our cities’ air will be cleaner.

But unless they gather hard data to present their case to government for funding, they are going to struggle to make their point.

Furthermore:

Currently, Australia’s biggest cycling advocacy group, Bicycle Victoria, doesn’t sponsor any research into the health or environmental benefits of cycling. Spokesman for the organisation, Garry Brennan says they try to remain focussed in their approach and target activities to encourage more cycling.

Ride, kid, ride

Carlton Reid reckons kids have an insatiable appetite for cycling, and I reckon he might be right. [twitterer]

On that subject, teach your child to ride, an extract from Carlton’s Family Cycling. We think it works.

Ride first, then drive

And here’s an idea: learner drivers should cycle first. [twitterer]

Off the presses

Treadlie magazine is on sale 17 December.

Witnessing a bike theft

In the Guardian, James Walsh asks what would you do if you saw a bike being stolen?

My advice: it ain’t worth having the shit kicked out of you for a bike.

Sucking and loving it

Letter of the Week in Surfing Magazine on converting from surf snobbery to bike snobbery:

I’m filled with pride at the top of a modest incline, or when my cleats clip in successfully at a stoplight, or while admiring a nascent thigh tan naked in the bathroom mirror. Sucking at something, it turns out, is great fun.

[twitterer]

Doin’ the eagle rock

Swooped by a magpie? Pfft! Try a bloody great big wedge-tailed eagle! Seems possible, but there’s a faint whiff of bullshit about that story. [via Audax Australia Google Group]

Design

• The Seoul Cycle Design Competition 2010 produced the ‘horsey’ bike, guaranteed to squish your goolies if you brake heavily or have a crash. Design fail, IMHO.
• The Mutandem: Whoa! [thanks woowoowoo]
• Wood and Bamboo [thanks woowoowoo]
• Cool bike hands…until you need to ditch quickly. [thanks tom]
• A bike rack that sucks—in a good way [thanks tom]
• Bicycle lock climbs lamp post to escape thieves. Cute idea but the cyclist can’t fit anything else in his bag… [thanks tom]

Repair

iFixit’s Self-Repair Manifesto [via monkeyphoto]

Liability

According to the New York Times, a 4-year-old can be sued for negligence following a bike collision. You know, sometimes accidents do just happen.

Schadenfreude

Wend Magazine brings you a cyclocross crash collection. (Yes, inevitably, Yakety Sax…)

How to…

…fall from a bicycle. Ouch. [twitterer, via treadlie]

Nice shots

Autumn riding pictures.

Utility

• Camioncyclette Bike with Shopping Cart [thanks tom]
• Taga the ultimate alternative to bike trailer and child bike seat

Recreational and/or transportational

We need real bike paths for real bike transportation—shared paths are problematic, dangerous and occasionally deadly.

I’ve certainly noticed that shared paths in Melbourne are rarely engineered with transportation in mind.

Fashion

Safe and shiny, the way to combine fashion and safety. [via LikeCool.com, thanks tom]

Buy space, make space

Shepparton riders buy space for awareness in local paper, and the message they shared. [twitterer]

Register here. Or not.

Grist on why an additional road tax for bicyclists would be unfair.

Pothole? There’s an app for that

In the UK, FillThatHole.org.uk has released a pothole-spotting app, which is pretty cool.

And, thanks to nikdow for the tip-off, in Australia there is Neat Streets:

What Issues Can Be Reported?
Anything important to you – road obstructions, vandalism, potholes, fallen trees, abandoned trolleys, litter, and graffiti.

Mistakes, I’ve made a fwe

Endurance Cycling: Five mistakes to avoid.

DIY

• Simple bike computer
• Sewn bike innertube chainstay protector
• Specialized RC turbine jet powered rocket mountain bike hack—I have never, ever understood why anyone would want to put a rocket anywhere near their genitals… [twitterer, thanks tom]

Bike lane appears

According to the Cycling Embassy of Denmark, when riding in Copenhagen, “The trip continues through a high street, and a cycle track appears”.

Tour by share bike

Melbourne bike share tours with MELTours.

Epic tour

13 epic Australian trails.

Bike lane—any questions?

Questioning the bike lane

The dork factor

When it comes to helmets, the dork factor takes it’s toll: bicycle helmets “are largely symbolic. They are amulets against vulnerability, their gracelessness a sacrifice to the fates.”

In this context, Melbourne Bike Share is getting a cheap supply of helmets.

Measuring the sharing

Bike-o-Meter – Giving you an insight into bike-hire scheme activity from around the world.

Bloggage

• Freedom Cyclist v Helmet Laws
• Boneshaker Magazine

Photo

What you missed this morning.

Single track

Really good rider’s eye view video: A Swell way to 24.

Mixed signals

It sounds an awful lot like the lawyers are in control of the UK’s Carbon Trust—it’s advising its staff not to ride bikes for work purposes. The directive was later revoked. [twitterer, via BikeBiz]

Scoot scoot

Not entirely to my taste but I happen to think this Footbike is pretty cool, in fact I saw one in the wild a few years ago. [Thanks tom]

Get sideways

Video poem: sideways world [via RocBike.com]

CycLAvia

CycLAvia attracts over 100,000 cyclists to car-free Los Angeles streets. [Thanks tom]

Hittin the road

Beginner’s guide to riding in traffic.

Being seen

Reflective strips help cyclists shine like a beacon at night:

Cyclists wearing bright fluorescent clothing at night are not as safe as they think

Umm, I never expected fluro colours to do anything at night.

British research has shown fluorescent yellow, red and orange can improve a person’s visibility to others in the daytime.

But at night, lights, flashing lights and reflective materials in red and yellow colours increased detection and recognition.

And that sounds about right to me.

Tyring me out

How to choose a bike tyre.

Trials

Trials riders: skilful but just a bit odd.

Hack

DIY chain stay protector.

Hacky sack?

A device to prevent genital injuries when crashing a bicycle. [Thanks tom]

“Wolfpack Hustle crashed the LA Marathon by hosting an underground bike race on the closed marathon course at 4am. A once a year opportunity to race 26 miles of Los Angeles with no traffic.”
WOLFPACK HUSTLE: LA MARATHON CRASH RACE from Warren Kommers on Vimeo.

Reinventing the chain guard

Cannondale onBike:

The ON makes use of the “System Integrated Chain Case Technology”, where the chain case is a single sided, fully enclosed, structural part of the bike frame. This result in a maintenance free, clean and efficient drive system with 9 speed internal gears and disc brakes.”

Responds tom: “I don’t get it, have they never seen an enclosed chain guard? Most bikes in the netherlands have them.”

Cycle network = road

Road.cc poll results: readers assert their right to ride on the road:

Chris Peck, policy co-ordinator at national cyclists’ organisation CTC, said that the results of the poll reflected the not only the sheer scale of the road network, but also the fact that for cyclists looking to get to a specific destination such as work, it provided the fastest route.

Road to the future

Will the post-oil future be bicycle-free?

Drive your kids to isolation

The little paper reports on a study by the Australian Council for Education Research that found “only one in four now walks to school, leaving many with little idea of the neighbourhood they live in and few connections with their community”:

“In contrast, children who travelled to school by car tended to depict abstract, isolated images of their neighbourhood environment with the car and the road as the central theme…traffic lights, road signs, crossings, local schools, office buildings, shopping centres and fast-food outlets. They also drew their own street and a lot of empty blank spaces.”

“Of course I take the bike!”

Promoting Cycling Dutch Style [twitterer]

That’s gotta hurt

Man and bike become one—not for the squeamish… [twitterer]

Column inches to fill

Stupid claims: Lycra louts a law unto themselves.

Good response: Yet more tiresome crap.

Shots

• Some rich shots of the Tour of Utah at The Ride Project.
• 2010 Paris Roubaix highlights and photos

The Yellow River

Dealing with frequent urination problems before a race. [twitterer]

Footwear

Pedals and Bike shoes.

Come & Gone

Come & Gone: A true story of blue-collar bike racing in America. Chapter One: Citizen Foreigner [PDF] [twitterer]

Get around

A to B magazine “specialises in car-free sustainable alternatives of all kinds. The magazine includes independently written articles on folding bikes, electric bikes, trailers, trikes, public transport, solar-power, children’s bikes and much more…”

The humble business of bicycling

In Business: Life Cycle—rethinking the humble business of bicycling. [twitterer]

Fold

• The Folding Society
• Last night a Brompton saved my life [twitterer]

Urbane cycling

On cycling in the Netherlands. [twitterer]

Weight weenies

I notice that this article on the quest for the world’s lightest bike appears in the “Executive Style” section of the Sydney Morning Herald. No further comment…

Get up and boogie

Sitting at work: a health hazard:

There’s evidence the typical office worker is sedentary for 75 per cent of their working day. From research conducted over the past decade, it’s become clear this sitting affects our body’s processing of fats and sugars in ways that increase our risk of heart disease and diabetes.

[twitterer]

Catching-up on listening-up

Yarra Bicycle Users Group Radio has recent editions of its 3CR radio show on podcast. Really interesting stuff.

What moves you?

In the lead up to the state election, Metropolitan Transport Forum‘s project pt4me2 is running a poll:

The pt4me2 peoples’ poll is a chance for you to have a say on the improvements you want for public transport. We’ll collate ALL your responses and present them to ALL the major parties in May 2010.

Policing priority

In London, why do police target cyclists who jump red lights?:

The main answer, it seems, is public demand.

Police forces are now obliged by central government to tackle issues flagged up by local communities. In the City, this tends to bring complaints about rough sleepers and law-flouting cyclists.

I suppose this is pretty much the case in most cities.

[twitterer]

Queensland petition for safe passing

Queensland Parliament E-Petitions: Minimum safe passing distance between cyclists and motorists:

Your petitioners therefore request the House to enact legislation to modify existing regulations requiring that a motorist maintain a minimum safe distance of one metre between their vehicle and a cyclist whilst overtaking. Such a measure will strengthen current laws with respect to cyclists. This proposal, by providing clear boundaries, will better serve the interests of motorists and cyclists alike.

[twitterer]

Warning! Concept bikes ahead!

Concept bikes: “hybrid” city bike and “hi-bike”. [Thanks tom]

Flavour of the month?

Rise and rise of the sportive

“While the sportive market has undoubtedly boomed and created a huge new activity in cycling, we’re spotting some disturbing trends in the format. It’s being claimed and controlled by enthusiasts who want to see it grow, but in a way that suits themselves and as such, are unwittingly limiting its potential. Too many sportives have concentrated on appearing bigger, harder and more race-like year-on-year, to appeal to the tastes of those who stage them, and to grab the easy and identifiable market.

“In the process, they risk moving their appeal out of reach of the grass roots leisure market and, we believe, missing out on a boom that could dwarf what is happening at the moment. The parallel we draw is with marathon running in the ’80s and ’90s. Prior to this period, running a marathon was a byword for a superhuman activity, out of reach of mere mortals. With the launch of the London Marathon and the running craze that followed, a marathon become an inspirational but achievable goal for anyone who wanted to put in the training, whether they had run before or not.

Ride this trail

Great bike trails / places to go cycling worldwide.

Ride this lane (if you can)

Council condemned over ‘Britain’s shortest cycle lane’. [Thanks tom]