I’ve had my eye on this innovation on-and-off for two years now, and was pleased to hear that it is coming up for commercial release. Its presence at Interbike suggests that the release date is getting closer, and that’s got to be a good thing because training wheels suck. [twitterer]

Who-oa!

Hadar Metal Design—bikes that are works of art. Then again, isn’t every bike a work of art? [via MetaFilter]

A solution

“The bicycle is a simple solution to some of the world’s most complicated problems.” [twitterer]

Magda’s clanger

I’ve always had much respect for Magda Szubanski. Unfortunately that’s all gone now following her misguided rant on Good News Week. [twitterer]

A good reputation is such a fragile thing.

Truth and the media

Yehuda Moon on road accidents in the news. Sigh. Too true.

What women want

How to get more bicyclists on the road:

An emerging body of research suggests that a superior strategy to increase pedal pushing could be had by asking the perennial question: What do women want?

Waxing lyrical

The bicycle enjoys a renaissance:

One of the wondrous things about cycling is that it’s a great equalizer. You can be on a junkyard beater, a three-wheeler with a granny seat or a high-performance racing bike and you’re still cycling. You’re still going places, seeing the smallest of sights, smelling the faintest of smells, hearing the most distant of sounds. I’m not knocking road trips by car; I love those, too. But from my car, I’m often thinking, I wish I were on two wheels, outside.

Pay up you feckin freeloaders

Why licensing cyclists just won’t work [twitterer]

DIY

• Bicycle top tube protector
• Extreme fat tire bicycle
• Make an electric bike powered by drill batteries
• Using the GoogleMap CueSheet Scriptlet

And if that’s not enough, here’s 10 cheap and easy DIY bike projects anyone can do.

Bloggage

• Blue Steel Roads
• Cycling Weapon of Mass Destruction

Who’s who in the zoo

An Illustrated Guide to the Cycle Zoo:

In this book, Stephen Nurse shows a comprehensive range of bicycles, family cycles, tandems, recumbents, trikes and load carriers and discusses their design with original examples.

World’s toughest MTB race

Tour de Timor.

Oooh, look! It folds!

• Eco//07 Folding Bicycle Shows Flexibility Like A Yogi [thanks tom]
• Peculiar folding bicycles
• Flickr stuff tagged with foldingbikes

tom blogs here

• The Happy Helmet Bike Camera Mount
• Beer, Pizza, Music… What Else Does A Bicycle Need?
• Circumnavigation for Good

[thanks tom]

Overtaking

Prevously mentioned, now going to the source on The effect of cycle lanes on the proximity between motor traffic and cycle traffic.

Plus here’s some analysis by The Independent.

Undriver

You can now officially become and Undriver with Undriving and Undriver Licensing:

With the playfulness of an Undriver License, we are engaging people to consider their car use patterns in a new light, to challenge an assumption by trying something different of their own devising, and perhaps to discover that there’s a better way of getting from here to there for one thing they do.

Absolute stupidity

Speaking of undriving, here’s a clown who’s shown that he lacks the maturity and intelligence to hold a driver’s license:

A Victorian teenager had his car impounded just seven hours after getting his probationary licence…

“The car was seen to be sliding sideways, and when intercepted by police, the driver has informed them that he only got his licence in the morning”

And the quotes of the day go to Sergeant Geoff Annand:

“I don’t know whether this is a record for a new driver to show absolute stupidity, but it would certainly go close”

Plus, this droll understatement:

“It’s probably best that he doesn’t have that car now.”

Perhaps the “driver” (and I use the word hesitantly) should consider an Undriver License.

More chicks and more bikes

A Girl’s Bike—New York women and their bikes. [via Sydney Body Art Ride]

From the man himself

Peter Heal talks to ABC Canberra about his unsupported cycle across Australia. [twitterer]

Conference

The 7th New Zealand Cycling Conference will be held on 12–13 November 2009. The conference theme is “Communities, connections and the economy”.

Lego Man jumps the red light

Red Light: Biking Rules PSA [twitterer]

Now I feel really sad for her mum… [via A woman and a fixed wheel]

I’m so cool

What makes biking so cool:

Biking for transportation improves peoples lives. Studies show that bicyclists are the happiest among commuters.

Critical Mess

Opinion piece in the Vancouver Sun

If we lock up all those responsible for current traffic problems, the traffic jams would be gone

Starting with

All the developers over the years who built the houses which sprawl for scores of kilometres, making it almost inevitable that hundreds of thousands of Lower Mainland residents will use private vehicles to go to work, shop and go about their daily lives.

Hmm, sounds familiar.

Ride through?

Burgerville announces latest sustainability innovation: makes its drive-thru open to bicyclists

Colour me

The first thing I discovered about the set of T-handled hex keys that I bought last week is that you can’t rely on the label on the rack. The second thing I learned is that you can’t read the sizes stamped on the handles when they’re all piled together in the rack. Enter Captain Bike’s colour-coding scheme for tools.

Oh yeah, and the third thing I learned is that you shouldn’t buy crappy cheap tools—you’ll always, always regret it.

Let’s all be friends

How can motorists and cyclists be friends? No real answers here—and definitely none on the troll trap comments page.

[twitterer]

It guess some people are stuck with the Homer Simpson attitude: “Oh, OK Marge, I’ll get along with them. Then, I will hug some snakes! Yes, I will hug and kiss some poisonous snakes! Now that’s sarcasm.”

Close encounters #3

• What to do if you’ve been hit by a car

• How to not get hit by cars

The Basque Underground

San Sebastian has the World’s longest bicycle commuter tunnel.

Doing the numbers in Brisbane

Getting to work: Bicycle vs Bus, looks like a pretty close thing.

[via Cophengagenize]

Hang on—a 9-minute shower?!? Obviously there ain’t no drought in Brisbane!

Parking

Q. What would get Americans biking to work?

A. Decent parking. [twitterer]

Neatly folded and stacked

Parking space: One car or 42 Brompton folding bikes [via Wend Blog]

The business of bicycle arbitrage

Robin Goldstein did a quick and bodgy analysis of ads on Craigslist:

Still, whether it’s over/underpricing or just selective selling, what struck me about this informal little analysis was that not one city fell out of line in the inverse order. Where cars were selling for the most, bikes were selling for the least; where cars were selling for the least, bikes were selling for the most; and so on, inversely, in between.

Cred

Being both a truckie and a cyclist give you some credibility when you talk on the topic of bike-truck interaction.

NZ

In New Zealand, a shake-up of road rules: Mobile phone, no. Hook turn, yes. [via e.CAN 177]

Tour de Photo

Dutch Nationaal Archief’s old photos from the Tour de France. Love those old shots.

Gadgets

• Bike Dashboard is “a Windows Mobile (5 and above) application for all push bike enthusiasts (mountain bike and/or road bike).”

• Just Soap—they make soap with pedal power.

• The Helmet Lock Keeps Your Lid Secure

Wood

Wood-framed Renovo bicycle reminds us of simpler times

Bike lane confusion

Taipei’s new bike lane “confounds cyclists” motorists and scooter riders complain of “less room to maneuver”.

[via, though not necessarily endorsed by, chainguard]

DIY

• Ice cream by bike

• Guerilla trail signage

Bloggage

• RidingPretty—Bicycle Chic California.

• Velo Cult—basically a shop-front, but that’s an undeniably irresistible bike blog title.

Kooky fringe activity

Fritz asks “Are the interests of cyclists served by portraying us as eccentrics?”:

I got a note over the weekend from Canadian journalist Lesley Simpson, who wants “eccentric characters about the global commuting movement among cyclists for a CBC TV documentary.”

Your right to ride on the road

Yes, cyclists are legal road vehicles and have the right to fully occupy a traffic lane. Sadly, riders don’t always get to exercise that right—here’s some graphic video evidence.

Shallow end

Clearly Genine Compton is from the shallow end of the gene pool. She reckons it’s OK to breastfeed her young child while driving:

Police say Comptom could have injured her child and others because she was breast feeding and talking on the cell phone while driving the vehicle.

WTF?

In her defence, Compton says “If my child’s hungry, I’m going to feed it.” Here’s the tip genius: pull over first. Dickhead.

In reality, this is not much worse than other types of cockpit distraction that people engage in while driving—all distracted drivers have the potential to maim and kill other road users. I suppose what’s worse about this is that Compton clearly has no idea what would happen to her child when subjected to the compressive force of her body decelerating into an expanding air bag.

[via jezebel and how we drive]

Sustainability test

I just liked this tweet:

Here’s a maxim for sustainable transport: if you can’t drink or eat whatever fuels your vehicle, it isn’t sustainable.

Cycle all the way?

NZ Government floats idea of $50 million national cycleway

Gro-an

What did the scout say after fixing the little old lady’s bicycle horn?

Listless

You Know You’re a Cyclist if…—yep, it’s another “list” post, but there are a few laugh-aloud items there, and most importantly:

You learned a long time ago that it doesn’t matter how light or fast, just get on that bike.

[twitterer]

Even Levi has mudguards

A fendered bike is a happy bike—and it doesn’t (necessarily) make you a dork.

Ride, Melbourne, Ride

Some dates to mark down:

• Trackolympics Alleycat – Melbourne, 20th March 2009. Hmm, what am I doing on the 20th?

• [Marysville - Lake Mountain Fire Relief Ride](http://www.cyclosportifvic.com.au/?page=32143 “

Marysville – Lake Mountain Fire Relief Ride, Saturday 2nd May, 2009 : Cyclosportif Victoria”), Saturday 2nd May, 2009.

Contributory negligence

According to bike radar, it appears that any cyclist in the UK who is injured on the road while not wearing a helmet could be “found partly liable if wearing a helmet would have prevented or reduced his or her injuries”—despite cycle helmets not being compulsory there.

[via Adrian Fitch]

Harsh reality

Are cyclists a bigger threat to pedestrians than motor vehicles?

Answer: No. And who the hell thought cyclists were the bigger threat anyway?

Utility cycles in business

Pedaling to Profit: The Upswing of Bike Powered Business

[twitterer]

What was I thinking?

I barely recognise myself in this post from March 2006: Sydney vs Melbourne: Commuting—I’m so damned nice about everything. (What happened to me? I certainly haven’t got any time for that “new golf” crap now.)

So, which is better for bicycle commuting, Sydney or Melbourne?

Here boy!

The Invisible Cyclist is a new video campaign from citycycling which is simply aimed at showing things that happen on the roads which highlight the disregard for safety, whether through negligence or deliberate action, of various road users.

It is hoped that these clips will not put people off cycling, as the benefits far outweigh anything else. But we want all road users: cyclists; motorists; and pedestrians, to rediscover a certain respect for each other and each other’s rights.

Follow the rules. Be nice. It couldn’t be simpler.

Bike Wise Week

Coming soon to a New Zealand near you: Bike Wise Week, “a nationally coordinated event that promotes safety and biking as a sustainable, fun, healthy and enjoyable means of transport.” Saturday 23 February to Sunday 2 March 2008, all over the Shaky Isles.

Who do we speak to about stealing this idea too? Could be another “all-Aussie invention” right there.

On bike touring

Some preliminary thoughts on planning your own bicycle tour, part of an ongoing series, this introductory post gives the inexperienced tourer some food for thought in the initial planning stages.

S.L.U.T. in the Citi

We have made BikeCentral your hassle free destination in the city…Securely leave your bike, have a shower and store the rest of your gear in your own locker. If you need dry cleaning done, no problem. We have a washing machine & dryer available for your cycling or running gear, so no worries if you get wet on the way in.

No doubt we’ll steal the idea later and claim it as an all-Aussie invention. I hope it’s a raging success. (And yes, I do know that the bike station concept is not a Kiwi invention either.)

Looking up stuff

VeloBase: “The goal of the website is to provide a comprehensive database of vintage cycling knowledge for reference during everything from restorations to general maintance to researching the cycling parts of the past.” Coool.

Bike Safety Tips

Now you can really be safe, thanks to the Onion’s helpful Bicycle-Safety Tips (e.g. “Insist on a bicycle made of solid matter. Liquid and vapor bikes are a passing fancy; argon frames are particularly shoddy.”) [via Bike Commuters]

Down at the Junction

The Camberwell Junction Structure is up for for review and it could be worth watching for its implications for cycling in that area. There’s an information session on this Wednesday night at at The Camberwell Centre, 340 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, 6:30pm-8:30pm, and feedback on the plan must be submitted by 3 March 2008. [Thanks Zed]

Super Tuesday

Register as a counter for Bicycle Victoria’s Super Tuesday bicycle count, to be held on the morning of Tuesday 4 March.

Team Captain Bike

Those who would like to honour the memory of Sheldon Brown might light consider joining or sponsoring Team Captain Bike in the Melbourne Summer Cycle, Sunday 24 February.

A disgrace

Some people must have sludge for brains: Wire-trap ‘could have killed girl’

An eight-year-old girl whose neck was cut when she cycled into fencing wire strung between poles in a park south of Melbourne is lucky she wasn’t killed, her parents say…

“Her throat was pretty sore and she couldn’t really say much at all.

“She won’t ride her bike any more and she won’t come and play at the park.”

A despicable and loathsome act of indiscriminate violence that should not be treated or punished as if it were a mere “prank”.

“Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain”

A conspiracy theorist might think that the bike ban debacle was just a distraction so that the Government could ‘take a dump’ over the estimated blowout in costs for Myki. (Have a look in the comments here for some interesting—and no doubt highly inaccurate—rough calculations.)

However, I personally prefer to invoke Hanlon’s Razor.