First person view of a mountain bike race in urban Chile from u.mass2001 on Vimeo.

Amsterdam

Amsterdam traffic 1900-1930: “Cycling videographer Mark Wagenbuur has released another doozy. His video shows traffic in early 20th century Amsterdam, with — you guessed it — a focus on bicycles.” [thanks tom]

Behind

downtownfrombehind=shots of New Yorkers riding around their town, taken from behind. Why from behind? Presumably because cyclists have such cute arses. [via LikeCool.com, thanks tom]

Sign o’ the times

Bicycles as shop signs [thanks tom]

Low Flying

The StreetFlyer is apparently like hang-gliding on three-wheels. It looks like a whole heap of fun, but I cant’t see myself riding to work on that. Apart from anything else, where the hell would I park it?

While we’re getting prone, check out the EX tricycle—another beastie that looks like heaps of fun. [via DVICE, thanks tom]

Gadgets

• Pinch Stand “is formed by wood lamination …take advantage of the natural spring available from this fabrication process, the two halves of Pinch use the weight of your bicycle to firmly lock the rear wheel into place”. Clever. [via LikeCool.com, thanks tom]
• I don’t quite see the point of The Airspresso , which uses a bike pump to make espresso. Surely stopping at a cafe is easier?
• How very Dutch: DryBike Umbrella Holder [twitterer]
• PIT desk design, because I can’t get enough saddle time.
• Six-Pack Frame Cinch [thanks woowoowoo and tom]
• StemCAPtain [thanks tom]

Not in my front yard

Wall Street Journal reports that residents of a Chicago suburb are (I kid you not) opposing the installation of sidewalks:

Claude Pagacz, a retired carpenter and longtime resident, successfully opposed sidewalks on his side of the street. “What concrete adds to the value of my house,” he says, “I have no idea.”

I’d have thought it adds considerably by connecting to the strip of concrete in front of his neighbours’ houses and so on down the street. [twitterer]

Helpful tip from the police

Get your bicycles off the open road. Gee, thanks for the advice.

Better advice

How to get your bike stolen.

Hacks

• Military-style Sidecar, complete with ammo case fender.
• DYI SUV [twitterer]

Running the numbers

More bicycles than cars will cross central London’s bridges every morning peak

What I missed this morning

• Photo of the Day by Dan Barham: Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada. <SIGH>
• Tom Robertson’s cycling portfolio

NYC bike lane stoush

I really don’t want to talk about it, but here are some links:

• New York Times: Suit Over Brooklyn Bike Lane Challenges City Initiative
• Matt Seaton: How one New York bike lane could affect the future of cycling worldwide
• John Cassidy: Battle of the Bike Lanes
• Felix Salmon: John Cassidy vs bipeds
• The Economist: The world is his parking spot
• John Cassidy comes back for more and then comes back again
• Felix Salmon has another go at John Cassidy
• Bike Snob NYC: Hold Your Lane: Rough Crossings and Triple Rushes
• Grist: New York’s bike lanes are ‘homegrown terrorism,’ say red-faced opponents
• Dave Moulton: Signs we are winning

Neologism

The whole New York City brouhaha could be a case of bikelash.

War?

• David Suzuki asks If there is a war on cars, which side is winning?
• Why Do Drivers Hate Cyclists?
• Do drivers really hate us?
• 10 reasons why they honk at us

Designing roads with bikes in mind

• National Association of City Transportation Officials: Urban Bikeway Design Guide
• Austroads: Cycling Aspects of Austroads Guides

Getting it together

A report from NZ Transport Agency says “The integration of cycling and public transport (cycle-PT) can provide additional transport modal choice and flexibility in the use of existing public transport and also increase cycling trips and transit patronage”.

Slo-ow do-own

• George Monbiot: Here’s what we could gain by reducing the speed limit.
• Psychological Science that “children may not be able to detect vehicles approaching at speeds in excess of 20 mph”. [twitterer]

Won’t someone think of the children?

BBC News reports:

Children are campaigning for drivers to slow down, as a survey suggests almost one in eight of Welsh nine to 13-year-olds have been hit by vehicles.

Wow, those are pretty shitty odds, if you ask me. [twitterer]

R2S

Letting kids ride to school doesn’t make you a bad parent. Funny, I never thought it did… [twitterer]

Moreover, University of Melbourne urban planning expert Carolyn Whitzman reckons that “for children, independent mobility is not only vital to physical and emotional development. Being able to walk or cycle to school, friends’ houses, parks and shops without an adult is crucial to a sense of citizenship”.

And there’s still hope! [twitterer]

Important cargo

Carrying children on bikes [twitterer]

Bike lane, not riding in

magnatom argues that “Those who haven’t cycled before on urban roads…don’t understand why a cyclist might take the middle of the lane, might get annoyed at a car passing within a foot, or might filter to the front of the queue.”

Those were the days

Quickrelease.tv: “Tyneside, 1951: when a bicycle tunnel was built before a car tunnel”.

THE list

Without a doubt @londoncyclist produces the definitive list of top cycling blogs.

Bike pr0n

• The beauty of the bicycle
• Cyclepedia – new book showcases fantastic private bike collection
• Iconic bicycle designs through the ages
• Van Hulsteijn Bicycles [twitterer]

Recumbent-mania

Check out the video on the British Pedal Car Grand Prix—never before have recumbents had such crowds cheering them on.

Bikenomics

Elly Blue on Tearing down urban freeways to make room for a new bicycle economy.

Fuel

BikeRadar asks: Do Cycling And Vegetarianism Mix?

Did someone mention Oppy T-shirts?

@gusk observes “Wow, and who knew they named a derailleur after sir Hubert Opperman” Cyclo Oppy derailleur

Incentive

If my gym had one of these, I would be in a whole lot better shape. [via woowoowoo]

Stylish

Cycling Jerseys Meet British Tailoring. Yeah, no.

Old age?

• At 103, he’s a three-wheeled wonder
• Keen to ride at 91 [via road.cc]

Glamp-down on cyclosportives

Cyclosportives are the glamping of amateur cycling – but there is an alternative:

…paying attention to your surroundings and direction are important skills when riding CTC and audax rides, though not always needed as you can usually sit in with a group of other riders who know the way. And if you get lost, at least you get lost together. By contrast, the fluorescent arrows that indicate every turn on the route of the cyclosportive infantalise the experience of long distance riding in the open country.

Taste crap and rot your teeth

ABC news reports that “Sports drinks are increasingly damaging the teeth of professional and recreational athletes, one of Australia’s top sports dentists has warned.”

As for so-called ‘health’ drinks, “They’re big business, but not all consumers seem to be aware that some contain more sugar than a bottle of coke”.

Touring

• Forget planes and cars: beginner’s guide to travelling by bike – travel tips and articles – Lonely Planet
• The Bicycle Traveler’s Blueprint: What Every Bicycle Traveler Needs To Know…
• The World’s 10 Best Bike Tours?
• End of an epic family bike ride from Alaska to Argentina
• 10 Tips for Cycling Iran

Fitter

Bike Fit – Is It Worth It?

Practical

The Moulton TSR2: It’s fun, it’s orange, it goes like the clappers.

Skid lids

Prof Chris Rissel on ditching bike helmets laws better for health.

Reading

• kimbofo reviews ‘The Rider’ by Tim Krabbé: “If you’ve ever wanted to know what it’s like to be stuck in a peloton, or climbing ever so slowly up a massive mountain, or leading the sprint on a bike, then The Rider will let you experience it. And the best bit? Your heart will race, but you won’t even have to crack a sweat.”
• The Green Bicycle Murder [twitterer]

Bamboo

Ajiro – “Naturally grown urban personal mobility” (or bamboo recumbent, to you and me).

Public service

No one can steal it, everyone can use it. Bike pump! [thanks woowoowoo]

Healthy

Article in Environmental Health Perspectives: Do the Health Benefits of Cycling Outweigh the Risks?

Conclusions: On average, the estimated health benefits of cycling were substantially larger than the risks relative to car driving for individuals shifting their mode of transport.

Essential

Of course, the car is essential [twitterer]

Or perhaps not.

Print it

Scientists At EADS Make It Possible To Own A Custom-made Printable Bike [thanks tom]

Keef Sloan’s remarks about red light jumping puts me in mind of a comment I saw in an online debate on that topic a few years back. I can’t find the original to quote but it went something like, cyclists are not going to benefit in a society where road users pick-and-choose which road rules they are going to obey. To my mind, that’s the end of the red light jumping debate.

A follow-on from this is hinted at in Dr-Chars’s comments about inexperienced cyclists being a problem. I’d say that inexperience per se is not the issue—we’re none of us born with experience or street smarts. Rather the problem is when risk-taking/confidence/coolness exceeds ability. As bikesnobnyc put it:

These days, aggressive urban riding is in vogue, and I attribute this to the spate of fixed-gear movies featuring people riding in traffic (such as MASH, Macaframa, and the upcoming Empire). It is now de rigeur to weave heedlessly through traffic, and apparently it is a forfeiture of your masculinity to stop at a red light under any circumstances. (Though apparently you can salvage a bit of it by at least doing a trackstand at the light.)

Unfortunately, while many of these riders have the look down they don’t have the ability to match. Lately, I’ve been getting stuck behind riders who have misjudged the distance between cars and been forced to stop. (It’s a sad sight, really–like watching a cat get its head caught in a shoe or something.) I’ve also been finding myself literally being circled at red lights, since the people who can’t trackstand just ride around and around instead. (Imagine being circled by a shark, but the shark’s riding a Pista, wearing a u-lock holster, and looks mildly afraid instead of coolly detached.)

When it’s a minority of commuter cyclists who fail to stop at red lights (in Melbourne at least) yet somehow red light jumping gets seen as the norm, then less experienced cyclists may follow suit because they have the misapprehension that this is how ‘serious’ cyclists behave. Sure, people need to take responsibility for their own actions, but let’s not underestimate the power of the schoolyard which reaches out across the years (or decades, for some of us) driving on supposedly intelligent and responsible adults to do stupid things in order that they will be seen as ‘Cool’ or ‘Hardcore’ or ‘Serious’ by some random in the street, just as if they were a gormless fourteen year old. And I’m not just talking about men here either.

As for me, I’m happy to comply with traffic lights and scrupulously wait for crossing indicators—if I’m to be damned and abused at least it will be for doing the right thing (yes, the moral high ground can be a pretty comfy place to sit). And like Dave Moulton and woowoowoo I’ve become more “patient and forgiving to other road users”, experience having taught me two things: how to foresee and avoid a lot of trouble on the road, and that no-one will thank you for correcting them (less so if your advice is shouted and punctuated with abuse). And the result is that I get a breather when I’m stopped at traffic lights and overall I enjoy my riding more.

Cecil Walker, with mods

Learning to ride

Step 1: Throw away the training wheels…

Envy-inducing

• 5 Bike Touring Films: Laugh, Learn and Be Amazed
• WorldCycle Videos on Vimeo
• Ride Earth in (Outer) Mongolia: Part One on Vimeo [twitterer]

Risky behaviour?

This study Risk of injury for bicycling on cycle tracks versus in the street, argues that “the injury risk of bicycling on [physically separated] cycle tracks is less than bicycling in streets. The construction of cycle tracks should not be discouraged.” Time to whip across to chainguard and see what response that gets.

Regardless, selection and standardised use of bike lane colour turns out to be pretty important.

Meanwhile, Cycling in the City of London isn’t getting much safer [twitterer]

Hack me

• Plastic bottles, the choice of a cheap generation for bike mudguards.
• Ikea’s Kvartal – A super-easy bike rack
• Pedal bike with TRON bike lights
• Mudguard Flat Tire Repair Assist [twitterer]

Not the comfy chair!

Don’t fear riding a bicycle, fear sitting in that chair [twitterer]

Sewers

Interesting presentation (or it would be if I could get it to work properly): Roads, casualties and public health: The open sewers of the 21st Century [twitterer]

Cam head

Just when I thought I’d get a helmet cam for a bit of a laugh, it goes and gets all serious on me! Case in point: record your bike ride as evidence.

BSO

Did anyone pick up a $149 duallie from ALDI a few weeks back? Still plenty of stock left at my local outlet…not rushing in for one myself.

Awardiing

Nominations for 2010 Australian Bicycling Achievement Awards now open

I’m over xtranormal videos

Can I go riding?

Brave Ricardo

Bold Ricardo Neis who deliberately ploughed his car through a critical mass ride is “very shaken by the whole situation, stressed and not able to work”. Not unlike the people he tried to kill. [twitterer]

Scofflaw? Really?

Cyclelicious wonders: “Do you really want to push the scofflaw cyclist off of his bike and behind the wheels of a car?”

Doctor’s orders

Roadies should be stay-at-homeies.

Interfering

Says @exframebuilder, “WTF get hit by a car, get cited for Interfering with Traffic“.

Skill

Bike drifting. I don’t get it, but I respect the skills. [twitterer]

Talkin’ it up

Freewheelers talk about their bikes. [twitterer]

Pedal post

Australia Post’s postie bike never completely went away, but now it’s set to make a big comeback.

Myth

David Hembrow notes:

One of those myths that won’t die is that the Netherlands has a high rate of cycling because the price of petrol (“gas” to Americans, “benzine” in The Netherlands) is high. This seems particularly to be suggested by Americans, because the price of petrol in their country is so low, and so is the cycling rate.

BEHOOVING MOVING argues that “snobbery stopped people from cycling, long before cars did”. [twitterer]

Advertising

Here are some cycling billboards you won’t see anytime soon. [twitterer]

World Bike Ride

Tour du Monde:

Everyone’s on bikes, from the pelotons of the Tour de France to the bicycle transporters of Burundi.

[twitterer]

Cargo – car = go

Cargo bikes, more cargo bikes, and a serious cargo trike.

Mountain Envy

Cycling Challenge: “Perhaps the best ride of the year. Certainly the most beautiful. Doreen and I spent the weekend in central Switzerland in Grindelwald – right in front of the famous Eiger north face.”

Check that scenery! Drool. [twitterer]

Bikeshare head cases

Andrew Bolt on bike share and helmet laws. [twitterer]

However, within its own scheme, Monash Uni solves the helmet problem (sort of). [twitterer]

Helmet hair

And while we’re on the topic, apparently mandatory helmets do not discourage cycling. Not touching that one. [twitterer]

On the other hand, wearing helmets in cars “has been proved more effective in preventing serious injury than cycle helmets, but promoting car helmets is likely to meet heavy opposition”. Oh, you reckon? Not touching that one, either. [twitterer]

The Rules (for Beach Road Poseurs)

The Rules

Sexy!

Sexy Dahon—but that’s a tautology, isn’t it? [twitterer]

Weight weenies extreme

When Milliseconds Mean Everything: “In the first-ever Tour de France, Maurice Garin beat second-place finisher Lucien Pothier by two hours, 49 minutes. In the last two decades, the sport has embraced technology—and the gaps have gotten smaller.”

Hmm, technology might not have been the only thing making the gaps smaller…

Shorthand for ‘loser’

Tom Vanderbilt wonders how not having a car became Hollywood shorthand for loser. [twitterer]

Death trap?

bicyclism ponders “Deadly Treadlies”:

He was working up to his point; a verbal victory of wit. The delivery of a decisive score of intellectual perspicacity to be absorbed like water into a dehydrated sponge. His triple chins quivered in excitement. His rotund button-popping belly was thrust outwards towards us along the lines of a peacock’s tail flourish; at least to the delusions of his own mind’s self-attracted eye… His considerable bulk was, somehow, testimony to the weight of his authority.

‘No…you would never get me on one of those death traps…’ ‘Bicycles are the shortest path to suicide’.

I reckon I’ve met that bloke. Although I don’t put much store by the risk estimation of someone who seems to have trouble assessing his own risk of heart disease, type II diabetes, lung cancer, emphysema and cirrhosis of the liver.

There are wankers everywhere

On A Hundred and One Wankers:

Wanker #5 had a convertible. Not a huge surprise. He leaned over when driving to shout “Watch me overtake you” which i did, while he drove off laughing. Five minutes later, as he sat in traffic leading up to Kennington Park, I smiled at him and said “Watch me overtake you”. Brilliant.

Bloggage

• Cycle and Style “An Online Women’s Cycling Magazine. For Women. By Women.”
• Cyclized “Devoted to Cycling Culture and Urbanism”
• for the love of bikes

…and this is my bike

Amsterdam houdt van fietsen! [twitterer]

I’ve fallen and I can’t get up

Twitter to the Rescue: Lost, Injured Triathlete Saved by Tweet [twitterer]

Bikes are the problem

Apparently getting people in Denver to ride to work is “part of a greater strategy to rein in American cities under a United Nations treaty”. How do these crazies get air time? [twitterer]

Bikes are not the solution

The Earth Policy Institute says:

The bicycle has many attractions as a form of personal transportation. It alleviates congestion, lowers air pollution, reduces obesity, increases physical fitness, does not emit climate-disrupting carbon dioxide, and is priced within the reach of the billions of people who cannot afford a car…Few methods of reducing carbon emissions are as effective as substituting a bicycle for a car on short trips.

However, Energy Bulletin makes that the valid point that:

…in a a properly designed Traditional City, most people don’t need bicycles. This is true even today. In cities where people often do not own a car, such as New York or Hong Kong or Paris, these non-car-owning people usually do not own a bicycle either. Or, if they happen to own a bike, they do not use it every day as a transportation device. They get by just fine on foot, and using the transportation options available, especially trains and, if a train is not available, a bus. Occasionally a taxi. A bike is best as a least-desirable option, for those trips that are too long to walk comfortably, and not convenient by either train or bus. Ideally, these would be as few as possible, as a well-designed city should be a place where you can easily walk or ride a train (a bus if you have to) just about everywhere.

Excuse or solution

At Commute by Bike:

Come on now. I know that you think of yourself as a bike commuter. But all too often something gets in the way. As a small business owner who also likes calling himself a bike commuter, I’ve become quite familiar with all of the reasons (excuses) that it often seems much easier to take the car instead.

Just slow the f— down

UK’s Telegraph reports that one of Britain’s most senior police refers to speeding as “middle-class anti-social behaviour” that “all seems OK until something tragic happens, like their child dies because of a road traffic accident”.

But it is her criticism of motorists that is likely to cause controversy. Many motorists who are caught speeding complain that they are “soft” targets used to produce funds — speeding fines raise about £100 million a year — and that the police should be targeting serious criminals instead.

Hmm, there aren’t too many things more serious than placing the lives of random strangers in danger, I would have thought.

[twitterer]

Broads and bikes

No, no, no—The Broads. I remember Griff Rhys Jones talking about The Broads on his Rivers series, and I thought that they’d probably have some good cycling around there. Well, apparently they do: The Broads By Bike.

Chicks and bikes

Cyclepassion calendar [twitterer]

Flash mobs are so last year

And Queen’s “Bicycle Race” has been overdone, but still: bike flashmob Central Station Brussels. [twitterer]

Geez, was there anyone left there actually watching that?

This I do not understand

According to Bicycle Commuters of Anchorage the good burghers of that city want to change local laws “to make cyclists liable for accidents if they are hit while crossing a roadway”. What the hell…?

The bike economy

Sydney’s bike economy booms—so is it the beginning of a boom or the peak of a passing fad?

Designs

• Forkless Bicycle Design by Olli Erkkila. Fork me, that’s a cool bike!
• This electic bike is not for your granny—or maybe it is to her taste? [twitterer]
• Ooh, shiny! Cyglo Bike Tires with Embedded LEDs [twitterer]

Driving makes you fat

Does commuting by car make you fat?

It’s a simple equation: Exercise more and lose weight. Still, many people spend most of their time either behind a desk or driving to or from where that desk is located. A few states buck that trend with large cities that allow for more walking, biking, and commuting via public transportation, but are their citizens any more fit?

I dunno about you, but I find that visualisation a little hard to follow…

Let’s get political

Tony Abbott. Not the Man. [via Melbourne Cyclist]

Long-distance relationship

TechNewsDaily reports on the “jogging over distance” system that takes the best interactive elements of computer games to make mere “exercise” more like sports and therefore more fun.

Yessss! Who says girls can’t parallel park? [twitterer]

Cyclist detector

Apparently there is now a cyclist-friendly car:

Subaru has developed new safety technology that can detect and avoid pedestrians, cyclists and other cars on the road.

And in other news, most cars have had this feature for over 100 years. It’s called a careful and attentive driver. But wait…

“This doesn’t replace the driver, it helps the driver if they are not paying attention,” said Derek Ashby, National Manager Engineering and Technical Services for Subaru Australia.

WTF? If you’re not paying attention, you shouldn’t be f—ing driving! What a knob.

[twitterer]

Speed kills, going slow less so

The day I hit a child at 20mph – and realised the speed limit must be cut

Suddenly, a few speeding points on my licence don’t seem quite so innocent. If you have any, you should also feel ashamed. It is easy to exceed the speed limit and, thankfully, on this occasion, I wasn’t. Nor was I fiddling with my mobile phone, sat-nav, or CD player, all of which I have done before.

Paying for the roads

Recommended read of the week: Pay to Pedal? Reflections on an economic cycle

if what a person does imposes no costs or damage on anyone, there is no good reason to charge. We charge users not because of the benefits they derive but because of the costs of providing the relevant items. As a simple first principle, the amount of payment should accord with the costs imposed, not the benefits derived.

And the same applies in the USA, where cyclists ride on roads their taxes pay for:

The amount bicyclists overpay leaps out when you look at the costs of local roads, the roads cyclists use most. Litman found that only a third of the funds for their construction and maintenance comes from vehicle user charges; local property, income and sales taxes pay the rest. Automobile user fees contribute only about 1 cent per mile toward the costs of local roads but simultaneously impose costs more than six times that amount.

Here is the Whose Roads? paper referenced in that article.

Book it

More good reading in Carlton Reid’s Bike to Work Book digi-edition (May 2010), online now. [via road.cc]

Retraction

Another good read: Why I was foolish to mock police bike training.

Getting down your particulates

Toxic cities mock ‘healthy’ cycle riding:

Cycling to work may seem the healthy option, but a study has shown that people riding in cities inhale tens of millions of toxic nanoparticles with every breath, at least five times more than drivers or pedestrians.

I wonder how many of these particles cyclists expel again when breathing out?

Missed it again

Melburn-Roobaix was on last weekend. And I missed it. Again. Damn! Damn! Damn!

Reports from:

• Jack @ Melbourne Cyclist
• wurple.net
• Lawrence
• Cycling Tips

Tips for the road

Some really good ideas on sharing the road by Tanya Bosch. Among them:

The best advice my mother gave me was “treat everyone [as] if they are about to do something stupid”. She was referring to driving a car but it applies even more to bicycle riding.

[via About the bike]

Evaluation of risk

Children’s health suffering because it is ‘too risky’ to walk to school.

Go, Fabian, Go

Cancellara denies bike motor story, others debate the issue. Frankly, the second ‘button-pushing’ example is so blurry I can’t see what’s going on, but he does seem to have an amazing turn of speed. [thanks woowoowoo]

Love cycling in the city?

I Love Riding In the City at Urban Velo.

Bicycle innovation

Dave Moulton righly oberves that we owe a lot to the bicycle.

This is my T-shirt

ASHCAN offers the This Is My Bicycle. This Is My Gun. T-shirt. I’ll put that on my wish list, if anyone’s paying attention.

Check ‘em out

Top 50 cycling blogs 2010. (Oo! I got an ‘honourable mention’—thanks Andreas.)

Build it right and they will come

Bicycle Stations: A New Architectural Typology

With biking booming in many cities around the world, secure storage facilities are becoming essential. In the past decades cities have invested in bicycle paths as a process to increase bike commuting and reduce automobile usage, but little attention has been given to storage systems until recently. Instead of of using the typical bicycle cages and parking slabs cities are turning to a new typology of architecture which can give identity and encourage more bicycle commuters.

The hub

The Internal Gear Hub Review compares Shimano, SRAM, Sturmey Archer, Rohloff, and Fichtel & Sachs hub gears.

Hit the road

At Last – A Bike Lane That Makes Sense: “BIKE LANE WIDER THAN THE ROAD”!!!!

Biking the baby belly

Pedaling Pregnant:

Basically, when it comes to riding while pregnant, ask your doctor for permission. But if you rode your bike before, you will probably be cleared to continue doing so.

Most medical professionals say exercise is beneficial during pregnancy…The American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology says healthy pregnant women should exercise at least three times a week and bicycling is one of their approved forms of exercise. The American Pregnancy Association says pregnant women should “avoid riding off the road or when the pavement is wet” because of accident risk. That’s the only warning they give.

[twitterer]

Meanwhile, in Mexico City

Mexico City offers bikes in its clean air campaign:

With its scofflaw drivers, gridlocked traffic and cobblestoned downtown, Mexico City isn’t the most bicycle-friendly place. But residents are being asked to take the risk for Madre Tierra as part of a larger campaign that leaders hope will clean up this 700-year-old metropolis.

[twitterer]

Parking

Says estuarycyclist: “Need somewhere to park your truck sir? No probs. Park it here…”

If I’m not mistaken, in the UK double yellow lines mean no parking. Hmm.

Bloggage

• The Urbane Cyclist Blog
• Cap’n Slow’s Cycling Blog and Revue

Bloody idiot

This guy is a bloody idiot on two counts. First, so drunk he was barely able to stand, “Everton rode on anyway, nearly hitting a child in a crosswalk before losing control of the bike and falling”. Then he later tries to appeal his conviction for DUI by claiming that bicycles are not vehicles. Yes they are, deadshit. [via Chainguard]

R is the best rating

Rated R.

Tour by bike

Cycle-touring: a vision of post-peak holidays?

Vehicular

Interesting critique of Vehicular Cycling but seems incomplete.

By the way, what’s a guaranteed way to get a stream of long, ranty comments? Bagging out the VC movement.

Street skeleton

The Soopa Scoota:

There’s not much to say about this scooter in the way of specific physical details, ironically, but what we do know here is that you lie on it with your hands up by your face controlling your stylish speedfest down the hill, and that you roll so very very fast. Yay!

[via DVICE, thanks tom]

Lacy

Bicycle shoes lacing technique: “Lock Lace & Knot is the best method to help reduce heel slippage by creating a secure tight hold on the foot.”

Style and substance

CycleStyle is “Australia’s first online store purely devoted to providing stylish clothing and accessories for the urban cyclist. You won’t find any scary lycra or flourescent outfits inside!”

[via Melbourne Cyclist]

It carries stuff

According to Retrovelo, their frame bag:

Who says that bicycle bags always have to look like … bicycle bags? Even 100 years ago the rock-solid frame bags for Swiss military bikes proved its worth. We picked up this idea, modified its format and usability for everyday use and designed it with RETROVELO style.

[Thanks tom]

Waxed chins, er, chains

Chain Maintenance for Clean Freaks:

Wax makes an excellent chain lube. It runs extremely clean and it seems to be good for chains.

I can vouch for that! I used to wax my chain way back in the day. Can’t think why I stopped, apart from the hassle of actually applying the wax. [twitterer]

And more good stuff here

Monthly Roundup at London Cyclist.