Columbus Rides Bikes!

Ergon presents a brand new innovative seat post for the road. The post offers a uniquely comfortable ride while remaining lightweight, making it ideal to match to today’s ultra-stiff road frames. The seatpost is designed to flex offering added suspension, killing road buzz and soaking up imperfections in the road surface. The saddle moves backwards in arc motion, with the carbon suspension beams (Canyon VCLS Technology) equipped with pivots to ensure the saddle remains horizontal. The system is maintenance free, offers simple setback and saddle angle adjustment, and weighs in at about 220 g. Eurobike Award 2012 Winner [Ergon]

In 2004, Rob Lilwall decided to leave his job as a geography teacher in England and do something far more relaxing... so he packed his bags and flew with his bicycle for 18 hours to the far eastern edge of Siberia. He then spent the following three years trying to cycle back home again. Along the way he camped at minus forty degrees in Siberia, dragged his bike through jungles in Papua New Guinea, and braved the lonely passes of Afghanistan. He was robbed at gunpoint, caught malaria, and met his wife-to-be. Buy the book  on Amazon. [ Read more on roblilwall.com  ]

The Winter so far has proven to have given me ample opportunities to ride on ice with the studded 45NRTH Gravdal tires. For a look at my previous post on these tires, see HERE.  Otherwise, this will be my final say on these tires for Winter travel. Ride Performance:  First off, I will admit that many of the “average” studded tires I have ridden in the past have left me less than thrilled by the prospect of using a studded tire at all. However; these tires have changed my tune on that. They are not at all dreadful to ride. They don’t feel totally dead, and they do not feel like they have tons of rolling resistance. They feel fine, for what they are, which is a heavily treaded, weighty, studded tire. In this light, they are nice to ride on. You definitely feel the weight here, but again, when you can cut through four inches of snow and have grip, it seems a reasonable compromise. This was a pleasant surprise and the Gravdal clears slush and snow really well with the tread design it

LifeStraw® Go incorporates the award-winning LifeStraw® technology into a durable water bottle. Simply scoop water from a river or pond, screw the lid on, and sip clean water through the mouthpiece.  Features BPA-free water bottle Flip-top bite valve Lanyard for attaching to your backpack Removes bacteria, protozoan parasites and turbidity from contaminated water No aftertaste as it contains no iodine or iodinated resin chemicals (and is BPA-free). Specifications Filters up to 1,000 liters (264 gallons) of water Removes 99.9999% of waterborne bacteria (>LOG 6 reduction) Removes 99.9% of waterborne protozoan parasites (>LOG 3 reduction) Reduces turbidity by filtering to 0.2 microns Lightweight [LifeStraw]

Mud Guards Rear Rack Rims Chain Case The family owned and operated Ghisallo company brings back the wooden rim, and makes it part of modern cycling. They offer other wooden cycling components and accessories too. All handmade with pride in Italy. [ Go to  ghisallowoodenrims.com  for more ]

Thousands of bikes are stolen in the UK each year. Most are never seen again by their owners, and some even have to be bought back from criminals. But when advertising account manager Hugh Allman, 28, had his taken, he was eventually reunited with it - largely because he had hand-built it himself out of bamboo and it was utterly unique. I have friends who run a workshop where you can build a bamboo bike frame, so last summer I decided to make one for myself. The handles and wheels came from an old racer. Because bamboo is hollow, it's very light, but it's pretty solid - I rode it from London to Brussels over the August bank holiday. On Saturday I went out with friends for a ride. At about 16:00 there was a downpour so we took shelter a coffee shop. I could look outside and see the bike. After five minutes I looked out again and it was gone - the lock, the bike, everything. I was gutted. I called the police but was 99.9% sure I wouldn't get it back. [ Read more on  B

Designed for the Swedish Military, adopted by mountaineers and adventurers, Hudsalve is hearty, no-frills skin protection for lips, face, hands, elbows, and feet. A staple of many European armies, and necessity being the mother of invention, its uses have now grown to near mythical status. It has been used to grease weapons, and condition boots. Swedish tank commanders use it to combat mosquitoes. Some say it is edible, that is a line we have not crossed... but in a pinch, when no one's looking, it just might be suitable to grease your cast iron. [Best Made Company]

Bike fork bottle opener for your biker friend! Who hasn't needed an opener on a long ride? Made from the front fork-tested and approved! Blackish [See it at Etsy]

Have you ever been ticketed…just for riding your bike? Joe Jackson has. He was riding on Snuff Mill Road near Centerville last month when he was ticketed for violating a little bit of obscure legal language from  Delaware Title 21, §4196 . This law says that “Any person operating a bicycle upon a roadway at less than the normal speed of traffic at the time and place and under the conditions then existing shall ride as close as practicable to the right-hand edge of the roadway…” Snuff Mill Road is only about 18 to 20 feet wide here. (In some places it’s only 17 feet wide!) It doesn’t have any additional shoulder pavement. That 18 to 20 feet of pavement is all there is. Snuff Mill Road near Centerville where Joe Jackson was ticketed for riding his bike. Where would you ride here? Some cyclists riding on Snuff Mill will crowd over to the right (perhaps to avoid the attention of overzealous police). But no matter where a cyclist rides on a road like this, a car has to (at le

Sure, people might say that bad trends fade away while good trends become the new normal, but that’s not always the case. Sometimes, perfectly good ideas fall by the wayside—then there are the ideas that are so bad they’re good. Here are ten trends that should be dusted off and brought back into action. 1. Kickstands flickr.com When did fancy bikes get too cool for kickstands? Newsfeeds are filled with glory shots of expensive bikes helplessly propped up by trees, signposts, and even sticks. Meanwhile, the barely-functional 20-year-old cruiser outside the convenience store stands up on its own, like a boss. More at People for Bikes

What is the the word that I'm looking for? Oh, "badass!" Wait, is that really a word? [ See more on minimalissimo  ]

Bikeways for Everyone-HD 720p from Knowble Media on Vimeo . [More here]

FROM THEIR SITE 650B Wheels by DT Swiss Titanium frame made for us in the US by  Lynskey Thomson Bar, Stem,Top Cap, Steerer Tube Spacers Cane Creek Headset Oury Grips MRP Fork XTR Drivetrain Thomson Covert Dropper and Collar We decided to build and offer the kind of bike we would ride if we could. This is the start. A 29″ Single Speed with a Rohloff Option and a Thomson Single Speed Drivetrain is next, soon to be followed by a Titanium Gravel Road bike that will feature our pave post. [More at Thomson]

By Vernon Felton About a month ago OneUp components burst onto the scene with their new 42-tooth cog. If that doesn’t sound “burst onto the scene” worthy, consider this: They claimed you could use that cog to build a single-ring drivetrain with the same kind of low gearing available on SRAM’s XX1 and X01 groups for a fraction of the cost. We’ve begun to assemble our affordable XX1 hack, but before we get into the details, here’s a bit more background on why you should even give a damn. [Keep reading at  Bikemag]

Touring handlebar bag with a transparent lid for use with mobiles or electronic navigation devices. This bag includes the added capability of charging your devices with cables via hub dynamo in connection with either: Busch + Mueller "E-Werk" or "Luxos U Lumotec IQ2"; or "The Plug" by Supernova. The bag also features a lockable mounting system and lockable lid closure. The touch screen of your devices can also be operated through the lid of the bag. [Ortlieb]

Ohio native Jack Williams completed a solo bicycle tour in 2013 of the Ohio to Erie Trail. / Submitted photo Written by Jona Ison Gazette Staff Writer ZOOM CHILLICOTHE  — The plan started out as riding less than a mile round-trip to get ice cream with his two kids, but Jack Williams ultimately rode his bike 346 miles in six days. Williams bought his mountain bike in May after his children — Jackson, 11, and Geneva, 9 — had gotten bikes for Christmas. He thought it would be fun for them to ride together down to nearby Hook’s Pizza, but within a week of buying the bike, he began putting together a plan to ride the Ohio to Erie Trail solo. The plan was prompted by a need to rediscover himself after his 14-year-marriage had ended in divorce along with him turning 40. His children were going on a weeklong beach vacation, so he struck off from the Ohio River in Cincinnati on June 28 with a goal to reach Lake Erie by 4 p.m. July 3. “I just d

The case of  Marvin M. Brandt Revocable Trust et al., v. United States , challenges the right of the United States to convert a federally-granted right-of-way into a rail-trail, a right established by Congress and long fought for and protected by Rails-to-Trails Conservancy. On January 14, 2014, the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments regarding the case. We expect a decision in June. Read the  recap  on our blog. Read the  official transcript  of the oral argument. Read our  amicus brief  in defense of rail-trails. The Brandt property lies along the corridor of the  Medicine Bow Rail Trail  in Wyoming, a former disused rail corridor inside Medicine Bow National Forest that was converted into a public trail by the U.S. Forest Service and local supporters. [Keep reading at Rails to Trails]

Google headquarters in Mountain View, Calif.  (Credit: AP/Paul Sakuma) Ever since Rebecca Solnit took to the  London Review of Books   to ruminate on the meaning of the private chartered buses that transport tech industry workers around the San Francisco Bay Area (she called them, among other things, “the spaceships on which our alien overlords have landed to rule us,”) the Google Bus has become the go-to symbol for discord in Silicon Valley.  First a  Google Bus piñata  was smashed to pieces at a rally in San Francisco’s Mission district last May.  Then protesters drove a  fake Google Bus  in the annual Pride Parade with props linking the shuttles to gentrification, eviction and displacement.  By December, when activists blockaded an actual Google bus on the street, the city and media were primed for the  street theater stunt heard round the world . This frenzy seemingly culminated yesterday when, following  another morning blockade and protest  and several hours of contentious pu

Stories of altercations between motorists and cyclists have become so common lately that they've almost become easy to overlook. Almost. Despite their frequency, these episodes still upset me. And ones like this recent incident in Chattanooga, Tennessee, where the cyclist wasn’t just bullied but was also vilified afterwards, especially infuriate. Chattanooga’s  Times Free Press  has a  thorough summary of the incident , but here’s the skeleton account. A 30-year-old Chattanooga rider, Anders Swanson, recently went for a ride on Raccoon Mountain, a road ride that is frequented by cyclists. On the way up, a Chevy truck with two teenagers inside buzzed Swanson, menaced him, and blasted an air horn. Swanson documented the incident with his camera, filed a report with the authorities, and continued on his way. Not long after, when he had finished his ride and was changing in the parking lot, the teens returned with two more friends in a different vehicle, harassed Swanson, and

Continue reading the main story Massive snowfalls like the one that hit the US east coast this week usually spell trouble for traffic. But critics of America's car-centric transport network are using the snow - and Twitter - to demonstrate how roads should be redesigned to make them safer for pedestrians. Fast-falling snow can lead to unsafe driving conditions, massive pile-ups, delayed trains, cancelled flights and slippery sidewalks. But advocates for safer streets say the snow can also help illustrate how conditions can be improved. "The snow is almost like nature's tracing paper," says Clarence Eckerson Jr, the director of StreetFilms, which documents pedestrian- and cycle-friendly streets across the globe. He says that snow can be helpful in pointing out traffic patterns and changing street composition for the better. "When you dump some snow on this giant grid of streets, now you can see, visually, how people can better use the streets," h

Bixi bike share, Montreal   ( arcsi/flickr ) Earlier this week, Montreal's Bixi bike share program filed for bankruptcy. Now, a reporter closely following that company's sorry financial history says that could have implications for the Bixi-designed software used by many bike share systems in the U.S. In an interview with NPR's Renee Montaigne, Andy Riga—the transportation reporter for the  Montreal Gazette —says Bixi's financial troubles stem from loss of control of its software, which led to delays in cities including New York, Chicago, and San Francisco. "If in fact Bixi fails, what does it means to other cities?" Montaigne asked. "Can they survive if Bixi doesn't?" "That's hard to say," Riga responded, saying that there was talk New York and other systems might start over with software. [Keep reading at  WNYC]

A trip back in time, to the future? Well, sort of. [ See more on the 3Rensho Photo Blog  ]

I like the cut of his jib! [ Read all about it on grantmaclaren.com  ]

The Bucket Pannier Kits comes with all the parts to assemble two Kitty Litter Panniers or your Dream Panniers. Just about any box shaped container can be made into a pannier. Full color instructions and as needed parts to mount a handle and bungee top lid retainer. All the parts in the kit are stainless steel or brass for a long life. Soon to be released the deluxe system with Jandd’s Patented Web-V strap and the Uber Bucket Kit featuring the German Module-Loc. Bucket Kit includes: 4    Stainless Steel J-Hooks with protective cover 2    Bungee assembly with bottom hook and rivets 2    Bottom Retainer Strap with grommets. 8    1/2 Black Stainless Screws 4    5/8 Silver Stainless Steel Screws 12  Stainless Steel Nyloc Nuts 12  Stainless Over-sized Washers 2    3/4 Web Handles with preset melted holes (Not needed on Buckets with handles) 1    1 Yard of 1/8" Bungee (For Lid Retention if needed) Weight  9.5oz Note:  Two average house cats can produce one Kitty L

Hey, did you know it's winter? Hey, did you also know that you can make your BMX bike into a snowbike? [ See more on driftersnowbikes.com  ]

The Touring Canti is a powerful cantilever brake with a similar design to the  Neo-Retro , but with the arms angled upward. This gives the brake a much narrower profile without significantly reducing stopping power. The narrower profile of the Touring Canti can be desirable if you're riding with large panniers or if your current brakes don't give you enough heel or calf clearance. The arms of the Touring Canti are machined from lightweight 6061 aluminum. Their T-shaped cross section prevents the brake from flexing too much under load. The brake pads mount to slots in the arms that allow for vertical positioning. The toe-in and angle can be fine tuned thanks to the spherical washers on the brake pads' threaded posts. Like all of our brakes, the Touring Canti has a sealed pivot mechanism. Rubber seals and a stainless steel bushing keep the brake arms turning smoothly no matter what you're riding through. The spring tension can be adjusted in both pivots to center

Description Mountain bikes are awesome. I even think that they're awesome when used as commuters or touring bikes. One problem: manufacturer's include suspension-corrected forks so the frames are compatible with standard travel suspension forks. This is all well and good until a person wants to mount fenders. The front fender sits way up off the tire, rendering it nearly useles. The Fender Flute won't drive the rats out of Hamelin, but it will provide a lower mounting position for the front fender, allowing for better, more effective performance.  Tech Details Threaded M6 holes at 10mm intervals for adjustability M6 bolts and lock-washers included Made in the USA [Problem Solvers]

Michael Gil /Flickr Scumbags who run from the scene of serious accidents face jail time, the loss of their licenses and, if they've been drinking or getting high, probable DUI cases. For now "serious" means death or bodily injury. But minor scrapes mean a hit-&-run driver faces minor consequences. Until now. L.A. area state Assemblyman Mike Gatto this week proposed a new law that would mean automatic license revocation for runners in accidents involving victims who are able to walk away with minor injuries: His bill, AB 1532, was announced this week. Gatto's office says: Right now, there are few consequences for hit-and-run offenders whose victims are lucky enough to walk away with only minor injuries. Current law creates serious consequences, including license revocation, for individuals who commit a hit-and-run that results in death or serious bodily injury.  Losing your license would apply to more minor collisions, then, too. Gatto, by the way, is the g

It’s the last thing you would expect to hear at the Detroit Auto Show from the CEO of Ford Motor Company. But last week, Ford’s Alan Mulally showed some ambivalence about the role of cars in major cities. At the Detroit Auto Show, Ford CEO Alan Mulally said he doesn’t think more cars can solve mobility problems in big cities. Image: Top News “I think the most important thing is to look at the way the world is and where the world is going and to develop a plan,” Mulally said, according to  the Financial Times . “We’re going to see more and more larger cities. Personal mobility is going to be of really ever-increasing importance to livable lifestyles in big cities.” Mulally said Ford has been trying to adapt to changing consumer preferences since the Great Recession. Americans have been trading giant SUVs for smaller cars. Young people have been purchasing fewer cars altogether, a phenomenon Mulally said might be reversed by cheaper cars. But he also said he wasn’t sure wh

Major media have a habit of blowing bike-share problems out of proportion. Witness  the 2009 BBC story  that cast theft and vandalism as an existential threat to Velib in Paris. Five years later, Velib is still going strong. The most recent entry in the genre is Christopher Matthews’  misguided story  on the Bixi bankruptcy in TIME. Headline: “Why America’s Grand Bike-Sharing Experiment Is Failing.” There’s a reason that Divvy was fed up with Bixi’s software, but TIME didn’t explain why. Photo: John Greenfield The main mistake Matthews makes is to conflate Bixi’s troubles with the fate of American bike-share overall: The question now is whether this is the beginning of the end for the bike-sharing experiments that have spread quickly across the U.S. So far, officials from various bike-sharing programs are saying no. This is a poor way to frame the issue, for a few reasons. While Bixi is the dominant supplier in the American bike-share market, it is far from the only on

A bicycle cooperative on Columbus' Near East Side not only promotes alternatives to automotive transportation, but also provides affordable access to bikes and the know-how to keep the wheels turning. For a little more than a year, Third Hand Bicycle Cooperative, a volunteer-run nonprofit, has maintained a not-so-ordinary bike shop at 979 E. Fifth Ave., in the Milo Grogan neighborhood of Columbus. There, customers can find a wealth of used bikes in various states of repair and function. The median sales price is $30, and those who volunteer can earn discounts on bikes and bike parts. They also can learn how to get and keep their rides street-worthy from an impassioned group of volunteer "coordinators," who teach and assist in bike maintenance during "open shop sessions" held each Wednesday from 6 to 9 p.m. and Saturdays from 1 to 4 p.m. The co-op, which evolved from gatherings of bike enthusiasts in home garages almost 15 years ago, seeks to promote cyc