Columbus Rides Bikes!

PHOTO BY MICHAEL KUNDRY (LEFT), HUNTER FREEMAN (RIGHT) Andrew Love is the bike industry’s foremost counterfeit investigator. The in-house testing lab at the Morgan Hill, California, headquarters of Specialized Bicycle Components is a gleaming example of engineering efficiency: a spacious, well-lit shop where brutish machines rip and wrench bicycle frames and parts to—and past—their limits. On this particular morning, a special frame sits on the frontal-impact rig. The  Venge  is an intimidating broadsword of a bike, with a menacing coat of matte-black paint bisected on the down tube by a murderous red slash. A bright white decal spells "McLaren" on the top tube, the logo of Britain’s storied supercar maker and F1 racing team, and Specialized’s longtime technology partner. The pedal-fatigue test is long and numbingly dull. Test engineers fix the fork to a rigid point on the test jig, and the rear dropouts to an extension that simulates how a frame pivots over the rear t

An unfiltered quasi-report on the Rivendell Atlantis by Benedict J. Poppi Kuuhl (Ultraromance)… “we like our tubes lugged and our cotton waxed as our bikini lines.” Read on. Words by Benedict J. Poppi Kuuhl ( @Ultraromance ) All photos by  @nutmegcountry , except 2 bike photos by  @rivbike I have a lot of bikes, and most of them are pretty redundant. They are all mostly for touring and are rusty, olde, hacked, and only work if I ride them. “Oh the front mech won’t work? just kick it a little,” stuff like that. My Atlantis is no exception. I say all the mechanicals and creeks are just reminders that it’s time to stop and have a snack, and/or hang the hammock and take a nap. That being said, it’s still a ripper when it needs to be.  [Keep reading at Bikepacking.com]

1 People don’t often realize it, but the design of every high-end bicycle is shaped, one way or another, by the governing body of bike racing, the Union Cycliste Internationale. This is what bikes might look like if their rulebook didn’t exist.  The UCI has a  famously  stringent set of rules about the design of bikes used in basically any bike race: two same-sized wheels, limits on aerodynamics and frame shape, for example. Those limits are ostensibly in place for safety, but really to make bike racing about the humans, not the machine. [Keep reading at Gizmodo]

Big Run Cross 2015 from Kathy Koontz on Vimeo .

World's first real constructible rides from infento on Vimeo .

[Kickstarter]

Action: Mark Beaumont said more needs to be done for those who cycle for fun   Rex Lycra-clad “weekend warriors” are deterring new cyclists from the sport, according to world record-breaking long distance rider Mark Beaumont. Those who take cycling too seriously and think that it is all about competition can be intimidating, especially for women, said Mr Beaumont, who is also a broadcaster and adventurer. The 32-year-old said more needed to be done to persuade people that cycling could be “just a bit of fun” and was not a sport dominated by so-called Mamils (middle-aged men in Lycra). His comments came as thousands prepared to watch some of the world’s top riders compete in the final leg of the Tour of Britain in central London on Sunday. [Keep reading at Standard News]

Meet the newest member of the Early Rider family. It”s the first and only ride on in the world that is able to help young children (ages 1-2) to make the connection between their senses (vision, pressure, equilibrium…) and their motor system. Some might call it balance but it’s really more about the co ordination of our muscles in response to what we see and feel. The reason it’s so important – is that this is the age when we’re first making this connection as well as when we’re most open to experiential learning. The reason is never been achieved before is that it requires a ride on that’s unstable (so the child is required to effect some control – like with a bike) but at the same time safe (unlike a bicycle) and this is the tricky bit. The key is that the product is based upon spheres – it’s based upon the fundamental principle that a ball able to move freely will just relocate, it’s not tippy like a wheel. And so by replacing wheels with a certain arrangement of spheres we’

The Los Angeles City Council has approved a new transportation plan that will add hundreds of miles of bicycle lanes, bus-only lanes and pedestrian safety features.   LOS ANGELES — This city of fast cars and endless freeways is preparing to do what not long ago would have been unthinkable: sacrificing car lanes to make way for bikes and buses. The City Council has approved a far-reaching transportation plan that would reshape the streetscape over the next 20 years, adding hundreds of miles of bicycle lanes, bus-only lanes and pedestrian safety features as part of an effort to nudge drivers out from behind the wheel. Not surprisingly, in the unofficial traffic congestion capital of the country, the plan has set off fears of apocalyptic gridlock. “What they’re trying to do is make congestion so bad, you’ll have to get out of your car,” said James O’Sullivan, a founder of Fix the City, a group that is planning a lawsuit to stop the plan. “But what are you going to do, take tw