Columbus Rides Bikes!

Highlights 70+ riders 1 Festivus Pole transported by the keg bike from Paradise Garage to Hal & Al's 10 mile loop from Hal & Al's to pickup pole and back to Goodale Park returning to the bar Bike decorating contest Ugly sweater contest Water jug holding contest Huffy toss for men and women Airing of grievances

Toronto’s Urban Repair Squad Strikes Again Guerrilla bike lane – photo by James Schwartz / The Urban Country At approximately 10AM this morning, Toronto’s Guerrilla bicycling advocates - the Urban Repair Squad  - re-painted the intersection at Dundas and Sterling, the location where cyclist Jenna Morrison was run over by a truck and killed last month. Bike lanes were painted on both sides of the street, and the southbound vehicle lane was widened to give cyclists more space at the intersection. A source involved with the re-painting told me the police showed up at the end and the team scrambled, leaving behind their materials. When I arrived on the scene at 11AM there were several police squad cars at the scene cleaning up. The guerrilla group used water-based paint, so the intersection changes aren’t permanent, but the re-paint was done to make a point and to highlight how easy it is to make positive improvements in a city that is  tearing out its bicycle i...

CINCINNATI, OH (FOX19) - The City of Cincinnati has developed new signage promoting bicycle safety, the first of its kind in the region. The signs alert motorists that they should change lanes in order to safely pass cyclists. The signs will be installed in corridors where the city has already installed “sharrow” (shared lane) pavement markings. Sharrows are pavement markings that are installed within shared travel lanes (lanes shared by cars and bicycles). The marking is a bicycle with a chevron above it. Sharrows can be helpful on streets where there is insufficient space to add bicycle lanes. Sharrows help cyclists position themselves within the lane safely to avoid being squeezed off the road or hit by suddenly opened car doors. [continue reading at FOX19]

Editor's note: Burlington VT has similar models installed around town and even though there is no cover there were bikes locked up during a snowstorm. Cycle Hoop products were also installed in Montreal Canada on the parking poles. Innovative design originally commissioned by the London Festival of Architecture, has since been Installed around the UK and several cities in Europe. Converts a car space into cycle parking for 10 bicycles. Perfect  for promoting cycling at events The car shape acts as a barrier to protect parked bicycles from the cars. Easy to assemble and transport, it is ideal for temporary cycle parking. The unit can also be bolted down for permanent use Options include an integrated bicycle pump and a central display panel for branding [Cycle Hoop]

The draft of the Senate’s transportation authorization ( S. 1813 Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act ) has been  a bit of a   disappointment  for cyclists. It reduces funding for dedicated bicycling programs and allows state departments of transportation an opt-out for spending it. However, even aside from funding, there is an egregious clause that has  rightly upset cyclists . Section § 203 (d) ( p. 226 ), the part dealing with the “Federal lands transportation program”, states: (d) BICYCLE SAFETY.—The Secretary of the appropriate Federal land management agency shall prohibit the use of bicycles on each federally owned road that has a speed limit of 30 miles per hour or greater and an adjacent paved path for use by bicycles within 100 yards of the road. Sign the petition  to tell the Senate to remove this clause. No, your eyes are not deceiving you. This paragraph would introduce a mandatory sidepath law on roads in our National Parks ...

 (Credit: iStockphoto/Diverstudio) TOPICS: DREAM CITY Everyone freak out:  Carmageddon  is back. Right now, several U.S. cities are scheming to shut down major freeways — permanently. In the push to take back cities from cars, this is what you’d call throwing down the gauntlet. The drive to tear down the huge freeways that many blame for the inner-city blight of the ’60s and ’70s is one of the most dramatic signs of the new urban order. Proponents of such efforts have data to show that freeway removal is not at all bizarre, that we can return to human-size streets without causing a gridlock apocalypse. And that may be true. But pulling down these shrines to the automobile also feels like a bold rewriting of America’s 20th-century urban script: Revenge of the Pedestrian. This time it’s personal. [keep reading at Salon]

700C CrMo4130 Double-Butted tube Original Lugs 1" Threaded fork Two water bottles bracket Down tube shifter studs Fender & Carrier adapters 1" Threaded Headset F OLD:100mm/ R OLD:130mm BB 68mm ISO.JIS 1.370 x 24 Fork Crown  26.4mm Head Tube ID  30.2mm Seat Post   27.2mm Color：Dark Red, Dark Blue [Dia Compe website]

From the blog:  Something about coffee and bikes go hand in hand, maybe it’s the effect caffeine has on the brain and body with the added ingredient of a bicycle it can create a great days adventure around the city. Most kiwi’s have no idea the we have some of the best tasting coffee in the world. Like anything good we get complacent with it, you could say the same thing for Auckland in general, people always complain about this city but I think it’s the fact most people never leave? Seems strange I guess. What we have in this post is a combination of a great Auckland coffee shop  Eighthirty , found on K’rd next to the Mobil petrol station and bicycles. Glenn the owner is adopting bikes into their business for delivery and we worked together on this tandem turned cargo bike. The coffee at  Eighthirty  is nothing but the best around and next time your riding your bike past his cafe stop by for a coffee, you will not be disappointed- it’s good shit! [See more at...

Unisuit Style Number: 1004 XS, S, M, L, XL 106 White/Silver 044 Silver/Black 002 Black/Black 502 Ink/Black 603 Rouge/Black 438 Turquoise/Black 265 Nude/Black   DESCRIPTION: • Comfort and ease of one garment to be worn under clothing or on its own • Contrast detail at top of bra and at edges • Flattering princess seams with shirring and lighter weight fabric at sides • Adjustable bra straps can be worn straight over shoulders or   criss-crossed in back for a more secure fit • Adjustable back closure BENEFITS:  Moisture Management; UV Protection FABRIC:  72% Nylon/ 28% Lycra® Spandex [movmoda website]

From the timbuk2 website: This year our design team worked  really  hard to develop a collection of serious cycling bags for serious cyclists. They created the Especial collection. It includes three packs – the Dos, Tres and Cuatro – and one pannier – the Viaje – and launches February 1, 2012 on  timbuk2.com . But who wants to wait until February?! We thought you’d enjoy an earlier look at the Especial products that may change your commuting ways. We gave our new Especial Cuatro Backpack to CS Couriers in Columbus, OH and asked them to ride it around. Here’s what the CS Couriers like about the Cuatro: [finish out the story at timbuk2]

It is the nature of a beautiful object to inspire obsession. The bicycle—a practical, relatively simple machine—has been reimagined by countless enthusiasts over the years and cleverly crafted to fill nearly every imaginable niche and purpose. London designer  Michael Embacher  caught the bike bug about 10 years ago, when he traded his car for a pedal-powered commute. He fell in love with the bicycle's clean, efficient design, and it transformed his life and health. More than 200 bicycles later, Embacher boasts an impressive collection of two-wheeled works of art. Enthusiasm is best when shared, and Embacher does just that with his new book,  Cyclepedia: A Century of Iconic Bicycle Design (Chronicle Books), a compendium of 100 strange, sleek, and classic bikes from his collection. This slide show features a few more of our favorites. View the slide show -->  The Bicycle: Art on Two Wheels

Spinlister: Peer-To-Peer Bike Sharing Gets Rolling City bike shares are nice and all, but what if you want a bike that’s a little… sleeker. Just search an online data base and take a neighbor’s for a ride. 0     51     6   If you’ve been hiding from the Internet for the last five years, you can be forgiven for not knowing about the collaborative consumption economy. It’s everywhere. It’s like this: You have stuff. You don’t use it all the time. Others pay to borrow it. Today, you can rent out your rooms on  Airbnb , let your car on  Getaround.com , or find a bidder for (almost) everything in your life, even your dog, as Rob Baedeker  recently proved  in Newsweek . The next big thing is probably your bicycle. Bicycles have not had an illustrious history  (PDF)  when it comes to sharing. Amsterdam’s abortive attempt in the 1960s lead to widespread theft and canals filled with the unfortunate white bikes. Other mo...

Michigan's 2012 cycling race season kicks off this year with the Killer Gravel Road Race- Like the classic it's named after, Barry-Roubaix will test riders against rolling gravel roads (80%), pavement, one mile of rough two track, rocks, sand, mud, and possibly snow and ice, along with 2200 feet of climbing over its 35 mile loop. There is 1500 racer limit for 2012!   What is Barry-Roubaix? A classic road/off road race featuring a variety of terrain and surfaces to test all your cycling skills. Cyclocross, Mountain, Road, Single-Speed, Fixie and Tandem bicycles are welcome in any category. The course will be determined according to conditions just prior to the race start. Maps will be available for pre-riding the course. Click on the map link on the website. Course marshals will NOT be at every corner or intersection, rules of the road apply! The course will NOT be closed to traffic and does not have a rolling escort. Cycling rules of the road apply, i.e. stop at all stop ...

One simple initiative in Bihar state not only solved an everyday problem for schoolgirls, but also expanded their horizons More than 870,000 schoolgirls have benefited from the bike subsidies. Photograph: Michael Melford/NGS/Corbis In Bihar, one of  India 's poorest and most populous states, half of the women and a quarter of the men are illiterate, and about 90% of its 104 million inhabitants live in rural areas. Life here is particularly difficult for girls, and one of the greatest hindrances to their development is the simple journey to school. For many, the trip is long, expensive and dangerous. But here, in rural Bihar, we recently saw that a two-wheeled solution to the problem has been found. Three years ago the state's new chief minister Nitish Kumar adopted a "gender agenda" and set about redressing his state's endemic gender imbalances in an attempt to boost development in one of India's most backward states. His vision was to bring a s...