Columbus Rides Bikes!

Balloonbikers suffer less vibrations Balloonbikers enjoy much more comfort, because their spine, as opposed to riding a standard bike, suffers 25 per cent less jarring. A full bicycle suspension system only achieves a further eight per cent less jarring, but this makes the bike more susceptible to damage, heavier and much more expensive. Truly more comfortable for the back Using BIG APPLE tires (60-622, 2 bar) on a non-suspension bike reduces vibrations to the lumbar area by around 25 per cent, comparable with the same bike using a standard tire. In comparison a full-suspension bicycle can reduce vibrations on the lumbar area by around 33 per cent. These are results obtained in an extensive study, carried out in conjunction with ‘Deutschen Sporthochschule, Köln’ (German Sports University Cologne) to determine the effects and possibilities of tire suspension. The damping action of Big Apple tires was compared both with bikes using rigid (traditional) frame constructio

AIRCHECKER SKS developed and designed 'Airchecker', a digital gauge with a completely new design, especially for cycle tyres. Due to it's swivelling Duo Head, the backlit display with its XL-format digits is always easy to read. The display can also be switched from bar over to PSI. The reduction button allows the pressure to be regulated exactly to one [SKS]

The city on bike from Bicycle Innovation Lab on Vimeo .

BILL BRETT FOR THE BOSTON GLOBE Wellesley police spent months investigating a fatal truck-bike crash. A grand jury declined to indict the truck driver. It’s a common refrain among local ­cyclists: Want to kill someone and get away with it? Run them over while they’re on a bicycle. Within Boston’s growing cycling community, a perceived lack of criminal prosecution of motorists involved in fatal bike crashes has been a regular source of outrage in recent years. That ire came to a ­fever pitch last week, when a grand jury investigation of a Wellesley bike crash with seemingly copious evidence — video footage, witnesses defending the deceased bicyclist, a truck driver who had fled the scene and had an extensive history of driving infractions — came back with no charges. The grand jury’s decision, bicyclists contend, is evidence of a wider problem: Most people do not respect the rights of bike riders. “The message that we got from this particular case,” said David Watson, ex

The same great product as the original Kick-Ass-Cogs that you know and love, now in color! Cogs are being anodized to order. They are generally shipping 5-7 days after the order is received… sometime sooner. If you have questions, please feel free to shoot me an email. endlessbikes@gmail.com At a full quarter inch wide (6.35mm) at the splines, Kick-Ass-Cogs simply will not damage your free hub body the way a narrower cog can. Made of high strength 7075-T6 alloy (Stronger and harder than most common steels), Kick-Ass-Cogs are precision machined insuring perfect axial and radial alignment that compliments the superior chain lines that cassette style hubs allow. The specially engineered tooth profile on Kick-Ass-Cogs improves both cog and chain life while minimizing drive train friction. With a Kick-Ass-Cog on your bike, you can expect a smooth, quiet drivetrain for miles to come. Like all EndlessBikeCo. Products, Color Anodized Kick-Ass-Cogs are made right here in Western North

The Wahoo RFLKT is the world's first iPhone powered bike computer! All the power of your iPhone in the size of a sleek cycling computer.  Keep your iPhone safely tucked in your jersey pocket and access all of your App data from your bars.  Features: iPhone Powered The Wahoo RFLKT wirelessly receives data and images from an iPhone located in the jersey pocket or saddlebag of the cyclist. Using the buttons on the side of the RFLKT, a user can control the App, change data screens, start and stop the timer, and control other App functionality such as music playback and more. Sleek Profile Weighing in at only 2 ounces, the RFLKT measures 2.4” long by 1.6” wide by 0.5” thick. Low Power Long-lasting, replaceable coin cell battery; no need for extra cables or recharging  Wireless Bluetooth 4.0 (Smart) Connectivity The RFLKT has simple wireless connectivity through a Bluetooth 4.0 connection Weather and shock proof RFLKT is IPX7 certified for riding in all types of weather and on al

The ELF is a solar/pedal hybrid vehicle suitable for commuting, deliveries, and other local transportation needs. This three-wheeled electric assist velomobile fills the niche between a bicycle and a car and offers advantages over both.  Carbon lite ELF on display at Durham Centerfest The ELF is just the vehicle you need. Are you tired of spending money filling up your gas tank every week? Are you plagued with nagging guilt over your personal contribution to climate change every time you hop in the car for a short trip to the store? Do you think about riding a bike to work, but don't want to show up sweaty? Does it make you nervous to see cars crowd cyclists out of the lane and hesitate to put yourself at risk in that way? The ELF is for you! The ELF is designed to carry both rider and cargo inside a weatherproof shell that comes fully equipped with lights, signals, and mirrors. The electric motor can be fully engaged for a cool and quiet ride to work or can be used jus

Self-Sealing Bicycle Smart Tubes with Slime Inside! All SLiME Smart Tubes are factory-filled with a precise volume of Slime Tube Sealant. Smart Tubes instantly seek out and seal punctures as they occur, preventing flats, repeatedly and continuously for up to two years. Ride without worries. #STB-926212 26 inch tube with presta valve fits: 26 x 1.75 (559 x 47 mm) 26 x 1.90 (559 x 50 mm) 26 x 2.00 (559 x 51 mm) 26 x 2.10 (559 x 53 mm) 26 x 2.125 (559 x 57 mm) #STB-970019 700 mm tube with presta valve fits: 700 x 19-25 mm #STB-970028 700 mm tube with presta valve fits: 700 x 28-35 mm 30043 29” tube with presta valve fits: 29 x 1.85 – 2.20 (700 x 47-52) The valve stem length on Smart Tubes with a presta valve is 48mm. [Slime] As featured in  Mountain Bike Action Magazine .

Boston Hubway bike share docking station. (Photo CC by Flickr user JMazzolaa) (Derek Wang, Seattle —  KUOW )  The plan to create a bike sharing program in Seattle is clicking into a higher gear.  Puget Sound Bike Share  hopes to launch in 2014. Organizers updated Seattle officials Tuesday saying they hope to hire a vendor by the spring. Initial areas for the plan include the University District, Eastlake, Capitol Hill, South Lake Union, Downtown and Queen Anne. To get some guidance for the Seattle effort, KUOW spoke with the founder of one of the fastest-growing systems in the US, Nicole Freedman. Freedman started Boston’s program,  The Hubway , which launched in 2011. It has 105 stations, more than 1,000 bicycles and 9,000 members. Members have taken about 675,000 trips; more than 500,000 of those trips were taken in the last year. Freedman is also an Olympic cyclist and has studied city planning at MIT and Stanford. [Keep reading at Transportation Nation]

(Copyright: Thinkstock) It’s not simply because they are annoying, argues Tom Stafford, it’s because they trigger a deep-seated rage within us by breaking the moral order of the road. Something about cyclists seems to provoke fury in other road users. If you doubt this, try a search for the word  "cyclist" on Twitter . As I write this one of the latest tweets is this: "Had enough of cyclists today! Just wanna ram them with my car." This kind of sentiment would get people locked up if directed against an ethic minority or religion, but it seems to be fair game, in many people's minds, when directed against cyclists. Why all the rage? I've got a theory, of course. It's not because cyclists are annoying. It isn't even because we have a selective memory for that one stand-out annoying cyclist over the hundreds of boring, non-annoying ones (although that probably is  a factor ). No, my theory is that motorists hate cyclists because they thin

BITCHY TUTORIAL VOL.1 "HANDLEBAR MAINTENANCE" from GASH-ROUGE on Vimeo .

FEBRUARY 22-24, 2013 COLORADO CONVENTION CENTER CLICK HERE TO REGISTER SHOW HOURS: February 22, 2013 Friday 9 AM – 11 AM Industry and Media Only 11 AM – 6 PM Show Hours February 23, 2013 Saturday 10 AM – 6 PM Show Hours February 24, 2013 Sunday 10 AM – 5 PM Show Hours PRICING: Online Day Online Onsite 1 Day Friday $18.00 $22.00 1 Day Saturday $18.00 $22.00 1 Day Sunday $15.00 $19.00 2 Day Fri/Sat $33.00 $41.00 2 Day Sat/ Sun $30.00 $38.00 3 Day Fri/Sat/Sun $46.00 $58.00 Seminar Pass Fri/Sat/Sun $150.00 $150.00 Kent Eriksen Framebuilders Only $75.00 $75.00 Children Per Day $8.00 Cutoff date for online registration is February 20th at 11 PM Cutoff date for the hotel reservation is February 8th, 2013. MAKE HOTEL RESERVATION FOR NAHBS 2013 NOW: Hilton Garden Inn: $129 per night. Reservation Link:   http://tinyurl.com/North-American-Handmade-Bicycl The Crowne Plaza: (Host Hotel) Availability:  Thursday and Friday (sold out on Saturday) $109 per ni

The  2013 NAHBS  is approaching rapidly and, in anticipation, Chris King’s  Cielo  brand has hooked up with fellow Portland locals,  Tanner Goods , on a project that’s sure to impress the judges. The collaboration is a heady mix of the craftsmanship both brands are famous for: well tailored waxed cotton, leather and finely crafted steel. The Tanner Goods Edition will be based on the Sportif and Cross Classic models from the Cielo lineup and are as versatile as they are stylish. Tanner have contributed a handmade handlebar bag, a saddle bag, mudflaps and a frame bag that can be slung over the shoulder for close-range pedestrian portage. They all work seamlessly with the Cielo frames, custom painted with matching fenders. It really is a summation of the renewed interest in traditional American industry — goods and services that are well made, reliable and long-lasting. Both Tanner Goods, a collective of designers and craftspeople, and Chris King, a scion of quality engineering, h

The Big Man threw everything but the four horsemen of the apocalypse down on Louisville, KY for the 2013 World Cyclocross Championships. Mud, snow, ice, floods, freezing rain, freezing temperatures and a particularly frozen parking attendant (“LOOK AT ME!”) ruled the week.  Through it all, the city of Louisville, race organizers, racers, spectators and the trusty WD-40 BIKE Tech Support Team rolled on. The Masters races were hit with the coldest temps of the week, with mud and ice being the nastiest obstacles.  As events progressed, the Ohio River swelled to near record levels, forcing all Elite racing into one day of competition.  A herculean effort by the city kept the river at bay until the final Rainbow Jersey was awarded. (For more on that,  click here .) The WD-40 BIKE Tech Support Team managed the all-important bike wash area in the pits.  Our stellar crew enlisted legendary mechanic TJ Grove, and some trusty volunteers, to help handle the dirty work.  A model of efficienc

Bike culture is exploding in cities across the world. Whether people are riding folding bikes to the commuter train, slipping through traffic on streamlined single-speeds, or carrying children and groceries on their cargo bikes, bicycles are making urban life more dynamic and enjoyable. Carrying cargo — following shopping trips, or just as part of the normal commute — on most bikes can be a challenge, but it’s far from impossible. In this excerpt from  On Bicycles: 50 Ways the New Bike Culture Can Change Your Life   (New World Library, 2012), cycling enthusiast Denise Wrathall gives great tips on shopping by bike and hauling items with just a little bit of planning.    Every cycling enthusiast has a “big fish” story. For urban cyclists, it’s sometimes about the weirdest or biggest thing we’ve carried by bike: furniture, pets, toilet augers. Before you bungee your new armchair to your bike, here are a few basics to get you started. Shopping by bike is the hippest way to shop,

Some of the best ideas are the simplest, and the Gino Light Mount is a clever part with a simple design. The Gino Light Mount can be used to mount lights to any M5 threaded eyelet, rackmount, or braze on. By mounting a light at mid-fork or dropout eyelets, it casts light on the ground at a much shallower angle, better revealing contours and bumps in the road. Tech Info: Material: 6061 Aluminum Weight: 30g Finish: Anodized Anodized Color: Silver or Black Mount Size: ø 26.0mm Instructions: gino.pdf [Paul Component Engineering]

Reuters The health benefits of riding a bike are obvious, and they seem to outweigh the risks of other city hazards — collisions, pollution, biased newspaper editorials, etc. Recent data models on cycling in  the Netherlands  and  Barcelona  concluded that the upside of physical activity was much larger than the combined downsides of traffic accidents and inhaling toxins. So in addition to improving a city transportation system, bike riding might elevate public health. One way to expand urban biking is through a bike share, but since these systems are quite young in North America, there's not a great deal of evidence to show how much they increase ridership. Bike shares certainly make it easier to access a bike in the city: you no longer have to buy one, or rent an apartment big enough to fit one, or live in a building decent enough to store one. Still, giving better access to existing riders isn't the same as creating new ones. To get a better handle on the potential

Highlights Organized by Swallow Bicycle Works 40+ cyclists 44 miles (for me, others mileage varied) 3600+ feet climbing (for me) - Route of 50 miles was billed to have 5000 ft climbing 10.5 mph average (for me) One cyclist broke derailleur hanger, several flat tires, Roger blew up his chain Mostly gravel roads through Shawnee State Forest Great ride, group of cyclists and hospitality from Swallow. We had 10 cyclists in our group from Columbus

Highlights 10 or 11 cyclists (I never could figure out final total) 40 miles for our group, Roger had more miles 2800+ feet climbing More of the gravel roads are being paved : ( One broken ice shelf right after we snapped the photo Tim flatted Brett disappeared and Roger went to look for him Photos

The Super Hero Kit for Road Biking is designed to address the most common repair issues a cyclist might encounter on a ride.  An innovative, time-saving, and economical combination of high-quality tools and materials, and detailed instruction manual, as well as a tube, pump, and bike bag - it's an all-in-one solution - that's ready for your next ride.  A $145 value for $89, it is everything you need to help you with the most common repairs on the trail. [Hero Kit]

Four amazing people are at the heart of the PeopleForBikes.org movement. They are our events crews, and they travel the U.S., hopping from bike festival to bike festival, to collect pledges for PFB and spread the bike love. We're looking for our 2013 PFB events crews—one pair based in the eastern U.S. and another based in the west. If you have a love for adventure, a passion for bikes, and want a crazy fun job for the summer of 2013, read on. Job Description: We are seeking four new staffers (two separate teams of two individuals each) to help grow our PeopleForBikes.org (PFB) pledge base even further in 2013. The Seasonal Events Crews coordinate and lead all seasonal events for the PFB campaign. We are seeking to represent PFB at multiple events throughout the United States. One team will be based mostly in the western half of the country, and the other team will serve events on the eastern half. This position is seasonal, with employee status, along with a set com

Chattanooga, Tennessee, was, in a lot of ways, not an ideal city for bike-sharing. It’s a somewhat sprawling city, without a strong culture of cycling and walking. In addition, only a small percentage of area residents use transit to get around, so not many are leaving the car in the garage. Chattanooga is blazing trails as a small bike-sharing city. Image:  Times Free Press But local leaders didn’t use these challenges as excuses not to act to improve public health. This city of 170,000 launched the Chattanooga Bicycle Transit System last July, with 30 stations and 300 bikes dispersed around a 2.5-square mile area of downtown. In doing so, little Chattanooga beat larger cities like New York and Chicago to the punch. “Our purpose with bike-sharing was to put a large amount of cyclists on the street in a short time, to change the dynamic, to improve our air quality, our health and active transportation overall,” said Chattanooga Bike Coordinator Philip Pugliese, at the Ne

Photo by Kamil Bialous Francois Bernaudin is ready for a ride on the Yuba Mundo with his daughters Louanne (very back) and Eléa near Vancouver, BC’s Commercial Drive. I started using a cargo bike when my roommate let me borrow hers for some errands. I had been stuffing incongruous things: bread, hand-tools, potting soil, into a swollen backpack, acting as if it was bottomless. It wasn’t, and the seams burst one day, my possessions erupting all over the street. I started with short jaunts to the store to fetch feed for my chickens. Initially it was a little awkward. The thing felt as long as a canoe, and its center of gravity was low. Pushing off took some getting used to, but once I got my balance and figured out the gearing, I was fine. Since then, I’ve hauled away curbside furniture and carried plants from a local nursery, as well as trekking my roommate’s daughter to the grocery store and back. I’ve noticed that they’re becoming more ubiquitous: I see longtails

Franklinton CycleWorks is hosting another round of Bike School beginning March 6th. The west side’s bicycle cooperative is offering a four week course, totaling 6 hours of classroom time, which will provide participants with a general understanding of bike anatomy/functionality and how to perform common bike repairs. Whether you’re an aspiring mechanic looking for a place to start, or just want to be self-sufficient in basic maintenance, this is the class for you. Class sessions are limited to 12 participants and the total cost is $50. Discounts and partial refunds are available to current volunteers or those committed to volunteering. http://franklintoncycleworks.org/event-registration