Columbus Rides Bikes!

'Dooring' incidents highlight the urgent need for better road rule education for all. REGRET OVER DOORING AND IGNORING CYCLIST Brighton man Jeff Hunter has come forward to say he regrets his behaviour after opening a taxi door on a cyclist and failing to exchange details. In the last week I have watched two videos shared on social media of cyclists involved in accidents. The first was from Queensland, it shows a  car tail-gating a cyclist  and then ploughing them down. The second is from here in Melbourne and offers a  helmet-cam view of a woman being "doored"  by a man getting out of a taxi; the man then refuses to hand over his details. Both videos quickly made it onto news websites, where the comments section rapidly filled with cyclist outrage and the predictable tit for tat between cyclists and that segment of car drivers and pedestrians who seem to despise cyclists. The comments section of these articles is pretty typical of any article involv

Many cyclists end up owning several bikes. Running out of room? Well, start collecting bicycle models!  "The Figma blog has been updated with preview images of the ex:ride Brompton you can expect when you purchase the October issue of Hobby Japan magazine. Comes in red and all you have to do is to assemble bike yourself! The bike is foldable, just like a real one!" [ See it all on zotaku.com  ] 

Since its invention, the bicycle really hasn’t changed much.  Its basic components remain the same– a pair of wheels, a crank-driven drivetrain, a frame, a seat and some handlebars.  The components themselves have evolved, but the basic song has gone unchanged.  The design team at Peugeot Bikes, however, have created a bike concept so alien to our eyes that change may be on the horizion.  The Peugeot B1K Bicycle Concept takes on the traditional bike format by adding a chain-free drivetrain, removing the down tube and giving it a fierce new design that is as progressive as they come. [ Read more on thecoolist.com  ]

A mockup of one of 12 "Deluxe Overnight Bike Pods" Oregon State Parks wants to build across the state. Looking to take bicycle tourism to the next level — and to solidify the direct connection between bicycling and economic development — Oregon State Parks wants to create a network of covered bike facilities they say will "redefine the cycling experience." The Oregon Parks and Recreation Department (OPRD) call these facilities "bike pods" and "bike hubs" and if all goes according to plan there will eventually be 19 of them throughout the state, with the first one set for construction this summer. We  first reported  on the "Bike Pods of Oregon" project a few weeks ago after OPRD submitted a grant application to ODOT's Connect Oregon program. OPRD is hoping to secure $348,000 from the lottery-backed funding program (the pods project will cost a total of $435,000). [Keep reading at Bike Portland]

Back in late January, Bozeman cyclists Bill Martin and Mo Mislivets rolled up to the trailhead leading to the Gallatin National Forest’s Yellow Mule Cabin a few miles south of Big Sky. It was a “beautiful, bluebird day,” Mislivets recalls, and the duo had left their travel options open, stocking the car with both cross country skis and their fat bikes—a bulkier breed of mountain bike with thick tires catered specially for pedaling through snow. The area hadn’t seen fresh snow for several days, leaving the trail up Buck Creek Ridge toward the cabin well-packed by snowmobile traffic. COURTESY BILL MARTIN Martin and Mislivets had been to plenty of U.S. Forest Service cabins, but both Yellow Mule and the Buck Ridge area were new to them. After a quick review of the signs highlighting permitted recreation, they opted to ride the fat bikes in. “Unfortunately,” Martin says, “we chose the wrong weapon of choice.” Halfway to the cabin, which they’d rented for the Martin Luther Ki

Bruce Weber claims that traveling by bicycle isn't "the contemplative, mind-meandering activity that it is generally presumed to be." And the New York Times writer, whose  Life Is a Wheel  chronicles his 79-day, 4,122-mile pedal from Astoria, Ore., back to his apartment in Lower Manhattan, has a point: riding 50, 60, 70 miles a day, sometimes on busy blacktops with tractor trailers rocketing alongside, on county roads that suddenly dissolve to gravel, through endless prairies wondering if you're going to a find a place to eat, or sleep, the concerns are more immediate, practical, particular. But when Weber pulls into a motel for the night, wrings out his sweat-soaked cycling duds and pulls out his iPad, the bigger ruminations start coming.   [Keep reading at  philly.com]

Cornrows? Brains? Multiplying challah bread? Whatever the inspiration, this new helmet by Berlin-based design duo  Bless  is definitely more intriguing than the usual ugly plastic headgear. The so-called Bless Helmdo will protect your head with what the brand's website calls “fluffy lightweight nylon head braiding." As virtually all helmets are kind of embarrassing-looking, you might as well embrace that fact and wear one that makes you look vaguely like  that chick from  Alien Vs. Predator --that is, if you're willing to fork over $1,069, the pricetag on this weird little accessory. The Bless Helmdo is available at Creatures of Comfort  here . from FastCompany

Vuact Action Capture records video and sensor data and puts the data on the video timeline. You get insight into your performance. How it all came about... (Story from Kalle, Vuact's co-founder) A while ago on a bike ride, we stopped to eat some blueberries (yes, while mountain biking). It was a hot sunny day, the moss blanket was comfy and there were plenty of berries under the leaves. We sat for a while, and I half acknowledged a few wasps around us. Then a few more. And more. Until we suddenly realized we were sitting on a wasp nest. Instantly, panic took over both us and the wasps. We were running like mad with the yellow jackets stinging us left and right. When we finally stopped a good five hundred yards later, there were still a number of them hanging on our clothes. Makes a good story but it would have been even better if it had been captured on video. Not that all of the mountain biking trips are always that eventful but you just can't recreate the crazy

Of all the things that cause wear, tear and noise on a mountain bike, chain slap is certainly one of the most annoying. As its name implies, it occurs when rough terrain causes the chain to be flung up and down, slapping against the chainstay as it does so. While there are things that can be done to minimize it, California-based Cycle Monkey has taken a unique approach – the company has helped to design the one-of-a-kind Battleaxe mountain bike, that features a unique chain slap-unfriendly drive train. Chain slap can occur on any type of mountain bike, but it's particularly common on full-suspension models. Putting it simply, this is because the swingarm moves up and down relative to the rest of the frame. The cassette moves with that swingarm, taking the back end of the chain up and down with it. The front end of the chain, however, remains in place, joined to the rest of the frame by the chainring. As a result, the chain doesn't always remain parallel to the chainstay,

Once again, bicyclists have been left out. This morning, the federal government released a traffic safety proposal that  turns a blind eye to the rising number of bicyclist and pedestrians deaths . Last week, 700 participants at the National Bike Summit visited their members of Congress and asked them to sign on to the Bicycle and Pedestrian Safety Act. This critical bill would require the U.S. Department of Transportation  establish a specific target to improve the safety of bicyclists and pedestrians . Months ago, we mobilized bicyclists behind this bill because we knew DOT was unlikely to do this on their own. Today, unfortunately, we were proven right. The DOT just issued a  proposed national traffic safety goal that doesn't include a specific target or goal for reducing the number of bicyclists and pedestrians killed on our roadways.   We know that without a specific target to focus the attention of state DOTs and USDOT on reducing bicyclist and pedestrian deaths within

The bad news: Air pollution in northern France has been at a  dangerous high  for three days running now, with nearly a third of the country’s 22 regions on maximum alert. Concentrations of PM2.5 Thursday in Paris reached 100mg/m3 — four times the level deemed safe by the World Health Organization. The good news: Public transportation is free for the rest of the weekend! Due to ”significant risks to the health of residents,” transport authorities said Thursday, they’re opening access to all non-automobile methods of getting around the city,  including  both its bike-share system and, for an hour each day, its electric car-share system. Warm days, cold nights and a lack of wind have contributed to the heavy pollution,  RFI reports , which is expected to last through Friday. Since the alert first began, police have been cracking down on drivers, issuing over 16,500 tickets to those who didn’t follow newly lowered speed limits, along with pulling unnecessary municipal vehicles of

BOB CHAMBERLIN / LOS ANGELES TIMES Bicycle riders gather to begin their ride at 1st and Spring streets in downtown Los Angeles in a CicLAvia event. A Caltrans study finds that Californians are using their cars less. Californians aren't depending quite as heavily on cars for commutes and errands as they did a decade ago, according to a new survey by Caltrans. Although driving is still by far the most dominant mode of transportation across the state, accounting for about three-quarters of daily trips, researchers say a decrease in car usage and a rise in walking, biking and taking transit indicate that Californians' daily habits could be slowly changing. What is happening in California mirrors a nationwide decline in driving, experts say: The number of car miles driven annually peaked about a decade ago, and the percentage of people in their teens, 20s and 30s without driver's licenses continues to grow. Researchers said the Caltrans findings could help cash-strapp

The gearbox adds about six pounds to the bike, but that weight’s concentrated around the bike’s crank, making for a fairly well-balanced ride. Story & Photos By Robert Annis Crowds usually line up at the Reeb booth at the North American Handmade Bicycle Show for the free Oskar Blues. But this weekend, people were trying to get a closer glimpse at a new gearbox having its unofficial coming out party on American soil. Reeb is one of the first American companies to incorporate the German-built Pinion gearbox on one of its bikes. The 18-speed gearbox is mounted to a specially modified Reebdonkadonk rigid fatbike frame. The Gates belt drive propels 29-inch wheels mounted with 3-inch-wide Surly Knard tires. [Keep reading at  BikeMag]

Liz Patek/Right of Way At first glance, they look an awful lot like official city speed-limit signs, bold black letters on a white background. "20 Is Plenty," they say. Look closer, these signs are not NYC DOT issue. First, they're made of plastic, rather than aluminum, and affixed to signposts with zip ties rather than bolts. They are not reflective, the way real street signs are. And at the bottom, in white letters on black, is the logo of the DIY street safety action group  Right of Way . [Keep reading at Atlantic Cities]

Halfbike, the movie :) from kolelinia.com on Vimeo .

Ride an MTB, or are you running a suspension fork on your street bike? Here's a good DIY on cleaning and lubing the dust wiper seal. [ Click here to learn how to do it on ridefox.com  ]

The Kentucky Bourbon Trail® tour is not a geographic region or route. It’s a series of Bourbon distilleries tours created by the Kentucky Distillers’ Association in 1999 to showcase our signature industry’s rich history and heritage. We’re pleased to offer bicyclists and others seeking “the route less traveled” an alternative way to experience our legendary distilleries and gorgeous Kentucky landscape – by bicycle. All three routes are scenic and hilly, traveling on the rural roads of Central Kentucky. For the most part, the roads are lightly traveled and stores or restaurants are generally available every 20 miles or so.We recommend these routes to experienced cyclists, as the terrain can be challenging. We hope you enjoy our routes and look forward to seeing you at our distilleries. (Please note: some distilleries lock their gates at closing–so don’t get caught with your car still on property after hours! And please wear appropriate shoes if you take a tour after you ride–no clip

The best cyclists from around the world have taken the stage for the 100th anniversary* of the Tour de France. Glory, prestige, and a hefty paycheck await only the most disciplined and determined athletes. With so much at stake, how far are competitors willing to go to be the first to cross the finish line? From nails being thrown on the course to thwart racers to Lance Armstrong’s infamous doping charges, cycling’s biggest event has been riddled with scandals conducted by those who would do anything to win. Take a glimpse into the history of the Tour de France, and the unsportsmanlike conduct that has plagued it since its humble beginnings. [See more at sportandmotor.com  ]

" Our heavy-duty cargo bicycle trailers feature an adjustable length and axle position, tie downs, stake pockets, and much more.  They are available in three lengths, two widths, and two weight capacities. Bikes At Work began in 1991 as a one-person, bicycle-powered local delivery service called "Fresh Aire Delivery Service." We originally started as a grocery delivery service, but eventually grew to providing curbside recycling pickup, newspaper and periodical delivery, local business delivery, and even a pedicab service. We have moved well over one million pounds of cargo by bicycle over the years. We discovered early on that existing bicycle trailers were inadequate for the types of cargo we were carrying, so we began making our own bicycle trailers to meet our needs. Soon others began asking us to build trailers for them, too, so we started a second company, Fresh Aire Trailer Works, just to manufacture bicycle trailers. This became confusing, so in 2000