Columbus Rides Bikes!

This book’s subtitle is a vast understatement: Author Elly Blue believes bicycles can also save us from healthcare woes, global warming, the energy crisis, community disintegration, and maybe much more. She’s not alone: As H.G. Wells is believed to have stated about a century ago, “Whenever I see an adult on a bicycle, I have hope for the human race.” Bikenomics  isn’t sci-fi, however. Nor is this fun and fluffy beach or bedtime reading. Blue details and itemizes the bicycle’s super-hero potential in well-reasoned, well-researched prose. Blue is a writer and bicycle activist living in Portland, Ore., whose writing has appeared in  The Guardian ,  Grist ,  Bicycling , and  Bitch  magazine, among other publications. She blogs about bicycling and empowerment at  TakingtheLane.com . With  Bikenomics , she’s written a community manifesto, summed up in her maxim: “The bicycle may not be able to save either the economy or the world that...

"Magnic Light is the first contactless dynamo-powered bike light system with no additional components in the wheels. Energy is drawn from the rotating bicycle wheels without any physical contacts, and thus without friction. Electricity is generated in the lights by making use of eddy currents created by strong magnets (International Patent Pending PCT/EP/2012/001431). With this new technique lights can be completely encapsulated with no batteries and no external cables but with enormous efficiency. In 2013 Magnic Light was awarded with the ISPO Brandnew Award of ISPO Munich as winner of the category bike parts. For a short first impression, watch the Magnic Light video." [ See more at  magniclight.com  ]

WAHOO  KICKR INDOOR BIKE TRAINER MEET YOUR NEW TRAINING  PARTNER  / Take the back wheel off your bike and connect to the Wahoo KICKR for accurate power measurement, controlled resistance, open third-party software options, and the smoothest indoor riding on the market. [ See more on  wahoofitness.com  ]

Saddle Setup Video from Selle Anatomica on Vimeo . Learn the proper steps required in order to setup your new Titanico for maximum comfort and proper fit.

... With backing from a variety of interests, including county prosecutors, House Bill 397 would make a   hit-skip involving a death or serious injury a second-degree felony . The penalty would be a maximum eight years in prison. Under current law, fleeing a fatal crash is a third-degree felony with a maximum three years in prison; a hit-skip causing serious injury is a fifth-degree felony, with a maximum 12-month sentence... ... Ohio averages 473 hit-skip crashes a year involving people killed or seriously injured, according to State Highway Patrol data. The issue was highlighted locally in September when  Bob Lennon, 64, a St. Francis DeSales High School teacher and coach, was killed while bicycling on a rural Delaware County  road outside Westerville. The driver, Mary “Katy” Paul, 36, was  convicted and sentenced to 18 months for involuntary manslaughter plus the maximum three years for fleeing . Patricia Kovacs of the Ohio Bicycle Federation called hit-s...

Voting Instructions: Scroll through the design options below and you'll find the link to the survey located at the bottom of this page. One design can be selected for multiple locations: just pick the one you like. Voting will be open until 5:00pm, May 6, 2014. Please note, you may only vote once. http://www.columbus.gov/planning/publicart/bikeracks.aspx The Columbus Art Commission (CAC) has partnered with the Recreation and Parks Department, Department of Public Utilities and the Greater Columbus Arts Council (GCAC) to install new public art bike racks at selected locations across the city. A total of nine bike racks, one per facility, will be fabricated and installed at the following locations ( map link ): Barack Community Cente r, 580 E. Woodrow Ave., Columbus, OH 43207 Blackburn Community Center , 263 Carpenter Street, Columbus, OH 43205 Dodge Community Center , Park & Pool, 667 Sullivant Avenue, Columbus, OH 43205 Indian Mound Community Center , 39...

360° Video using 6 GoPro Cameras - spherical panorama timelapse from j0n4s on Vimeo .

Design a bike. But not just any bike. We are calling all Columbus designers and artists to design a unique CoGo Bike. We want to see what inspires and moves you about your city. What makes Columbus US-Powered? The winner of the contest will see their design made into one special CoGo Bike released into our fleet of 300 bikes across the city. The winning design will be revealed by Mayor Michael B.Coleman at CoGo's First Birthday Celebration on July 11, 2014. The contest begins March 31st and ends April 30th. With help from the City, our review team will choose a group of finalists and then a winner. All finalists will be notified and invited to our birthday celebration where the winner will be recognized when the special bike is revealed. But wait, there's more. In addition to the winner be recognized on stage with the Mayor in front of thousands and have their bike circulate in our system during our peak season (which is sure to create lots of fun photos), there'...

We discovered these at the Detroit Bike Show, they are out of Pittsburgh, PA. Very cool stuff, check them out at  http://www.ridewithfiks.com !

Join Bike to Work Day, on Friday, May 16 rain or shine by riding into downtown along one of seven pre-planned routes described below and mapped  here  (open using Chrome). Each group ride will end at Columbus Commons for breakfast, awards, booths, and networking at 8:00AM. Mayor Michael B. Coleman will ride with the group that has the most committed riders.  Registration is now open  .  More than half of the U.S. population lives within five miles of their workplace, making bicycling a feasible and fun way to get to work. With increased interest in healthy, sustainable and economic transportation options, it's not surprising that, from 2000 to 2011, the number of bicycle commuters in the U.S. grew by more than 47 percent.  Bike to Work Day is an international event. Commit to ride and celebrate in Columbus! You might even win a folding bicycle compliments of car2go, visit their booth at Columbus Commons to enter.   Event Date:  May 16, 2014 ...

Sexism, apathy, injury, death… From city commuters to elite professionals, women in the saddle have had it too tough for too long. Finally, female cycling is about to step up a gear SIMON USBORNE  Sunday 23 March 2014 A year ago, Peter Sagan, a jockish Slovakian road racer, pinched the bottom of a young podium girl as she kissed the winner of the Tour of Flanders. As a scandal, it was minor by cycling standards, but it symbolised a major issue. The cyclist, who had finished second in the Belgian classic, apologised, but his actions and their fall-out had already said something more about a sport in which women have often been valued for their bearing in tight dresses. Because what few fans gleaned in the coverage of the pinch was that, on the same day, the brilliant Dutch cyclist Marianne Vos won the women's version of the race. Typically, it had not been televised. It was sad, the cycling columnist Jane Aubrey wrote afterwards, that, "In...

Citi Bike Rides: September 17th & 18th, 2013 from Jeff Ferzoco on Vimeo . At long last, we have documented trips on Citi Bike. Rides are displayed as point-to-point journeys (not routed in the street grid – yet) and are rendered in color based on whether the rider was an annual or casual user. This visualization was produced using journey data from Tuesday, September 17th at 12 midnight and Wednesday, September 18th at midnight. Approximately 75,000 rides were taken in these two days. The weather was mild, with highs in the 60s and lows in the 50s. No rain at all was recorded. Some points to watch: > Port Authority, Grand Central and Penn Station rushes at 6am > Post-work leisure rides > Transit delays throughout the day (taken from MTA's feed) > Heavy annual member use in Brooklyn > Tourist rides on Central Park and the Brooklyn Bridge > Stations along the FDR during morning commute > Long trips from Brooklyn to the Upper East Side > ...

PAUL COCKSEDGE'S DOUBLE-O MERGES FUNCTIONALITY AND SECURITY INTO A PAIR OF SMARTLY DESIGNED LIGHTS. Bike lights are an essential safety tool, and yet the vast majority of them are cheap and shoddily designed. There are a whole host of issues, from the way they're powered to the way they're mounted to the way they produce light, and, incredibly, a new Kickstarter project seems to address all of those issues. The Double-O light  was created by London-based design shop Paul Cocksedge Studio, best known for their work in light and sound, like this bent vinyl sound cone  and these phenomenal  non-lamp lamps . It's a rechargeable LED bike light but so cleverly and carefully designed as to be much more than an experiment--it's one of the most practical lights I've ever seen. Keep reading at FastCompany

Each time we work on a bike design - and we're always working on new bikes- the engineering group and our product manager sit down to haggle about what the frame is going to be like, and what type of parts it will accept. This used to be a fairly simple process - it basically consisted of deciding 68 or 73 mm width on bottom bracket width. We try to make a lot of components interchangeable between our various models. If there's not a damn good reason to have different diameter seat-posts or front derailleur clamps, then those numbers remain the same. Recently, however, we've seen a proliferation of new "standards" representing conceptual minefields that must be crossed when designing a bike frame. An incomplete list would include (stick with me through the list, there's a point somewhere near the end): Headsets:  1 1/8, 1.5, 1 1/8 to 1.5 tapered. And then you have integrated and semi-integrated options for each of those. Stems and forks are both subject t...

Bookman Cup Holder from Bookman on Vimeo .

Two weekends ago I made the trip north to the tiny town of Hastings, MI to take part in what is called America's largest gravel road race, Barry-Roubaix.  Here's a report I originally wrote for the Ohio Gravel Grinders Facebook group .

Over the weekend I contacted the members of the Transportation, Public Safety, and Homeland Security Committee regarding the removal of language requiring a minimum 3-foot passing for bicycles from HB 145. This morning I received a response from the chair of the committee's office (Rep. Damschroeder), and they indicated that the legislation's sponsor, Rep. Henne, may be interested in having constituents testify on behalf of the legislation. If anyone would like to do similarly, here are the e-mail addresses of the members of the committee and Rep. Henne. rep88@ohiohouse.gov, Rep. Damschroder rep68@ohiohouse.gov, Rep. Ruhl rep32@ohiohouse.gov, Rep. Mallory rep65@ohiohouse.gov, Rep. Becker rep15@ohiohouse.gov, Rep. Celebrezze rep36@ohiohouse.gov, Rep. DeVitis rep66@ohiohouse.gov, Rep. Green rep58@ohiohouse.gov, Rep. Hagan rep90@ohiohouse.gov, Rep. Johnson rep79@ohiohouse.gov, Rep. McGregor rep35@ohiohouse.gov, Rep. Milkovich rep10@ohiohouse.gov, Rep. Patmon rep73@ohiohouse.go...

HOUSTON -- Next time you drive past a bicyclist on the streets of Houston, mind your manners. The bike rider just might be an undercover cop. Houston police have adopted an unorthodox enforcement tactic, deploying plainclothes officers pedaling along streets to catch drivers disobeying a bicycle safety ordinance. “What that simply means is that there are officers out there on bicycles, dressed as normal citizens, who are just riding around town,” says Mark Eisenman, an HPD assistant chief. The enforcement effort that started three weeks ago focuses mainly on Houston’s Safe Passing Ordinance, which dictates that drivers should stay at least three feet away from bicyclists they pass on city streets. It also calls for cars and trucks to stay at least six feet behind bicycles they’re following. Police say they’ve had problems enforcing the ordinance, mainly because it’s difficult for a patrol officer in a passing car to quickly determine whether a driver veers closer than the pr...

It’s been a long slog for New York City’s bike-share program. Citi Bike, named for its primary sponsor, Citibank, was first announced  by the Department of Transportation in 2010 , and, at that time, it was expected to be up and running by the spring of 2012. The launch was delayed by software problems and by Hurricane Sandy, but, two months ago, docking stations finally began appearing around Manhattan and Brooklyn. On Memorial Day, the bikes rolled out, offering rides to and from hundreds of locations. We examined how the first few weeks of the program fared by tracking when the bikes appeared at different docks. After a Citi Bike is unlocked (through a code or a key), it can be used for up to forty-five minutes before it must be redocked. Using live data provided by the Citi Bike Web site, it’s possible to see  how many bikes  are checked into each station at any particular moment. Other Citi Bike-trackers have used this data to develop insightful live views ...

Retired, recycled, or rejected rims find new life.   Heavy duty enough to support your overalls or your TT skinsuit. Compliments the finest designer closet, or the classiest home workshop.  Available individually or as a pack of four. Specs Most hangers are made from one quarter of a 700c Deep V rim, two 260mm stainless steel spokes, two brass spoke nipples, and a little bit of good old fashioned American ingenuity. [Velocity]

We had 12 for our group. Four took bikes even thought the weather forecast said wintry mix. Of course there was no rain or snow in Detroit so the rest of us were kinda bummed we didn't bring bikes. As we entered Detroit we stopped at Los Galanes in Mexicantown for breakfast. The food is always great there. The Detroit Bike City show has expanded each year we have attended and this year was even better. There is a great mix of local bike shops, builders, advocacy and event booths, plus demo areas for bmx, kids, electric bikes and a swap meet. Some of us picked up equipment while others marveled at cool tech and bike porn. The show was well attended but not over crowded. Afterwards we headed to Atwater Brewery for a beer. Atwater is always a great place to hang out. We headed toward 8 mile to see The Thunderdrome and Craig ran around the track while we cheered him on. For dinner we headed downtown to Grand Trunk. Before leaving Detroit we swung by Belle Isle and The Heidelberg Pr...