Alan Durning posts his explorations on the safety of cycling over at Grist. He was motivated to learn just how dangerous cycling is after his son was nearly hit by a car. He makes some good points in his article: Biking is safer than it used to be, cycling is safer than you might believe,…
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My rain gear
Some people asked about rain gear and I was inspired by Warren’s post on cool weather riding. Here’s a picture of my typical cool-weather rain gear. When I buy cycling rain gear, I look for these features: waterproof, taped seams, pit zips on jackets, tail on the jacket, and adjustable ankle and wrist cuffs. On…
Commuting 101: Bike Clothes For All Weather
Fritz recently asked your opinion on things you’d like to see discussed and there were several requests for a post on winter clothing. I’d like to refer you to a CBB post from last year that was a big help to me. Bear in mind, everyone is different so what works for Nick got me…
Cholesterol Condition Coaxes Canadian Commuter Cruz
From the Vancouver Sun comes another nice feature on someone else who has discovered the joy that comes from a commute by bike. Oscar Cruz was told by his doctor that he was overweight and had cholesterol problems that would require a prescription that would eventually cause liver damage. Cruz, determined to get off the…
Xtrarecycling
This past few weeks at Wandertec: 1. Watched my shop being built 2. Attended Interbike 3. Picked up some Wandertec woven labels 4. Rode in the Tour de Fat parade. 5. Unsuccessfully attempted to fight a bicycle traffic ticket The expansion of the Wandertec shop is starting pick up some steam. The framing and roof…
Xtracycle at Interbike
It appears that 2007 has been a good year for continued development in the realm of bike cargo trailers as evidenced by a variety of new products sprinkled around the wide expanse of Interbike.
Xtracycle had a booth at Interbike after being absent in recent years. They had plenty of reason to be there as they were debuting a range of exciting new accessories for their Xtracycle FreeRadical.
At the top of the list was their long anticipated kickstand. It took a while but it was worth the wait. The new kickstand appears to give very solid support to the Xtracycle. This will be great for loading and unloading as well as using the Xtracycle as a seat, table, handing out pamphlets, blending or anything else that a mobile platform is useful for. The kickstand folds back and is held up and out of the way with a built-in ratching system.
Bike Snob's bike commute, and other links
He hates on the bikes we love, but we love him anyway: Bike Snob NYC posted a photo log of his bike commute through Brooklyn. More humor comes from the Fat Cyclist on this “How To” article on talking to non-cyclists about cycling. James the Bike Design Guy writes about Scandinavian commuter bikes. Sheldon Brown…
Home furnishings magazine features city bikes
Dwell, a home and garden type magazine, just published their November “Sustainability” issue in which they feature “City Bikes”. In the online version, Dwell has slideshows on bikes, bags and accessories. The print edition also features our friend Byron the Bike Hugger wrenching on a bike in a bike shop. It’s nice seeing decent articles…
Pedal To Properties
Boulder, CO is a great place to commute by bike. Now, Boulder has a couple Realtors that have put a new spin on work and cycling — they offer all the traditional real estate services – along with an interesting, free optional service: prospective buyers can check out properties by riding Pedal To Properties’ cruiser…
Commute by bus
You rode your bike to the office, but then a freak blizzard rolls in to render road conditions hazardous for your bike. Or you get a bad case of food poisoning. Or some dirtbag stole your wheels. Or the you forgot to charge your light batteries. Any number of mishaps can happen to greatly increase…
Commuter bikes on talk radio
KFI AM 640 in Los Angeles had a 40 second piece on the commuter bike trend at Interbike. KFI’s Michael Clarke talks with Derek Deubel of Trek and our friend Tim “MasiGuy” Jackson of Masi Bikes. Click “Listen Here” for the story at the KFI news page. Via Masiguy. Over the past couple of years…
NYC's LOOK Campaign
Following the 2006 release of New York City’s first comprehensive analysis of fatalities and serious injuries of cyclists in the city, the NYC Bicycle Safety Coalition has kicked off the 2007 LOOK bicycle safety campaign. The LOOK campaign aims to educate the public about bike safety and encourage sharing the road in an attempt to…
The Great Bike Rack Contest
Great bike racks are out there, we know it, and we’d like you to help us prove it. Enter the Bicycle Fixation Great Bike Rack Hunt! You could walk, er… ride away with some great Bicycle Fixation duds.Here’s how: Between October 1, 2007 and October 31, 2007, photograph a bike rack found “in the wild”…
Transportation Secretary Mary Peters Responds
On August 15th, Secretary of Transportation, Mary E. Peters, made comments on PBS News Hour with Jim Leher, that funding of bicycling facilities was an example of inappropriate, non-transportation use of the federal gasoline tax. We urged you to send your comments to Ms. Peters. I wrote a polite, but pointed comment to Ms. Peters…
Silicon Valley bike commuters
A few people asked for commuter profiles from around the nation. Here are some thumbnails of what bike commuters look like around the South Bay of the San Francisco Bay Area. You can read a little more about Emily (with the pink cruiser), Aaron (with the orange Masi) and commuting in Silicon Valley over at…
Act now: Illinois Complete Streets veto override
The Illinois state legislature passed a “Complete Streets” bill this year which would require full consideration for pedestrian and cyclist access in the design for all new public roads in the state of Illinois. Governor Rod Blagojevich vetoed this bill last month, but the Illinois Senate voted 53-0 yesterday to override the veto. The Illinois…
Reelight bike lights
The Danish Reelight has gotten quite a bit of attention over the past year ever since they introduced their unique, battery-less bike lights. The iFlasher light was nominated for an award in the Danish INDEX Design Competition. Hiawatha Cyclery in Minneapolis has had the Reelight bike lights available in the U.S. for a while now,…
$1200 bike light
Yes, you read that right — Lupine Lighting Systems in Germany has introduced the “Betty” lamp with a suggested retail of $1185. Seven Seoul P4 white LEDs convert 22 watts into 1400 lumens of light for up to eight hours. That’s twice the brightness of a standard 55 watt car headlight. This light is marketed…
Open thread: Ask the experts
Trust me, we don’t lack for material to write about here on Commute By Bike — the main limitation is simply time. However, to ensure we’re meeting the needs of our readers I want to ask what you’d like to know about. Rain riding tips? Night time riding help? How to get started? Fear of…
"Simple cycling" trend at Interbike
The Boston Globe sent reporter Ross Kerber (shown here interviewing Raleigh marketing maven Carey Schleicher-Haselhorst) to Interbike to cover the growth in sales of commuter bikes. He writes in “Simple cycling” that orders and sales of commuter bikes are up 20% in the Boston area. He mentions the Surly Big Dummy, Shimano’s Coasting group, Masi,…
Something like a bakfeits
Several people asked about Dutch-style long cargo bikes at Interbike. An American derivative of this is the Zigo Leader shown here. The child sits in front of the adult in a detachable carrier that doubles as a jogging stroller. This is a pre-production model you’re looking at, and Zigo is still working on getting dealers…
Dutch & other Euro bikes @ Interbike
There was quite a bit of response when Seattle Bike Supply began importing the Dutch Batavus bikes into the United States. Seattle Bike Supply had a huge display at Interbike 2007 with a large portion devoted to the Batavus Dutch Bikes. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a chance to ask how much interest there’s been in…
City bikes at Interbike
Commute By Bike readers already have seen several of the city / urban bikes announced by some of the bigger names in the bike industry. I talked to several vendors who confirmed that they view city bikes and cruisers as a hot trend, and many of them have jumped in on the action. “City Bikes…
GT Transeo
For those who think the $1900 Breezer Finesse is a bit much for a commuter bike, here is GT Bicycle’s take on the utility bike: The GT Transeo Series. It’s fairly bare bones, but this bike starts at $395. Unlike some fancier commuter bikes introduced at Interbike 2007, you don’t have to worry about this…