Mobile bike shops are an important industry trend to watch in 2015, reported Fred Clements, the executive director of the National Bicycle Dealers Association, on Bicycle Retailer and Industry News earlier this year. Humbly, I admit that Commute By Bike predicted this trend many moons ago, when I first wrote about CycloMend in 2013 and…
“If you’re one of millions of cyclists, you know every time you saddle up, anything can happen.” That, according to Garmin’s promotional video, is why you need the Varia Rearview Radar, scheduled for release this fall. Before watching the promotional video that likely had the working title “Fear Sells,” I present you with a brief,…
Back in 1997, Sweden adopted the concept of Vision Zero. The Swedish approach to road safety is a straightforward and powerful initiative that can be summarized in a single sentence: No loss of life is acceptable.Admittedly, when I first started learning about Vision Zero, which has been gaining traction in European countries as well as…
Once again, it’s been awhile since my last contribution to Commute by Bike. Loyal readers of this wonderful blog may remember some of my posts from years past, which range from insightful (I hope) to asinine (I suspect). I could not, however, miss an opportunity to write about one of the most important recent developments…
There is a clanking, creaking noise in my commuter bike right now. I am pretty sure I know where it is, but laziness is getting the best of me. Let me qualify my laziness. Where I think the clank is coming from is in a part of my BionX powered Xtracycle Edgerunner that is very…
One of the more annoying aspects of everyday bicycle use is fumbling with a bicycle lock. Arriving at your destination by automobile, on the other hand, is a smooth elegant experience. With the click of a button, you are off on your merry way. Why can’t we ride our bicycles and lock them with ease…
I’ve been riding bicycles for a long time without ever having used a helmet mounted mirror, 33 years to be exact. And I know plenty of cyclists with far more miles under the belt who scoff at the idea of attaching a shiny piece of metal to their brain bucket as a matter of principle….
The NRA convention just concluded a few days ago, and let me say that I had a great time — not being there. But I’ve been thinking about the NRA for the last week because of the ongoing fuss over Volvo “Life Paint” — the amazing new reflective paint that Volvo thinks will bolster their…
Prelude. Cars can be habit-forming. I lazily slid into the All-American habit of driving my car to work as I navigated a series of changes in my career, domicile and personal life. So when I received the email from Commute by Bike asking for someone to review a bike, I thought, Hey, that might be…
I bought a bike in Madagascar.I met a kid in the town of Mahajanga. Five years old and full of attitude. I couldn’t understand much of what he said in Malagasy, but bicyclette came through loud and clear.He wanted one, bad. I told him I’d work on it.A month later I heard from the kid’s…
I spent one week bicycle commuting and mountain biking with a front-wheel mounted Monkey Light M204 a wheel light that offers (mostly) 360 visibility. The M204 is the less expensive model of Monkey Lights from MonkeyLectric.After watching the installation video, installation went fairly smooth. A quick peak of the user guide then I was off…
Let me just cut to the chase; I dont normally wear clothes made for bike riding. However, Vespertines reflective Vespert vest intrigued me as a fashionable solution to my recent concerns about being visible on Phoenixs often inhospitable streets. When I started blogging about my experiences commuting by bike, one of the points that…
We all know for a fact that toilets and drains swirl counter clockwise in the northern hemisphere and clockwise in the southern hemisphere. (And by “fact” I mean “falsehood.”)But did you know that south of the equator riser bars become drop bars? That’s right. I have the scientific proof from Madagascar.Check it out: I think…
More than ten thousand miles from where I sit, there is a storage unit filled with the other 99 percent of my life’s accumulated crap; the stuff I left behind when I shipped off to Madagascar. This includes all four of my bikes. I crammed that unit full of my material attachments like a minor…
Here at Commute by Bike and our sister site, www.CampfireCycling.com, we get a lot of happy folks who are very excited to share how they use their bikes for tours, commutes, and all other fun adventures. Today, we’ve got a round-up of some of the creative and epic uses of some great gear. DIY Trailers…
Anything that combines two of my favorite things – geography and bicycling – is something I can’t help but share with you all! Hooray for bike maps! Earlier this month, at the University of Victoria in British Columbia, geography professor Dr. Trisalyn Nelson launched a new bike mapping website called BikeMaps.org. The website is a…
Before coming to Madagascar I spent a lot of time organizing my storage unit – and getting pulled into the kind of distracted, time-consuming reminiscing that happens whenever I get near all my old junk. I came across this booklet: “Transportation Patterns in Nairobi & Programs to Improve Opportunities for Bicycling [PDF]” published by the…
An article recently came out in The Guardian titled, “The reason fewer US women cycle than the Dutch is not what you think it is.” This title grabbed my attention immediately, as it was meant to do, and I began to wonder if there was something I already thought about this matter as the title…
After a week in Madagascar, I finally got a bike! I rode home to my apartment, taking selfies all the way. That week without a bike served me well. I spent some time on foot, in taxis, taking small public transportation buses (taxi brousse), and bumming rides from various colleagues with their SUVs. I observed…
Note: This was written on September 21, 2014Not too long ago I announced that I would be working in Madagascar for a number of months. Well here I am, in Madagascar. I arrived today.Ever since that announcement the one topic that has come up repeatedly has been…Can you guess it? Ebola! Almost to a person,…
For the last 4 years I have been dedicated to living a car free life. Four years ago I sold my last car, bought a bike and said goodbye to gas forever. Over the years I’ve added pannier racks, Panniers, commuter bags, trunk bags and rack top cargo boxes in an effort to be…
The name Cherokee Schill is going viral this week. If you haven’t heard of Cherokee yet, here’s her story (as I have pieced together from the Interwebs).Earlier this year, Cherokee first made the news after she was ticketed three times for “reckless driving”. Cherokee is a single mother of two who bike commutes 18 miles…
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