“Who said riding a bike had to be a white thing?”
Here’s the bike news from around the world that caught my eye this week:
– As LA braces for the “Carmageddon” freeway closure next weekend, Santa Monica lifeguards have a different kind of traffic complaint — bumper-to-bumper bike traffic on the beachfront path.
– The true indicator of a bicycle-friendly city? It might be a bike-friendly transit system.
– A New York City reporter breaks the news that people riding bikes in bike lanes might be terrorists!
– Crash carnage continues to mar the Tour de France. Yesterday a French TV car accidentally brushed riders in a breakaway, causing a brutal crash that threw Johnny Hoogerland into a barbed-wire fence (scroll down for video). — JM
– The U.S. transportation bill currently on the table would significantly cut federal bike funding.
– New research focuses on the effects on heart health of bicycling in busy car traffic.
– “Who said riding a bike had to be a white thing?” asks one of the founders of a new group called Black Women Bike DC.
– Checking in on London’s “Boris Bikes” bike sharing system, now that it’s been operating for a year.
– The city of Murcia, Spain, is offering citizens a chance to trade in their cars for a lifetime pass for its new tram system.
– In the Netherlands, when people build tall bikes and have a Critical Mass ride, these foreign phenomena need to be explained.
– From Toronto, a lucid editorial on how cities are going about bike safety all wrong. In New York, the Bike Snob also has quite a bit to say on the topic.
– Sacha White of Portland-based Vanilla Bicycles, “a rock star in the elite, $100 million handmade-bicycle industry” gets a major profile in the Wall Street Journal.
– Where does your bike come from? A family tree of U.S. bike manufacturer’s supply chains (links to PDF).
– Video of the week: An introduction to Detroit’s burgeoning bike community:
Detroit Bike City from Alex Gallegos on Vimeo.
Thanks for reading.
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Bike lanes are obviously terrorist routes, I can’t believe nobody has pointed it out earlier. I’ve seen many a cyclist wearing Che Guevara t-shirts, obviously terrorists. We all know Che wanted nothing more than a line of products with his face on it, for low low prices. And all that facial hair I see isn’t helping cyclists’ case either, bin Laden and Che had facial hair. Why put a bomb in a car where people can’t see it when you could haul it around on your bike to really scare people? Terrorism is, after all, all about the terror. You see a van driving around, whether it’s full of explosives a la Timothy McVeigh (suspiciously beardless) or not, you’ll never know so you won’t be full of terror. You see some bearded guy on a bike with Fat Man strapped to his back you know to be afraid.
“Imagine if the man on the bike was a terrorist?!”
Seriously. Do these people listen to themselves talk? My faith in humanity is being slowly crushed.
bike-friendly transit? I just posted this in response to the article:
Portland’s TriMet bus system just changed their policy. They used to have up to 4 guaranteed spaces for bikes on the newer trains but now those spots are shared with baggage and strollers on a first-come basis. So if they’re already taken then bikes can be kicked off the train. It’s certainly a step backwards.
Well, I’m about to give up on Tri-met altogether. Last bus of the night? almost always going to be two bikes on the racks, especially in summer.
Seems to me Seattle puts three bikes on their busses, and that could make all the difference as far as I am concerned.
Yeah, seriously! a 3 bike rack would be a huge difference. If two people want to go somewhere with their bikes, all it takes is one other bike to prevent them from getting on that bus. It’s like a game of Russian roulette. It’s like TriMet is only looking out for the single passenger, and assuming that people would never take the bus in groups or even couples.
Did you know Portland had all-night bus service until the mid-eighties, about when MAX opened?
The Murcia story and the Toronto editorial – both excellent!
As for the sources of bikes and related equipment, too bad they list Burley (made in Asia now), but not (smaller trailer manufacturers such as) Equinox, Cycle Tote, etc. which have been made in Oregon from the beginning, and still are.
from the linked bsnyc post:
“…people are finally coming to terms with the fact that New York is not in fact Copenhagen or Amsterdam…Remember when we were all going to be riding Dutch Bikes?”
Electra dealer: Well, sir, there’s nothing on earth like riding a genuine, Bona fide, Dutch cruiser on a cycletrack!
Dealer: What’d I say?
Ned Flanders: Dutch cruiser!
Dealer: What’s it called?
Patty & Selma: Dutch cruiser!
Dealer: That’s right! Dutch Cruiser!
Miss Hoover: I hear those things are awfully heavy…
Dealer: It’s made to last a lifetime!
Apu: Is there a chance the frame could rust?
Lyle Lanley: not on your life my Hindu friend,
Dealer: I swear its PDX’s only choice, throw up your hands and raise your voice
Everyone: Dutch cruiser! Dutch cruiser! Dutch cruiser!
Congrats to Sacha on the WSJ article…
…though when I was reading it with my Saturday corn flakes I was thinking to myself that perhaps this exposure (demand and cost inflation) will doom the era of city utilitarian bikes that actually might get ridden daily and locked to a rack on a Portland street.
I am glad our local constructors are starting to make a living wage with their craft…but a 5 year waiting list (I thought the previous 3 year wait was extreme).
Then again this creates an opportunity for new constructors or big bike makers to fill the demand with a more ‘reasonable’ 6 month to 1 year wait.
Some interesting videos on the Urban Country site from Toronto.
IRT the Urban Country site, I found this letter particularly well-crafted.
http://www.theurbancountry.com/2011/07/fixer-not-fixing-anything.html
Last time I heard the WSJ call someone a “rockstar” it was Donald Rumsfeld. And Sorry, I got better things to do with my life than wait 5 years for a bike. Maybe if it was a hover-bike. Other than that, there is no bike worth it.
“Opponents might argue that the 90 percent who use cars and buses should rule the road, especially in an area with such high levels of congestion.”
They already do rule the road – why do you think there are such high levels of congestion? Man I wish math education in this country worked…