(From VengeCycle.com)
Here are the bike links from around the world that caught our eyes this week:
Modest anti-theft proposal: VengeCycle.com promises to “make thieves think twice about taking your bicycle” by strapping a GPS-activated explosive to the handlebars. (“Damage is generally limited to the hands and is not considered lethal. … You will have to purchase a new handlebar. … Make sure to check that unlicensed use of explosives is legal in your state beforehand.”)
Open streets: Here’s a map of every ciclovia festival in the Americas, Sunday Parkways included.
Subsidizing congestion: The federal tax benefit for workplace parking costs income taxpayers $7.3 billion a year and adds 820,000 cars to the road.
Suburbanizing biking: Copenhagen’s latest initiative is the “cycling superhighway,” dedicated paths designed for hour-long commutes from the suburbs. It’s planned a 290-mile system.
Biking payoff: The U.K.’s Department of Transport calculates the average public dollar invested on biking returns $5.50 in social benefits.
Nondriving dividend: Why is New York City so rich? The $19 billion it saves annually through low car ownership can’t hurt.
Road-rage verdict: A woman who deliberately sideswiped a Seattle man while he rode his bike on a neighborhood greenway, then fled, was found guilty Friday of second-degree assault.
E-bike stereotypes: Bikes have escaped their image as toys for the young; today, e-bikes are escaping an image as toys for the old.
Bike-through brawl: When a man on a bike refused to leave a Florida Taco Bell’s late-night drive-through window until he was served, employees called 911. He got in a fight with police and was arrested.
E-bikes and sprawl: E-bikes are “just bandaid solutions to the problem of sprawl,” argues Stephen Fleming. The real fix, he says: 1800s-style dense development.
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Transportation palace: San Francisco’s planned Transbay Terminal looks like a worthy heir to Grand Central Station.
Car man: When a Beijing resident tried to beat a traffic jam by driving in a protected bike lane, one fellow stood in the way.
Bono’s wipeout: The U2 frontman’s “high energy” bike crash, caused when he swerved to avoid someone else riding through Central Park, broke his arm, his left eyesocket, his left pinky finger and his shoulder blade in three places.
car2go for bikes: Social Bicycles’ dockless, solar-powered shared bikes are now in 13 cities, adding four more in 2015.
Free-parking crowds: Clark County’s elimination of parking fees from public parks has led to “rowdy new activity,” some complain.
“Ticket tackling”: Vision Zero in action at the New York Police Department involves forcing red-light runners to stop when asked:
Like a scene from Premium Rush
http://t.co/4RQxP3V029 pic.twitter.com/truePHjao1
— byron@bikehugger (@bikehugger) November 21, 2014
Vision zero vision: Here’s the statement of principles approved by 300 urban leaders, policymakers and civic authorities at this month’s Vision Zero symposium in New York City.
Road-tested ideas: NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio sees nothing speculative about Vision Zero: “These are tried and tested ideas. Ideas that work.”
Signal jamming: NYC activists crashed the 50th anniversary celebration for the Verrazano Bridge with a 200-foot banner calling for it to add biking and walking paths.
Autonomous taxis: Skepticism of driverless carsharing reminds Morgan Stanley automotive analyst Adam Jonas of the case against cars. “Why would any rational person want to replace the assuredness of that hot horse body trustily pulling your comfortable carriage?”
Finally, your video of the week is a time capsule of impressive fixie tricks from 1965. (BP reader Jessica Roberts also notes that Yokoi’s costume would look great on every BMX freestyle performer.)
If you come across a noteworthy bicycle story, send it in via email, Tweet @bikeportland, or whatever else and we’ll consider adding it to next Monday’s roundup.
CORRECTION: The original version of this post referred to VengeCycle.com as a “spoof site.” The CEO of VengeCycle says that while the product is “unlikely” to ever be sold in the U.S., it is “unquestionably a real product.” We regret the error.