Here are the bike links from around the world that caught our eyes this week:
Solar e-bike: Thanks to a custom panel design, this one weighs just 37 pounds. (No, there is no mention of price.)
Chinese rebound: Seemingly left behind by history, Chinese bicycle advocates are fighting to restore the Kingdom of the Bicycle.
Developing cities: “The battle against the car has been more-or-less won in the west,” one consultant tells The Guardian for a voyage tracking the so-called “peak car” trend. “Even in a traffic-clogged, car-fixated megacity such as Mumbai, however, there are glimmers that the anti-car lobby is gaining some traction.”
White-hat graffiti: A U.K. graffiti artist calling himself “Wanksy” is successfully getting potholes fixed by spray-painting penises on them.
Flat-tire fixing: …with no hands. This man shows how.
No-brakes bike race: “It is like your video game and you’re in it. And somebody crashes and burns, it could be you. Literally.”
Westside Bypass: The long-abandoned freeway project is back in discussion in Washington County, where one former county commissioner is saying a new limited-access freeway loop from Wilsonville through Hillsboro to U.S. 26 is needed to make the county more like East Portland.
Freeway removal: Streetfilms looks at Dallas residents’ proactive strategy to reclaim a huge expanse of downtown.
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Freedom for whom? This cartoon by neotraditionalist engineer Ian Lockwood tells it well:
An apt description of the conversation, I think. h/t @Bob_Gunderson pic.twitter.com/Fwa5FVJb50
— Gerik Kransky (@gerikkransky) April 29, 2015
Sidewalk upgrades: 1,000 more Beaverton public school students will be walking to class next fall after their district removes 64 bus stops from areas newly deemed safe to walk in. Some parents disagree.
Helmet psychology: Why do “the risks we accept when we climb behind the wheel suddenly appear unacceptable when we mount a bicycle”? A writer raised in Germany uses transcontinental differences to explore the question.
Bike-by injury: A hit-and-run-by-bike in London has left a woman “scarred for life,” the Evening Standard says.
Bike-race terror: Two suspects were arrested in Germany last week on suspicion of planning an “Islamist terror attack” on a bike race in Frankfurt.
Bike share demographics: D.C.’s Capital Bikeshare is working on “infrastructure improvements, outreach efforts and expansion” that it hopes will reverse its increasingly disproportionate use by the rich and the white.
TriMet bridge: A pair of public conversations with the creators of Tilikum Crossing will be held this month.
Distracted driving: A smartphone app that blocks teens’ cell service when they turn on the car seems to reduce “high-risk driving events” by more than half.
Bikes + trains: By the end of the year, every long-distance Amtrak train will have a baggage car equipped with a bike rack.
Parking economics: Fans of retiring UCLA parking scholar Donald Shoup are crowdfunding for a fellowship in his name and his wife’s.
Sidewalk biking: It’s allegedly #26 on a list of “things people from Portland love.”
And your video of the week explores what happens when someone tries to ride a bike whose handlebars have been reversed … and then finally figures it out … and then switches back.
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.
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.