The Monday Roundup: T-Rex trike, Montreal’s colorful advocates and more

For sale.
(Photo via Craigslist)

This week’s Monday Roundup has been made possible by Metro and their fantastic Bike There! Map. Pick up a copy today!

Here are the bike links from around the world that caught our eyes this week:

Art trike: A giant, rideable Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton can be yours for $2,000.

Montreal activism: The Guardian’s Peter Walker digs up the stories of the crazy dreamers who made Montreal one of North America’s best biking cities.

Back to basics: Former Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown is volunteering at a local bike shop. “Listen, I don’t need a job; I don’t need any money,” the Republican said. “But I’ve always wanted to learn how to put together and take apart bikes.”

Blank slates: “What happens when a city loses its people? It loses its cars,” says Anthony Taylor, a leading advocate of African-American biking, about Detroit. “So what happens when people re-imagine the possibilities when they’ve lost their cars? All of a sudden you wind up with biking.”

Pope vs. parking lots: The war on cars has a new field marshal. (Hint: he’s infallible.)

Going big: Instead of perfecting one project at a time, Calgary is piloting an entire downtown protected bike lane network at once.

Broken bollards: Bend-down bollards are supposed to be more durable than break-off models, but when they do break, they get extra nasty for bikes.

Gadget bikes: A gallery of bikes that can fly, float or go faster than cars.

Distracting breakfast: A man on a bike confronted a London woman after he spotted her eating a bowl of cereal behind the wheel.

Bike socks: Somehow, this letter to the editor got printed.

Safe Routes: The bike-and-walk courses are expanding to middle schools. Two city staffers explained why and how at last week’s PBOT Bicycle Lunch and Learn.

Unfair insurance? Programs that offer lower premiums for people who are physically active are unfair to people with disabilities, argues the ACLU.

Self-driving cars: The League of American Bicyclists weighs the ups and downs. The first federal rules for networked vehicles is due in 2017.

Google bike plan: A new methodology developed by Alta Planning + Design calculates the best ways to improve bike access to the tech giant’s campus by mapping the average stress level of every street in Mountain View.

Low-stress parks: New York Mayor Bill de Blasio will further close Central and Prospect parks to car traffic.

Following orders: A 14-year-old St. Paul girl biking home decided to ask her smartphone for directions and wound up on Interstate 94.

And whatever you think about the company behind your video of the week, this does look like a worthwhile project:

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.