Hi friends. Welcome to the week. Make sure you can attend Bike Happy Hour this week as I’ll sit down with Portland Mayor Keith Wilson for an interview in the plaza. We’ll start around 5:30 and you’re welcome to show up any time after 3:00. Check the Shift Calendar listing here.
And with that, here are the most notable stories of the past seven days…
Rwanda on global cycling stage: The 2025 UCI Road World Championships are later this month and they’ll take place far from what one fan refers to as, “traditional European hubs.” (We Love Cycling)
Bus blindness and escapism in rural Oregon: This amazing essay busts myths of public transit and driving in rural Oregon while sharing personal fears and vulnerability. It’s the most powerful article I’ve read about these topics in a very long time. (Oregon Humanities)
Portland Police back on TriMet: In the latest sign of change since the George Floyd protests, the City of Portland and TriMet have come together to add our local police force back into the transit system. (TriMet)
New Shimano cleats: It’s big news when industry giant Shimano makes the first change to its ubiquitous cleats in 30 years. The new model promises more ways to enter and exit. (Pink Bike)
Newly-printed bike gear: A large, online 3-D printing community site held one of their contests to design the coolest new product and the theme was bike gear. The result: Hundreds of nifty little items that can make bike life easier. (Printables)
EV charger survey: The City of Portland is asking for feedback about where folks want EV chargers. Depending on how these are installed, I hope they are mindful of how the equipment might impact popular cycling routes. (Portland Bureau of Transportation)
Populist policing: In what will be seen as good news for PBOT — since they’re doubling-down on automated enforcement cameras — one of the most respected thinkers in the transportation and safety journalism space lays out his case that they’re more popular than the popular narrative might suggest. (Bloomberg)
PBOT guidelines: I found it interesting how deep The O went on a story about how PBOT went against their own guidance to set new parking meter rates. I mean, PBOT commonly goes against adopted policies for things like road design, but somehow this is a bigger story. (The Oregonian)
PR for the resistance: Was fun to see how the War on Cars Podcast crew’s new book got this venerable book publishing industry outlet to use the phrase “anti-car activists.” Love to see that term normalized! (Publisher’s Weekly)
Tesla cover-up: Upholding the long tradition of Big Auto not giving a shit about people who use their products or the people who are killed and injured by them — it took a hacker and a lawsuit to find out how Tesla lied about having data that showed someone was using their dangerous Autopilot feature when they hit and killed someone. (Washington Post)
Thanks to everyone who sent in links this week. The Monday Roundup is a community effort, so please feel free to send us any great stories you come across.
Thanks for reading.
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Great news that the UCI Road World Championships is actually going out into the world to compete. Congrats to them and hopefully those that couldn’t afford to travel to Europe can compete in a World race.
Correction: The new cleat design is for easier entry only; they’ve had an easy-exit cleat (SM56) on the market for many years already.
It’s intended for technical mountain biking, where you might momentarily “dab” and put a foot down to stay upright, and then stomp your foot back into the pedal without being able to carefully enter toe-first (like all the previous cleats require), due to riding over rocks or roots or other such challenges.
Shimano already makes the best CLIPPED (they ain’t clipless) pedals and cleats you can buy. Clipping in and out is already natural after the first ride. I’ll keep the SPD’s I have on all 5 of my bikes since forever. They are quality pedals.
They are both “clipless” (because they were an upgrade from toe clips when they were invented), and “clip-in” (for people who don’t know or care about their original name).
Arguing about it is pointless; you can’t dictate the language people use.
I can point out that clipless pedals have clips on them, (which you clip into). 😀
I have to change out my SPD pedals every 3-4 years or so because I ride in salty road slime every ****ing day in the winter and those bearings inevitably start grinding.
Where do you live near Portland that you’re riding on salty roads?
I ride wet weather all year. One pair is over ten years old and are still solid. Bearings are replaceable.