Welcome to Monday. I was up early this morning to get this done before I head to the Hilton downtown for the opening plenary speeches at the MPACT Conference.
Below are the most notable stories I came across in the past seven days. Thanks to everyone who suggested links this week!
The story of BikePortland: A major journalism school featured BikePortland as a “Local News Bright Spot” in their widely-read annual report on local media in America. (Northwestern University Medill School of Journalism)
The bike lane fig leaf: Love this framing of how people (including DOTs!) focus ire and attention on bike lanes as a way to obfuscate the more difficult to address, underlying traffic issues. (Minn Post)
Rivian’s new e-bike: The road to the cycling revolution is paved with good intentions by big companies trying to disrupt the bike industry. It will be interesting to see what the future holds for Rivian’s spin-off bike brand, ALSO. (Velo)
Meme of the Week: If I had a dollar for every person who sent this “Local Kid Prepares To Dress Up As Bike Lane For Halloween To Really Frighten Elderly Neighbours” meme I’d be able to buy a nice lunch. (The Betoota Advocate)
Why highway projects cost so much: Quality of personnel and other factors lead to project cost bloat at some US DOTs. This is is a must-read for progressives who want to see more efficient and successful transportation projects. (I’ve been saying progressives must get better at leading the fiscal responsibility narrative.) (Bloomberg Citylab)
Cyclists stepping up: The long tradition of bicycle riders helping in crises continues in Chicago as groups of cyclists are buying out tamale vendors so they can stay home and stay safe from Trump’s Gestapo. (Block Club Chicago)
Some crashes are OK: When PBOT made major changes to SE Division Street, some of the haters used car crashes to argue the changes made the street less safe. This article gives important context to scenarios like that one and taught me the adage: “Better to have more cars in body shops and fewer people in body bags.” (The Happy Urbanist)
Cycling success in Glasgow: Every single time I read a story about a city moving the needle to create more bicycle riders there’s always some version of this line in the article: “Build safe, continuous, and visible bike lanes, and the bikes will come.” (Momentum Mag)
Brooklyn’s Bike Kill: I am so jealous of this event: Not only do I miss this type of freak bike culture energy in Portland, but as a cycling journalist I would have loved to have covered it! (The Guardian)
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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Another company turning bikes into overly complicated super expensive monstrosities NOT for the masses. Doesn’t seem like a good plan.
Judging by what I see out on the streets, there are plenty of people willing to drop $5K on a fancy, heavy, e-motor-bike. And it’s not like the masses are riding bikes of any sort.
Yeah but what you are seeing is ALL the people who were willing to do that. It’s not like Clever Cycles is sold out of Bullets.
90+lb, $4,500, e-motorcycle with pedals you can us to “charge the battery”, which no one is going to do.
No need to worry, I am just going to use my government subsidy to buy a bike I can’t afford to maintain.
Like water eroding a path through concrete; golf carts growing in the cracks of over-sized, over-powered vehicle dominance.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkHbNE9bfJo
I say, as long as the deputy makes sure each cart has a caddy, and every trip is recreational, then no ire will be raised from such irreverent behavior.
Are these the same car-like golf carts that BikePortland commentors claimed were going to make driving possible after the streets have become too rough and potholed for regular vehicles to traverse?
These the same golf cart-like golf carts that BikePortland commenters claimed were going to make driving safer and more efficient on paths that require less maintenance and capital investment. However, they may not be appealing to other commenters that would be disappointed that they can’t do Tesla-style Mad Max full-self-driving.
We bought a used Fiat 500 E earlier this year. It’s basically a golf cart and it’s unbelievably fun. Driving anything bigger in town now feels like eating soup out of a ladle. I really can’t imagine why anyone wants to drive an SUV around downtown Portland or close in neighborhoods
I think the real issue is that many people can’t imagine driving to the mountains in a small vehicle (it’s fine, people, even in winter!). Around town is a secondary consideration.
Or they have a dog and think they need some huge vehicle to take it to the park (you don’t!).
A big dog in a small car is way cuter than the same dog in an SUV! (As long as you’re able to adequately secure the dog in your tiny car)
A large SUV would never work for my dog because he can barely reach the clutch as it is.
My lil fit ripped in the snow when I lived in Idaho
Great post on Protopia. Reminded me of the book by Brooklyn Spoke author (Doug Gordon) and others, which came out recently: Life After Cars. The section on Bikelash is fantastic.
The Rivian e-motor-bike, while cool, shows us how far we’re straying from what bicycling is.
Username checks out!
While I agree with you on the “straying” part, I couldn’t disagree more on the “cool” part. To me, that thing looks like a box of smashed assholes.
It reminds me of whoever that is who has on a couple articles come in to troll that he rides his four wheel e-bicycle everywhere (and goes on to plainly describe an electric car).
That bike, although elaborate, doesn’t seem all that different from a Tern. The decoupled pedal input is bizarre, but interesting.
I’m a bit surprised actually with how inexpensive it actually is. Still expensive, but not an outlier. I wonder about the components and how proprietary and weird it will be.
I originally thought it was a troll at first (my post asserting such got blackholed), but then I googled it. I now think it’s a real thing, just as he described it. No different than an electric trike except with 4 wheels. We now have a spectrum more than discrete categories.
My definition may be different than yours, but to me a bike is an unmotorized vehicle. Always has been, always will be. An e-bike is a low powered motorcycle with pedals. It’s fine to ride one, it’s just not a bicycle. It’s a bimotorcycle.
That’s my take as well. I like that it only goes to 20 MPH with throttle only but will give you more boost if you pedal. I don’t like the 28 MPH top end generally on off-street paths particularly. But, this is way better than the e-motos that are out there going super fast with throttle only.
Other car manufacturers have always just taken a regular bike and rebranded it. Somehow it would be prestigious to ride a Cadillac bicycle that’s nearly the same as a Walmart bicycle. I’m impressed that Rivian has used their engineering prowess to try some next gen technology out. For everyone? Nope! But, neither are e-bikes in general. While the new tech is for the early adopted, this bike isn’t much different than many e-bikes already on the road.
Comment of the week. Riding a bike is sort of a dance and e bikes at their worst lose the lightness, nimbleness, and feedback of a good bike. Who wants a partner that can’t spin?
I’m happy to see some thought put into the drivetrain and controls of an e bike but without having ridden it I’m afraid Rivian is doing Bike As Car, grossly overpowered but weirdly without fenders. Is the feedback to the rider intuitive or more like an ’80s friction drag exercise machine that goes fast on two wheels?
My current ideal of a power assisted bike would be a mid length hard tail with short travel front suspension, frame mounted front platform, sturdy rear rack, friction shift 3×7 rear, roomy stock fenders and lights, with front hub e assist and a controller set up to input power smoothly after rolling off at minimum torque. Front braking would be automatic regeneration backed up by rim braking under heavy pressure, plus a rear disk brake.
Of course I haven’t ridden anything like that because some of that stuff doesn’t exist, and there’s no point shopping for a redundant fancy bike that I can’t afford. I do have a notion to experiment with front drive because it’s a way to add a moderate amount of power without kludging the drive train. Among other things it might work for riding on the second and third day after a heavy wet snow, with a 42C or larger studded tire.
On any bike that needs extra controls they should be easy to locate without looking, weatherproof, and operable with gloves on. Some e bike crashes may be caused by riders looking for buttons or scrolling displays. Rivian seems to have put some thought into their screen at least.
An e bike can be a little chunky without losing rideability but at 90 pounds you need a garage. It’s hard to street park but thieves could grab it and jailbreak it later. Some e bikes need a heated space for charging. . .I sometimes remove my battery to deter thieves but a dismounted proprietary controller might be an interesting way to help secure a street parked e bike.
As the heavy e bike arms race goes on, I think the first walking reverse gear will score some points. Undocking a loaded bike can be a challenge. Also it’s no fun backing and filling a heavy bike into the spot where you can reach a beg button.
Had an unexpected week in Glasgow last year (family emergency). Ended up renting a bike (only 60 GBP for a week!) to get around in combo with light rail, and it was a fantastic experience. Only annoying parts were that the M8 motorway is as big and frustrating a barrier right through the heart of the city as I-5 is here, and some train stations can only be accessed by stairs/escalator.
But man they have so many miles of walking/biking trails, including extensive trails along the River Clyde, protected/separated bike lines, pedestrianized areas with wide sidewalks. Just a wonderful place to ride around both for fun and for transportation.
“I’ve been saying progressives must get better at leading the fiscal responsibility narrative”
Fiscal responsibility in Portland? Yeah, that’s a laugh, mate. Between the PCEF slush fund , the failed homeless tax, and that preschool plan for about three kids tops, it’s less budgeting and fiscal responsibility and more burning cash on a barbie, gifting it to the elected’s favored nonprofits (which are also their political supporters). Progressives and prudence, oil and water if I’ve ever seen it
I bet I’m not the only one who preemptively rolls their eyes as soon as we see your name in the comments.
Like bikkies in the bonfire, cobber.
Mazel tov on the shout out from Medill! But I would quibble with, “there’s always some version of this line in the article: “Build safe, continuous, and visible bike lanes, and the bikes will come.”” I think it’s more “build like safety and wellbeing are the highest priority, and everyone will be safer and better.” Everyone might even include the rest of the ecosystem, not just humans!
If people want to buy with their money Motorcycles like the Rivian, I welcome them as long as they use regular streets and car travel lanes as Motorcycles should, no problem.
I don’t want to share my 3 foot bikelane with motorcycles, but they are better than big cars…
On 2 way bike lanes Bullets and large cargo bikes scare the crap out of me at times.
A head on crash with a loaded cargo bike doing 20-25 would crush my regular bicycle like a car would.
Buy one, drive it like the motorcycle it is and everything will be fine.