1991: Selected Art and Verses from the legendary Victor Vicente of America is now available in the UrbanVeloStore. Former road racing champion, mountain bike pioneer, Olympic athlete, actor, writer, artist and race promoter Victor Vicente is an oft-overlooked legend of American cycling. While he has not achieved the fame of other mountain bike pioneers, he was most definitely involved and influential in the early days of mountain biking. We’re honored to be able to distribute one of his books, a collection of original art and poetry. Hardbound. Handsigned and numbered out of an edition of 1000 by Victor Vicente himself.
See this previous post on VVA to hear a bit about his current work at a vinyard and for links to interviews and his personal website.
For those who partake… Registration for the 2008 Single Speed World Championships in Napa, CA will open on January 1, 2008, at 12:00 a.m. PST. Registration is $35 U.S. dollars. The promoters say that more details about the race weekend will be posted shortly.
For those of you with a sewing machine… Flickr user Panda Face has a cycling cap pattern you can download for free. He says, “If you download full size and print at 72dpi it should come out near the correct scale.”
If you use his pattern, be sure to say thanks. And email us a photo of your creation!
José Antonio Viera Gallo said, “El socialismo puede llegar solo en la bicicleta,” which translates to “Socialism can only arrive by bicycle.”
The Australian blog www.radzi.info contains some interesting editorial rants on the subject of cycling and socialism. They’ve also got some good news bits and writings on propaganda art and bicycle culture. If nothing else, check out the author’s commuting bike.
Traffic Life is a collection of short stories, poetry, cartoons, illustrations, sculpture, photography and even a jazz score—all from an anti-car perspective. Contributors include cycling cartoonists Andy Singer, Ken Avidor and Neal Skorpen, as well as a host of writers including science fiction magnate Ray Bradbury.
Originally published in 2004, Traffic Life is still every bit as relevant today. Read the reviews, including one by Urban Velo’s Jeff Guerrero, or simply read the entire book online.
The British website www.bikerecycling.net is a directory of all the UK’s bicycle community projects, non-profit businesses, training and rehabilitation schemes and other projects that are happy to receive your gifts of bikes, parts, accessories and financial donations.
Ezra Caldwell of Fast Boy Fenders fame is about to release his latest creation—wooden handlebars. Made from a nine-ply lamination of ash, the bars are a uniform 25.4 thickness. Ezra says, “Folks have used them with 26 stems and Nitto shims to good effect. If you plan to run a brake with them, the lever will have to have an appropriate inside diameter. There’s a Salsa cross lever that’s made for big fat bars, and comes with shims… It works well.”
Check out more photos of these beauties on his Flickr page.
A while back I (Jeff) rode over to Dave’s to play Wii. Another cyclist named Nick came over, who I first learned of from an article about DIY bike touring. Besides kicking ass at video boxing, Nick is a hell of a rider and a big fan of sustainable living. He’s been known to combine the two passions into, sustaining himself nutritionally with dumpstered food and the occasional bite of roadkill…
With a fixed gear, your tire and cranks are linked by a fixed ratio, hence the name. Some chainring/cog combinations cause the same patch/es of tire to be worn every time you skid. Thus, your tire would be worn down to the canvas at the skid point long before the rest of it. These two tools should help you keep things in check, and help you get the most miles out of your tire.
A simple Widget for the Apple users.
A more complicated calculator for the real fixed nerds. This means me, and might mean you.
Boy on the bike, what are you like
As you cycle round the town?
You’re going up, you’re going down
You’re going nowhere
It’s not as if they’re paying you
It’s not as if it’s fun
At least not anymore
When your legs are black and blue
It’s time to take a break
When your legs are black and blue
It’s time to take a holiday
-Belle & Sebastian, “The Fox in the Snow”
Clif Bar recognizes that 40% of all urban travel is under two miles, a distance that can easily be covered on a bike. Even so, most people use some form of motorized transport. Their 2 Mile Challenge is an effort to get people to ride bikes instead. Bravo, Clif Bar!
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• Help Bring Pedicabs to Sheffield
And a few honorable mentions include:
For those who partake… Registration for the 2008 
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