Ghost Bike memorials are unfortunately spreading, yet their impact seems just as fresh and real with each memorial deployment. From Sao Paulo, Brazil comes a story that hits close to home; a cycling advocate fatally killed in traffic.
The sad photos in this post show a ghost bike homage and demonstration in the city of Sao Paulo, Brazil, over the running-down of 40 year-old prominent bike-activist Marcia Prado. The accident heated the long claim of the city’s bikers for more space and respect in the streets.
More photos and the complete accompanying text, with further reading, available at Treehugger.com. Read more about Ghost Bikes in the Urban Velo #11 cover story.
This past week, comedian Jon Stewart gave former president Jimmy Carter a pair of bicycles on The Daily Show. As regular blog readers know, Mr. and Mrs. Carter were relieved of their bicycles while visiting China (though contrary to Stewart’s comment, the bicycles were stolen from the Carters’ garage in Georgia).
ArtBike! is a public art exhibit in Indianapolis that begins February 6th. It will run through March 1st, which is the last day of the NAHBS.
On Friday February 27th there will be an ArtBike! party where artists, cyclists, friends, media and pretty much anyone else will celebrate art and bikes.
We recently got a note from Stevil about the infamous Pentabike logo. He said:
After much prodding on my part, my old chum Dave, better known to most as 685, and the originator of the Pentabike logo has finally gotten his act together and is making headway in marketing his design.
Hes getting shirts and stickers made and I facilitated a production of socks last year with Sock Guy, plus we’ve gotten Jen Greene to make a few head badges as well to help with his bid for world domination.
Another one of the plethora of small-time clothing makers is Rabbit Lion of Seattle. This one-woman operation is vegan in diet and in business, using no animal products in clothing production by shying away from suede and wool at the thrift store. All of the fabric is re-purposed from a former garment, with completely custom caps and small bags available made from your very own 1994 Emerson Lake and Palmer concert t-shirt, or another favorite from the retired collection for about $20 (plus the shirt). It doesn’t hurt that their product images are courtesy our #11 cover photographer, Brenton Salo.
In the relatively small town of La Tuque, Quebec various city officials are calling for an obscure local law banning cycling on snow covered streets to be enforced, effectively banning winter-time cycling in the area. This is apparently in response to a recent fatal accident involving a cyclist and a logging truck, and at it’s surface seems a hasty decision based on questionable reasoning – why not ban the logging truck when the road is snow covered? Read the original article in The Montreal Gazette.
Interesting evolution of the fixed freestyle genre form Milwaukee Bicycle Co. Read more over at Prolly is not Probably with more photos and riding impressions sure to follow as the bike comes back from paint.
Join the good folks at BiciCoop for a benefit ride and party this Valentine’s Day in Birmingham, Alabama. Bring $15 to race and party, or just $10 if you want to skip the race.
In rather sad news, Jon Kendziera announced last week that Jonny Cycles is closing. According to his blog:
Like most other bicycle related businesses I usually see a big slow down from fall to early in the year (usually Feb). Typically I get 5 or 6 orders in the winter months and it picks up again in the spring. This winter I took in one order. Add to that several people dropping off the list (most due to loss of employment) and my waiting list has shrunk considerably. I’m a bit of a pessimist and I really don’t trust the economy to rebound by this summer. My lease is up in April. The last place I want to be is dead in the water mid summer with no orders and no frames to build while incurring huge debt trying to pay all the bills. With the waiting list at its lowest point ever it seemed like the perfect time to opt out to me.
We wish Jon the best of luck in his next endeavor. Read the whole story at jonnycycles.blogspot.com.
You can get by for quite some time with a rinky dink chain tool, or the one found on your multi-tool. But once you set up a real workshop at home (by my definition, a dedicated space for working on bikes, with a bike stand and ready access to your tools) it’s time to invest in a good, shop-quality chain tool.
The Pedro’s Pro Chain Tool fits most 1/8″ and 3/16″ (including modern 10-speed chains). It’s mostly made of tool steel, with rubberized and vinyl coated grips and a replaceable pin. It’s served me well for the past 4 or 5 years, and is no worse for wear, save for all the greasy fingerprints.
Since I bought mine, Pedro’s has updated the Pro Chain Tool to version 2.0 (shown to the left). The biggest difference is that its T-handle is now ergonomically molded as opposed to the old vinyl-coated steel bar. I kind of like the rugged simplicity of the old version, but the new one claims to hold a spare pin in the handle. Pretty slick, Pedro.
The Pro Chain Tool 2.0 retails for about $45. Visit www.pedros.com for more info.
We saw this on the Fuck Gas website and figured our readers would get a kick out of the name and logo. Or maybe you suffer from chafing and want something made from natural ingredients like beeswax, coconut oil, almond oil and vitamin E.
The Bike Porn crew is at it again, planning on a Bike Porn 3: Cyclebound film tour this summer/fall. Film submissions are being solicited now through June 1 in 16×9 format, all based roughly around the Cyclebound theme of the third Bicycle Pornography film tour. In the interest of performance and anonymity no DVD copies of the Bike Porn films are available, meaning you won’t find this stuff on the internet. Look for tour dates as soon as they’re announced.
Condor Cycles is one of those shops that has been around forever in their realm with some 60 years of history as one of the premier names in London and throughout Europe. Condor was around when the modern day cycling greats put down their famous performances, both as race fans and sponsors. These days the shop focuses on “bespoke” bicycles as they say, custom spec’d and sized for the customer at hand, either on Condor branded bikes or of the number of other brands carried. With over 20 models of Condor Cycles brand framesets available, this single location shop really shows how it can be done up right. With the secret-handshake of an American accent and a camera I was given hand written direction to the not-so-secret Condor Cycles warehouse for a bit of history, pictures and eventually some pints at The Duke.
Before anyone shits a brick, let me just say that we at Urban Velo do not advocate property damage, even if it’s well-deserved. That said, who hasn’t thought about extracting a little u-lock justice from time to time? Or at least “keying” an unseemly driver’s SUV?
Well, with these bar plugs, you don’t have to wait until you stop riding. In fact, an aggressive driver just may key their own car if they’re not cautious to give you your space.
Under Armour, the most popular brand in high-tech baselayer apparel, is also good for cycling. And they make a fair amount of outerwear, now, too. Check out www.underarmour.com.
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Ghost Bike memorials are unfortunately spreading, yet their impact seems just as fresh and real with each memorial deployment. From Sao Paulo, Brazil comes a story that hits close to home; a cycling advocate fatally killed in traffic. 
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