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Monster Track 13 is coming up on March 10th. Get ready on March 8th with a brief panel discussion and pre-party with Kurt Boone, Carlos Ramirez, Kevin Bolger and Victor Ouma. See more at Urban Cyclist Worldwide.
Monthly Archive for February, 2012
As if Hollywood, California doesn’t already have awesome weather, celebrity sighting entertainment and beautiful scenery, now they want suitable places to ride bikes! So greedy! Eh, good for them, I’m just jealous. To aid in their bicycle advocacy efforts, which they seem to have a solid plan for, they are holding an event titled Bikes, Ballads & Beers. You’re bound to appreciate at least two of those, so if you’re in the Southern California area, swing on over and lend some support and cash to the WeHo Bicycle Coalition.
In the coalition’s words:
Our goal is to make complete and sustainable streets available to all and to promote health and wellness through cycling, thereby making West Hollywood an even more delightful place to live, work, and play.
We tip our tweed advocacy hats in your direction West Hollywood. Keep up the good work.
I’m somewhat speechless about this product. Even with the layperson explanations and technical supplements, I can’t make sense of how it works. Regardless, this lighting system is no joke and although simple flashers work just fine this system kicks it up a notch. The lighting power seems to rival larger battery operated devices one would use for 24 hour mountain bike events, but without the excess weight or cables. That increased illumination as part of the rear braking process is pretty brilliant too. Production and resources don’t look to be too intensive, so this is probably a “greener” option than regular battery powered lights in the long run. They are asking a lot via Kickstarter, but with half the funding already in place it looks like people are taking this seriously. I’m certainly intrigued and willing to kick in to make this happen.
It never gets very cold down in Singapore, which is essentially on the equator, but it sure does rain like hell sometimes. So locals PEONFX were inspired to create the Munsun jacket, a lightweight waterproof cycling jacket that packs down for easy storage.
It features sealed zippers, reflective highlights and a visor hood that fits under your helmet. It all collapses into the front pocket when it’s not in use.
Available in black or grey, the Munsun retails for $79 SGD. Check out shop.peonfx.com.
This video was sent to us via Amanda Sundvor from 21st Ave bicycles who seem to be doin’ it all right, so much so that Fat Tire Farm, their “sister shop”, took a page from their promotional book and made this shop video. Granted, it’s not necessarily urban-centric, but I’m diggin’ bike shops using the availability of video to get their name out there. Imagine how difficult it would be for our favorite shops to promote themselves if they were still relegated to buying television commercial space.
Spoiler alert: They should have blown something up.
Chrome’s Midway Pro are SPD compatible, lace-up urban cycling shoes. They’re quite similar to their popular Kursk Pro shoes which I reviewed a while back. Both shoes feature a full-length nylon midsole that creates a stiff platform for transferring power to the pedals without causing undue pain to your feet.
As I’ve said in my review of the Kursk Pro, this type of shoe can’t really compete with high-performance cycling shoes, but they’re not really meant to. They’re designed to look good while providing higher performance than standard street shoes, and to function reasonably well off the bike as casual shoes, as well. In that respect, they hit the nail on the head.
Unlike the low-top Kursk Pro, the aptly named Midway Pro are mid-ankle height. This does seem to provide a bit more support, helping to prevent the heel from lifting inside the shoe. The Midway Pro is also made with suede leather in addition to 1000 denier nylon, which in my humble opinion makes for a more stylish shoe.
The Midway Pro is only available in black and retails for $110. Check out www.chromebagsstore.com.
Here’s a look at some of the I Love Riding in the City contributors for issue #30.
We want you to represent your city. Click here, and don’t forget to attach a high-res photo. A “high-res” photo, for those who don’t know, is typically 300dpi or greater at print size. If you’re not sure, try sending the unedited photo file that comes from a digital camera.
If you use Twitter, check out @CycleBlogs. They compile and tweet headlines from numerous cycling blogs such as Bike Rumor, Commute By Bike, Bike Portland, Bike Radar, Cycling News, Bicycle Design, Bike Snob NYC, Urban Velo and many more.
Subscribe to the print edition and we’ll mail your copy as soon as they’re available. And remember, you can subscribe to the Podcast version and iTunes will download the new PDF automatically, or bookmark our RSS feed to know when the latest PDF is available.
From 718 Cyclery:
Running a small business, successful or not, seems to attract the attention of Groupon and its clones (Living Social, etc). At first I listened to their pitches (slightly flattered), and ran some numbers on my own. The results were so distressing that I walked away within a few minutes.
Visionary, designer, architect and artist, Phillipe Starck, has teamed up with Peugeot Cycles to create a bike being heralded as “the ideal city bike“, or a little exaggeratedly, “the bicycle of the future”. The design itself incorporates utilitarian features (front and back racks), but diverges from normal urban bikes by including a kick scooter design to the frame. The bike can be conventionally pedaled, but if a rider feels more comfortable kick scooting around town, they have that option as well. I don’t see what is so “futuristic” about this approach, but whatever might entice people to choose the bike over motorized transportation should certainly be supported. Encouragingly, the bike design was formulated in part with the input of the citizens of Bordeaux, which just might make this the first crowdsourced bike design around.
The bikes are going to be added to a bike sharing fleet in the city of Bordeaux, France, which already offers out 1,545 bikes at 139 stations. Ridership in Bordeaux has tripled in the last 15 years, prompting the collaboration between Starck and Peugeot.
We’ve been having an unseasonably warm winter here in Pittsburgh. Today felt like early Spring, but it’s still not “shorts and a t-shirt weather” so I was still pretty geared up for my commute. And it didn’t escape the attention of my coworkers when I walked into the building (no doubt because of my bright red soft shell).
The short list of my attire: Chrome Kursk Pro shoes, wool crew socks and Stock Cobra hoodie; Pearl Izumi Select Barrier WXB jacket; Hypnotic Hankster knickers; Salsa wool knee warmers; DeFeet wool gloves; Julbo sunglasses; Bern Brentwood helmet. I rode my Salsa La Cruz, and on my back I had the Timbuk2 Especial Tres rolltop backpack.
What did you wear/use on your commute today?
I came across a news story from the UK that describes a “new scheme” to deter bike thefts in areas that have seen an increase in stolen bikes. The article points out that thieves even cut through locks (gasp! The scoundrels!) to steal bikes. The scheme involves a week of “marking days” when bike owners can have their bikes tagged with an information chip, be given awareness literature and receive “passports” where the owners can give detailed information about the bike and include a photo too. The passports are to help the police return stolen bikes once recovered.
I know, this all sounds pretty standard. “Register your bike with the police”, right? I think, what surprised me the most about this pretty standard form of dealing with bike theft (unfortunately, not preventative), was to what extent the police are actually going to make cyclists aware of the issue. I mean, seriously, how many police units in the U.S. have “marking days” where they essentially come to YOU in order to register your bike? Can you imagine them caring that much? Is the incentive to prevent criminals from using bikes as gateway crimes to bigger problems? I don’t know, I’m being cynical, but I know this just doesn’t happen where I live and would be seen as a waste of police time if it was made public. What about where you live though? Has your local police force taken an interest and gone to such lengths in getting your bike back to you once stolen? If the police did something similar to these marking days, would you take part?
SXSW is a huge music, film and tech extended weekend in Austin TX, and getting around by bus or cab is reportedly always an issue. Tern Bicycles is sponsoring SWcycles March 9-13, a program of 150 Tern folding bikes available on a first come first served bike share basis to certain badge holders. Bikes come equipped with a helmet, lock, lights, rack and commuter bag. Rave time waiting and reserve your bike at VeloLet.com
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