Bronx Jon was a messenger for 10 years. On Wednesday August 9th, 2006 he was struck by a cab in Brooklyn and died the following Saturday.

Two years after the death of Bronx Jon, a mother and a community are still grieving. Jon’s mother, Sharon Mc Laughlin, recently commented on our website, “Remember, it can happen to anyone.”

Above is the final video in our NYC 2008 BFF coverage. You can check out Part 1, Part 2 and Brad’s photos, too. Keep your eyes peeled and you’ll see Lex from Villin, Amy from Momentum, Cara from Fabric Horse, Prolly and the DART crew (among many more). We also grabbed Ian Meilinger from Vaya Bags and Michael Giannico from Nicola Handmade Bicycles for short interviews.

The Bicycle Film Fest is currently in Chicago. Visit www.bicyclefilmfestival.com for more info.

According to a NY Times article, US track racers Mike Friedman, Sarah Hammer, Bobby Lea and Jennie Reed stepped off their plane in Beijing wearing breathing masks. The Chinese air quality is a touchy subject for locals, some of whom were offended by the site of the masked Americans. The Olympics are already mired in controversy, so the additional bad publicity is seen as insult to injury. The American cyclists apologized for any embarrassment they may have caused the Chinese people, explaining that they were only concerned with protecting their chances at Olympic gold.

Our friend Erin Nicole Brown wrote in to deliver the sad news that two Colorado Springs cyclists were killed recently. 28-year-old Jayson Kilroy and 30-year-old Edgar Juarez were hit by a truck at the intersection of 26th Street and Westend Avenue. The driver is being charged with vehicular homicide and investigators say she may have been under the influence of drugs at the time of the crash. Read the whole story at KKTV.com.

…or even if you don’t pray, wish our friend Ezra well in in fight against cancer. Read more here.

In response to last month’s ugly incident at Critical Mass, as well as for reasons all their own, people in Seattle have started Ride Civil.

According to their website, “RideCivil promots civility between motorists, pedestrians and cyclists. We signal and stop, smile and wave, ride 2 abreast and yeild to pedestrians. We won’t be corking or blocking traffic, just safely cycling our city.”

Washington DC bike blogger Gwadzilla reports that he’s seen SmartBikes on the streets of DC. The program has proven successful in France, Norway, Sweden and Spain. The United States is next on the list, and Italy is scheduled to follow.

SmartBike DC is sponsored by Clear Channel Outdoor, who will take advantage of the advertising opportunities created by the program.

I have no idea what was going through Nathan Wood’s mind when he (allegedly) sexually assaulted fellow cyclist Danika Bueno. Sure, she’s a nice looking woman, but besides being absolutely, inexcusably wrong to ride up to a woman and grab her breast, she was riding with her 10-month old son on her back!

Remarkably, Bueno didn’t just pull over and call the police. She dialed 911 on her cell phone while chasing her assailant down. The police caught up with the cyclists and arrested Wood, who was subsequently released on $1000 bond. Read more on The Daily Camera.

Former co-worker to both of us at Urban Velo, Chris Cosby (center) is one of the riders participating in the Fuller Center Bike Trip, scheduled to wrap up in just a few days. This cross-country bike ride was all done to strengthen the participants faith and to act as a significant source of fundraising to support the housing projects of The Fuller Center for Housing. A faith-based group that works towards providing safe and affordable housing to those across the world in need, the Fuller Center grew from Habitat For Humanity in the spring of 2005 and has swung many a hammer since. Believe what you want to believe; actions speak louder than words. These folks are making some loud actions possible. Here’s to ya, Chrispy.

The post a few days back of Charlie Kelly’s Weird Bike Stuff inspired me to look through the last year or two of Interbike photos to see what I could dig up from the B-shots. There is no shortage of weirdness on display at the annual tradeshow hosted in Las Vegas, this is only a small slice of the pie. We’ll start it off with the hand saddle, which truly needs no introduction. I went back on the last day of the show to see if I could buy this saddle, but it was gone presumably into the collection of some other lucky soul.

Car companies that label some cheap bikes as their own come through every year, with some department store quality Chevrolet bikes here. Equally as much home to the freakshow section of the show are the pedal-cars. This one can carry the whole family! More after the jump.
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