The Archives
Driving in America: 1950
Disney’s perspective of driving in 1950. Goofy stars as a Jekyll and Hyde character, Mr. Walker/Mr. Wheeler. When he’s a pedestrian he’s mild-mannered and rational; when he’s a driver he’s mad and bad. It’s amazing to see that the issues we faced over half a century ago haven’t gotten any better. Video posted by our…
Traffic engineers are not cyclists
Born Again Cycles recycles bicycles in Melbourne, Australia. BAC blogger Mark Horner rants about a topic that might resonate with many of us, that the people who design our streets are not cyclists. The problem is that those who research, design and implement solutions for the vulnerability of cyclists within increasingly frenetic ordinary road situations…
Spike Bike
Since some people are talking guns and bikes in the previous post, I thought I’d bring up Bob Fishell’s old “Spike Bike” stories from the late 80s. Bob wrote those stories in 1988 and 1989. One story was published in an issue of the now-defunct Cyclist magazine. Bob told me a short while ago that…
The continued clash of bike and car commuters
This New York Times article, Moving Targets, is a fascinating read about the growing animosity between cyclists and drivers on the roads. While the main subject focuses on the issue of sharing the road, there’s also several interesting nuggets of information gold buried in there. Here’s my take on it…
Orioles pitcher Jeremy Guthrie commutes by bike
This story about Baltimore Orioles starting pitcher Jeremy Guthrie is very cool. As a Mormon he spent two years as a missionary, so perhaps that’s where he got his bike riding start. It’s excellent that he still gets around by bike. It seems as if half the Orioles team gets around on two wheels and…
Friday news and blog roundup
SF Bay Area firm pays 58.5 cents per mile for employees who bike for their jobs. “Schools move to eject cars from campuses,” USA Today. Dutch Bike Company Seattle to open a store in Chicago next month. They’ll sell Bakfiets, Velobris, Retrovelo, WorkCycle and other European utility bikes in the Windy City. Check out this…
Billy the Boombox (Custom Music Bike Trailer)
Our fellow bicycle trailer enthusiast, Ryan Cooper, contacted us about a custom music bike trailer that he cooked up. We decided to post up his words and photos about his project. Also, check out another music trailer we reviewed. The Origin of The Project: “The local Critical Mass group completed their May ride and pedaled…
Setting Up a Commuter Station
Recently Cool Breeze Cyclery in Mooresville, NC gave me a small sector of their store to make into a “Commuter Station.” The idea is to have all the prominent commuter products in one place, with information and maybe a Trek 7.2FX bike with all the accessories installed to show how they work. My question for…
Sport Utility Bike
Anthony and Nickie Stout live car-free in Longmont, Colorado with their two small children. Among their several bikes is the “Lllama” — a Surly Big Dummy with custom crafted rear seats that they use for camping trips in the Colorado Rocky Mountains Front Range. Of the Big Dummy, Anthony writes: it is remarkable how much…
Bike Shops See Boom Amid Rising Consumer Costs
courant.com They’re peddling as fast as they can over at the bicycle shop. Restaurants aren’t doing well with energy prices sky high and the economy souring. You wouldn’t want to be selling powerboats this summer with gas at $4 a gallon. But long after the usual springtime crush of business, bike shops are still overrun…
Golf Carts Approved on Roads: This Matters
A small town in Illinois recently passed a law approving golf cart use on their roadways. Why does this matter to us?
Seven things bike commuting has taught me
“You can buy some pretty nice bike gear for the price of a tank of gas these days.” This is among the seven things Jason Gilman in Spokane posted in “Seven things bike commuting has taught” at his Metric Century blog. Traffic: Why we drive the way we do by Ted Vanderbilt explains why American…
Nema Jewel, Thunder Bike Shorts Review
Up until recently I used to say that I would never be caught wearing cycling shorts. I didn’t see the need. Then came a 50 mile ride on Missouri’s KATY Trail last year. A good friend of mine told me that I’d me miserable without the padding the chamois in a pair of cycling shorts…
Police Officer Assaults NY Critical Mass Biker
In this stunning video, Officer Patrick Pogan of the NYPD violently shoves a cyclist off his bike for no apparent reason. What condemns the officer even more is his report of the incident:
Swobo's bike designer
Swobo is a favorite among a couple of the editors at Commute By Bike, and I was delighted to see this interview with Sky Yaeger. Sky, who left her product management position at Bianchi USA two years ago to design bikes for Swobo, talks about her design influences and philosophy in the interview. Sky predicts…
Commuting 101: Make Eye Contact
A huge issue for bike commuters is being seen by drivers on the road. Lot’s of times since they’ve trained themselves only to look for big metal boxes, they can look right at you and not even have it register that you’re there.
First Look: Velorbis Churchill Balloon
On review with Commute by Bike is the Velorbis Churchill Balloon. It’s a Danish style bike built in Germany and distributed here in the States by the Dutch Bicycle Company. This is the first Dutch style comfort bike that has ever been reviewed on this site and the first that I’ve ridden more than around…
Let's take bicycling back from the sports enthusiasts
At the end of a recent article, North America’s Most Bicycle-Friendly Cities, I wrote the following: Let’s take bicycling back from the sports enthusiasts! which then resulted in some negative comments:
The Bike Trailer List
We’ve decided to start compiling and organizing a list of available and unavailable bike trailers. We are breaking down the list into categories such as Bike Child Trailers, Bike Cargo Trailers and Bike Pet Trailers. This list is part is part of our Fixer-UP Bike Trailers series of posts. These posts will address fixing up…
Online maps update
Some changes have occurred in the world of online maps since I last wrote about what’s available. Ask.com used to be the only mapping service with an option for walking directions. They eliminated that when they migrated their map to use Microsoft’s Virtual Earth, which provides only driving directions. While Ask.com removed the walking feature,…
North America's Most Bicycle-Friendly Cities
ForbesTraveler.com: Exhibit A: Portland, Oregon, just displaced Copenhagen as the #2 most bike-friendly city in the world. Exhibit B: In Davis, California, more people cycle to work than drive. Exhibit C: A growing number of Minneapolis residents continue to commute by bike through the winter.
Blond wigs keep you safe: an interview with Dr. Ian Walker
A study was released a couple years ago by Dr. Ian Walker of the UK suggesting that drivers give more room to cyclists who are not wearing helmets and/or are female. Is this truly the case?
Win a free bike with Trek's Go By Bike Challenge
Take the Go By Bike Challenge. Trek Bicycle today announced the “Go By Bike Challenge,” a national pledge campaign sponsored by 1 World 2 Wheels — Trek’s cycling advocacy initiative — that challenges people to put down the car keys and instead go by bike. “The momentum for going by bike is undeniable,” noted Trek’s…
Bicycle Trailer hitches and couplers
Probably the most common question here at the shop begins with, “so, I bought a used trailer on eBay.” Our follow up question is always, “what brand is the trailer?” The answer will invariably come from this list: Kidarooz, Rhode Gear, Bell, Kool-Stop, Winchester Original, JD Razor, Cannondale, Tanjor, Yakima, Norco USA, or Trek, those…