The Archives
What caused your flat tire?
Pinch flats. I got a classic pinch flat last night on my commute home. I was in a hurry and bumped hard against a curb, after which I heard the hiss of a deflating tire. Pinch flats happen when the tube is pinched between a hard object (like a curb or pothole) and the wheel…
Commuting 101: Ten Quick Tips
This year alone, I’ve run into a few new commuters that are using a bicycle for at least part of their trip. One of them is a long-time friend of mine in Washington, D.C. In discussing bike commuting with these people, it’s apparent that at first “riding a bike to work” seems straightforward, but becomes…
Campfire Cycling Website
Hello Everyone! We are more than happy to announce the launch of our newly designed website. Unbox our shiny new site at www.campfirecycling.com. With a mission to make our new website faster, easier to navigate, and more user-friendly, our amazing staff have spent countless days & nights building it from scratch, and we are delighted…
"Are You Crazy?" and Other Coworker Comments
Earlier this week, my wife had her first sub-zero bike commute and it actually turned out to be -15C (-5 F). We checked the forecast, booked the car in for repairs (don’t you just hate spending a new bike’s worth on car repairs?), and watched as the forecast got progressively worse over the course of…
Quiz: Would you use this bike facility?
Here’s a quiz for you. After looking at the photo posted below, how do you recommend getting through this marked bike facility? “Take the lane.” Call public works and complain about the poor condition of the bike lane. Take public transportation. “There’s no bad weather, just bad clothing.” I’d don my rain cape and rain…
First Impression: SKS Commuter Full Fenders
Photo: My Trek 1200 with SKS Commuter Fenders (click to Zoom) Fritz told us about fenders late last year. I’ve always been on the fence when it comes to fenders. It does rain quite a bit out here in the great plains of the United States, but at the same time, I have a few…
CBB Poll: Route Choice
Over the last few years I find I’ve settled on a route to work that is not the shortest distance between points A and B. I’ve also tinkered with several different routes to my dad’s house, including a new one that looks a bit crazy when viewed on a map. I’ve got my reasons as…
Singlespeed belt drive
Here’s some bike porn for you all. Lynskey Performance just posted about their use of belt drives on singlespeed bikes. They title the post “A Stunning Singlespeed.” I saw their belt drive bikes at the 2008 Handbuilt Bicycle Show and they are indeed stunning. I talked with some folks at the show about the practicality…
Boulder commuter of the year
Attention Boulder, Colorado bicycle commuters: GO Boulder/city of Boulder is in search of nominees for its 12th Annual Commuter of the Year Contest. Three people who have chosen to leave their cars behind and commute by bike, bus or some combination of biking, walking and using transit will be honored as the 2008 “Commuters of…
Commuting to School Can Get You to the Olympics
Adam Craig is one of the top US hopefuls for the upcoming Beijing Olympics and apparently he used to be quite the winter bike commuter: In the fifth grade, he rode his bike to school – six miles away. While at Dexter High, he would ride his bike to school on snow days so he…
Bike Commuter Nutriment
There’s always room for coffee in the bike bottle cage, but what about putting real fuel in your bike’s tank? Protein shakes, granola bars and bananas! Oh, my! As it warms up here in the great plains, I’m slowly switching over to bike-only commuting mode. By heart rate calculations, my 28+ mile round trip burns…
Pain at the pump
From political cartoonist Walt Handelsman.. Regular gasoline is going for $3.65/gallon at the discount places near my home this weekend, and diesel has been over $4/gallon for a couple of weeks now. How much is it where you live?
Folding bikes: Great leap forward
U.S. folding bike maker Dahon reports record bike sales in 2007, with 348,000 folding bicycles sold in 2007 compared with 290,000 in 2006, representing a 20% increase in unit sales and 36% increase in revenue. Dahon’s increased sales in the U.S. and worldwide are part of a larger trend of increased sales of commuter bikes….
Check that bike rack
You’ve done your homework and bought the best locks for your bike, you know how to securely lock your bike, and perhaps you’ve even uglified it. But have you ensured the bike rack itself is secure? University of Oregon students Lauren Miller, Hollie Putnam and Lauren Prince discovered all three of their locked bicycles were…
Grinding brakes test nerves and rims
I’ve been using SwissStop all-weather pads on my road bike for a while, but this morning, they started grinding. As it turns out, the temperatures here are still below freezing, and that made the brake pads harder and harsher. Little by little, they started to scour aluminum off of my rims. This made a horrible…
Test your awareness skills
Cyclists in the San Francisco Bay Area are mourning the loss of two world class athletes who died Sunday when a Sheriff’s deputy apparently fell asleep at the wheel and ran head on into a group ride. A few hours later, two other cyclists were seriously injured on Skyline Boulevard in San Mateo County when…
Cyclist tip: Change your patch kit glue
If you carry a patch kit around and don’t use glueless patches, now’s a good time to check the glue in your patch kit. The glue can evaporate even from unopened tubes of glue. The end of the metal glue tubes are usually crimped, and there’s sometimes enough of a gap to allow the glue…
Cyclists Subsidize Motorists
How much are we paying for the roads? If you are primarily a cyclist, too much, according to a paper from the Victoria Transport Policy Institute. They published a paper back in 2004 titled “Whose Roads?: Defining Bicyclists’ and Pedestrians’ Right to Use Public Roadways,” which can be found here. It is an interesting read,…
Motivation
I have been thinking about what motivates me to ride my bike everyday. Sure I enjoy riding my bike and have for the past 15 plus years. I was an avid racer, still do regular training type rides, and an occasional race. That alone is not enough o get me out of bed every morning…
Commuting 101: Learn your local "village"
I personally think that commuting by bike is more than just the to-and-from work daily grind. It’s about cycling for transportation in general: Utility Cycling, if you will. A while ago, Warren introduced us to Clif Bar‘s 2-Mile Challenge. To those of us who live in suburbia and are in the process of reducing our…
Not as slow as you'd think
I ran a whole bunch of errands back to back tonight. It was a pretty low-mileage day, with 3 errands strung together for a grand total just a little over 4 miles. Something interesting happened on the way home. You see, I was on a relatively empty road in the evening. There were no traffic…
New Belgium – Bike More Drive Less
Just came across this great video/ad produced by New Belgium Brewery. They make great beer and put on the Tour de Fat. Which I have yet to make it to but I have heard it is a great time. Check out the video and the Tour de Fat website. If only all of my commutes…
Mobiky Genius folding bike
My friend Maribeth recently picked up a Mobiky Genius folding bike and she let me try it out. The Mobiky Genius is a cute folding bicycle with tiny 12 inch tires that folds up very quickly and fairly compactly. Mobiky seems to market primarily to the general aviation and yachting crowd, who like folding bikes…
Bicycle and commuting humor
I recently ran across Yehuda Moon and the Kickstand Cyclery, a web comic that most bike commuters and bike shop employees will get a chuckle out of. The author’s only been at it for a little over a month but it’s shaping up to be some daily entertainment for my RSS reader. Some days, there’s…