Blog
Fire Service Bicycles
Our last two posts were dedicated to bicycle police and emergency medical service bicycles. Our next post in the four-part series dedicated to the utility of using a bicycle for emergency and patrol services will focus on fire service bicycles. It will admittedly be a rather short post, as it would appear that the use…
Cyber Monday Deals
Today is Cyber Monday and great deals abound on the Internet. To that end, we would like to tell you about some of the deals we are offering on Bike Trailer Shop and Bike Bag Shop to make your holiday shopping experience that much easier. Vaude Panniers and Bike Backpacks Sale We are currently offering…
Vaude Bike Panniers & BackPacks
For the upcoming holidays, we’ve put Vaude Panniers and Vaude Bike Backpacks on sale. We are running this sale through the holidays and offering 10 to 20 % off. Vaude is well known in Europe for their high quality outdoors equipment. Vaude has had a strong presence in the US within their camping and backpacking…
EMS Bikes
Our last post was dedicated to bicycle police, and the utility of using the bicycle as a vehicle for patrol and law enforcement. Next up in our now 4-part series dedicated to emergency and patrol cycling services are EMS (emergency medical service) bicycles. Originally, I had identified three categories of emergency and patrol cycling services…
Burley Child Trailer Closeouts!
Holiday shopping season is descending upon us, and Black Friday is just around the corner! Want to avoid the throngs of holiday shoppers this year? At a loss for new gift ideas? Bike Trailer Shop can help!We are currently offering closeout pricing on all – yes, you read that right, ALL – of our Burley…
MTB 198 Interview with Joe Breeze
Over at Mountain Bike 198, Robb, had a great interview with Joe Breeze one of the creators of mountain biking. Towards the end of the interview they switched gears to asking about commuting as Breezer is known for one of the best commuter oriented bicycles in the US.. It’s exciting to see some mountain biking…
Police Bikes
At Utility Cycling.org, we view the idea of utility cycling as encompassing all kinds of cycling activities in which people are using bicycles to accomplish important tasks such as getting to work, delivering packages, selling things, catching bad guys, and saving lives. Wait what? Catching bad guys? Saving lives? By bicycle? And why not, what…
This Week in Commuting News
Sorry for the delay, yesterday was Halloween in the States and I was busy giving out candy! My goal in these weekly round ups are not only to highlight what was talked about here, on Commute By Bike, but across the newswire, blogosphere and maybe even in my shop. As long as it is about…
A Group Build of Building Your Perfect Commuter Bike
Over the next couple weeks you the readers and I will be walking each other through the process of building up a commuter bicycle. This isn’t only going to be a how to, but also going to go through the questions you need to ask yourself as you are building or picking out a bike…
Mobile Bike Businesses
I was inspired to learn more about mobile bike businesses after reading two recent posts on BikePortland.org about a mobile coffee shop and a mobile beer and pizza pub. (Header image found here). So what exactly is a mobile bike business? It seems to me that a mobile bike business has a different kind of…
Bicycle Mapping
We are all map-users. Whether or not we recognize this fact (or like it, for that matter), is a whole different story. Maps are made for accomplishing a wide range of tasks from navigation to defining boundaries to measuring bits of information to showing elevation and much, much more. Maps are literally visual representations of…
Delivery – And It's By Bike!
In our first post, we identified the category of delivery as a major component of utility cycling. In terms of bicycle deliveries, these subcategories initially came to our attention: Couriers/ Messengers: Many cycling enthusiasts are somewhat enthralled with the elusive bicycle messenger, who zips through traffic bearing important documents, photos, objects, and anything else that…
The Logistics of Bicycle Commuting
The next piece of the bicycle commuting puzzle is logistical. How are you going to get to where ever it is you plan to go? What will you do with your bike when you get there? These questions are liable to arise when you start to seriously consider the possibility of bicycle commuting. But do…
Defining Utility Cycling
Welcome to Utility Cycling.org. The main purpose of this site is to bring clarity to and elaborate upon the concept of utility cycling. To that end, it is important to begin by developing a working definition of the concept. In order to do this, we will use personal experience coupled with Internet research to write…
Xtracycle To The Rescue
On a typical day, my Xtracycle provides assistance in relatively obvious ways: bringing home loads of groceries, hauling extra clothing, books, and food into school for a long study session, or even delivering beer to a friend in return for a favor. Indeed, living with the Xtracycle may be a bit challenging at first, but…
Bike Trailers as Hand Carts-Part 2
Sometimes we get interesting customer questions that inspire us to figure out new uses and configurations of bike trailers. Our latest inspiration is a customer who works at campus where they have technicians who need to travel around and calibrate machines all over the campus. The campus does not allow automobiles, and bicycle travel offers…
The Big Spring Ortlieb Sale
It feels like Spring here in Flagstaff, Arizona so we might as well call this sale that we’re running on Bike Bag Shop, our Big Spring Ortlieb Sale. We’re offering 10% off on all Ortlieb products through March 29th. The photo is showing off Ortlieb Front Roller Plus Panniers, Back Roller Plus Panniers and an…
BikeGlow: Wrapping Your Bike with Glow
While on the subject of 360 degrees of reflection like the BrightBike idea, here is BikeGlow. It looks like the glow necklaces you get a concerts or children wear on their arms at parties. Running on battery power the BikeGlow wraps around your frame set, tubing or, I would assume, body. The 10 foot tube…
Prosecutor bikes to work
When you’re a bicyclist testifying in a road rage case, it’s good to have an attorney who knows the law. The Car Whisperer in Chicago had a run in with a antisocial motorist last August. The motorist went nuts right in front of a police station. The driver was cited for violating the three foot…