BikeRumor.com

Let’s hear it for cyclists getting the recognition they deserve, especially when they look good doing it.

British (World Championships) Gold Medalist Victoria Pendleton went from being on the cover of FHM Magazine to getting her fashion on with Wayne Hemingway to benefit Team Green Britain, a group that puts on the annual Green Britain Day.  Designer Hemingway made a one-off dress using the Union Jack lines in green tones out of recycled fabrics.

Pendleton’s also been busy working with EA Sports to promote a new Wii fitness game.  Hit ‘more’ for video of her playing the Wii with co-model/TV star Alesha Dixon and video of her wearing/talking about the green dress.

Oh, there’s also some video of her winning a record-setting third gold medal by taking the World Kierin Track Championship, if you’re into that sort of thing…

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Yep, technically it started yesterday, but we were busy BBQin’ and such.  So, here’s the schedule and links for this weekend’s stop of the Bicycle Film Festival in Pittsburgh, PA:

Not much else to say about this.  Props to Ergon for putting it together.  Click on the image for a larger version.

World Commute is a free social networking website designed to track the positive efforts of non-motorized commuters and promote the idea of “greater health” and a “healthier environment”. 

Once you create a profile you can enter how many miles you ride to work, for general errands, and any other commuting. Your results are then calculated into the total gas savings, money savings, and carbon offsets of World Commute members. As of this posting, the members of the site have collectively saved over 65,000 gallons of gas. 

You can also include rides for fun and exercise to add to the collective “health points” system.

FROM FELT: The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, in cooperation with Felt Bicycles has a voluntary recall of about 1450 2007/2008 F1X Cyclocross bicycles. (2008 model shown at left)

The bicycle’s fork steerer tube can break, causing the rider to lose control, fall and suffer injuries. There have been six reports of these forks breaking with minor injuries reported in two of the incidents.

The recall includes all 2007/2008 Felt F1X Cyclocross Bicycles. These bicycles are available in Semi-Matte Black and have aluminum frames with carbon fiber forks with aluminum steerer tubes.

Bicycle specialty stores nationwide sold the 2007/2008 Felt F1X Cyclocross between July 2006 and April 2009 for between $1,449.00 and $1,499.00. They were manufactured in Taiwan.

Consumers should immediately stop using the recalled bicycles and contact their local Felt Bicycles dealer to receive a free inspection and repair.

For additional information, call Felt Bicycles toll-free at (866) 433-5887 or (866) 4-FELT-US, or visit the company web site at www.feltbicycles.com

Lightlane, a prototype device by Alex Tee and Evan Gant, creates a laser-generated bicycle lane of light on the pavement beside and behind your bike, giving drivers a visual cue to give you more room.

Granted, it only really works at night, and then generally under darker conditions, but the concept is sweet.  Developed for a design contest (which they didn’t win), interest was sufficient that they’re moving forward with development.  Despite the picture above, the actual unit is being designed to have a standard red blinky light, and green laser lines on the ground.

Hit ‘more’ for a real pic of prototype in action and video after the break…

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David Byrne, former Talking Heads frontman, has a new book hitting shelves in September about his bicycle travels throughout the world.

It offers his thoughts on using bikes to transform cities, change power and fuel balances and is full of photos from places like Berlin and Buenos Aires.  He also discusses topics like world music, urban planning, cultural dislocation, etc…fairly all encompassing.  It even includes tips on bicycle clothing and safety.

Byrne, a long time cycling advocate has used a bike as his main source of local transportation in NYC for decades, and has helped design some of the cities bike racks, too.

Put it in your Amazon wish list now.

This week’s PGA and LPGA Tour events will see several Nike-sponsored pros using this special yellow LiveStrong bag.  Via Golf.com:

“While Nike does not plan to bring Live Strong golf bags to retail outlets, the players’ bags from this week’s tournaments—along with other Nike Golf Athletes’ Bags—will be autographed and auctioned on Ebay. All the proceeds will go directly to the Live Strong foundation.”

In response to increased cycling among its population, Australia has introduced tough new measures for cyclists that kill or seriously injure pedestrians.

Australian road minister Tim Pallas said “Cycling is becoming a legitimate form of transport. But with (that) comes increased responsibility.  This Government will come down hard on bad behavior because there is a real consequence.

Hard is right.  A cyclist that has demonstrated dangerous, careless or reckless behavior (that has presumably caused physical harm) may now get up to 5 years in jail or a $68,000 fine.  Ouch!  Full story here here video, or hit ‘more’ to see the full list of penalties…

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Running the throughout the Volunteer State from September 13 - 19, the 2009 Bicycle Ride Across Tennessee (BRAT) begins in West Tennessee at Paris Landing State Park. Check-in begins after 1:00 p.m. on the 12th. The terrain on this year’s route will vary greatly each day. There will be hills, river valleys and even some flat terrain. This year’s BRAT will be less Mountainous than the past years.  Expect beautiful rural Tennessee scenery and back roads, a promise the BRAT keeps every year!

Official event site is here, and more info is here.  Proceeds benefit The Cumberland Trail Conference (CTC), a non-profit dedicated to the creation and preservation of the Cumberland Trail State Park

Well, little did we know when we posted our call to action earlier today that Texas Governor Rick Perry had already veto’d the bills in question.  Perry, a cyclist himself, has pretty much left the cycling crowd in the Lone Star State speechless with this remark:

“While I am in favor of measures that make our roads safer for everyone, this bill contradicts much of the current statute and places the liability and responsibility on the operator of a motor vehicle when encountering one of these vulnerable road users.”

Great…maybe that’s his SUV in the background.  And maybe we cyclists should take responsibility to avoid cars on the road…because, you know, that makes sooo much sense.

Lance, I don’t know if the rumors and speculation are true, but if you ever felt like running for office down there, here’s a great topic to launch from.  More here,  and if you want to call his office and tell ‘em what you think, here’s the number: 512-463-2000.

We might be paraphrasing a little (or just making stuff up…six of one, really), but Lance twitted out for Texans to call the Governor’s office and ask him to sign SB488 and HB827 (2009) into law.

These bills provide the “3 feet 2 pass” safety provision that many other states are passing, but according to Lance, the Governor may veto it.  Here’s the number…go nuts: 512-463-2000.

Here’s some Coffee Talk for ya…

There’s a theory that seems to be supported by strong evidence that promotion and enactment of helmet laws tend to DECREASE cycling in the targeted population.  Why?

• Because the “public service” campaigns often hinge on the dramatic dangers of not wearing a helmet, literally scaring parents and kids into NOT cycling.
• People really like “Do as I say, not as I do” type laws. In other words, public support for helmet laws is usually high in surveys, but when it comes down to it, those same people don’t want to be told what to do.

In actuality, countries or regions that have enacted mandatory helmet laws saw marked decreases in cycling.  The societal cost of such legislation increases dramatically via decreased activity, less healthy citizens and the associated “healthcare” costs that ride shotgun with such trends.

Don’t just take our word for it.  Cyclehelmets.org pretty much lays it bare, and Copenhagenize has a great post on the subject.  And, we’ve got the 7 reasons the UK’s National Cyclists Organization (CTC) used to successfully lobby against a mandatory child helmet law there after the break…

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LAist.com has a short feature recounting some of the trials associated with the recently repealed Bicycle Licensing Law, and says the Los Angeles City Council will revisit the subject at next week’s meeting.

One such incident involved a commuter that got a ticket for not having a license on his way home from trying to get a license where he was told they were out of licenses at the moment.  Aaaaahhh, bureaucracy.

You may recall we covered the repeal earlier, and the current arguments still cite moving the licensing system to a private company (which I agree with so long as some of…the majority of…the proceeds goes toward improving bicycle infrastructure).  A new point brought up is to make the licensing system voluntary, with the incentive being that licensed bikes may be more easily recovered if stolen.

The counter point comes from Aurisha Smolarski, outreach coordinator for the LA County Bicycle Coalition.  She says “A bicycle license is not the answer” to address safety and the city needs to be better at “working with LAPD to inform them of how to support cyclists as opposed to antagonizing them.”  Since there’s no supporting context, one’s left to assume that the incident cited above is a common occurence.

Brought to you by Rock the Bike, the Bicycle Music Festival uses a 100% bike powered sound system.  It’s a rolling concert, with multiple stops and rolling performances as everyone rides between locations.  The performances are powered by a 2000-watt PA system hooked up to bicycle generators.  People just take turn pedalin’ to keep the tunes a comin’.  Even the stage is transported between venues by bike, tucked into a critical mass of riders going from venue to venue.

Hit ‘more’ for the full schedule and band links, plus video of Manicato performing live at last year’s festival…

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