BikeRumor.com

The Better World Club is offering the first and only national roadside assistance for cyclists. You can add the coverage to automotive roadside assistance plans or sign up for cycling only coverage. Cycling coverage includes:

• Towing: If you need emergency assistance they will send someone to transport you and your bike to where you need to go.
• Locked Out: Since proving ownership of a bike is tricky, they won’t come unlock a bike for you. But if you do get a bike unlocked by someone else, they’ll reimbuse you up to $50.
• Flat Tire: They won’t bring you new equipment such as tubes or tires, but they will dispatch someone with commonly available  tools upon request.

Cycling only coverage is $39.95 a year and allows you two service calls and up to 30 miles. Also included with the cycling only membership is enrollment into the League of American Bicyclists, a subscription to Bicycling magazine, and other goodies.

From Good.com: There are an estimated 185,000 cyclists in New York City every day. An increase of 30% over just four years ago. At the same time, cyclist fatalities have decreased over the years. NYC has been working to improve it’s infastructure for cyclists. Increasing the number of bike lanes, bike access to public transportation and building new greenways. 

But those aren’t the only reasons for the decrease in rider fatalities. As many cyclists know, there is strength in numbers. With more people riding, the motorized commuters become more aware of cyclists and more accustomed to sharing the road. So spread the word and hit the streets. 

Even with more riders in NYC now than ever, the fatality rate is lower than it has been in a decade. 

Click MORE for a graph of Daily Ridership vs. Annual Fatalities.

(more…)

The North American Handmade Bike Show kicked off their all-new website today, fully revised for your viewing pleasure.

In case you haven’t heard, NAHBS 2010 will take place February 26-28 in Richmond, Virginia at the Greater Richmond Convention Center. Just a few of the names who’ve already reserved their booth space include Chris King Co., Moots, Independent Fabrication, Richard Sachs, Vanilla Bicycles, Reynolds UK, Columbus, Signal Cycles (one of their city bikes is shown at left) and Don Walker.

Need more reason to make a vacation of it?  There are two brewpubs and over 12 restaurants are within walking distance. Within five blocks you will find world-renowned eateries like the Capitol Restaurant. Located in the heart of Downtown Richmond, this 108 year old, 25 foot wide by half-a-city-block-long building has 46 taps, 2 cask conditioned ale hand pumps and a selection of over 200 bottled beers and the Richbrau Brewing Company and restaurant—housing three restaurants under one roof.

We’ll be there to cover the event…can’t wait!

Bill Fulton got his wallet back after losing it behind school bleachers cheering on his High School team back in 1946.

Found by a school worker cleaning out debris during a renovation at Baker Middle School (Jeez, can you imagine standing nd cheering in 63-year-old bleachers? Yikes!), along with old homework, a 1964 talent show program and other papers and objects.

Fulton said the bicycle ID was needed because he delivered medicine for Rodamar Drug. Read the full story here.

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.

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…

(more…)

That’s a lotta words going on in that headline…but it’s hard to pigeonhole this gold-zinc painted bicycle from Rasmus Gjesing.  Originally designed in 2008, it was built to offer a quality option to the lesser quality, mass produced commuter bikes being offered in his hometown of Denmark.

Built from steel with aluminum bars and a Brooks leather seat, it’s painted with zinc paint then powder coated for a flashy gold appearance.  Want one?  $4,300 and it’s yours.

The picture’s kinda wanky, but it looks like a pretty slack head angle…should make for some interesting handling if you actually decided to “race” it around town.  Plus, given that there are no brakes shown, it’s probably out of the price consideration of most fixie kids…sadly relegating it to just another rich boy’s toy status.  Unless, hopefully, those Danes ride better commuter bikes than we Yanks.

The NiteFlux Photon Enduro 8 Single falls in the middle of the company’s product line in regards to maximum output and is the least amount of light I’d recommend for racing. It is stocked with all the great NiteFlux technology such as the high intensity LED, Constant Watt Technology, Race Mode, and more.

In the NiteFlux Photon Enduro line there is the Enduro 4 and the Enduro 8. You can buy either light separate or a combination of two 4’s, or one 4 and one 8. We tested out the Enduro 8 Single (which is one light with a maximum output of 540 lumens) in a wide range of conditions to simulate every riding style. All said-and-done the Enduro 8 Single is an exceptional light for commuting and recreational mountain bike riding. During competitive mountain bike riding at higher speeds the light is adequate, but not exceptional. Everyone likes to think that they are fast, but if you really are faster than all your friends, I would recommend as many lumens as you can afford. And faster friends.

Full Review after the break….

(more…)

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.

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…

(more…)

On June 27, Portland will be “buzzing” with excitement about The eBike Store opening at 201 N. Alberta Ave.  It’s the city’s first all Electric Bike store, and they’ll carry (among other things) the Currie Trailz, a $600 seven-speed mountain bike that which travels between eight and 13 miles on one charge. The $3,000 Schwinn Tailwind also charges fully in less than 30 minutes with a removable charger.

Via the Portland BizJournal, sales of electric bikes in the United States climbed 60 percent in 2008, according to owner Wakefield Gregg. Bicycle traffic on Portland’s four bike-friendly bridge rose 15 percent from 2007 to 2008.

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…

(more…)

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.