BikeRumor.com

Reebok, better known for it’s shoes and fitness equipment, has  launched an extensive range of bicycles covering the popular BMX, urban and mountain bike sectors. Halfords UK will exclusively distribute the range with it replacing their GT bikes. GT owner Cycling Sports Group (CSG) states that the change in the UK is related to CSG’s focus on the independent bicycle dealer channel and that the break with Halfords is “another demonstration of CSG’s commitment to this important channel.”

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Following from the ban of bikes in Black Hawk, Colorado, St. Charles County in Missouri is considering banning bicycles on all roads without a shoulder. The plan has been proposed by County Councilman Joe Brazil. After an apparently heated discussion at Monday night’s council meeting the council have decided to delay, to consider expanding the scope of the ban!

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Kevin Scott has designed a unique bike that dismisses the need for traditional locks by wrapping the frame around a pole, letting you use a small u-lock to connect the wheels and frame.

The bike uses a ratchet system (shown behind the break) to pull the frame tight when riding and loosen it to fold around something for easy locking. Besides making parking easier, it also makes storage in tight spaces (cubicle, flat, etc.) a bit easier. It’s on display now at the Young Designers 2 show in Islington, north London.

Via DailyMail by way of BikeBiz.

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The Knog Beetle is a stealthy (in black, anyway) little bike light that comes with either white or red dual LED bulbs. It’s available in eight shades (Black, White, Translucent, Red, Magenta, Orange, Sky Blue, Dark Grey) of rubbery, strappy silicone coolness, and it’s highly durable to drops, kids and foul weather.

I’ve ridden mine through rain and snow, freezing temps and hotter ‘n hell days, and they’re still flashing just fine. They’ll blink in fast, slow and police modes, with the latter alternating pulses between the two bulbs, or just shine solidly for fun. I say for fun because they’re really not bright enough to light your path at anything above a crawl, but for flashers they’re plenty bright enough to alert motorists and pedestrians within a couple blocks’ distance.

They come with two button cell batteries that are good for about 35 hours of constant steady use, or 160 hours of flashing, and they retail for $21.99 and weigh just 22g. You can stick them pretty much anywhere on your bike, and they dismount in a hurry if you’re worried they’ll get taken…but they haven’t come loose or fallen off accidentally during my entire test.

They’re cool, they’re cheap and they work well in crappy conditions. Good buy if you dig their style. More pics after the break…

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The Israel Ministry of Tourism has opened up the first 2.8 miles of the new 80-mile Sea of Galilee Mountain Bike Trail.

Opened last month in the Upper Galilee region, the first section stretches from Capernaum to the Arik Bridge and has several rest/picnic areas and unrestricted access to the sea’s beaches and nature reserves. Guides and mountain bike rentals are available.

When finished, the entire trail will bring cyclists through Tiberias, the Golan Heights, Ein Poriya, the Kineret, the Yardenit baptismal site on the River Jordan, Almagor, the Church of the Beatitudes, Mount Arbel and Kfar Hittim, and past Israel’s first hydroelectric plant at the southernmost tip of the Sea of Galilee. The trail is part of Israel’s $30 million plan to create more than 3,100 miles of bicycle paths over the next five years. More info on the trail plans and a much larger version of this map are here.

Via The Washington Times.

The Flashbak.

The Flashbak is a new bike light solution from an inventor in Austin, Texas, that claims to provide a safer ride for cyclists at night.

The metal clips allow it to be attached to almost anything, and its 250-lumen lights - which the makers claim can be seen from up to a mile away - help to illuminate both the rider and bike. The Flashbak also has a remote on/off switch, so you’ll never be unsure whether it’s on or not. (Personally, I find this a bizarre feature, but hey ho.)

It’s good to see that more and more designers are addressing the challenge of making night cycling safer. Recently, an Australian inventor was nominated for a design award for his Firefly light, which, in addition to showing red to the rear, lights the rider up in white for cars to see. It also has an LED motion sensor, so it gets brighter as cars approach.

Thanks to Jay Rain for the tip.

The number of bike models equipped with the Gates Carbon Drive is expected to double in model year 2011, up from 43 in 2010, illustrating the growing popularity of the chain-replacing belt drive system among bike companies and consumers.

“The advantages of the Carbon Drive System are instantly obvious to anyone who rides it. It’s clean, quiet, light and strong,” says Todd Sellden, Director of Gates Carbon Drive Systems. “The fact you never have to lube it or worry about getting your hands or pants greasy is huge for commuters who pedal to work in nice clothes.”

Introduced to consumers in 2008 on four bike models (two each from Spot Brand and Nicolai), the number of models more than quadrupled, to 17, in 2009 when Trek, Simpel, Koga-Miyata, Co-Motion, Seven Cycles, MaXcycles, Schindelhauer, Santos and Fixie Inc introduced bikes with the Carbon Drive System.

The expansion continued in 2010, when the number of Carbon Drive bikes more than doubled, to 43, as companies including Globe, Norco, Raleigh, Avanti, MTBCycleTech, Civia, Tout Terrain, Tank, Bernds, Veloheld, Armor and Poison joined the chain-free revolution. For the 2011 model year, sales projections from Gates shows that the number of models will double again as bike brands expand their belt drive lineups and new brands introduce models with Carbon Drive.

Spot Brand has seven models featuring Gates Carbon Drive, while Simpel and Schindelhauer have five each. Trek has four belted models, while Norco has three. Increasingly popular in the United States, Carbon Drive is even bigger in Europe, where commuter bikes command a large market share

More info and where to buy after the break…

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Niterider’s 2011 range is an impressive mix of updates and new products, covering everything from commuter and casual riding to seriously bright endurance racing lights like the Pro 1400 pictured above.

Starting with the big guns, Niterider has upped the lumen output of their two Pro series lights to 1400 and 700 (from 1200 and 600 respectively). The Pro 1400 uses a dual LED frame with one spot and one flood, and it’s output is customizable via their DIY Software, letting you create your own custom output settings for various button pushes. To clarify, total output is programmable per mode, you can’t alter the flood output versus spot output.

System weight is 812g, and the battery comes with a quick release bike mount, allowing you to leave the mount on the bike and quickly pull the battery on and off for easier charging between transitions (which also means you don’t have to undo Run time ranges from 2:30hr - 64:00 hours depending on usage, charge time is 4.5hours.

More details, photos and the rest of the range after the break…

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For those who want to really up their green cred, now you don’t have to bother with all those wasted resources that go into manufacturing a bike lock. The Cannondale Ville lets you roll up to and into the store by transforming into a shopping cart…with disc brakes, natch.

Designed by Hyuk-Jae Chang, the Ville folding bike won the Bronze Prize at the IDEA Design Awards 2010. Via Yanko Design and Gizmodo.

More pics after the break…

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Funny little ad here from Toronto’s Craigslist detailing the bitter fall-out of a love affair, complete with vindictively posted nude pictures… between a guy and his Giant XTC 2.

An inventive way of getting your ad noticed, and worth a read and a chuckle.

Press Release: The City of Los Angeles is pleased to release the draft 2010 Los Angeles Bicycle Plan. The 2010 Bicycle Plan is a comprehensive update of the current Bicycle Plan first adopted in 1996 and re-adopted by the City Council in 2002 and 2007. The 2010 Bicycle Plan (2010 Plan), a component of the Transportation Element, (an element of the City*s General Plan), is part of the City*s commitment to transform Los Angeles from an auto-centric City to a City with a multi-modal transportation system. The 2010 Plan designates 1,633 miles of bikeway facilities and proposes two new bicycle networks (Citywide and Neighborhood). Additionally, the 2010 Bicycle Plan includes a Technical Design Handbook that will assist both City staff and residents in selecting and designing facilities for future bikeways that are safe and consistent with current standards and guidelines.

The 2010 Los Angeles Bicycle Plan is a result of extensive fieldwork, numbers public workshops, and suggestions from thousands of public comments received from September 2009 draft Bicycle Plan.  The Bicycle Plan is a joint effort between the Department of City Planning and Department of Transportation.

The complete document and maps will be available on the project website [www.labikeplan.org] by end of the day June 18th with printed copies available for public review at the City*s Central Library and eight regional libraries and the Department of City Planning*s Downtown and Van Nuys Public Counters by June 30th, 2010.

A series of workshops/public hearing will be held between September 7-18, 2010 to take public testimony and comment.

A company already known for their stylish approach to affordable, USA-made cycling clothing with the bicycle commuter and urban riders in mind, Swrve Urban Cycling Apparel has added a new line of limited edition threads under the name _blk label.

“our _blk label items use the most technologically advanced fabrics available today. we have crafted a line of limited edition items with subtle detailing for the discerning rider.”

The _blk label line of items includes updated versions of their popular knickers, shorts, pants and the Milwaukee Hoodie (designed for foul weather with the help of well-known bike messenger and Milwaukee native Kevin Sparrow). Just in time for summer, they’ve added an altogether new product, the Button-Up Shirt Jacket.

“these lightweight shirt jackets are made from swiss-made Schoeller® fabric and feature water + wind + stain repellency. their high level of abrasion resistance, breatheability, moisture regulation, and machine washability makes them the perfect summer shirt jacket for work or leisure.”

Swrve products are made in the USA, and are available at select retailers or from their online store.

Van Dessel has created a floral print step-thru cruiser bicycle for Lilly Pulitzer. The fashion bike comes with stitched on leather grips, sprung comfort saddle, fenders and flip-flop friendly flat pedals, all color matchy in signature LP style.

It’s a single speed with coaster brake and front hand brake (not shown), and the frame is aluminum. The lightweight aluminum rims are color matched pink, too.

“We have a good history of town and commuter bikes and always like to keep things fun, so when Lilly Pulitzer approached us about designing and co-branding a beach cruiser we were thrilled to jump at the opportunity to liven things up a bit for summer,” said Edwin Bull, founder and president of Van Dessel.

Get it at Lilly Pulitzer’s website for $450.

Spotted at the intro dinner for PressCamp attendees was this bright orange Scott commuter bicycle. I talked to Scott’s rep, Adrian, for a sec and he said they’ll have their new TT bike and some other fresh stuff on display.