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We won’t be advertising group rides all the time, but since this one’s in my hometown and sponsored by a fellow bicycle blogger, why not!
BikeHugger is sponsoring a group ride the day before WebVisions (in Portland, OR). The ride starts at the Convention Center and ends at the Lucky Lab pub on Hawthorne (right across the street from CleverCycles, and a couple of blocks down from BIkePortland world HQ!).
I’m not sure I’ll be able to make the ride, but I’ll be aiming at it. You can check in at the Upcoming page for the ride, if you’d like to let the ‘Huggers know you’re gonna make it.
Shoot, maybe someday BIkeHacks will have to sponsor a group ride through the Yamhill County wine country… :-)
From howtofixbikes.blogspot.com comes this video on how to replace your chain. The best part for me starts roughly at the 40 second mark where a secret weapon for chain removal is revealed. Total time of the video is 4:03.
I don’t live in Portland, Oregon now, but I spent over 30 years of my life in and around Portland. I visit a few times a year and am constantly impressed by the commitment the city has to cycling. You really can’t take more than a few steps and not notice some cool bike culture.
People are always claiming that NYC is the “greatest city in the world.” You never know what measurement people are using. Is it the dirtiest? The noisiest? The most congested? On all these accounts, yes, NYC certainly is the “greatest.”
Mass transit is a major part of NYC and it’s very clear that the mass transit czars have zero commitment to encouraging the integration of cycling and mass transit. Almost every major city I visit features buses that have bicycle racks on the front. Just by the vintage nature of this picture you know that Portland has been leading the way for a long, long time. Dude is rocking a full on Styrofoam helmet and those are sooooo last century.
In NYC? Not a single bus features such a rack. And people might say it is because of possible delays, but the web site that features the above photo states:
A 1994 study completed through the Transit Cooperative Research Program (TCRP) shows that most transit agencies are not experiencing problems with schedule delays resulting from accommodating bicyclists; new designs of bike-on-bus racks have minimized dwell times for loading and removal.
When I visit Portland I happily take the mass transit train known as “MAX” into the city. Visual evidence of the commitment the mass transit czars have to cycling is readily visible.
Once again, something you will not find on a single subway car in all of NYC. Listen up all you mayors around the U.S. Take a field trip to PDX and learn from all those cycle loving Oregon hippies. Portland gets my vote for Bicycle City USA.
If you want to nominate another city, drop us a line or post a comment.
The last couple of days have turned into a spontaneous series based on bicycle security. The thread continues as I stumbled upon yet another entry on the topic. Treehugger ran a pop quiz on how many bicycles are stolen each year in the U.S. Think up a number and then click here for the result.
Here in Portland we’ve got a local bike shop, Clever Cycles, that sells Dutch bikes, including bakfiets (and a bunch of other cool stuff, including a Wall Of Brooks saddles). Here’s a nice little video of one of the guys hopping a big ‘ol bakfiet:
On the heels of my recent post about how not to lock your bike, I ran into a Streetfilms video on locking your bike that serves as a companion to one made several years ago.
The main man in the videos is Hal Ruzal and I had the pleasure of meeting him once. I had a crank that kept coming loose on me and while in the vicinity of his shop (Bicycle Habitat) one day the crank gave up the ghost and Hal just happened to have one that fit my 23 year old Peugeot. Solid!
So here is the original video. Hal basically walks around and grades bikes that are locked up in NYC (Time, 8:30).
In round 2, Hal is joined by Kerri Martin from The Bike Church and they do the circuit again (Time 5:45). I’m fairly certain Hal is wearing the same shorts.
