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Via expertvillage.com comes this great little video on the features of a touring bike (Time, 3:09).

Filed Under: commuting, storage 

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.

Filed Under: maintenance 

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.

Filed Under: commuting, culture 

I saw this biked locked up the other day and admired the job the rider did to “ugly” it. We have talked about this before in previous posts: 8+ Ways to Ugly Your Bike and Ugly Your Bike #2: A Case Study.

Dude also gets an “A+” for a good job of locking this ride up.

Filed Under: commuting, security 

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.

Filed Under: security 

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:

Filed Under: culture 

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.

Filed Under: security 

A post in two acts. If you would like to avoid Act 2, review the post on how to conveniently lock your quick release.

Act 1

Act 2

Filed Under: security 

Another variation on a rear rack hack. Lots of duct tape over a hacked up postal bin. Rubber bands give it that ghetto steeze for sure yo!

Filed Under: admin 

While you can buy a Kickbike, you can also make you own hacked scooter. This comment was posted to the Kickbike post:

Weekend warrior in Manhattan on a scooter; I sold the kickbike and now I ride a 16″ wheeled scooter; just about as fast and nimble ; a bit smaller for getting on and off trains ; ride the rest of the time in NJ where I live ; back pack hung on handlebars carries stuff I buy or my jacket if I get too warm or food; foot boards don’t need grip tape / tread tape ; even wet foot boards have traction if you wear skateboard style shoes [ very mild tread / flat sole , no lugs , no funny heels etc]

I followed up with “duggy” and got the following picture and description of how it was put together.

Directly from duggy, description and how it was made:

Notice slotted fork in front and lowering shackles in back and the 1″ sawed off the bottom of the head tube as well as new foot deck welded between the tops of the foot rails instead of on top of the rails ; originally very similar to a Xooter.

a. High intensity head light
b. Red tail light with elements lighting sequentially in a circle
c. Air horn ; bell ; electric whistle ;
d. Lock
e. Tools
f. Clear safety goggles [ replace sunglasses at night ]

Filed Under: culture, modification