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I ran across this sweet looking custom lowrider in a random directory of bike-related images. I really wish I knew more about it. Anyone know?

Update: just found a hint

Filed Under: culture 

Here is something you don’t hear every day: a man runs into a bear while riding a bike - at 45 mph. It happened in Boulder, Colorado. The NBC news affiliate posted the story which you can read about or watch via video. Unfortunately the bear declined comment on the issue.

Do you have an encounter with wild life to share? As for me, I have had many close run ins with squirrels, but the only fatal encounter I have had, and this is no joke, was with a rat.

It was a dark night on a bike path in NYC and I came around a corner and noticed something out of the corner of my eye. The critter was committed and not scared by me, continued across my path and then I felt the “Thump, thump” of my front and rear tire riding over a decent sized rat. The death was instantaneous as it was apparent that the encounter broke the rat’s back. Life in the big city . . .

Filed Under: culture 

There is no doubt that the ability to stop is a key ingredient to safe riding. Last week a restaurant delivery cyclist pulled into traffic from between two parked cars (without looking) and I was immediately reminded that I need to tune my brakes. I did end up hitting him and without at least some semblance of brakes we both would have seen E.R. time for sure. With fully tuned brakes I just might have been able to stop in time.

Alex, AKA “The Bicycle Tutor” has appeared on our site before and now he brings you this great brake tutorial. Keep those brakes in shape!

Filed Under: maintenance, safety 

Today Bikehacks hit 100,000 page views! Thank you all for reading and please continue to send along stuff for us to post. Sharing is caring! I’m going to go on a celebratory bike ride now . . .

Filed Under: admin 

More pictures from Andrew’s trip to Asia to share. These are from Taiwan as well. First off is a rider with style you only wish you had. From head to foot, this lady is throwing down. The boots, the mask, the hand covers . . . we are talking the full package.

We have some signs like the one below in NYC too - signs that say “Cyclists Must Yield to Pedestrians.” I think there needs to be a huge asterisk with the statement, “Only applies to pedestrians who demonstrate common sense, do not congregate in packs and take up the whole path, don’t have both ears plugged with headphones blaring music, and who do not have one of those dog leashes that extends like 40 feet.”

And finally, just a nice traffic shot.

Filed Under: culture 

You’ll recall that a while back Matt posted about a pretty cool jacket with built-in turn signals. The creator has recently updated the tutorial with an Instructable on building the turn signal jacket, as well as a nice little video on YouTube (embedded below). Great hack, but I’d like to see someone do a similar hack with a backpack!

Filed Under: culture, gear 

Honestly, I did not have this entry locked and loaded after yesterday’s entry, I stumbled upon it via a news feed long after the sun had set. Forbes magazine published an article on the Top 10 Most Bike-Friendly Cities in North America and if you spend any time reading this blog, you will have no trouble guessing what city is number one. The ads on the Forbes site are a little annoying but it well worth visiting their site to read about the top cities.

Did your city make it? Did you city get dissed? Feel free to sound off. Me personally? New York makes the list but I think New York is anything but bike friendly. Anyone new I meet that finds out I ride every day thinks I am absolutely nuts. It certainly is a fun city to bike in if you know what you are doing, but it certainly is not a city that is going to encourage novices to pedal.

Filed Under: commuting, culture 

News continues to come out of Portland, Oregon proving that it is unofficially “Bicycle City U.S.A.” I wrote an article a while back proclaiming such and now this comes from the local NBC news affiliate, kgw.com.

PORTLAND, Ore. – North Portland residents were experiencing what it’s like to function without vehicles for a day while the city tries a car-free experiment.

Six miles of streets were closed off to vehicles on Sunday, June 22nd, from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. as part of the event called ‘Sunday Parkways.’ The city and area residents have been planning the event since a year in advance.

Full article, guaranteed to give bike lovers goose bumps, here.

Filed Under: culture 

Jack from bikecommuters.com passed along two great hacks. The first hack is a fender made of aluminum strip and an old election yard sign. Sometimes the clearance between brakes and tires can pose problems for fenders and he gives a great description of how he D.I.Y.’d to get around the space issue.

Second, he came up with a great double headlight system using PVC pipe because he was running out of room on his handlebars. Pretty dope setup for sure! Turns out Jack does know jack. Check out both hacks via the bikecommuters.com site.

Filed Under: commuting, modification, safety 

Recently I posted an entry about making your own spoke cards. Here is another variation on the theme.

Filed Under: modification