August 2006 Archives

Bettie, our sport-utility bike, is being built up and I took some photos today at Elliott Bay Bicycles. Eamon is putting lots of extra touches and making sure Bettie is built to last and safe. Bill Davidson has been observing the progress as well.

In the gallery, note the tires, brakes, and the fabulous Xtracycle Snapdeck custom pad made by Pam.

Tomorrow, Pam will ride it home and blog all about that as well. It’s damn cool and lots of questions are being asked by the guys in the shop and everyone else that sees it. I’ll post the Q/A. For Stokemonkey questions see Todd’s excellent site, FAQs, and blog. For the Xtracycle, see their site and user forums.

Put simply, the Bettie is a sport-utility bike that replaces a car and is built with a Karate Monkey 29-incher frame, Stokemonkey, and Xtracycle,

In talking with Chip Smith who does communications for Interbike, I learned that it’s going to be the biggest show ever this year with a record amount of exhibits and strong preregistration numbers. I’ve also heard from bike retailers that they’re seeing strong sales and interest. That ties into what I’ve been seeing locally and a reason we launched Bike Hugger. See the press releases about Interbike for more.

I’m not exactly sure if it’s people wanting to get in shape, frustrated with traffic, fuel costs, or wanting to escape lots of bad news, but more people are riding and the industry is certainly noticing it with lots of new products in 07, including

• Specialized women’s products
• Raleigh and Diamondback
• Sidi

And much more. What I’ll be on the watch for at Interbike is all things commuter. And that strong demand for cycling is not limited to the US, see this report on Eurobike, which is going on now, and a new study shows how extremely popular trekking is.

A few months into publishing and Bike Hugger is getting some linkage …

• Serge the Concierge
• Hail the Ale
• gwadzilla
• Schooner Exact Brewing Co
• How to Avoid the Bummer Life
• Swim Bike Run Blog

I was finishing up the racing season at Pacific Raceways (a crash fest, when it started raining) and missed the Bicycle Master Plan Public Meeting. The Seattle PI reports that 400 cyclists showed up to hear transportation officials discuss a “$300,000 project that will guide improvements to streets, bridges and trails to boost rider safety and encourage more Seattleites to pedal instead of drive.”

I checked the blogosphere this morning and haven’t seen reports from the meeting. There are two more meetings planned.

Scott, our hip designer and brand manager, took this self portrait with a camera phone while biking to the store in a Hugger tshirt.

Nice. Those shirts will be showing up all over P-town, in Vegas for Interbike, and later this year San Fran and Girona, Spain.

We’ve also got a Canadian Contingent wearing them. Hello Canadians!

A reminder that the Bicycle Master Plan Public Meeting is tonight at Gould Hall, UW Campus, 3949 15th Ave NE at 6:30 - 9:30 PM. On the agenda is an open house, presentation, and interactive workstations.

• On-line Questionnaire
• KUOW Program Archive discussing the plan and bicycles in Seattle
• Toole Design Group, design firm hired to draft the plan.

As posted earlier, I think most important in this plan are on-street routes and wayfinding. See the Cascade Commuter’s post as well.

Bike Hugger will “represent” at Interbike this year blogging the booths, exhibits, culture, and most everything else. Interbike is North America’s largest bicycle trade event and show and we’re excited to meet bike industry people we’ve only corresponded with in email, including the long list of manufacturer’s parts going into Bettie, our project bike.

That list includes Cleverchimp, Xtracycle, Phil Wood, Sun Rims, Magura, and much more.

We’re also planning on hanging with our friends at REI and Davidson Bicycles and finding all the commuter gear we can. Related Interbike blogs include

• Interbike Times
• Masiguy
• Bike Portland
• Crooked Cog

Also see Bikeblogs.com for a directory of blogs and you’ll know us in Vegas by our Bike Hugger shirts.

On the eve of a public meeting about the Seattle Bicycle Master Plan, KUOW’s Weekday is discussing cycling in Seattle.

To us, it’s all in the details, and less a master grand plan. Add more bike lanes, bike racks, and signs and that’ll make an enormous difference. I posted on this topic previously and the Seattle Weekly article criticizing the city. The city deserves the criticism. We do have great paths, but terrible on-street routes.

Yesterday, outside of the new Alley 24, we stopped for coffee and there are no bike racks. Across the street is REI, lots of bikes rolling out of that building, and here we were putting our bikes against a tree. The master plan should also have developers promoting cycling.

Another example is Alaskan Way, where thousands of cyclist ride the paths. When the cruise ships are in port, it’s a mess of traffic, cars in bike lanes, taxis, and not a friendly place to ride.

The Seattle PI reports on how cycling is helping MS patients fight fatigue and the related Group Health MS 150 tour on September 9 and 10th. The bike tour is a, “unforgettable, two-day journey through Skagit, Whatcom and Island counties.”

The article profiles Kathy McFadden, an MS patient and participant in the MS 150, who said, “I simply don’t think I would be feeling this good without riding.”

A young Iranian cyclist will pedal 5,200 kilometers around the Caspian Sea to raise environmental issues and is expected to take 40 days.

Our sport-utility project bike, named Bettie, is being built. In today’s gallery updates, you can see Pam making a DIY cushion for Xtracycle’s SnapDeck, the boxes for the FreeRadical, and Stokemonkey.

Bettie, is a Bike Hugger project to build a sport-utility bike. Learn more by browsing the project tag tag. What’s a sport utility bike? It’s a bike that fits the cycling lifestyle. Use it to haul, commute, for fun, and to meet your transportation needs.

single track sandwich, by LJ0913.

Click through and look at this one larger (or huge) -- I was drawn to it because of the cyclocross frame with dirt drops in the center picture.

Featuring an evening of outdoor film and music, brought to you by Northwest Film Forum and the Cascade Bicycle Club, the Seattle Bike In is a unique outdoor event featuring live music and demonstrations about biking and the outdoors. Ending with movies on a big, outdoor screen, the event will be like going to Bike Hugga Town!

The Bike Hugger photostream has been updated with shots from our relaxing coastal ride in Birch Bay. There were clouds that didn’t concern us, big rolls of wheat, and lots of signs.

While the roads didn’t have shoulders, the traffic was light enough to be just fine.

We were racing both weekends and missed the Tour de Fat, the self-descrbed philanthropic cycling circus. In Seattle, the event raised $5,019, drained 19 kegs, 100 cyclists paraded, and 1,000 people partied.

That stats from Portland aren’t up yet on New Belgium’s site, but you know that was a huge party, as seen in these Flickr photos from Bike Portland. BikePortland’s Jonathan Maus blogged it and noted that, “got started with the craziest bike parade I’ve ever done … closer to 400 showed up.” And bystanders were “awestruck at the scene.”

Indeed!

Journal and Courier Online | 2 killed in charity bike ride

Two riders in an Indiana charity ride were killed Tuesday, and another remains in critical condition, after a truck hit their follow van, pushing it into a pack of 10 riders.

The riders were in a group riding to commemorate and raise money for fallen police officers. Gary Martin, a retired Gary, Indiana police officer, and Lt. Gary Dudley of the Indiana State Police died near Terre Haute Tuesday. They were about midway on a 102-mile day that itself was about midway on a ride scheduled to run August 16th through August 28th.

Investigators closed down the road for hours on Tuesday, and are looking into whether the Towne Air Freight truck was speeding. The van was displaying a warning sign and flashing its hazards.

In light of the riders' deaths, the ride is being cancelled.

As it does too freaking often, our sympathies go out to the families of the dead, and to the injured and their families.

Also:

IndyStar.com | 2 officers are killed during bike ride

New York Times | Two Cyclists Die in Crash During Ride for Charity

A favorite Xtracycle add-on is the bike blender and the Juice Peddler demonstrates why in a video blog post. No better way to beat the late summer heat, then ride to a shady tree and blend yourself up a smoothie with your bike!

We’re waiting for all the project sport utility bike parts to get in, most are here, and checking the creative uses Xtracycle owners are finding for their FreeRadicals, including a bike towing a bike.

Sponsored by the Bicycle Alliance of Washington, Washington State is offered share the road bike plates.

As of August 1st, over 1150 plates have been sold, which explains why I’ve been seeing them so much!

Devant le Pont de Solférino, by Panoramas.

So I saw the masterpiece that is Snakes on a Plane this weekend. There were some very obvious product placements in the movie, including Kawasaki Motorcycles, Dell Computers (all the overhead monitors on the plane have little Dell logos), and Red Bull.

Then, in the closing credits, I noticed a familiar name, Xootr, which makes some cool folding bikes and scooters.

Thing is, I don't remember seeing any bikes or scooters in the movie. So, did anybody else spot Xootr's contribution to the campiest film since Road House?

Update: Steve Kovalchik from Xootr says they sent a bike, cap, and a T-shirt. Did anybody catch any of them in the movie?

TreeHugger's search for celebrity cyclists is paying off. Interestingly, none of the submissions feature portrayals from film or TV -- it's all celebrities who ride in Real Life, including a post from G Living featuring Travis Barker (BMX frame), Elle Macpherson, Hilary Duff, and Lindsey Lohan (all on wide-whitewall cruisers), Chloe Sevigny on a folding bike, and Naomi Watts on a hybrid.

My favorite was a link to this video from Daryl Hannah on urban cycling, featuring her ride in L.A.'s Critical Mass. (If that link isn't working, try this one.)

How’d you like a herd of bike trailers to show up at your place to assist your move in a pedal-powered way? Then contact Portland’s Move By Bike, a crew that’ll move your house with bikes.

When I first started researching our sport utility bike project, I arrived at the Puppet Parade bike move and it looked way more fun than pizza, beer, and a U haul!

Mark emailed this photo of This Bike is a Pipe Bomb, who played a The Vera Project gig last night. As Mark said, the band is “the origin of the infamous sticker that causes the police to crack down on bike punks with righteous fury.”

See the wikipedia entry for more on stickers that freak cops out.

If that free energy claim from Steorn is correct (and defies the basic laws of the universe), just imagine a magnetized motor assist for our sport utility bike project! Steorn claims, among other examples, that it provides five times the amount of energy a mobile phone battery generates for the same size, and does not have to be recharged. Not recharging a Stokemonkey would be fabulous or as they’d say on Wayne’s World, “monkeys might fly out my butt.”

Checked in on the Ditty Bops and they’re coming to the Northwest in September. The Ditty Bops are on a national bicycle tour to promote cycling, clean air, and their new album.

NPR profiled them today with an interview that includes a discussion of their longest ride.

That’s Bryan Rhoads and Todd Fahrner riding a Super Monkey, a sport utility bike built with a Surly Karate Monkey, Xtracycle and Stokemonkey electric motor assist. We’re building one of these up right now, as a Bike Hugger project, and will blog the whole thing this Fall.

For the bike geek, the Super Monkey is a 29 incher with 26 inch wheels. “What the?” you ask … details here and photos in our sport utility bike gallery.

I shared that look on Bryan’s face, likening it to taking a kid to the fair and putting them on the tea-pot ride for the first time, when I rode the Super Monkey. Besides the utility, it was just absolutely fun.

In preparation for a thorough reconstruction of the Toronto waterfront, the city of Toronto is in the middle of a festival taking some of the waterfront pavement back for pedestrians and cyclists. Called “Quay to the City,” it's part preview and part dry run of the future traffic plan on the shore of Lake Ontario. It runs only through Sunday, August 20th.

Next year, the city will start on a revitalization plan that includes a maple leaf-shaped floating pontoon island and a vastly improved streetscape, along with a permanent connection between the two sections of the Martin Goodman Trail.

BikingToronto offers a rundown of the weeek's events, while arch-enemy bikeToronto offers a project overview.

Local reaction to the experiment is mostly positive, but one respondent noted, "What I don't like is the huge cycle archway at the foot of York St. by Queen's Quay [above] - what an ugly thing."

That temporary sculpture is being called “l'arc de cyclomphe,” and it's made from unclaimed bikes recovered by the Toronto Police. It's not part of the permanent plan.

Indeed, the success of the test has many, including Toronto Star columnist Christopher Hume, wondering why not extend the “temporary” improvements at least through Labor Day?

Also:

Flickr.com | Photos tagged "quaytothecity"

Treehugger | Hollywood Bike Patrol Wants YOU

Treehugger is on a noble quest. Depressed by Steve Carrell's loser cyclist in The 40-Year-Old Virgin, and a similar sad sack in Talladega Nights, Treehugger is looking for positive media potrayals of cyclists.

Problem is, well, I'm not sure there are any.

Unless we go back to the '80s movies Breaking Away and (the largely laughable) American Flyers, the best I can come up with is the hot bike cops who starred in five seasons of USA Network's Pacific Blue, a cop drama about the squad of bike cops who patrol Venice Beach.

It's so hard to find Hollywood cycling portrayals that aren't dorky that Treehugger fell back on pictures of Brad Pitt riding with two of the Jolie-Pitt children from Us Magazine.

Others?

Coudal Partners | Fresh Signals

Made us feel so good we wanted to share the love, so here's a link to another great bike t-shirt, this one from Threadless: It's “Infinity MPG”.

Fremont Bridge, by Paul Bausch.

Congratulations to everyone who participated in Providence Bridge Pedal (route map) in Portland today. The Bridge Pedal covers 6, 8, or 10 of the city's bridges over the Willamette River, with ride distances up to 38 miles.

The City of Portland and Oregon DOT close some of the route to cars for the duration of the ride, and I saw that at least one of the bridges (Hawthorne Bridge) had fresh plywood placed over the metal bridge lanes just for the ride.

Organizers made a number of changes this year to address complaints after last year's ride, including encouraging fast riders to take off at 6:30 a.m. and restricting kids riding solo to the shorter rides. If you rode, how did the changes work?

About 15,000 riders reportedly participated, which would make the Bridge Pedal the 3rd biggest ride in the US, behind the Five Boro Bike Tour in New York and the 20,000-rider Bike the Drive in Chicago (others, anyone?).

Also:

amphicon | portland bridge pedal!

Flickr | Photos tagged with Bridge Pedal

The shirts are now shipping and after wearing mine for the day, I can say that they’re fan-freakin’-tastic! Check our gallery for photos of the shirts and our purchase page has been updated.

What’s really nice is that the logo is blended well into the shirt, looking pre-washed, comfortable and very hugga.

Bicycle Film Festival

The Chicago edition of the Bicycle Film Festival runs through Saturday, with dates still scheduled in London, San Francisco, Sydney, Tokyo, and Milan.

Highlights for Saturday include a 32-minute preview of M.A.S.H., an upcoming film about the San Francisco fixie scene by Michael Martin and Gabe Morford (1:30 preview), and a big-screen presentation of the 1976 classic A Sunday in Hell.

Here's a PDF of the Chicago program, and a link to a PDF version of the LA Bicycle Film Festival Poster.

The Bike Hugger photostream has been updated with photos from our rides in the Methow Valley. Big Yellow trucks rolled by every three minutes, swirling up the smoke from nearby fires. As we rode back to the hotel, we started counting the trucks. 12 at a time, in synchronized waves: pedal, pedal, pedal, “BIG YELLOW TRUCK,” pedal, pedal, pedal (repeat).

Despite the trucks and smoke, Mazama has incredible riding and is very cycling friendly with bike route signs, wide shoulders, and nice people everywhere.

Chicagoland Bicycle Federation Stickers

The Chicagoland Bicycle Federation is offering three different “fender stickers,” 2" x 5.25" each.

There's “Use your head, wear a helmet,” “I AM TRAFFIC,” and (at left) “Bike Lane Hottie.” Get two of each for $5, which includes shipping.

Specialized Movies Presents

Specialized has launched a new promo site for its Stumpjumper mountain bike and Roubaix road bike. It's presented as a “ride-in movies” site, with short video clips on both bikes.

And it's really beautiful. I know I'm being sold to, but I couldn't resist clicking around to see what else I could make happen, and the rendering and Flash work are really top-notch.

The Stumpjumper video owes a lot to “Itchy and Scratchy,” and didn't do much for me, but the Roubaix video, where you can barely even see the bike, has a chance of going viral -- before I was sent this link, I had already seen the video, by itself, linked at How to Avoid the Bummer Life, and it's also up at YouTube.

Pam and I are off on vacation and riding miles in Mazama, Wa. We haven’t planned anything specific, but will ride some combination of these roads, and a stage or two from the Methow Valley Tour, which was earlier this year. I’ll post on the “awe-inspiring scenery and challenging courses” while recovering from the rides at the Freestone Inn.

In the Fall, the Methow Valley Sports Trails Association puts on the 20th Annual Fall Bike Festival with road rides, mountain, cyclocross, and much more.

Mark and I were downtown, on an errand ride, stopped at an intersection, and both spotted the bra on a hydrant. He snapped it while I recited all the possible ways that went down: “a drunken night, did someone lose this bra, did they take it off, where are the matching panties?”

The photo is also a great example of all the interesting things that can happen on rides. This one time, I was riding along with Marcus and by accident we found ourselves at the front of an AIDS ride finish. So, what did we do? Rode right through the finish, like we’d done the whole ride, and celebrated with everyone else!

What interesting things have happened to you when riding? Met a pro, a star, found a garden gnome, met your lover?

The shirts have arrived, are being printed, and should be ready to ship on Monday of next week (8/14/06). Those that have pre-ordered are in the queue first and we’re excited here to start wearing them ourselves!

You can purchase the shirts from Paypal or our Amazon store. If neither of those work, you can also contact us directly and we’ll take your order over the phone.

A celebri-bike today, as one New Yorker's ride keeps turning up on Flickr:

Apparently, this bike belongs to Andy Padre, who has commented on some of the bike's Flickr pages. He mentioned a photoshoot with an AP photographer, so you might see this bike turn up as a feature photo in your local paper soon. Here are a few more:

By SantiJose, with Andy on board

By mdumlao98

By ultrasparky

By S.D.

By notsleepy

Expired MetroCards are often used creatively.

2 Wheel Commute | Ragbrai Pics & the Lance Glance

Over at 2 Wheel Commute, “ajb” posts on his RAGBRAI experience, and on his quest to get the elusive Lance Armstrong picture. He spent 9 miles at 25 mph chasing (and losing) Armstrong's posse one day, and then got another chance the next day.

Don't miss the results...

The Bike Hugger photostream has been updated with a new gallery system that includes Commuters, Culture, Races, Rides

You can comment on photos, subscribe to a gallery, all the galleries, or just the photos.

Cool.

It’s the time of year in Seattle, when I often say, “I love living here.” As the NYTimes reports, “Clouds lift, mountains and water come out of hiding, decks fill with flowers and bare limbs, and trendy menus promote a different local berry every week: strawberries, raspberries, marionberries.” And the cyclists all come out!

My favorite city rides include

• Magnolia loop — along the waterfront, Myrtle Edwards Park, up to Magnolia, and back.
• Alki path — from my house, spectacular views of the sound, people, down the path and bike.
• The Super Special — through downtown, Westlake ave, right at Red Robin, Lake Wa blvd.

For more on rides in Seattle, see the bike maps and remember the Bicycle Saturday and Sunday weekends along the lake.

What are your favorite rides in your city?

The AP reports on a new study showing that Americans are falling out of love with their cars. Let the break ups begin! And go on the rebound with “economy and efficiency.” I travel a lot, speaking about my book, blogging, and consulting and I’ll go out of my way to not get a car, bring my bike, and use mass transit. My Volvo is a great car and a pleasure to drive on the open road, but there’s no joy in a commute or drive to the grocery store.

Last week when I met a commuter who had given up his car, I wondered how many more drivers had done that recently. Have any of you? Know anyone that’s dropped their car like a bad habit?

For the last two years or so, I've carried a 3.1-megapixel ultracompact Casio Exilim digital camera almost everywhere I went. On rides, it got stuck into a baggy, then into a jersey pocket.

It's really handy to always have a decent camera around. If the kids do something cute, “snap!” At a race, and the 6-time reigning Tour de France champ happens by? “Snap” - above.

I have a prosumer digital SLR, too (a Nikon D70), but it's so big and bulky that I only use it on planned shoots -- family outings, photo strolls, etc.

Recently, I had to hand off the Exilim to a coworker, and I've been jonesing for a replacement, so I'm looking for suggestions: What's the current state-of-the-art for a jersey-pocket digital camera?

The three things I've found most frustrating about the Exilim: shutter lag, poor low-light performance, and only adequate optical zoom.

It looks like the nearest replacement for the one I've used is Casio's Exilim EX-Z600, or its close sibling the Exilim EX-S600.

Reviews suggest they're faster with better low-light performance than their 3-year-old cousin, but still only 3x zoom.

Also under consideration is the Fujifilm FinePix E900. It's American Photo's “Camera of the Year” among Digital Compacts, and it's supposed to have great low-ISO performance, and 4x rather than class-standard 3x zoom.

Another candidate I'm considering is Canon's PowerShot A620.

So does anyone have any advice, positive or negative, on compact digicams in the $250-$350 range?

Looking for our picture of the day, I found a couple other photos with a similar theme:

From missingsaddle, these super-long, super-low choppers, from a new company, PedalHawg, that dispense with chainstays completely, combining a monostay with motorcycle-style fork and a chain about a half-a-mile long.

Here's another chopper bike from the day's Flickr stream; this one gets its length by having insane fork rake -- the fork is practically horizontal:

BikePortland.org | Judge finds fault with fixies

In Portland on Thursday, a judge ruled that fixed-gear bikes must be equipped with brakes.

A bike messenger named Ayla Holland was ticketed for violating Oregon's cycling law, which like many states requires a bicycle to “be equipped with a brake that enables the operator to make the braked wheels skid on dry, level, clean pavement.”

Many fixie enthusiasts maintain that brakes are unnecessary, since the rider can slow the bike by resisting the pedals' rotation, meeting the “skid” requirement.

Holland and her attorney argued unsuccessfully that the fixed cogset and the rider's leg power constitute a brake, but the judge was not convinced. “If your client had a stick she could rub against her tire, you'd have a case,” he said, but the brake must be a device separate from the rider.

Nice job of reporting by BikePortland, which apparently sat in on the case, and says Holland may appeal; she has 30 days to decide.

Update: Jonathan has updated the story at BikePortland after it was linked at BoingBoing.

Besides the shirts, socks, stickers and other schwag, another product we’re working on now with SchoonerExact is Bike Hugger Brown, a mellow, nut-brown style ale, brewed for cyclists on skinny tires.