December 2007 Archives

Back from Maui, and unpacking the Modal, I learned that way below zero degrees Tri-flow freezes into a gelatinous mass. I guess the Modal was put in the unheated cargo hull of the plane, cause it came back cold and stiff, with a gooey-bottled-blob of dry lube.

That interesting lesson was one of many this year for Bike Hugger. Traveling all over the world with a bike certainly changes one’s perspective and also reaffirms a common thread of cycling everywhere. In all my travels, I’d meet someone that wanted to talk bikes with me and that includes broken English at a Beijing bike pit stop.

Our 22nd Huggacast, and last one for 07, features a tour of Brompton’s Factory with Will Butler-Adams, Engineering Director. Brompton is the London-based designer and manufacturer of the Brompton folding bicycle and related accessories.

I posted earlier this month on riding a Brompton with their tech specialist, Rory Ferguson. The video features a discussion of all the parts that go into a Brompton, welding, wheel building, and assembly. The bike shown at the end, folded by my desk, is the one I brought home. It’s a new model with a rear frame clip and a snappy 2 speed drivetrain.

Sounds like Matthew Paris, a grumpy old times columnist, got up on the wrong side of his bed this year. In a satirical column entitled What’s smug and deserves to be decapitated? he goes on at some length about how in addition to all the normal atrocities associated with cyclists he’s now identified littering as enough to drive him to beheading unsuspecting riders as they zoom past. Some how I think Mr. Paris might be exaggerating a bit, but it’s interesting to see anti-cyclist sentiment in the media in London as well as in Seattle.

What’s really educational though are the comments (you may have to click the ‘read all … comments’ link yourself, sorry), almost uniformly pro-cyclist. It’s a refreshing change for me to see positive public reaction in the media.

There are a lot of things to like in this photo: New Orleans, single speed city bikes, urban cycling, many (3!) kids in tow, and the fact that Brad Pitt seems to have adopted my habit of sticking ones tongue out when hauling a heavy load. Most of all I’m encouraged that cycling culture can get a bit of a plug from the celebrities of the day.

Too bad about the helmets though. Maybe the Pitt-Jolies can use a bit of their celebri-clout to engender more stylish helmets in the future. Links back to where the story came from (thanks Reno-Rambler!). I blame the Ibob folks (background reading on the Bobs) for pointing me in the right direction.

The wet, windy, and stormy weather shortened most of our Maui rides and made the trip to Hana and back downright brutal at times, especially when climbing. The road conditions make for tense riding because it’s slick and unpredictable. Where you’d normally slice through the s-curves, with body english and power to the pedals, the red clay-slicked road means your riding with the bike upright and very carefully — clay buildup is also a problem. Riding Maui in the rain, beats 40 degrees in Seattle, but it’s still rain.

The PI’s got an interesting article on licensing cyclists. It’s a popular and perennial idea — it’s even come up in the Washington Legislature repeatedly in recent years. The concept generally seems to be that cyclists should pay to use roads.

Fortunately, it’s pretty easy to figure out that licensing cyclists to pay for roads isn’t a good idea. It generally isn’t taken too seriously in Olympia and elsewhere, the PI Sound Off section notwithstanding. The PI has actually hosted editorials on the facts of how cyclists fund roads in the past.

In our 21st episode of the Huggacast, we ride Maui — to the world’s best banana bread stand, Hana, and everywhere else.

Download now for iTunes, your iPod, and iPhone

Carrying wrapping paper to the condo to wrap some presents from Santa …

Enjoy the Holidays all — the bike hugging will continue in 08 — thanks for reading and being part of bike culture with us.

Here are a couple safety related gift ideas for the cyclist you want to see back home again after that next winter ride:

• Glo Gloves The traffic directing gloves police officers use. These make it impossible to miss hand signals. Better yet, they’re simple Lycra shells, so they fit over any glove you have. They can be a bit hard to find, but you can buy them at Blumenthal Uniforms and Equipment on line, or at their retail outlet here in Seattle (9 am to 1 pm on the 24th!). About $25
• Princeton Tec EOS headight It’s been said before many times, many ways but this is a great headlight. Benefits: Bright, Cheap ($40), light weight (4 oz. - with batteries), AAA batteries, 60 hrs run time for flashing, adjustable angle. Best feature — zip tie-able it to your helmet visor. This avoids the strap-a-rock-to-your-head problem with helmet mounts. Available at Second Ascent and other outdoors stores in Seattle and elsewhere.
• Knog Frog — This is about as simple a light as you can get, and a fantastic backup light for visibility. Nice and bright on fresh batteries. I see these at every bike store I visit, usually $10 for a single light.

Happy Holidays Huggers, and safe cycling to you!

This year Bike Hugger supported World Bicycle Relief with bikes purchased in lieu of holiday gifts for friends, family, and partners. The postcards announcing the bike gifts were sent out this week and said, “May the Holidays fill your spirit for many miles to come.”

A cool, rockabilly cruiser, next to a Hummer, on the Lahaina strip.

Before Maui rides, I’ll eat light, ride to a banana bread stand, and fuel up. Riding back from Hana, I went a little too far, and was bonking — I ate 1/2 a loaf in about two bites and that satisfied the hunger.

Getting that hungry reminded me of various bonks and eating whatever was in sight — that includes a burger once and I don’t eat beef. What’s your worst bonk? How do you satisfy the hunger after a long ride?

Just in time for the Maui rides, the Bike Hugger decals arrived for the Modal …

The decals include chainstay, seatstay, and a badge for the fork.

Specialized’s “Innovate or Die” (previously blogged here) is finished, and the submissions are up on Youtube. Entries range from useful to mundane to culinary

A couple of my favs:

• The Aquaduct a tricycle for transporting water from a distant (3rd world?) water source and purifying it along the trip. It converts to a stationary mode to continue filtration. This solves a real problem in many parts of the world.
• the Pedal Powered Mobile Call shop. This great little idea is not only a pedal powered application,it’s a full fledged business model.
• a Pedal-Powered Fridge
. Another real-world application here, this could potentially keep vaccines cool off the grid.

I didn’t get time to review all 101 entries, what’s your fav?

GizMag.com reports that MIT have announced a bicycle powered supercomputer - sort of. Sure they used a machine that only draws 8 Watts, and maybe their cycling team only powered it for 20 minutes, but it’s still sort of cool.

Check out this awesome nighttime video of Dekochari — Japanese art bikes (Deko = decorated, chari = slang for bicycle). The bikes are ‘dressed up’ to resemble Dekotora, highly stylized trucks popular in Japan in the mid 1970s. Loaded down with flashing lights, boxes, mirrors, cup holders, hi-fi systems, everything — these bikes (and their bigger truckier cousins) are particularly impressive at night. There are several active dekochari fleets in Japan to this day.

So I just finished up with assembling the Kappa frame for my girlfriend. If she likes it, I’m gonna have the braze-ons for the sissy bar added to the stays and then have the frame re-powdercoated. Also, tomorrow the Redline straight seatpost will come in to replace the current layback post. Eventually, I’ll get a different banana seat and new wheels too.

How does it ride? AWESOME!!!!

Messrs. Hiller and McGrath (two of Cascade’s Bike Advocacy staff) will be at Tangletown pub Thursday Dec 20 starting a 7. They’ll be talking advocacy with you and anybody else who can make it. Please RSVP to Patrick if you’re planning on attending. I don’t think this’ll be your last chance, so if you’ve got another engagement (like the .83 Race of Champions ride/race) maybe you can catch them next time. Or, head down hill to Greenlake to watch the races!

I stopped over at Byron’s place Sunday and got a chance to ogle his stable of bikes. Of course the one I went to see was the Kona Ute. I’ve long been interested in the longtail concept - mostly for a short-haul option and trips to the store. I live on pretty serious hill, so for me the idea of a 50lb bike is probably a little foolish, but there is a local grocery that I’d love to have a quality longtail for (today I schlep messenger bags or tow the trailer).

Anyway – it was raining so I didn’t get an extended test ride, but the Ute was awesome. It’s far more sturdy than the Bettie which has a decent amount of whip to it. The Ute just makes more gradual turns than a regular mountain bike, but it doesn’t have that unstable feel that you get on some xtracycles. The deck and the footpegs (standard? – not sure) looked great and added a nice 2nd-passenger option. One of the nice points on the trim was the Hayes mechanical discs. I’m a big disc fan, but I’m easily disappointed by manufacturers cutting corners to save money. In a lot of lower-range bikes they use the Tektro disc setup. I love Tektro parts…just not their disc brakes. The rotors warp too easily and adjustable they are not – good choice by Kona for taking the high road there. The rest of the drivetrain was predictably predictable Shimano. The Cork grips were a nice touch too.

What would I change? I’d go with a Brooks saddle for that nice up-right position. I’d probably go with a slightly wider mustache bar and add some campus pedals - having that “upstroke” can be a good thing when hauling a load. Other than that it’s built pretty nicely. When I can convince the wife that I need one more bike…this one might be it.

We’re packed and leaving for Maui on a day of pouring rain. At least, it’s not the windstorm from last year!

Check the Timbuk2 bag snugly fit in the S&S case, next to the Modal. I designed that a couple of weeks ago with the BYOB feature and it matches the hugga colors. Like the Crumpler I took to London, but more compact to fit into the smaller S&S travel case. I’ll use that for errands and a few shorter rides. Inside of it are tools, pedals, HRM, etc. Also notice on the bottom left, the green Knog Frog light.

Get started on new years cycling resolutions right off the bat: noon on the 1st. Meet up at Greenlake, near the basketball courts. This’ll be a slow speed ride to Golden Gardens. Cargo bikes are bound to abound, but the invite is open to all. See you there!

Looks like Seattle’s taking the issue of cyclists getting doored seriously, or at least more seriously. There’s a new sign up on Dexter and SDOT would like to know what you think it means — Take the survey here. Maybe we’ll see more of these soon if the general public can figure out what they mean.

I’ve been the recipient of a door prize myself (I lived — I was headed up hill thankfully) and there’s not much I worry about more when riding my bike. How many huggers have had close encounters of the car door variety? What are your cities doing about it?

We’ll stop directly shipping our Hugga comfort retail line (socks, shirts, jerseys) from December 18 until the new year. All of our goods are available on Amazon.com and shipping for Christmas Eve until the 22nd. See the deadlines at Amazon Gift Central.

• Socks (temporarily sold out)
• Shirts
• Jerseys

Note that the socks sold out this week, but we’ve got new stock already en route. Clip-n-Seals are also shipping from Amazon.com.

It happens all the time: boy meets girl, boy decides to get her a bicycle. This is especially true for hardcore bike geeks. These relationships don’t always work out. Scan eBay listings for road bikes smaller than 52cm and you’ll find a dozens of stories about bikes for girlfriends that just ended up collecting dust. Oh, and the girlfriends don’t always stick around either. Then that bike definitely is an eyesore.

So getting your girlfriend a bike is always a risky move. But it can be fun.

Hugger departs next week for our annual Maui ride. We’ll ride to Hana, upcountry Haleakala, and more for about 28 hours of ride time. If we’re feeling good, we may just ride around the whole island. I’ll have the Modal with me.

Posts and podcasts to follow.

Portland is certainly known for bikes, but also now for electric cars. In the background of this shot are three cars at an electric charging station.

The USA Cycling 2007 Cyclocross Nationals are well underway in Kansas City this week, with results from the first day already starting to roll in. Races continue today through Sunday, and over 2000 will be racing. Several of the Elite champions will be attending to defend titles. However the most interesting development will be something we all love to talk about: the weather — 2 to 4 inches of snow are expected on the course by Saturday morning. This will definitely make the later races more… exciting. Best of luck racers!

“High-performance folding” isn’t a combination of words that most cyclists would use; unless, they’ve ridden a Brompton. I was surprised by the positive feel, speed, and climbing ability of a bike that fits in an airplane overhead comparment. To see how Brompton builds their bikes, I toured the factory outside of London and learned much about a bike that’s in a constant state of engineering — for over 20 years.

As you know, we followed the Clif Bar 2 Mile Challenge on its maiden voyage. We liked their message, more bikes, less cars and increasing knowledge as to what is our personal “rideable universe”. They almost got run over by Bill Clinton’s security detail, met some zany bike characters (which is part of the reason we do what we do right?) and spread the word that riding, riding and more riding is the way to go. In Huggacast Episode Nineteen, we recap, you listen.

Took the Kona Ute out for a quick ride this afternoon with the family. A full ride and report to follow …

Just outside of the Chiswick neighborhood on a bike path, I spotted this old Pashley.

London’s OYBike, a street-based rental station network that allows you to hire and return a bicycle via your mobile phone.

from the Bike Hugger Photostream.

Rode with the commuters and messengers this morning. Talked with several commuters about their ride and all of them were quite proud of the London Cycling Campaign and noted how much it had changed in the past 3 years.

I don’t doubt there’s still much work to do … other cyclists offered help. With the roundabouts, one-way streets, and traffic, I was lost and that was obvious. I rode along the Mall, Hyde Park, and more.

Riding to the Yahoo! Developer Summit, I met Chris from Ask.com, asked where to go, and he showed me the way. Chris told me about his urban assault commute in London and we rode in traffic, sidewalks, crossing roundabouts, and most of it was a blur, but I arrived intact and safely. It was raining, 40 degrees, and I felt right at home.

The wrong side of the road thing confuses me most at intersections and roundabouts, so I just wait for other cyclists and see where they go.

After some consideration, I’ll just ride all 3 routes tomorrow.

Links regarding the recent Burlington Northern Santa Fe Eastside rail line and the current standstill between The Port and King County.

Call to Action: Port Getting Cold Feet on BNSF Corridor

What’s wrong with trails opponent’s claims?

Eastside rail: We just don’t get it (Opposing Op-Ed published Dec. 4th)

And it was at that moment, reading the paper about bike thieves in London, that I realized I’d forgot to pack the lock! Well, ok, I can fold it and take it with me into most places … that also explains all the thoroughly locked bikes on racks I saw during the cab ride into town.

While listening to Police & Thieves, by The Clash, I read more about cycling in London:

• Safer Cycling
• Cycling in the Square Mile
• Give up your car and get £100

En route to London … more from across the Pond later

from the Bike Hugger Photostream.

I’ve wanted to build frames for a long time. I even majored in Material Science Engineering with an outside hope of getting a gig in “the biz”. I got to talk with Brian Marcroft about the steps he took to make his framebuilding dream come true. He’s still a small builder, but he’s quickly making a name for himself amongst the hot Oregon custom frame market.

I’m in Vegas and just now getting reports of the deluge and flooding in Seattle. Anyone ride in that?

Photos from the West Seattle Blog.

In Vegas, off the strip and resorts, out where the locals eat you can get a chicken parm this big for like 8 bucks. Being the off season and all, I didn’t eat all of that, but did put a dent in it.

The Seattle Times reported Saturday that King County Executive Ron Sims and the Port of Seattle no longer agree on the future of BNSF Railway’s Eastside rail line.

The original plan would have The Port purchasing the 42-mile rail line between Renton-to-Snohomish and leasing the southern portion to King County for a hiking and biking trail, in exchange for property on Harbor Island an input on the future of Boeing Field. But with support from citizen’s groups, The Port is now researching the feasibility of running diesel passenger trains on the line, seemingly abandoning the idea of a trail altogether.

The trail would have connected several others serving the area, to create a 125-mile network of recreational trail. Certainly this story is just beginning, and we can expect more information in weeks to come.