Do you want increased access for bikes on Bart?

There's a petition here.
The text of the petition:

We believe that bicycles are becoming a greater portion of public transportation participants, and as such, deserve increased access to public transportation. As the price of gasoline raises, businessmen and soccer moms alike are leaving their automobiles in the garage in favor of a more cost-efficient, smog-reducing, and healthy mode of transportation. Part of this transition includes bicycles and part of it includes public transportation - and we believe they can co-exist.

Increased overall community health and wellness, reduced pollution, and money savings could go a long way towards BART's own public image. BART could follow, by example, international cities like Paris and Amsterdam, that leverage the bike commuting population's support to expand its system. Even national cities like Portland and Pittsburgh are already following suit, with the idea of stimulating public support during environmental campaigns. Children and adults alike would benefit from greater independence and access to new destinations within the Bay Area, benefiting the smaller businesses that make up the cultural communities that the Bay Area is known for. BART stations would become strong hubs of these communities.

We ask BART to mark one car on every train as "bike-friendly":

• accessible to all bikes (not simply folding ones),
• accessible during all operating hours,
• permitted in all stations.

Such a car could be modified to fit more bicycles, without obstructing paths of travel, and have standing sections for cyclists dismounting the train at their departure.

We believe BART can be part of the solution by increasing access for Bikes on BART.

Momentum Magazine at Interbike

Momentum will be presenting an urban cycling fashion show at Interbike.

The "Urban Legend" Art + Fashion show, which is presented by Interbike and Momentum Magazine, will take place at 5pm on Thursday, September 25th in the Venetian Ballroom G of the Sands Convention Center.

This promises to be an interesting event as the fashion component of the show will focus mainly on urban and relaxed cycling clothing. Furthermore, as an urban themed art and fashion show, it is only fitting that the models will be riding bikes: urban bikes, townies, city bikes, commuters, basket bikes, beater bikes, grocery getters, cafe cruisers, etc.

And like any proper Interbike function, there will be beer and other assorted tasty, cold beverages available for consumption.

Vans Fixed

Some of you may have already seen this, but Vans is going to be making Era Fixed shoes. As you can see from the pictures below (from sneakerfreaker.com), they are based on the Era model but made with a ballistic nylon body and a leather toe (to prevent premature wear that usually arises from Toshi doubles). The shoelaces have been enhanced with reflective twining.

Last but not least, the shoes come with a matching seat bag. This will surely reduce the number of "shoes, belt, & bag must match" fashion rule violations.

How to use a bus bike rack

An instructional video set to music.

Bike Lane Fail

From failblog.org.

Portland Bike Boxes

Yet another entry about bicycle commuting & city streets that are safe & usable for cyclists. We like to ride our bikes to work, can you tell?

Recently, we've noticed that bike boxes have been popping up on both coasts. What is a bike box?
The City of Portland Office of Transportation says that:
A bike box is an intersection safety design to prevent bicycle/car collisions, especially those between drivers turning right and bicyclists going straight. It is a green box on the road with a white bicycle symbol inside. It includes green bicycle lanes approaching and leading from the box.

How do you use a bike box?

I know that New York, Portland, San Francisco, & Copenhagen have installed several bike boxes, but are there any other cities that have them as well? (As a side note: Portland is stalling on the installation of several bike boxes that it had previously promised to install. The reasons given for the hold up on the installations vary & you can read the whole story at OregonLive).

But, even though they may be dragging their feet on installing more bike boxes, Portland seems to be on the right track with respect to making the streets & city more accessible & safe for city cyclists.
This diagonal intersection looks lovely!

Bike Commuting By the Numbers

From U.S. News: Bike Commuting By the Numbers, Compared to Americans, Europeans are way out in front.

From the article:

In Portland, Ore., 3.5 percent of trips to work are made by bike, the highest share among the 50 largest American cities. The lowest: Kansas City, Mo., at a paltry 0.02 percent.
37 percent of short trips (under 2.5 kilometers, or 1.5 miles) are made on a bicycle in the Netherlands, compared with 2 percent in the United States. 1.1 cyclists are killed per 100 million km cycled there; in the United States, 5.8 cyclists are killed per 100 million km.

Everybody ride & drive safely & hooray for Portland!

Trek's Go By Bike Challenge

Trek will be giving away a Trek 7.2 FX (approximate retail value of $500) every day to a Go By Bike pledger. 46 lucky pledgers will win a new Trek 7.2 FX.
You can find more information & sign up at the 1world2wheels website.

Trek will be heavily promoting the Go By Bike Challenge. Trek's independent bicycle dealers will be taking people's in-store pledges and Trek will be running a couple of full-page print ads in USA Today.


From the 1world2wheels website here are 6 things you can do:

1. Ride your bike, especially for trips under two miles. Why? The emission controls on your car are not operating effectively in the first few minutes thus short trips create more pollution.
2. Get your kids to ride. In 1964 50% of kids rode to school and the obesity rate was 12%…in 2004, 3% rode to school and the obesity rate was 45%. To learn more, check out www.saferoutestoschools.org.
3. Get your friends to ride their bikes. Challenge them to find out where they can pedal within two miles of their house, then encourage them to take a bike for short trips.
4. Contact your state bicycle advocacy group and support their efforts.
5. Like to ride mountain bikes? Join the IMBA and support their efforts to open new trails and maintain existing trails.
6. Keep updated on important issues and events. Sign up for 1world2wheels.org.

Trek & 1world2wheels scores bonus points with me for including SafeRoutesToSchools. I think that the SafeRoutesToSchools program has the potential to be one of the most effective bike outreach programs out there.


I am sure that we all have heard that "Great minds think alike" and so it should not be surprising to note that there are some similarities between Trek's Go By Bike Challenge & Clif Bar's 2 Mile Challenge.

Clif began their Two Mile Challenge at Interbike 2007 & the heavily promoted it with a team of people van touring the country on bio-fuel, smiles, & Clif Bars trying to get more people out of their cars and onto their bikes.
More about their bus:

They also have a pictures of the bus from Interbike 2007 and a photo set from their 2007 2 Mile Challenge bus tour.

So, tell your friends & buy some baskets for your townie because those groceries won't get themselves!