Bike Links Round Up Redux

I need to do this more often than I do because there are always awesome things happening in the bicycling world. Here are some that I've come across recently. Painstakingly reconstructed after Blogger got drunk and had its awful, mean spirited way with my formatting.

Tioga releases super thin axleless pedals. I'm not a clip-in guy, I've tried it, hated it and went back to my Power Straps. I like these pedals though it looks like they'd snap under a decent impact even if I'm pretty sure they won't (otherwise Tioga will be replacing lots of them for free!).

 Duplex lever lets disabled cyclists activate both brakes with one hand. I am all for anything that helps as many people as possible get on two or three wheels and power themselves. Self-propulsion is self-empowering.

I have a test for you.

Okay. I know you've already looked at this pic but can you tell me what's wrong with it?

Yes, I can clearly see what's right with it.

And no, its not because she's not wearing a helmet or shoes.

She's dressed perfectly!

The Brompton Dock pilot project aims to make it easy for a commuter to rent a folding bike from a locker at a transit site, ride it to where they want to go, keep it for as long as they need and then return it when they're done and get billed for their time used. Seems pretty straightforward. It'll remain to be seen if the system can fly or not though.

Revolights aim to make you more visible and also make you look a bit like a light cycle from Tron. Not much but a bit.

I'm sure everyone reading this always wears a helmet when they ride but, if not, then here's a powerful personal example of why helmets are a very good thing (hat tip to Martha Stewart), Heads Up for Helmets even if they don't spell helmet correctly the first time (check the URL).

Paul Budnitz makes some pretty beautiful, clean, light and fast titanium town bikes. The one on the left there is the No2, the faster and more aggressive of the two bikes he's produced thus far. The bikes have great lines and are almost certainly fun and fast to ride. The only downside I can see is the price tag of $5500 for one. If I'm dropping $5k on a bike then its gonna be an Ibis Mojo, no question!

Bike Links

Here are some bike links I've come across recently and wanted to pass along. That beautiful old bike pictured there is a 1949 Famous James and was found among bcgreeneiv's Flickr stream, more vintage bike pics linked at the bottom of this post.

Worldbike - cargo style bike for use in rural areas where it can have a great impact on a farmer's income, at least that's what the link says.

Japan's two-second folding bicycle - the link is pretty light on detailed images of how the bike folds so quickly but the video does a pretty good job of showing its action. And its action is slick!

Firefly bike light detects traffic and lights you up for greater visibility with lights on your back and on the street under your bike. And greater visibility means that the soccer mom yakking it up on her phone while wandering lanes in her oversized SUV will be that much more likely to notice you and not obliterate you. One of these days I'll have to post a short video of me demonstrating my latest personal lighting system (still undergoing testing).

The Shimano Alfine 11-speed hub costs about a quarter of a Rohloff and weighs a bit less too. Suh-weet!

French judge issues arrest warrant for Floyd Landis for allegedly hacking the computer systems at the agency doing drug testing on his urine samples that eventually caused him to lose his Tour de France win and get a two year ban from the sport.

And finally, A Treasure Trove of Vintage Photos of Old Motorcycles

To Helmet or Not To Helmet

Among the many things that cyclists and motorcyclists will debate over is helmet use. Since there's no way in hell I'd ride my motorcycle without a helmet (getting into a crash and slamming your helmeted head on the ground is a pretty solid convincer) I'll skip on over to the bicycle side of the debate.

It is my current frame of thought that there are extremely few reasons to ever throw a leg over a bike without strapping a helmet on at the same time. Absolutely for damned sure when I go riding off road for obvious reasons. And yet, I still occasionally see people out riding mountain bikes on single track in Nisene Marks sans lid. It boggles the mind. I'd not ride if I forgot my helmet. The risk versus reward calculation just doesn't balance out.

I don't know if that's because I'm a bit older and quite alot more aware of the myriad frailties of the aging male human body. I used to ride motorcycles in Arizona without a helmet. I used to take what looking back now are ridiculous risks with my life and am lucky enough to have escaped mostly unscathed though with loads of battle scars (which someone once told me chicks dig but even that mostly no longer matters).

Anyway. Helmets.

Are they always, always necessary? Nope, they're actually only necessary when you crash and fall off your bike. Which generally happens when you least expect it though will sometimes happen when you expect it. So if you have perfect knowledge of when you are going to crash on your bike then, by all means, where your helmet only on those days.

Oh what's that? You don't know for sure when you are going to crash next? Hmmm. That presents a little bit of a problem then doesn't it? Probably makes sense to be prepared unless you like to gamble with your higher brain function.

What about if you're playing around on your bike in a park on nice soft grass, there are no other things to smack your head or face on if you biff? Okay. Go for it. The risk versus reward is pretty balanced.

But riding my cruiser out on West Cliff? Nope, I am strapping up.

Others choose not to because their personal risk versus reward calculation came up groovy to go without a helmet. Which is neither good nor bad unless they happen to crash and then it is bad and likely worse for the lack of some safety gear.

In the instance that caused me to write this blog post. Fritz's post of Pink riding a too small road bike and I commented that she looked pretty good with the exception of not wearing a helmet. Someone else commented that she didn't need to have a helmet on since she wasn't doing anything special or going fast. I should have responded that she was riding a bike on a four lane street where there were obviously cars around her and that the situation, in my mind, absolutely called for a helmet. Instead I acted like a tool and am thankful that Fritz's blog allowed me the grace to delete the comment myself.

On top of everything else there's a semi-hypocrisy in mandating that children wear helmets when riding bikes. I'm not suggesting helmet laws because we've got plenty of laws already. But if kids always see adults without helmets and they have to wear them then you can be sure they'll ditch them the second they are no longer required to wear them.

I wear a helmet not only because I don't particularly like concussions or fractured skulls or worse but because I want to set a good example for my kids and other kids around me. Did I mention that I work at three elementary schools? Yeah. That probably clouds my thinking and judgment a tiny bit but only to add a little foam to the fanaticism.

But part of me wishes I'd kept the motorcycle helmet I had on when I catapulted over the stupid car that stopped in the fast lane. That thing had a serious crack where it saved me from a wickedly bad day and merely made it a pretty bad day (destroyed motorcycle, wonked knee and a four by eight inch deep purple bruise from my gas tank from one thigh to the other, yes, across my balls and yes, it was a brutally unenjoyable first night after the crash). It would serve as a great reminder of the kind of forces that can occur. I was only going 30 or so miles an hour, I can easily (well, maybe not easily) hit that on my bicycle.

Photo attribution: Found at TreeHugger on this article about a confirmed helmet wearer who saw the light (almost literally) after waking up from a coma.

Want more pro-helmet ammo? Check out the results of this Google search. There are truly no good arguments for not wearing a helmet just as there are no good arguments for not wearing a seatbelt in a car. You either value your brain's ability to process thoughts or you do not. Short trips, long trips, testing a bike in a parking lot, any of them can result in you falling and smacking your head on the ground and if you smack your head on the ground without protection,the ground wins and you lose.

At least that's the way I see it, I'm pretty fond of my higher brain function. And somewhere I know I just made my mom smile.

But hey, I'm open to dissenting opinions. Got something to say? Leave it in the comments.

An Assortment of Bicycling Goodness

Here's a bunch of links I've had in drafts for a little while now so I thought I'd mash them all together into one linky pile of cycling awesomeness. Enjoy!

Josh Hadar - Hadar Metal Design

PedalPower+ charges cyclists' phones, GPS, iPods

Singletracks - a very strong collection of trails across the entire country. Good info.

BikeMapDude - need a trail map for places in California? Check this site out. I was able to download a free PDF trail map of Nisene Marks and the Soquel Demo Forest for signing up to be on his email list. The maps are aces!

Bike Party: Beach Blanket Bike Along - "See, in theory, Critical Mass ought to be a fun bunch of people showing that you can commute just as effectively as drivers. But, at least in San Francisco, it's just a bunch of ass-clowns. And if you hurt any number of my favorite San Francisco residents while they are commuting via public transit because you *have* to ride on the sidewalk to show how macho you are, you are not my bicyclist brother and I wish nothing more than you get the world's worst saddle sore the next day."

Gyrobike gyroscopic training wheels help kids learn to ride and features an internal spinning disk that helps stabilize the bike, reducing wobbles and slowing falls.

Reflective Roadway Tape Lights Your Bike Day or Night for Cheap [DIY]

An Interesting Two Wheel Ask MetaFilter Question

realpseudonym asks: Is it safer to do a 5 mile commute on city streets on a bicycle or a motorcycle? on Ask MetaFilter.

Let's say we have a 5 mile commute along fairly busy 4 lane city streets. Cars are parked on the curbs on both sides of the streets. Some of the streets are very commercial with cars coming in and out of driveways. There are city buses.

Assume that I am a perfect driver, and that accidents only happen because somebody doesn't see me or sees me and misjudges how close they are to me.

Am I safer riding a motorcycle with full safety gear (going up to 35 mph) or riding a bicycle with only a bicycle helmet (up to 15 mph)?

My first thought was that the bicycle is obviously safer because of the lower speeds involved. On the other hand, I thought the motorcycle might be safer because you move at the same speed as traffic; whereas on the bike, angry drivers will constantly be trying to pass you.

All other things being equal, it is an interesting question and one that I don't think has a perfect answer.

I'm both a biker and a cyclist. I ride a streetbike and an off-road bicycle primarily. Yes, I do ride my bicycle on the street but not as a general rule. I either ride to a trail or am crossing a road to get back onto a trail.

My quick response to this is the motorcycle because I have far more control over a less controllable environment on my motorcycle on the street than I do with my bicycle. In the woods, I have yet to see a tree jump into my path. I have yet to have a branch suddenly appear and knock me off my bike.

I think a motorcycle is probably going to be safer on the commute. Now keep in mind that this question doesn't ask about total cost of ownership or anything but the factor of safety in doing one or the other over the same stretch of road.

If the question were framed differently, say that the commute was the same length but the bicycle was able to make the journey through a park system without other vehicles then the bike wins hands down since it is far harder to get run over when there aren't any cars around.

I'm interested in what other cyclists might think about this question given the framing. Please reply in the comments.

A Dozen Deadly Motorcycle Safety Myths Busted

A Dozen Deadly Motorcycle Safety Myths with my comments for flavor..

These are all expanded upon in the link above but here's the rundown:
Myth 1: Other Drivers Don't Care About Motorcyclists - Actually, other drivers don't care about other drivers either so its not really any big news.
Myth 2: Loud Pipes Save Lives - The only way loud pipes would work as a safety feature is if they faced forward and then the bike would look ridiculous, breathe like crap and probably still offer no greater safety. Loud pipes annoy people, period.
Myth 3: Motorcycle Helmets Break Necks - And seat belts break sternums if the impact is hard enough. If your neck is going to get broken by your helmet whipping around then you have almost no chance of survival in the first place.
Myth 4: Helmets Block Your Ability to See or Hear Danger - You can hear a car that's about to hit you? No, you can see them and that's why situational awareness is so important. Keep your head on a swivel and know what's going on around you, your helmet is no impediment to using your senses at all.
Myth 5: A Helmet Won't Help in Most Crashes - Um, what? I've been three motorcycle accidents over the last 20+ years of riding. If I'd not had a helmet on in any of them, I'd be a vegetable. At best.
Myth 6: A Helmet Will Leave You Brain Damaged in an Crash When You Would Have Simply Died - More likely you will be paralyzed and alive instead of being dead because your head will not have been crushed.
Myth 7: A Skilled Rider Should Be Able to Handle Almost Any Situation - A skilled rider is prepared, a skilled rider is dressed properly, a skilled rider wears a helmet because he/she knows that you can't control every situation. Accidents can and do happen and it is far, far better to be prepared for the worst than to hope for the best.
Myth 8: If You Are Going to Crash, Lay It Down - If you lay it down then you have crashed. Simple as that. Bike brakes slow you down far more effectively than sliding on your side.
Myth 9: One Beer Won't Hurt - Legal limits mean nothing, if alcohol impairs your senses then it can be the difference between crashing and having your wits about you enough to avoid it in the first place.
Myth 10: It's Better to Stay in Your Lane than Split Lanes - If I couldn't split lanes then I might as well drive my car for all the good it does.
Myth 11: I'm Safer on the Street than on an Interstate - The interstate has everyone going the same direction, streets have side streets, traffic entering and exiting and all kinds of other distractions and obstructions. This one is just stupid.
Myth 12: A Skilled Rider Can Stop Better with Conventional Brakes than with Anti-Lock Brakes - Anti-lock brakes pulse far, far faster than any human could ever think to pump their brakes. There's a reason every single test shows anti-lock brakes annihilate conventional brakes. Not only for braking distance but maintaining control during the hard braking.

Helmet Fit Check List

I was happy to replace to replace my aging and slightly battered cycling helmet the other day. Attached to the helmet was a handy little fit check list and I thought it would be useful to remind all the cyclists out there of how to get a good fit for yourself and for our little budding cyclists.

I've found that getting a good tight fit on a kid's helmet is harder than it is for me to get a good fit on my helmet. And its waaaay more important.

So here we go:
Eyes - The rim of the helmet should be 1 to 2 finger widths above the eyebrows.

Ears - The straps should form a "V" just underneath the ear lobe.

Mouth - When the rider opens his mouth, the buckle should feel snug on the chin and the helmet should hug the head.

Before using the helmet, check the fit, stand in front of a mirror and grab the helmet with both hands and twist it to the left and to the right. If the helmet fits right, the skin on the forehead will move as the helmet moves. If the skin does not move, then the helmet is too loose and is unsafe for use and you need to start over with the fitting. If it does fit right then grab the helmet with both hands and try to remove it by rolling the helmet forward and backward. If you can roll it off the head completely or so far that it blocks vision or backward enough to expose the forehead, then, surprise, it doesn't fit right and is unsafe to use.

Lastly, take a short test ride to ensure proper fit without being too tight. Most helmets these days come with a set of fit pads to finalize the fit and make it feel just right.

And, oh yeah, always wear your helmet when you go out and ride your bike.

Hang Time

Hang Time
Originally uploaded by fenriq

Shot this today with my telephoto across the dog park. This younger rider, must have been 16 or 17, was getting great air over the jumps. He's probably a solid ten feet off the ground here.

As an aside, I found out that one of my teacher's teenaged sons was practicing his jumps at the Polo Grounds where this shot was taken. He crashed very, very hard. He was wearing a helmet but not a full face MX style helmet and smashed his face into his handlebars causing massive bruising but did not, apparently, break any bones.

Unfortunately though, he hit hard enough to cause permanent damage to one of his ears and has since gone deaf on one side of his head.

The bottom line is, if you're going to launch yourself ten, twelve or more feet in the air, wear as much protective gear as you can possibly muster.

Instant Bike Lane!

This is absolutely brilliant (pun intended)!

LightLane's Lasers Make an Instant Bike Lane
A seat mounted laser projects lines on the road with a bike symbol behind the biker to make it very easy to see how much space a car should be giving to the biker.

This is really and truly superb!

It isn't perfect as the mount will project the bike lane anywhere the biker goes and there's nothing to stop the biker from not following the side of the road. But still, it is hard to argue with the visibility and clear marking of a safety zone this new system creates.

Ride a Motorcycle? Wear a Helmet

Lack of helmets causes problems for all, not just bike riders

Just as I am shocked to find out that people don't bother taking basic precautions when driving by putting on their seatbelts, I'm similarly shocked that there are people who routinely ride their motorcycles on public streets without helmets.

A McLeod Health study of motorcycle crash victims treated at the hospital from 2003 to 2007 reveals that only 28 percent of 167 patients wore helmets.
...
In 2007, 41 percent of fatally injured motorcycle operators and 53 percent of fatally injured passengers were not wearing helmets. That same year, the NHTSA estimates that helmets saved the lives of 1,784 motorcyclists and that 800 more could have been saved had they been wearing helmets.

Twenty-eight percent is just barely over one in four. How much more harm did they do to themselves by not bothering with a helmet? Do they wish they'd been wearing one while they recuperate in the hospital following their accidents? If they still retain higher brain function then it would be a good bet that most do wish they had worn a helmet.

I get the freedom of the wind in your hair, I get that helmets are stuffy, constraining and hot. But I've been involved in three accidents over my motorcycling life, two of them involving collisions with another vehicle. One was a t-bone where the jackass made an illegal left in front of me and I mashed into his car between the front and rear door. If I hadn't been wearing my helmet, I would have mashed my head into jelly on the road when I landed after having flipped up and over his car.

The other accident would have had similarly unpleasant and permanent results if I'd not been wearing my helmet. In each case I suffered numerous other injuries but the greatest damage was prevented by my helmet.

I'll never ride my motorcycle, or my bike for that matter, without my helmet (obviously a different helmet for my bike). My brain function is far too important to not do what I can to protect my head and brain in the event of a crash. But then, I'm a bit older now and have a sense of my mortality.

Here are a big bunch of stats from the bicycle side. Short version? Wearing a helmet increases the likelihood of walking away from an accident substantially. Wear one if you've got some brains worth saving.

New Safety Product: BikeGlow

The BikeGlow™ Safety Light was developed by some local cyclists after this past year's numerous fatal accidents on Mission Street in Santa Cruz.

Visibility is a key factor in many bicycling accidents and, it stands to reason, the higher your level of visibility, the safer you will be.

I'm not so sure that this is the solution but it looks kind of cool.

What do you think? Does BikeGlow make you safer or does it just make you cooler?