the SEWARD CO-OP in minneapolis has recently installed a public bike tune-up station outside of it’s east franklin avenue location, and i, for one, think it’s an idea that every major city should institute on heavily trafficked bike routes.

as you can see in the masthead pic, the racks allow the user to hoist their bike and do any number of tune-ups, from simply filling a tyre to essentially rebuilding a headset. the tools are locked to the rack with cables so they won’t disappear TOO frequently, and even the pump is securely locked in there. GENIUS.

the idea makes all the sense in the world at a grocery co-op, because lots of hippies ride bikes. and minneapolis is a major urban center, so lots of the population in general rides bikes. and it doesn’t look like it’s too expensive of a product to make, either. some tools, some pipes, an arc welder and some cables and bolts and ANYONE could do it.

i approve, approve, APPROVE of this thing, and i’m off to try and contact whoever made it, so i can try and persuade them to push their product on san francisco’s bicycle coalition.

yeah.
it’s THAT good.

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earlier this year, the SFBC hosted a COMPETITION to design new bike racks for treasure island, which the sf planning commission is pushing as a new, hot spot to go do stuff. this actually makes a hell of a lot more sense when you take into consideration that the new eastern span of the bay bridge has bike lanes, so you can pedal to TI from oakland.

there were actually three winners, which you can see at the link above, but from them, the masthead picture stands out to me as the only true winner. it’s that beautiful combination of luck (lucky that TI is a shape suitable for making a bike rack out of), simplicity (only three pieces of metal to make a pretty engaging design), and genius (constructing a simple, iconic "map" of where you’re at on the island).

and while one could argue that this actually increases the cost of production (rather than making X number of one rack, they have to make X divided by 3, of 3 separate racks), i say it’s a HELL of a lot more creative than any other rack i’ve ever seen, and sometimes you gotta be willing to pay for aesthetics.

perfect.

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My biggest concern when talk of bike lane legislation crops up is the inherent danger when PACs pressure planning and transportation agencies into laying down lanes the streets’ infrastructure cannot support (you’ve experienced it: riding a bike lane on a narrow street that eats into the car lane so you get brushed by the cars, making it even MORE dangerous than no lane at all)…

…but lots of cool heads were involved in this proposal, and the majority of the new lanes were passed into law today. How awesome!

http://www.sfbike.org/?56#bvhp

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I always have this mental image that Amsterdam is a land cluster made of cured meats strung together by tenuous chains of women and bicycles. I never even considered cars in the equation.

http://blog.oregonlive.com/commuting/20 … ow_by.html

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How awesome is that. This is one concept I never thought would make it out into the wild. I’m curious if the psychological effect of a driver seeing a bike’s safety zone will be beneficial.. or a target…
Image courtesy of Gawker
http://gizmodo.com/5302110/lightlane-vi … -a-reality

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turns out mike liked bikes!

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The wrongBike extrusion…

This bike build project began as a Vista, which was originally manufactured in Columbia, I think, but eventually they started making them in Japan… one of the many initially-Schwinn-based 10-speed brands of the 70s. The concept of this build changed a few times along the way. It was almost an old timey bike with fenders and so on, but as I went along, particularly after the paint job, I decided I wanted it streamlined, and it became a simpler bike in execution. But the details remained pretty consistent: Wrongrobot-orange/yellow paint, chrome and leather. After completion, several adjustments were made, and as with any of the bikes, are ongoing. The arc bars were cut down shorter, small wrapped grips were added, and after a long climber in Calistoga, the bars were angled upwards like risers, giving it a more upright, comfortable riding position. All in all, a great conversion!

:::

WrongBike(tm) 1.0 - long arc bars, unwrapped, two brakes

WrongBike(tm) 2.0 – short arc bars, short-wrapped in leather tape, one brake!

The WrongBike(tm) bike build gallery can be viewed here.

:::

To read the bike build process logs, read on…

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This is a gallery of WrongBike(tm) bike build project photos. Click any image to enlarge it and make clucking sounds of approval!

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Two days until Critical Mass. That means two days until you’re locking up outside of a pub AFTER Critical Mass. Which means a good chance you’ll come out to a broken lock, or in my case, at least once no lock at all, just a sad tumbleweed of dreams and bike awesomeness lost.

So register today, while you still can!

http://nationalbikeregistry.com/

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I have several bikes. At least one lives at work. I work pretty much directly on the loop of one of my favorite recreational rides, the Paradise Loop, which can be easier if you take it mellow, hard if you are a mashing fellow, and awesome if you ride on yellow. Lately, I’ve had wrongBike(tm), arguably my favorite fixed-gear bike, if not my favorite bike PERIOD, living at work. This is because:

a) It is aesthetically pleasing, so I get to regard it every day
2) It’s fun to do rides I used to mash on a road bike, now on a fixie.
d) the bar position and general posture of the bike make it excellent for carrying Peet’s coffee.

I’ve been extremely lacking in ride days lately, due to the run-up to, and occurring of, young Zoe’s birth, and of course the bedlam thereafter. Now that I’m back at work, I’d have loved to have been riding in from SF already, but on a few hours sleep every night, my immune system, and energy stores, are as weak as a skinny bike lane. So I chose not to risk it until next week. But in the meantime, just like when I was home for those few weeks helping with the baby, I take every opportunity to ride around town, just as I always do. Coffee runs, mail runs, lunch runs, etc.

Today, I had a longer than usual wait to pick up my lunch salad (chicken watermelon salad from Toast, yes) so I took advantage of the warm weather and noodled around downtown Mill Valley, such as it is. This led me to desire to visit Old Mill Park, a redwood enclave on the edge of town. And so I did.

Naturally, bike pr0n ensued!

Photos can be found on Flickr and at the number-one good Team Lope Cycling site, as per the usue.

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