scenes from the bikey lane: bike with history edition

i recently went over to that awesomeness that is spur (sf planning and urban research associations), to look at their exhibit on reclaiming market street, where they featured one of our friends as one "project [that highlights] the many ways in which cities, nationally and internationally, are engaged in reimagining their public spaces through experimental urban planning." ooh, que fancy speak. and here i just thought it was people using the physical urban space they have to work with to make it fun and livable for them. oh wait, that's the same thing ;)

anyway, outside there was this awesome bike. not even parked to anything. after looking at the chain, seems to me only one person could ride it.

makes me wonder about the history of that bike. who the person is, where the bike and the person met, etc.

do you also feel that way when you see a bike that has an obviously fascinating past?

reader submission: sacramento bike racks

we love submissions from our readers! here's butter bill in sacramento, looking rather excited to see these bike racks!

i'm not sure how practical they are, but hey, i'm willing to try them out! i do like how unusual they are and how much attention they command.

anyone in sacramento have experience with these racks? please share your stories in the comments!

Step Up

Just a little step up

makes a much better wait.

more fun with bikes in austin!

we were able to acquire bikes while we were in austin for a few days last week. we got a hook.up! on a rental bike for me. i'm short, so finding a bike that fits me is really difficult. there was one road bike at the rental place that fit me pretty well. i was happy to go with the normal hybrid variety, but the temptation of an extended test ride with a road bike that is nicer than my road bike was too much. sure enough, i'm now in crush with that bike...



as you can see, the other one was the practical bike, much like my joanie baby. that bike hauled stuff around in its very handy basket. i LOVE baskets.

we didn't really go for too long a ride, and austin is pretty flat compared to SF (at least the areas we rode around in). thus, i didn't get a chance to completely test out that climbing gear, but whoa, i do know enough of riding around on that bike to know i want to try it out some more. my birthday is coming up sometime in the next 364 days, so if anyone wants to get me a present, i'll take the lexa slx in size 47cm please. kthx.

in other news, i was impressed with the volume of bikes that were being parked at acl, and here's a tiny taste of it...

bike parking before:


bike parking after:


it was fun navigating around austin on bikes and figuring out bikey ways around the city thanks to the trusty austin bikey map. i can't wait to go back and do it again!

some fun with bikes in austin

so last week i was fortunate enough to be able to go home to the motherland for a couple of days. here are some of the bikes i saw when i was down there y'all!

tandem cruiser?! i can safely say i've never seen a tandem cruiser before. each set of handlebars had its own bell too. just in case, ya know? i've seen a tandem cargo bike, but not a tandem cruiser. radness. and on a SUV. well, that part isn't so rad, but what can you do?

free gary fisher anyone? sigh. the myriad of ways people lock up bikes for the taking really astounds me.

tomorrow will have another scene from austin, but this time involving the bikes we actually rode around on.

Green

It means "go", right?

So does Wednesday. Go!

priorities people!

beer.