Oil tankers will haul chocolate milk
[via Bike Hugger and People for Bikes]
Beautiful craziness
Date with Death: José Meiffret's 1962 attempt to cycle a 200km/h motor-paced 'flying mile'. A terrific read. And don't miss the photo of his bike [thanks woowoowoo] with its 130-tooth chain wheel—what a beast!
Ah, the Internet
safe seats: "240 minutes of unexpected time in amsterdam....a theme emerges!"
20 years
20 years of TAC ads. Whoa. [twitterer]
SmartRoads
SmartRoads is an approach that manages competing interests for limited road space by giving priority use of the road to different transport modes at particular times of the day.
All road users will continue to have access to all roads. However, certain routes will be managed to work better for cars while others will be managed for public transport, cyclists and pedestrians.
The plan is spruiked in a video from VicRoads.
Bicycle Victoria's view:
Efficient people movers, such as public transport and bikes, will benefit most from the new philosophy.
The mirror I've been waiting for
Beer View Mirror: "The only bicycle mirror you'll be proud to wear!" Should go well with this Beer Can Bottle Cage.
Bikes and football
Kick Ball Pedal Bike tours all of London's football grounds in a 150 mile jaunt. Cool idea.
Bikes as investment
This dude will be able to buy a house with the proceeds of selling his BMX collection.
They ride bikes
The Pedal Project - Three Cycling Cities:
When you picture a council junket you never see the fold up bike, the ferry and the cycle cafe. DCTV goes on a whirlwind (read cheap and quick – the way we all travel now) trip to look at models for European cycling along with the Dublin City Council cycling officer Ciaran Fallon. Along the way they meet bloggers and fashion designers and activists who all, incidentally, cycle bikes. And see how normal cycling is all across Europe.
Nice points from Amy Fleuriot at about 9.40: Just because you put on a helmet and high-vis gear, it doesn't make you 'safe'; and from Marc Woudenberg at about 25.20: Don't promote cycling as "green".
See also Cambridge Study Tour 2010.
Dutch spray
In response to a question on chainguard about brakes on Dutch bikes, John S. Allen let fly with this amusing spray:
Yes, but the Dutch have such a great safety record, then don't need a front brake, or a helmet, and they can text on a cell phone, pick their noses with both hand at once, carry a passenger on the rear rack with feet dangling into the spokes, pedal in tight skirts and stiletto heels, dangle a necktie into the front wheel, carry their children in suicide seats just behind the handlebars, all with impunity. If anything goes wrong, they just exit into a canal, and get a splash instead of a crash. Hey, it's saltwater but the bike was only worth 15 Euros anyway. Ah, Amsterdam, bicycle-friendliest of cities!
Supertandem
Specialized Shiv Carbon Fiber Tandem - AKA: The Supersonic Divorce Machine. Says KarlOnSea, "This insane bike takes the romance out of tandems".
Assessment
Health economic assessment tool for cycling:
This tool estimates the economic savings resulting from reduced mortality due to cycling, i.e.:
if x people cycle y distance on most days,
what is the economic value of the improvements in their mortality rate?
HEAT for cycling is based on best available evidence, with parameters that can be adapted to fit specific situations. Default parameters are valid for the European context.
More hands-on justice
Bike couriers chase down bicycle thief in wild downtown pursuit.
Don't ride in thunderstorms
Croat's penis functioning after being struck by lightning [tweeted by @rosewal, who has an uncanny knack for finding such material…]
BMX + treadmill = schadenfreude
How Not to Use a Treadmill [tweeted by @rosewal—see what I mean?]
Park right by the entrance
Public transport users vote with feet:
Public transport users get a daily average of 41 minutes physical exercise, compared with an average of eight minutes for those who only drive, according to an analysis of Victorian travel data.
Well bugger me sideways, who'd have thunk it? [twitterer]
Pump me up
Biknd helium bike case: wrap up your bike and pump up the case. I can't help wondering how long it would take the baggage handlers to tear it or puncture it though.
Find your way
No doubt you've heard that biking directions were added to Google Maps this week for the USA, elsewhere OpenCycleMap.org is already doing a great job.
Canberra loves cars
Wheel must turn for ACT road users.
So that's how it works
Check out these diagrams of cutaway and exploded bicycle parts.
Comments
Maybe I am a cynic, but I read "certain routes will be managed to work better for cars while others will be managed for public transport" and its turned into "banning bikes and busses from the flattest, direct routes"
No, I think that's a pretty reasonable reading between the lines. I'm filing that one under "I'll believe it when I see it." Sounds like a lot of spin and not much substance to me. But who knows, I could be wrong?