September 2022

All Bodies on Bikes

All Bodies are Good Bodies. All Bikes are Good Bikes.

We are working to change the bike industry. We believe that anyone who wants to ride a bike should be able to, regardless of their size or weight.

We are creating inclusive bike communities from the inside. As this community grows, we’re focused on keeping the members at the center of our efforts. We want to hear from you and be sure you feel heard. Send Marley or Kailey an email – let’s chat friend.

To make that vision a reality, All Bodies on Bikes:

1)Fosters an online community: ABOB established and maintains a strong presence on Facebook and Instagram with the goal of providing inspiration to people of all sizes, a place for online discussion, and to increase the representation of larger bodies in cycling. ,

2)Fosters an in-person community: ABOB hosts social bike rides where everyone is welcome to move their bodies joyfully at a pace that is comfortable and safe for them.

3)Educates the cycling community: ABOB provides educational resources, consulting, and leadership to the bike industry and cycling community at large on best practices in size inclusive bike communities through workshops, consulting, and educational seminars.

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Sunset 4 All

Let’s make Sunset Boulevard a safer place to shop, dine, and travel. A protected bike lane could safely, efficiently connect ~100,000 Angelenos with billions of dollars in new rail investment.

Protected bike lanes reduce the number of bikes & scooters on the sidewalk by up to 90%

Project Borders:

Sunset Boulevard between Fountain Ave & Dodger Stadium.

Santa Monica Blvd. from Sunset Junction to the Vermont/Santa Monica Red Line Station.

Image courtesy of sunset4all.com

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How To Train For A 100 Mile Bike Ride

For cyclists, there is something mythical about riding 100 miles. Completing a century, a ton, or 160.9km if you prefer the metric system, is a huge achievement for a cyclist and takes hard work to get there. Manon outlines her tips for training for your longest ever ride, to help you break new ground on the bike!

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Takin’ it to the streets – without a car

From Tallahassee.com

By Mari-Jo Lewis-Wilkinson

September 22 is World Car-Free Day.  It is an opportunity to give up your car for a day by walking, bicycling, or taking public transportation and observe Tallahassee from a different perspective other than through a car windshield. Here are a few ideas.

Whether walking or bicycling, the old adage, “Safety in Numbers,” rings true. So how about a group walk early that evening to remind drivers there are pedestrians out there on the sidewalks?  Florida is second in the nation in pedestrian fatalities. But studies have shown pedestrian crashes and fatalities decrease where there is a heavy pedestrian presence.  Gather several neighbors for a short walk to a local park, shop, or restaurant, or just around the neighborhood. Fresh air, friendly conversation, and a fun way to welcome the fall season.

Or maybe you want to form or join a neighborhood “bike bus” that day — a group of kids biking en masse to school.  Check out this video about Portland, Oregon’s “Bike Bus for Earth Day.” You’ll wish you hadn’t spent so many hours of your life sitting in the student drop-off lane. https://youtu.be/XNRnKXd9sHE

If you like that idea, consider emulating bigger cities like Chicago that have a monthly “Critical Mass” bicycle ride — hundreds of bicyclists non-confrontationally and cheerfully sharing the road with drivers in a leisurely evening ride through downtown streets.

Photo by Gotrax on Unsplash

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How Google Maps could make biking better

From Protocol.com

By Lisa Martine Jenkins

A few tweaks could make no-carbon transit a lot more appealing and safe.

Google Maps has a suite of features to make driving easier. The app gives users options to avoid tolls and highways and even recommends low-emission routes where available.

Bikers using the app, though, have far fewer options, particularly when it comes to determining how safe a route is. Fixing that could get more people on bikes and e-bikes, two of the most accessible forms of no-carbon transit available today. Given that the transportation sector is the biggest contributor to U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, encouraging the use of alternatives to driving — especially driving gas-powered cars — is more urgent than ever.

With its abundant data and mapping resources, Google Maps is well-poised to create a powerful tool that keeps people safe while navigating their city by bike. Doing so could encourage the use of one of the most reliable zero-emissions transportation technologies, a benefit that dovetails nicely with Google’s ambitious emissions reduction goals.

That’s not to say it’s a cut-and-dried task, though. The puzzle of how to set up a mapping algorithm for driving is relatively simple compared to doing so for biking. Estimating roughly how long it will take to drive somewhere requires little more than knowing speed limits and whether or not intersections have stop signs or stop lights. For biking, though, finding the “right” route is a lot more qualitative.

Photo by Manny Becerra on Unsplash

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How Is A Titanium Bike Made? | Inside The Moots Factory

For a time in the 1990s titanium was thought to be the next big thing in cycling frame material, but since the widespread adoption of carbon fibre, titanium has taken somewhat of a backseat. But there are still those who swear by it’s properties as a bike frame material, not least Moots Cycles. Manon visited their factory in Colorado to find out how titanium frames are made, and what makes their bikes special.

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The in-depth story of Remco Evenepoel the footballer, as told by teammates and coaches

From CyclingWeekly.com

BY CHRIS MARSHALL-BELL

Remco Evenepoel has won the 2022 Vuelta a España. In this coming Thursday’s Cycling Weekly magazine (Sept 15), we are publishing an in-depth feature exploring untold stories of his final years as a footballer and his first two years as a cyclist. Before he turned pro as a cyclist, he played football in his youth, playing for Belgium’s U15 and U16 teams.

Here is an extended version of an extract from the article, focusing solely on Evenepoel’s years as a footballer.

You can read the Making of Remco in Cycling Weekly, on sale September 15.

There’s one thing you ought to know about Remco Evenepoel the footballer: he was not a world-beater. “I don’t really have a recollection of Remco being a man of the match because he was not the most decisive player,” his longtime coach Stéphane Stassin reveals. “He was technically gifted but not one of the most technically gifted.”

That’s not to say, however, that Evenepoel – a defensive midfielder who could also operate at left-back – was a expendable figure. In fact, it was quite the opposite – he was the first name on the team sheet, whether turning out for the youth teams of RSC Anderlecht, PSV Eindhoven or the Belgian national team from the ages of 5 to 16.

Zorhan Bassong, who was part of the same youth team set-up at Anderlecht as Evenepoel, recalls how, aged 15 or 16, Evenepoel was sidelined with a knee injury. “When he was out, you could see directly that the team weren’t playing as well on the field,” the Canadian, now playing for CF Montréal in the MLS, tells Cycling Weekly.

“That wasn’t because of his talent – he was talented, but there were better guys – but because of the energy he brought to the field, his voice, his leadership. The team was more confident when he was around.

“He wouldn’t shout ‘do this, do that’ to his teammates, but he brought this positive energy. He had this natural confidence of just standing on the pitch and making everyone around him feel secure, more safe. From his body language people would see a naturally confident guy. The whole team knew that when he was there, it would be different.”

Photo by Thomas Serer on Unsplash

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Here are the best electric bikes you can buy at every price level in September 2022

From Elektrek.co

By Micah Toll

Here at Electrek, we have spent countless hours undertaking detailed hands-on testing of hundreds of electric bikes. Through the thousands of miles at this point, we’ve gotten to know these e-bikes inside and out, top to bottom and front to back. That dedication to real world e-bike testing has helped us find the best electric bicycles on the market for just about any budget.

Below you’ll find some of the top e-bikes we’ve hand-tested for every price range, current as of September 2022. Summer may be coming to an end soon, but many of us still have some riding season ahead of us. One of these electric bikes just might be your next set of wheels to close out some summer fun!

Best electric bikes under $1,000

The sub-$1,000 electric bike category is critical for a few reasons.

First, it’s pretty hard to produce a quality e-bike and sell it for under $1k. Most of the options in this price category make too many sacrifices in quality or longevity to earn a spot on this list as one of “the best”.

Second, many newcomers to the e-bike industry just aren’t prepared to drop several thousand dollars on a brand new concept, making this price range critical for many first time e-bike shoppers.

Fortunately, we’ve found some excellent options for cheap electric bikes that can still save you some serious dough.

Image courtesy of lectricebikes.com

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10 Things I Wish I’d Known When I Started Commuting By Bike

10 years ago our own Simon Richardson got his first proper job in an office, and has since learnt a great deal about cycling to work. He believes it’s the ultimate way to get into the office, and thinks that with a little knowledge it can be very achievable for many commuters! In this video, Si gives you his nuggets of wisdom that he wished he knew when he started commuting by bike.

 

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How to increase the resale value of your bike

From CyclingNews.com

By Joseph Delves

Tips, tricks, and tools to increase the resale value of your bike and ensure you get what it’s really worth when you sell it

For most of us, getting a new bike also means getting rid of the old one, and it’s common sense that if you can maximise the money you receive for flogging your old one, and you’ll have more to spend on the next.

But how do you ensure it’s selling for what it’s really worth? We’ve already gone through the basic explanation of how to sell a used bike, but below we’ve collected tips, tricks and general advice on increasing the resale value of your bike, so that you have more to spend on the next one.

Get the simple things right

Having worked as a bike mechanic, I can tell you that the odds of someone noticing you’ve spent hours rebuilding the internals of some obscure component are minimal. However, everyone notices if you’ve popped some air in the tyres and wiped the frame down.

f you can’t be bothered to do anything else, at least do this. It’ll make any test ride more enjoyable too, and first impressions are key when it comes to the inevitable haggle over price later on.

Invest in tackling key mechanicals

You’ll feel better if you send your bike on in good order, but there’s a balance to be struck. You’re trying to maximise the amount of cash you have available for your next bike, so unless your bike is particularly posh, investing in a full service is unlikely to be economically efficient.

Instead, tackle jobs you can manage yourself. If you’re a competent mechanic, a complete overhaul would be brilliant. Otherwise, make sure everything is safe and works correctly. Our bike maintenance tips will help you cover off what’s needed, but at the very least, ensure there’s life in the brake pads, the chain has been lubricated, and there’s air in the tyres at least.

Photo by Jan Kopřiva on Unsplash

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