It’s nice to see the progression of choices from the web based bicycle companies as they find there way in the on-line and retail market.
Take for instance STRADA who was there in the beginning of the mix and match color schemes build + buy. They offered a simple urban single speed…
and then launched their pro-series for those wanting a more sporty slick model. Strada Pro-
Just to be clear, STRADA has a store front in Manhattan under the name: Mott Street Cycles
159 Mott Street
New York, NY.
Here is a company that’s been really good to me: Pure Fix, which offers some really affordable complete urban bikes and single speeds with flip flop freewheel or fixed drive chains. The also have the color mix and match choice and have started to be sold more in NYC neighborhood stores.
The Keirin:
is the standard model in black or white. The frame and fork is double butted 6061 aluminum with hydroformed tubing. The Keirin starts at $199 for the frame and fork and includes headset, seatpost clamp and fork.
The Keirin Pro:
Starts at $299.00 and is triple-butted 6061 Aluminum in a sleek chrome paint job. Both are available and ready to ship.
Street artists and frame builders have had a symbiotic relationship for a while now. Remember Toronto’s La Carrera’s Shop? They collaborated with graffiti artists Futura 2000 and Stash along with Italian legend Colnago in 2007:
Then in 2009, The OBEY guy, Shepard Fairy designed a Tour de France Trek for some guy named Lance:
Obviously this is an extension of urban street culture meshing with the fixed gear & messenger urban sports scenes. I mean if your going to paint a frame…
EINE is best known for making block letters in various fonts:
Here is some press about this latest bike art.
Stanridge Cycles is excited to announce our collaboration with Ben EINE for the Red Hook Crit this year. EINE is a world renowned graffiti artist who has collaborated with Banksy and has work hanging in the White House. Ben will be hand painting the two iconic Stanridge High Street frames that will be raced during this years Red Hook series.
The custom bikes will be piloted by elite cyclocross racer Katie Arnold, and previous Red Hook winner Evan Murphy. Look for more from Stanridge as the bikes are done and race day approaches.
Teaser video:
The 7th annual Red Hook Crit will be held on the mean streets of Red Hook Brooklyn on Saturday, March 29th. There will be a 5K race, Men’s and Woman’s laps race.
Recycle-A-Bicycle has been empowering young people through a love and knowledge of bicycles for decades. This has lead them to spearhead the Youth Bike Summit that took place over the weekend (Feb. 14th-16th) at the New School. Through lectures, panel discussions and workshops the three day festival brought people of all ages, from around the country to get together and build a stronger bike community through young minds. A prelude to the League of American Bicyclists, National Bike Summit, coming up in the nation’s capital. March 3rd-5th)
Here is an article form the Epoch Times: NYC Youth Bike Summit Focuses on Empowering Youth
By Catherine Yang
February 16, 2014
NEW YORK—Bicyclists from all over the country met at the three-day Youth Bike Summit 2014 held at the New School. The summit’s aim was to expand bicycling options for today’s youth, and empower them with the mobility afforded by a bicycle.
Attendees, some from as away far as Santa Barbara, participated in workshops Saturday. A visioning session followed on Sunday to discuss education and how bicycling can be made safe for the younger generation.
Title: Snowlandia Would a rare snow day in Portland keep us off our bikes? Heck no! We rounded up a crew and explored the local snow day scene.
Song “Ice, Ice Baby” by Vanilla Ice.
In Transit, is a new documentary project by Todd Drezner that addresses some basic questions one might think of while stuck inside a motor vehicle, in stopped traffic? Who are cities and streets designed for and why am I stuck in traffic?
Here is more from the film maker on his kickstarter page:
A documentary for anyone who’s ever been stuck in traffic.
“Why make a movie about traffic?”
Good question. After all, sitting in traffic probably lives somewhere in the neighborhood of root canal and taxes on our list of least favorite things to do.
But here’s the thing: you don’t know what you think you know about traffic.
We tend to think of a traffic jam as something that just happens for no reason, something that just has to be endured. That’s what I thought one day when I was stuck in horrible traffic trying to get home to Brooklyn from Connecticut. But then I started to wonder: what really causes traffic and can cities do anything about it?
The answer, many experts will tell you, is that the traffic problems that plague many of our cities are the result of deliberate policy decisions made over the course of more than half a century.
To find out more about this project watch a message from Todd and view his trailer:
If you like what you see and want to see this documentary completed, fund the project: here.
Ever wonder on average what bike mechanics make in average salary, per state? You may be surprised. Cyclist Donny Perry, posted a slide presentation that breaks it down. Perhaps it’s time to invest in another valued skilled labor job. Unionize the bike workers of America.
Nelson Valis, nicknamed, “The Cheetah,” was a former NYC messenger from Harlem who became an Olympic champion in cycling.
He was the first African American to win a medal on the track in the summer games of 84.
Nelson rode professionally from 1988-1995 and was inducted in the US bicycling hall of fame in 2009.
According to PROLLY, a new documentary about this legendary hero is premiering in NYC on Saturday (2/15/14)
Nelson Valis will also be the keynote speaker at this weekends Youth Bike Summit, at the New School in Manhattan.
He’ll be speaking Saturday, the 15th and inspiring cycling leaders of the future with his story of triumph from messenger to track superstar.
And speaking of the Youth Summit, Affinity Cycles founder, Jason Gallacher also speaks about urban cycling culture:
The Youth Bike Summit is an annual three-day national conference bringing together educators, advocates, activists, students, teenagers, practitioners, researchers, policy makers, and community leaders to engage around youth, bicycles, education, and advocacy. We bring people together from different disciplines and backgrounds to network, learn, and explore how the bicycle is a catalyst for positive social change.
If your in NYC this weekend, come check me out at the Youth Bike Summit. I’ll be speaking in a panel discussion at the New School Saturday February 15th at 11am to discuss the Urban Cycling culture. The panel will also include prominent NYC bike messengers including Kevin Squid Bolger founder of Cyclehawk and Carlos Ramirez of Urban Cyclist Worldwide.
Support your community and the future of cycling, for more info go to youthbikesummit.org.
Many thanks to the messenger poet Kurt Boone for organizing the panel, and to Recycle a Bicycle for hosting the event. See you this weekend!
50 years ago the Beatles came to America and we all fell in love with rock n’ roll. This Friday is Valentine’s Day which I’m tagging: #velotinesday and it’s time to fall in love again. Looking for some romantic bike events for your and your lover? Here are a few options.
VALENTINES DAY PARTY ON THE MANHATTAN BRIDGE!
Friday, February 14, 2014 – 8:00am to 11:00am
Kick off your Valentines Day festivities with the NYC Bike Ambassadors! Let them know which Street you love best! Take a bike-in-tine photo with your steed! Free coffee as always from Brooklyn Roasting Co.
WE BIKE NYC’S SADIE HAWKINS TANDEM RIDE!
Friday, February 14, 2014 – 6:30pm
**This WE Bike NYC ride is open to ALL GENDERS**
Need plans for Valentine’s day? Invite your favorite guy or gal pal for a tandem ride around Central Park! We’ll meet at the southwest corner of E 79th and 5th Ave at 6:30pm. Register early if you want to ride a bicycle built for two, there are limited tandems available! You can ride your own bicycle of course though, so there’s no reason to miss out on the fun! Don’t forget to bring your helmet, and lights!
Be My Bike Valentine: 8 Romantic Date Rides in NYC
You love to ride your bike, so you’re in luck this Valentine’s Day.
Whether you’ve planned a wheeled rendezvous for two or you think cycling sweethearts are for suckers, you’ve got a very fine Valentine in your bicycle.
Whether you’re solo, coupled or with a whole bike crew, here are some of the most romantic bike rides in New York City.
Every day on my commute in NYC I witness reckless behavior from motorists, pedestrians and yes…we bikers. Cars driving in the bike lane, newspaper delivery trucks running red lights, doors flinging open, pedestrians not paying attention when jaywalking…And that’s just what I can witness from the front. Who knows what’s going on behind me.
Dashcams, (dashboard mounted video cameras) have become super popular in Russia, due to police and insurance corruption. The footage has reveled some bizarre situations to the point where there are entire youtube channels dedicated to compiling the insanity.
Now you probably won’t run into a large furry animal on the streets of NYC (insert inappropriate joke) but there is definitely a need for documentation, especially when road rage occurs or reckless driving may endanger you or worse, lead to a crash. When crashes occur, often the scenario is the NYPD arrives at the scene and chalks it up as an accident, with little or no investigation. Sometimes survillence footage can be acquired form within the area, but there’s no guarantee and it may be difficult or impossible to get from store owners.
As the new administration works towards #visionzero, cyclists may have to take matters into their own hands.
Two Australian cyclists also saw a need for documentation on their rides. One of them, was even shot at by a sling shot which lead them to create an on board dashcam of their own.
Introducing the Fly6 rear light with and HD Camera.
The owners from Perth, Australia-Andrew Hagen & Kingsley Fiegert were kind enough to send me one of their latest prototypes.
Due to our wonderful NON-australian weather and still recovering from a broken nose, I haven’t been able to test this unit out on the road but I definitely like what I see right out of the box.
The camera is super light weight and easy to instal to a removable bracket on the seatpost. It’s simple to operate and the footage is easily downloadable and viewable on my computer.
Here are a list of features.
• HD 720p video recording + audio with looping technology. There’s a built in microphone which will probably come handy in recording expletives from angry drivers. It’s meant to be used in the daytime but in well light areas at night–like most streets of NYC, the footage is still fairly good. It’s got a built in wide angle to maximize the range.
• Nano technology, which means they’ve packed a lot into a small light weight unit. It’s also water proof for wet rides…although I wouldn’t try and submerge it in a pool.
• Highly visible tail-light. It has three modes of operation which are cycled through on a switch. A light always has to be on but you can vary the amount of flashing and intensity of bulbs.
• USB rechargeable lithium battery that can last for 5 hours. It’s easy to charge through a computer or plugged into the wall.
• Weight 105 g – 100 mm long. It feels like a slightly large rear tail light.
• 8 Gb micro SD card, which will fit into an adaptor of a card reader.
The main idea of this camera is not to be used as a go pro to document your bad ass rail slide or alleycat, but rather to be record your ride with out having to put much thought into it.
Eventually the idea is also to change the culture and let motorists know their being watched and hopefully act more civil.
Fly6 has just launched a kickstarted campaign in order to get funding to complete their product which is very close to full production.
Here is their kickstarted video to learn more about the product:
To help fund this project and get a fly6 of your own, click the link: here.
