Holiday Gift Guide

Before the clock ticks down on Christmas shopping, we thought we’d share some gift ideas for that favorite cyclist in your life. This was a group effort, with lots of good suggestions from Miriam, Noah, Vince, Elizabeth and RL. Some of the products listed below were reviewed here, and that will be noted in the descriptions. Other items are on our own wish lists or are items we’ve seen and think are worth sharing.

Don’t forget about yourselves as you shop…with all that gas and parking money you’re saving, you deserve some bikey treats, too!

Bikes:

– Redline 9-2-5…one of the staff favorites around here. Reviewed here. Get ‘em while they’re hot, as Redline drops them from the lineup for 2012.

— Jamis Commuter 4 — Vince’s favorite, and on special if you’re in the Portland area. Swing on over to River City Bicycles Outlet for a screaming deal on this machine.

See the rest of the list at bikecommuters.com

Bike Action Plan & Energy Resilience

This week the Santa Monica City Council approved the Bicycle Action Plan by unanimous vote and last week the ribbon was cut on a new high capacity Bike Center facility. Tuesday’s vote finishes the long public process of drafting avisionary document, and marking the beginning of the real work of implementation. I am much more hopeful for the full implementation of this plan than the never quite finished bicycle master plan from 1995.

The momentum has shifted a lot since 1995 and there is a new and largely younger crowd emerging and rallying around bikes. They are carrying the torch from the tireless advocates that fought for years even when it seemed like no one was listening. Rates of bike ownership in Santa Monica now represent a majority of residents. The survey data cited in the plan indicates commuting among employees of major city employers has been inching up recently, despite fairly little change on the street for bicycling in the time I have been living here. The remaining naysayers and critics that oppose bike facility development are looking more out of touch with every passing year. What I don’t think our society has quite come to terms with yet, is how drastically economic, ecological, and cultural shifts will be shaping our transportation reality. These emerging shifts are demanding more serious consideration for bicycling in urban transportation. Riding a bike will be viewed as an increasingly logical response for people trying to manage our high levels of unemployment, stagnant wages and climbing fuel and food prices. Private automobiles are simply not economical machines, and for the typical commute in L.A., which is actually less than 5 miles for 60% of commuters, they are not as necessary as we make them out to be. When combined with transit service, the reach by bike can also be extended much further. For these and other reasons it is my belief that bicycling ridership will continue to grow even if the city were to do nothing to encourage it. For example in San Francisco, significant ridership gains were seen in recent years despite a legal injunction that had delayed the development of any new bicycling facilities.

Read the rest of the story at Santa Monica Patch

How to deter bicycle thieves: securing and locking your commuter bicycle

Intro

Before talking about securing a bike I’d like to put forward four ideas that might help you deal with bike theft more efficiently.



First, there is no such thing as complete “theft prevention“. You can’t “prevent” theft any more than you can “prevent” accidents or illnesses. You can minimize the chances of something bad happening, but you can’t prevent it entirely. Given enough time, skills, determination and the right tools anything can be broken into, cracked, cut, and stolen. Theft deterrent is a better term and a better strategy too. What you want to aim at is not a total elimination of any possibility of theft, since that is impossible, but at making your bike difficult enough, and undesirable enough, so that chances are the thief would pass it and move to an easier and more valuable target. Basically, a bike *will* be stolen, you just want to make sure it’ll be somebody else’s bike, not yours. It’s blunt, it’s harsh, but that’s what it comes down to.

Second, “security” and “convenience” are mutually exclusive. Just like in the realm of computing: as you increase security, raise login and password requirements, introduce biometric readers, etc., using computers becomes less and less convenient. So, there is often a need to draw a line somewhere, to realize how much convenience you’re willing to give up for the increase in security and how much is at stake. What is it that you’re trying to protect, how much is it worth, and how much effort, time and money you want to spend on protecting it before security itself becomes a bigger hurdle. Do you really want a $90 Super Duper Bicycle Lock to secure a bike you bought on Craigslist for $30?

Read the rest at nycbikecommuter.info

My conversation with a Cop about bikes, traffic and safety tips

from Bike Commuters by RL Policar

The other day I was having coffee with one of my friends who happens to be an Officer with a very large metropolitan police department. We’ll call him “Officer Ben.”I had some questions for him regarding laws that apply to bicyclists as well as safety tips. I figured he’d be a great source for this info since he’s on the streets. Some of the items listed below are things you might get a ticket for or suggestions on keeping you safe while riding.

1. Don’t ride the opposite direction of traffic.

2. Front head light. This must be at least 300 feet visible. Rear red light that is visible at 500 feet.
-Reflectors are not sufficient
-Wear reflective clothing or high-visibility vests/shirts. Don’t wear dark clothing when riding at night.
-Pedals must have yellow, wheels/spokes with white, rear red and white front reflectors.
-Officer Ben recommends blinking lights to make you more visible to cars on the road.

3. Brakes-All bicycles MUST have some sort of braking system. Fixie riders, if a cop pulls you over and your bike does not have some sort of brake setup, you will get a ticket. The argument that you can stop the bike with your legs or skip stopping will not fly.

4. Tall Bikes-As a bicyclist, you must be able to come to a stop and put one foot down.

5. Cell phone-Remember, a bicycle is considered a “vehicle” and if you’re caught on your phone, it will yield the same fees as if you were driving a car while on the phone.

Read the rest at: Bike Commuter

Bicyclist injured in crash on Sawyer

A bicyclist was hurt when he was struck by a car Tuesday near downtown Houston, police said.

The cyclist was riding on a sidewalk on Sawyer Street and entered the intersection when he was struck by a Ford Contour that was eastbound on Crockett Street, Houston police spokeswoman Jodi Silva said.

Investigators said the bicyclist ran the red light when the 6:30 p.m. accident occurred.

The cyclist, whose name was not available, was taken toBen Taub Hospital and was in serious condition, police said.

robert.stanton@chron.com