Let’s see, we have the lycra/roady tribe, the urban/fixie tribe, the commuter/utility/cargo tribe, the mountain/downhiller tribe, the recumbent/velomobile/trike tribe, the ultra-endurance/randonneur tribe, the cycle chic/vélo-couture tribe, the electric assist tribe, the friction shift tribe, the twist shift tribe, the platform pedal tribe, the clipless pedal tribe, the people-who-only-ride-cheap-bikes tribe, the people-who-only-ride-expensive-bikes tribe, and on, and on. Oh yeah, and let’s not forget the two biggies: the pro-helmet tribe, and the anti-helmet tribe.

Divisions among divisions are by no means unique to bicycling, you see them in almost every walk of life. Music, art, sports, politics, religion, you name it; if we can set ourselves apart and exclude others by setting some arbitrary and obscure boundary, by gosh, we’re going to do it. Since this phenomenon is so widespread, I suppose it must be some normal part of the human psyche, but I have to think it’s counter-productive in many situations.

The above classifications focus on differences, instead of looking at what we bicyclists all have in common. If we flip this way of thinking on its head, it’s not difficult to see how much we all share, both technically and, more importantly, in our over-arching goals as devotees of human powered transport.

So what are some of the commonalities shared by bicyclists from different tribes? We all make our way either partially or fully under human power. We all face the same challenges on the road with regard to automobiles, infrastructure, weather, and terrain. We all love our machines, regardless of what kind they are and how they’re used. We’d all like to see more bicycles and fewer automobiles on our roads. We’d all like to see more bicycle-specific infrastructure. And, whether or not we consider ourselves environmentalists, most of us realize we can’t continue to pollute the planet and consume natural resources at the same rate we have for the past 100 years.

Seeing how much we have in common, I’d like to suggest that we spend a little less time defending our personal tribes and a little more time thinking about ourselves as part of the larger group of all bicyclists. There’s no need to sub-divide and criticize — we have common interests and common concerns! Oil is going to run out. The environment is in a shambles. Bicycles and bicyclists of all sorts can be a part of the solution. We can work together to spread the word about health, conservation, the environment, and yes, even fun. Criticizing one another for our equipment choices does nothing but divide us and distract us from the more important issues we all want to tackle.

With the summer days starting earlier and earlier, it’s been a while since I’ve seen a sunrise on my commute. I had the day off today for the holiday, so I went out early to catch the sunrise on one of our favorite trails. In the winter, the sunrise is rich with color and plays out slowly, but this time of year the sun leaps off the horizon and hits you with its intensity almost immediately. This photo was taken before 6:00 am and you can already tell it’s going to be a hot one.

We started EcoVelo back on May 16, 2008 and today we passed a major milestone; you’re looking at post #1,000.

People occasionally ask what motivates us to keep moving forward, finding new material, doing everything we can to keep it fresh. A recent note from one of our regulars sums it up:

“By the way, I hold Alan personally responsible, and am thankful, for our car-light decision.”

We’re super-excited about how far we’ve come, but we’re even more excited about where we’re headed. Many thanks to all of our loyal readers (and newbies too!) for coming along for the ride; let’s keep it rolling!

—Alan & Michael

Starting this month, America’s largest electronics retailer, Best Buy, will be stocking hybrid electric bicycles from Currie Technologies and Ultra Motor, as well as electric motorcycles from Brammo. According to an article in Bicycle Retailer and Industry News, Currie Technologies, the country’s biggest e-bike distributor, will provide Best Buy with six Izip models ranging in price from $499 to $2,000. This is Best Buy’s first move into the transportation sector and it bodes well for the budding e-bike market.

From NYCDOT:

NY400 is working with Summer Streets to make their fleet of bright orange Dutch bikes available to Summer Streets participants:

Summer Streets →
NY400 →

The BBC website has a great story on “Zambikes”, a small company in Zambia building hand-made bamboo bikes for local sale and eventually, export to the U.S. Here’s an excerpt:

Zambikes is partnering with Bamboosero to export the bikes to the U.S. Bamboosero is a project started by Santa Cruz framebuilder Craig Calfee to improve conditions in the developing world by helping entrepreneurs start businesses making bamboo bikes.

Read the story on the BBC website →
Bamboosero →

The object is to contort yourself into a position that enables you to take an extreme, one-handed, on-bike photo without falling on your head. Don’t try this at home kids.

What makes a favorite bike? I’ve had many (too many) bikes over the years, and a few stand out in my mind as favorites, though I can’t say why for sure. Certainly, every time I purchase a bike I anticipate that I’ll like it, and hope that it becomes a favorite, but for any number of reasons, most have fallen short.

A favorite bike by my definition, is the bike you jump on when you’re tired and sore but you have a long ride ahead of you. It’s the bike you grab by default when you don’t have a good reason to choose one bike over the other. It’s the bike that surprises you by needing its tires replaced because you didn’t realize how much you’ve been riding it. It’s the first bike that comes to mind when someone asks the old question, “If you only had one…”.

Thinking back, there are a few things all of my favorite bikes had in common.

• Probably most importantly, they fit. An ill-fitting bike, no matter how nice, is never a pleasure to ride.
• Maybe by chance, maybe not, they were all made with steel tubing and had compliant rides.
• They were all set up for a relatively upright seating position.
• They were outfitted with Brooks saddles. I’m not sure if the egg or the chicken was first here; did the saddles contribute to my liking the bikes, or did I end up putting Brooks saddles on my favorite bikes?
• They had relatively robust rims and tires with decent flotation.
• They were set up for all-weather and nighttime riding.
• They had old school friction shifters of some sort (either downtube shifters or bar-ends set for friction).

I have a bike in-house right now that only meets a few of the above criteria, yet I find I’m grabbing it more and more. It’s a thoroughly more modern bike than most of my previous favorites, yet I’m enjoying it immensely. Maybe as technology is evolving and maturing, my tastes are changing as well. Maybe it is possible to teach an old dog a new trick or two.

I’d love to hear about your favorites, what you liked about them, where they are now, and which bike you’re currently enamored with.

It’s always a blast to take a spankin’ new bike out for its first commute. Today it was the Breezer Uptown 8. First impressions? Solid, smooth, quiet… very nice. I’ll have a full report later this summer.

Breezer Uptown 8 →

Researchers speaking at a recent European fertility conference told listeners that long hours in the saddle may be linked to infertility. They studied 15 triathletes in an attempt to determine whether swimming, running, or cycling had an affect on sperm count, and found that only cycling had a direct correlation. They also found that the more time a rider spent training, the lower their count. From an article in the Guardian:

The good news is that average bicyclists riding to-and-from work, or running errands on the weekend, have little to be concerned about:

Read the story in the Guardian →

I’ve added an Ecospeed electric motor to my Lightning Phantom after selling our second car. Ecospeed makes mounts for specific recumbent bike models and can also make custom mounts. I used the Easy Racers Javelin mount which fit the two inch main tube exactly. My local bike shop was able to install the motor.

My commute is 18 miles roundtrip with the only elevation change over a freeway overpass. Without the motor it takes 36 to 45 minutes one way. With the motor (moderate usage), the time is 28-30 minutes. I’m lucky that in my rural town I have several public transportation options I’ve used for heavy fog or rain. I’ve ordered a fast charger to keep at work, but I can make it to work and back easily on one charge.

The Ecospeed motor drives the rear cassette, and the gear you select determines your speed. Choose a low gear (26 to 34 tooth) for hills and to accelerate quickly and top out at 15 to 18 miles per hour. With the highest gears (and maybe some legwork) you can reach 28-30 mph. The thumb throttle gives you full control over the amount of assist you want.

An electric option is particularly helpful for recumbents at stoplights, intersections, and in traffic. With the motor and extra weight I now use the front small chainring to start, and switch to the middle ring for cruising. You have many options for gearing the motor when purchasing, for hills or heavy loads, or for speed.

You should consider front suspension for higher speeds. My other Lightning Voyager has a front shock fork, and on the Phantom without suspension I’ve hit road holes that are jarring at 20 mph but wouldn’t have been too bad at 13-14 mph.

I’ve sold the car shown in my previous gallery listing (click here). The Ecospeed motors, mounts, and batteries may be the most expensive options for an electric bike, but I’ve never lost ten pounds driving my car before.

Pros

• Very, very fun
• Use and select your own tires and wheels
• Gearing selection determines speed and torque for climbing or speed
• Can change tires, wheels, and fix flats normally
• Rides well without battery assist

Cons

• Very expensive
• Noisy

By the way, I hold Alan personally responsible and am thankful for our car-light decision. —Larry

After being held up for three years while an environmental study was conducted, San Francisco’s Bike Plan was finally approved by the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency board on Friday. The vote was unanimous, and barring any unforeseen obstacles, 45 of the 46 planned projects should move forward by this fall. This is great news for City bicyclists!

Read the story in the SF Chronicle →

I would have preferred to be out riding if the weather was milder, but leisurely assembling a bike is not a bad way to spend an afternoon when it’s 106°F outside.

… are not mutually exclusive. Basil Kavan II Panniers + Rivendell Nigel Smythe Country Bag = 100 liters of stylish cargo hauling goodness.

Hybrid electric bicycles (also sometimes called pedelecs, e-assist bikes, or e-bikes) look and ride much like standard bicycles, but with the addition of an electric motor to assist the rider. Some are standard off-the-shelf bicycles with aftermarket motors added on, others are purpose-built with a battery and motor thoroughly integrated into the design. Hybrid controls run the gamut from simple twist throttles to sophisticated systems that provide as-needed assist based upon the amount of torque being generated by the rider. Unlike electric scooters and motorcycles, hybrid electric bicycles can be ridden as conventional bicycles with no assist.

The hybrid electric bicycle has yet to really take off here in the U.S., but if Europe and Asia are any indication, we may be seeing many more of these on our roads in the future. It’s yet to be determined exactly where they’ll fit in among existing road users, but so far it appears many local municipalities are classifying hybrids as bicycles, not motor vehicles. I don’t see a problem with this as long as speed limits on multi-use trails are set low enough (and enforced) to prevent conflict among user groups. Certainly there’s no problem with allowing hybrids access to all on-street bike lanes.

Hybrid electric bicycle riders sometimes get a bad rap from the macho crowd as being “cheaters”. Nothing could be further from the truth. Hybrids are just another alternative to the automobile and they provide tremendous potential to attract riders who otherwise would not be able to use a bicycle at all, such as those with physical disabilities, age-related exercise restrictions, or overwhelmingly difficult terrain to traverse.

We’re going to dip our toe in the pool and start providing a little hybrid electric coverage here on EcoVelo. I’ve fielded many questions about hybrid electric bicycles over the past year, and we’ve taken on our first e-bike sponsor (Currie Technologies), so I figure it’s time to get up to speed (haha) and learn more about these interesting bicycles.

To start, please note that we now have a “Hybrid Electrics” category in our link collection at right. The next step will be a full hybrid electric bicycle review later this year.

We’ve been quietly enjoying one of the most mild and pleasant springs we’ve had in recent memory, with temperatures falling below average for many weeks now. We knew it couldn’t last, and it looks like it’s time to ante up; the weather report is calling for triple-digits all weekend. We’ll be out early, but the bikes will be in hibernation after around 11am. Stay cool!

We have a number of bicycle reviews in the works for this summer:

• Breezer Uptown 8 Diamond Frame
• Renova Pandurban Bamboo Commuter
• Independent Fabrication Club Racer
• Currie Technologies Electric-Assist Hybrid
• Something from Rivendell

The list is likely to grow as the year progresses. We also have a number of accessory reviews in the works and a headlight shootout planned for the fall. And of course, as promised, we’ll host our second photo contest later this year, this time focusing on a specific theme (we’re looking for ideas).

Stay tuned, and if you aren’t already following us via RSS or e-mail notifications, consider subscribing so you don’t miss anything!

Violet Crown Cycles is now offering $300 off on custom Ferguson city bikes ordered before June 30. They also now produce a step-through model to accompany their standard diamond frame model.

Visit the Violet Crown website for details.

Violet Crown Cycles →

This pair of “Bike Safety” public service announcements are creating quite a stir on various bike blogs around the i-net . The first is from the Los Angeles Department of Transportation, the other is from the New York City Department of Transportation.

It’s my opinion that the ads do more harm than good. Most people who aren’t already bicyclists perceive bicycling to be much more dangerous that it actually is; they don’t need a PSA to reinforce their unfounded fears. On the other hand, bicycling enthusiasts already know not to ride against traffic or run head-on into a car traveling at 50 mph (ridiculous). If anything, the ads encourage people to do the most dangerous thing they can possibly do: stay at home in front of the TV and develop heart disease, the number one killer in the United States.

What do you think?

[via Cyclelicious]

For the first time, the bicycle trip share in Amsterdam has surpassed the automobile trip share. According to a report in Bike Europe, between 2005 and 2007, residents used their bikes 0.87 times per day and their cars 0.84 times per day. The number of trips by car has fallen 14% since 1990. In the city center, bike trip share is as high as 41%. Amazing.

Bike Europe →