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 →

“When man invented the bicycle he reached the peak of his attainments. Here was a machine of precision and balance for the convenience of man. And (unlike subsequent inventions for man’s convenience) the more he used it, the fitter his body became. Here, for once, was a product of man’s brain that was entirely beneficial to those who used it, and of no harm or irritation to others. Progress should have stopped when man invented the bicycle.” —Elizabeth West

I agree with Ms. West in spirit, though I have to admit I love my iPod Touch and my digital cameras. ;-) But when it comes to transportation, you have to wonder what the world would be like today if the internal combustion engine was never invented. It’s hard to imagine. One thing’s for certain; our love affair with the automobile and our continuing and overwhelming desire to “make thermodynamic whoopee with fossil fuels” as Kurt Vonnegut so wonderfully described it, has placed a major stress on our environment.

Most of us grew up in the age of the automobile (my Dad, who is in his mid-80s, is the only person I know who remembers getting around by horse and wagon), and consequently, the unnaturally high speeds made possible by the internal combustion engine seem natural to us. And as cars become safer and safer, we become more and more insulated from the dangers of driving at high speeds, hence the increasing number of people who multi-task behind the wheel, texting, plucking eyebrows, and trimming sideburns while driving with one knee (yup, seen ‘em all).

I believe we’re so accustomed to traveling at high speeds that we sometimes ride our bicycles as fast as we can without realizing what we’re doing. Let’s face it, bicycles seem impossibly slow when compared to almost any automobile, and if we’re not careful, this dramatic discrepancy in speed may compel us to race from light to light in a vain attempt to mimic a car. This is neither a pleasant, nor an efficient way to ride a bicycle (unless you’re training for a race or you enjoy sweating in your street clothes).

Instead of focusing on how slow I am compared to automobiles, I try to concentrate on how fast I am compared to pedestrians. Even at a comfortable pace, the bicycle multiplies a pedestrian’s speed and reach by a factor of four (this is an amazing feat if you consider the fact that no fossil fuels are burned in the process, but I digress). When I focus on where I’d be if I were walking, instead focusing on where I’d be if I were driving a car, I find myself relaxing and slowing down to a more leisurely pace, basking in the knowledge that I’m getting there much faster than I would be otherwise.

The point of all this is to point out that speed, like so many things, is relative, and how we think about it makes a tremendous difference in how we feel about it. So the next time you find yourself feeling a little slow and tired on your bike, just remember that you’re actually flying along at over four times the speed Mother Nature intended you to travel.

“Active Transportation” is the term used to describe any of the modes of transport that involve human power such as bicycling and walking. Obviously, I’m an enthusiastic promoter of active transportation, and for good reason. Did you know that half of the trips in the U.S. are within a 20-minute bike ride, and a quarter of the trips are within a 20-minute walk, yet the vast majority are taken by automobile?

Among many other benefits, active transportation:

• saves valuable time and improves health by combining exercise with a practical activity;
• provides substantial financial savings to individuals by reducing automobile use;
• reduces government spending by reducing the need for road maintenance;
• benefits the environment by reducing automobile emissions;
• saves lives by reducing the number of automobiles on the road; and
• generally improves our quality of life.

In 2008, the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, in conjunction with Bikes Belong, published a comprehensive report on the benefits of active transportation. The report attempts to quantify the positive results of past federal spending on active transportation while making the argument for increased investment in infrastructure to support active transportation going forward. Here’s an excerpt:

The report is a must-read for anyone interested in the future of active transportation in the U.S.

Active Transportation for America (PDF) →

VeloVision was at the York Cycle Show and published a nice photo report on their website.

VeloVision @ the York Cycle Show →

We hope your day involves a favorite bike, a quiet backroad, a steady tailwind, and blue skies as far as the eye can see…

George Carlin said that. Every bicycle needs a little place for stuff too.

In a past life I was the manager of a specialty retail store. We were a small store that prided ourselves on having a high level of expertise among our staff and a policy of extreme customer service based upon the Nordstrom model. As would be expected for a small shop like ours, employees built close relationships with their clients and everyone had their own group of regulars.

Being a watcher of people, I found it fascinating to analyze why certain clients matched up with certain employees. Sometimes it was expertise in a particular specialty, other times it was age and maturity, but most often it was personality type. Typically, the friendliest employees attracted the friendliest clients, while the employees who were less-friendly ended up attracting the grumpy clients. My years working the counter at the shop taught me that our social interactions are feedback loops, and what we put out to the world comes back to us in spades.

This idea extends well beyond the confines of a retail establishment. If we travel through the world everyday with a scowl on our faces, behaving aggressively and expecting conflict, there’s a high probability that’s exactly what we’ll get. The ramifications of this are profound for bicyclists who share the road with motorists.

Riding aggressively, erratically, and without generosity is a sure way to increase the number of conflicts we have with motorists. It’s no different than driving a car. Rude and aggressive drivers make other drivers angry, which in turn creates more rude and aggressive drivers, and the cycle spirals downward. Rude and aggressive bicyclists also make drivers angry, which creates drivers who dislike and behave aggressively toward bicyclists, which creates more rude and aggressive bicyclists, and once again, the cycle spirals downward.

With this thought in mind, I recently set out to see if I could improve my commuting experience by changing my approach from being somewhat assertive and demanding of my rights as a road user, to displaying outward friendliness, politeness, and deference toward other road users. The goal was to actively engage and communicate with drivers by increasing eye contact, offering smiles, and making my intentions perfectly clear with hand gestures and body language, while maintaining a general attitude of generosity and patience.

My commute takes me through a number of 4-way stops, all of which provided a perfect laboratory to try out my new approach. My method was simple; anytime I came to a 4-way stop at the same time as a motorist, I would be sure to make clear eye contact, smile, and wave them through first. I was surprised and pleased to find that a large majority of the motorists insisted upon waving me through first, even after I’d handed them the right-of-way. It seems the same people that I was previously battling with became completely disarmed and willing to give up their right-of-way simply because I was willing to do the same.

After my success at the 4-way stops, I tried applying the approach at a number of other sticky spots on my route. One stretch of road on my commute has a “bike lane” that also serves as legal on-street parking for residents. This is a narrow road, with cars sporadically parked in about 50% of the bike lane. My old approach was to simply take the lane for the 8 blocks I was on the road and hold up traffic. This was probably legal, and would certainly be recommended by most vehicular cyclists, though it tended to anger motorists and I was often buzzed as they accelerated past me when I did this. The new approach was to pull over into the bike lane to let cars pass when there was room, then pull back out into the traffic lane after the cars passed. This required slowing, or even stopping, as the cars went by. When I did this, motorists gave me a much wider berth, they passed less aggressively, and many times they looked over and waved in appreciation for my consideration. In all, it probably added only a minute to my commute, but it made a difficult stretch of road more pleasant to traverse and it spread significant goodwill among my fellow road users.

Without going into all the other myriad ways this worked for me, I can safely say that taking a communicative and generous approach to sharing the road can significantly improve how other road users respond to us bicyclists, and in turn, can change our riding experiences for the better.

This cool passage from David Metz’ book The Limits to Travel was posted on Tom Vanderbilt’s How We Drive blog (emphasis added):

How We Drive →
The Limits to Travel →