Just four days left in the 5th Annual BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive! Donate today via PayPal, or with Zelle to ted @ bikinginla.com.
Sad news from Bike Biz, which reports that bicycling journalist Frank Berto has passed away.
The longtime author, and Bicycling and Bicycle Quarterly contributor was 90 years old.
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If you’re riding a BMC Teammachine SLR01 DISC bike or frame, stop.
The bikes have been recalled for a possibly defective fork steerer tube that can fracture during use.
Definitely not a good thing.
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A 9th grade Pasadena hit-and-run victim and his family need your help.
Angel Lopez, a 9th grade Pasadena student was struck by a hit & run driver while riding his bicycle on Nov 14, 2019. He's recovering in the hospital, but it's hurting his family financially. Please help Angel and his family during this difficult time. https://t.co/M29ZPhOsnq pic.twitter.com/zLAFqCAOuE
— Pasadena Complete Streets Coalition (@PasadenaCSC) December 20, 2019
If you still haven’t given to the BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive, give me a little less, and send some of it his way.
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CiclaValley says hi to Mr. Peanut.
Uplifting moment of the day is catching onto a group in Santa Clarita and getting high fives from a film crew shooting a @mrpeanut commercial.@bikinginla pic.twitter.com/HzuKvAuW8l
— Zachary Rynew (@Ciclavalley) December 20, 2019
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It may not be a sleigh ride, but maybe a slow ride along the river will do.
Our friends @LARiverCEE are hosting the last Elysian Valley Slow Ride of the year!
When: Saturday Dec 21, 2019
Time: Meet up at 10:00 am
Where: La Colombe at the entrance to the path (Newell St at the LA River Path).
For info & to RSVP: https://t.co/wLPkgZ07LI#bikeLA pic.twitter.com/kfep2gPUDx— BikeLA (@heybikela) December 13, 2019
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Sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
Kansas police busted a bike-riding porch pirate who tried to make off with a full-size printer tucked under his arm.
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‘Tis the Season.
In by far the best story of the day, a six-year old Modesto boy — yes, just six years old — started his own business making and selling over 1,000 candy canes to raise money to give bicycles and helmets to 20 kids at a nearby elementary school.
A nonprofit group founded by an entrepreneur in Dallas TX is giving away 25 bikes and helmets to kids this weekend.
Eighty Ohio kids will get new bikes thanks to donations to an annual bike drive established by a financial representative.
A Syracuse NY program gave away 2,000 bicycles to kids, including one boy who was on life support after being hit by a driver just two months earlier.
A Virginia church is giving away hundreds of bikes to kids this weekend as part of their Bikes for Christ program. He could probably use one. And it is his birthday next week.
Bighearted Florida sheriff’s deputies bought new toys and a bicycle for a mother who lost her wallet at IHOP with all her money for her kids’ Christmas presents tucked inside.
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Time is rapidly running out on this year’s BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive.
So don’t put it off any more. Donate today to help keep SoCal’s best source for bike news and advocacy coming your way every day.
Not to mention the occasional corgi pics as we say goodbye to our late, great fund drive spokesdog.
My heartfelt thanks to Gabrielle M and David S, and everyone else who shared their hard earned funds this year, for their generous contributions to help keep this fund drive going strong in its final days.
So what are are you waiting for, already?
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Local
Streetsblog explains where all of LA’s 18.2 lane miles of protected bike lanes are located. Which would be a pretty pathetic number for my Colorado hometown, let alone America’s second largest city.
LAist lists everyone who qualified for next year’s city council and school board races. In the 4th District, where I live, Nithya Ramam and Sarah Kate Levy will take on David Ryu, while the 12th district will see a rerun of this year’s race between John Lee and Loraine Lundquist.
Metro Bike will offer free 30 minute rides between the holidays.
State
The Voice of San Diego describes the city’s race for mayor as a battle between the NIMBY and the YIMBY, even if those titles don’t always fit.
That new protected bike lane can’t come soon enough for a North Park bike shop, which lost an estimated $10,000 worth of bikes when it was burglarized for the second time this year.
San Francisco bike riders are telling e-scooter renters this bike rack’s not big enough for both of us.
It takes a major schmuck to steal a $3,000 adaptive bicycle from a Sacramento Middle School, where it was used by students with disabilities including blindness and cerebral palsy.
National
Trump’s tariffs will mean higher prices for bikes this holiday season, but you can bypass the tariffs by ordering directly from a foreign site. Which kind of defeats the purpose of tariffs, doesn’t it?
Bike looks at the most influential bicycles of the past decade.
Bike lawyer Bob Mionske is back with advice on what to do if you’re hit by an Uber or Lyft driver. My take — make sure whoever hits you has a passenger onboard or is on the way to pick one up, since liability coverage increases ten fold.
Bicycling recommends their favorite gravel bikes, as long as you’re willing to fork out at least $2,200 — or nearly $6,000 for their top choice. But believe it or not, they actually found nine great road bikes for under a grand. Proof you don’t have to spend a bazillion dollars for a decent roadie.
Bicycling also suggest essentials for the “perfect” bikepacking weekend. I don’t care who you are, a nearly $10,000 bicycle isn’t essential for anyone.
A new Portland study says skip the mixing zones at intersections.
Omaha NE bike riders continue to protest the removal of a bike corral in order to restore just one parking space, including one rack that was ripped out with a bicycle still locked to it.
Vermont’s Kingdom Trails system, one of the biggest mountain bike networks in the US, is getting a little smaller, thanks to three recalcitrant property owners.
New York’s Department of Transportation is looking for seven “apprentice highway and sewer inspectors” to check the condition of the city’s bikeways. Although it’s the second part of that job title I’d worry about.
The NYPD plans to reclassify ebike riders as bicycle riders when they get injured, rather than bizarrely listing them as motor vehicle occupants. Which will make bike injury stats jump around 10%.
International
Road Bike Action Magazine looks back at former Canadian pro Steve Bauer’s 1993 Eddy Merx low ride bike developed specifically for the Paris-Roubaix race. Check out the shocks on the front end.
A new London study says the city’s protected bikeways have resulted in a big boost in ridership.
A 14-year old English boy has been convicted of manslaughter for stabbing an adult man to death in a dispute over a bicycle; the victim was riding a bikeshare bike that the teenager somehow claimed was his.
A British man gets slammed in the tabloids for riding his bike without a helmet while carrying a toddler in one arm. Although something tells me it’s not really the helmet thing they’re worried about.
A design website compares the virtues of Swedish vs Danish bicycle rest stops.
After first laughing at the sight of bike cops on ebikes, a New Zealand newspaper ridicules proposed fines for bike riders who don’t use required bike paths.
Competitive Cycling
Pink Bike looks at the successful Ride Like a Girl program to mentor young womens cyclists.
Finally…
No, it’s not a Nice Bridge if it doesn’t have bike and walkways. Your next bike could come from the world’s oldest bikemaker.
And this may be the best argument so far to just put down your phone and drive.
https://twitter.com/AwardsDarwin/status/1207277069752840194
