Tag Archive for bicycling

NY shows what LA bike riders could have — but don’t, ride your bikeshare to the battleship, and ebike vouchers work

January 9, 2026 / / No comments

Curbed says the first week of new NY Mayor Zohran Mamdani was very good for bicyclists.

You know, just in case you need a reminder what a bike-friendly mayor could actually do, since it’s been so long since we’ve had one here in Los Angeles.

Then again, it’s been a few years since New York had one, too.

When Eric Adams took office, he too made a show of being a bike lover, riding a Citi Bike to meetings on his second day in office and promising to build 300 miles of protected bike lanes by the end of his term. But then he and top aide Ingrid Lewis-Martin spent four years ripping up protected bike lanes and sabotaging planned road diets — perhaps most infamously the McGuinness Boulevard bike lane, with Lewis-Martin charged for allegedly accepting a bribe (and a film cameo) to stop it. In the end, Adams fell 210 miles short of his promise.

Mamdani spent his first week in office undoing much of what Adams had wrought. On his third day, he and new DOT commissioner Mike Flynn announced they would be installing the original McGuinness road diet, reversing Adams’s reversal. The administration also announced it is working to finish Astoria’s 31st Street bike lane, a project that a judge halted in part because Adams hadn’t gotten the required certification from the FDNY and other agencies. “We are beginning the mandatory consultations and will issue the notices needed to restart the project, while also filing a notice of appeal of the court’s decision,” Flynn said in a statement. Over the weekend, Mamdani also said he would direct the DOT to “daylight” city streets, a commonsense safety measure that would keep intersections clear of visual obstructions like parked cars (a promise the Adams administration made but then backtracked on).

At least you can’t say that LA Mayor Bass has fallen short on her promises to the city’s bicycling community.

But only because she hasn’t made any.

You have to go back to the last years of former mayor and current gubernatorial candidate Antonio Villaraigosa’s administration, after his famous road to Damascus moment, to recall anything like Mamdani’s first week in office.

And if it sounds like I’m envious of New Yorkers this week, it’s only because I am. Even if the NYPD doesn’t seem to have gotten the memo yet.

This is what we could have here. But only if we’re willing to fight for it.

………

New plans call for a 50,000-foot park next to the Battleship USS Iowa Museum at the Port of Los Angeles in San Pedro, including a new bikeshare station.

Which assumes that Metro will finally get management of the Metro Bike program worked out, something is far from guaranteed at this point.

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More proof that ebike voucher programs work, as over 2,700 people bought new ebikes in just six months using vouchers worth up to $1,500 from Ava Community Energy in partnership with the Alameda County Transportation Commission.

Meanwhile, California’s ebike voucher funds are still being spent to keep more cars on the road.

And LADWP’s ebike voucher program doesn’t exist.

………

The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.

Police in Denton, Texas arrested a hammer-wielding man who ran out of the woods and began chasing a bike rider, claiming the bicycle was his and demanding the rider give it to him, and continued to threaten the bicyclist even after police intervened.

But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.

A Gilroy man was busted by the CHP for riding his bike in the slow lane of the freeway while under the influence of…something.

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Local 

You have a little more than three weeks left to get your comments in on plans to extend the LA River bike path through DTLA and points south to provide a continuous route from Long Beach through the San Fernando Valley. Which was supposed to be completed before the ’28 Olympics, but won’t be.

Streetsblog’s Joe Linton continues his seemingly ubiquitous looks at new LA-area bike and/or walkways, this time visiting the first and last mile construction around Santa Monica’s Bergamot Station.

The South Bay’s Easy Reader takes a look back at the past year in Hermosa Beach, including how a violent assault made the city “part of a multilayered national conversation on the impact of reckless e-bike riding in neighborhoods.”

 

State

Residents of Laguna Beach are urged to attend a public meeting on Monday to discuss plans for a new bicycle pump track in the city.

No bias here. Voice of OC says Encinitas residents continue to blame former mayor and current state senator Catherine Blakespear for the city’s perceived problems, including controversy over the Coastal Rail Trail, which she was for, before she was against it, before she was for it again, even though it’s now widely used and popular among residents.

 

National

Escape Collective mostly drops their paywall for a tutorial on how to photograph bicycles and bike riding. But you might want to make a quick pdf for reference, because once you hit the paywall at the bottom, it’s gone.

Security video captures the moment a 73-year old New Jersey man was killed when he was riding salmon on an ebike, and crashed into the side of a police car as the driver was turning right onto the street the man was riding on. Yet another reminder to never ride against traffic, because drivers won’t be looking for you coming from the wrong direction, even though drivers should have looked both ways before turning. Even cops.

This is the cost of traffic violence. A 75-year old North Carolina man was killed when he was rear-ended by a semi-truck driver while riding his bike, after spending a full third of his life accompanying music students at Wake Forest.

 

International

A writer for The Guardian describes how he went from being afraid to change a tire after taking up bicycling during the pandemic, to building his own bikes by learning bike mechanics from YouTube videos.

Canadian Cycling Magazine makes the case for why bicycling will make you a better driver, which has been born out by a number of studies.

Another writer for The Guardian questions whether people in the Netherlands have forgotten how to ride their bikes in the snow, as the city “descends into chaos” during an increasingly rare cold snap, with climate change reducing snow days in Utrecht to an average of just three a year.

A man in Zimbabwe uses his Buffalo Bike provided through international charity World Bicycle Relief to chase away lions and other wild beasts from crops and farm animals surrounding his village, saying lions have no idea what kind of animal he is when he rides up trumpeting on his vuvuzela. Then again, most SoCal drivers might not either, even without the plastic horn.  

Chinese authorities shut down two manufacturers and seized $2.4 million worth of counterfeit Specialized frames, handlebars and Roval wheels, as well as fake Pinarello, Cannondale, Cervélo and Trek products.

Taiwan-based Giant is recalling their Giant Animator and Liv Adore children’s bicycles due to faulty brakes.

A New Zealand paper celebrates Christchurch’s ranking as the most bike-friendly city in the Asia-Oceania region, though they’re only 38th internationally in the global Copenhagenize Index.

 

Competitive Cycling

Yet another pro cyclist is unexpectedly calling it a career, as 28-year old Belgian pro Eli Iserbyt announcing that doctors advised him to quit due to decreased blood flow in his femoral artery.

A new bike tour promises to give you VIP access to this year’s Tour de France and Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, while enabling you to ride the routes before the pros do.

Twenty-seven year old former Pan-American road champion Skylar Schneider is rejoining her sister on the LA-based L39ION of Los Angeles cycling team, saying she has some unfinished business on her mind as she returns to domestic racing.

 

Finally…

Okay, so maybe throttle-controlled ebikes do come in handy sometimes, like riding your bike across a frozen river. Maybe your bike wouldn’t handle so badly if it all faced the right way.

And that feeling when bike riders get blamed for wanting to lower drunk driving limits.

Which they should do.

But still.

………

Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Speeding Long Beach driver kills 2 — after killing bike rider 3 months earlier, and Mandani loses a just little bike street cred

January 8, 2026 / / One comment

Un-effing-believable.

A 24-year old woman was formally charged with felony manslaughter for the October death of a bike rider in Long Beach.

Just one day after she was arrested for killing two other people in a Long Beach hit-and-run on Sunday.

According to the Long Beach Post, Ahkeyajahniq Owens was arraigned on a single count of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence for running down 35-year old Long Beach resident Raul Augustin Gallopa on October 6th.

Owens was allegedly driving her BMW around 100 mph when she slammed into Gallopa while he was attempting to turn left off of Fourth Street near Bonita Ave.

Remarkably, given Owen’s speed, he survived for two weeks in the hospital before dying of his injuries.

The deputy district attorney mentioned the additional killings almost in passing as she asked that Owens to be held without bail, arguing that she is “a huge risk to the community.”

Well, no shit.

Like the earlier crash, she’s accused of running red lights at over 100 mph before slamming into two cars at Sixth Street and Atlantic Avenue in Sunday’s crash, killing two people and injuring three others.

Which makes you wonder how the hell she manages to survive those high-speed crashes.

It also makes you wonder why her license wasn’t immediately pulled after killing one innocent person, let alone three.

It’s also stupendously idiotic that Owens wasn’t taken into custody after the first crash; instead, she was let loose on society after getting booked on suspicion of misdemeanor reckless driving.

Because apparently, inflicting life-threatening injuries at 100 mph on someone riding a bicycle is merely “reckless.”

In a functioning society that actually gives a damn about human lives, that would have been enough to suspend her license at least until a decision was made whether to file formal charges.

But we don’t seem to live in that society.

Instead, we just give dangerous drivers a pat on the back, and send them back out to get their cars fixed, and do it again three months later.

To say I’m disgusted and sickened would be a huge understatement.

To cap it all off, California’s lax traffic laws mean she faces a maximum of six years behind bars if she’s convicted for Gallopa’s death.

Too bad the judge can’t add a year for each 10 mph over the speed limit.

The only good news, if you can all it that, is that she should face a similar sentence for each of the two people she is alleged to have killed on Sunday. Although the DA should upgrade it to 2nd degree murder by arguing that she should have known the danger of speeding after the earlier crash.

We can hope, anyway.

At the end of Monday’s hearing, Owens was ordered held on $200,000 bail.

No word on whether the judge also took away her license until the trial is completed.

Thanks to Chris for the heads-up. 

Photo by Kindel Media from Pexels. 

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We finally got to see the first crack in the New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani thus far flawless bike-friendly veneer.

According to Streetsblog, Mamdani agreed that scofflaw bike riders shouldn’t be getting criminal summons in the Big Apple, rather than regular traffic tickets.

But he stopped short of saying he would direct NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch to end the policy she implemented last year, instead just saying they’re still having “conversations.”

“These are part of the conversations that we’re having,” Mamdani said. “In addition to the question of what kind of a summons, we also have to make it easier to be a cyclist in compliance with the law, because I will tell you that you will find a cyclist biking on a pavement, and sometimes when you ask them why they’re doing so, they’ll point to the car that’s driving in the bike lane.

“We have created infrastructure issues for cyclists that we are then ticketing them for, where it is easier to be out of compliance with the law than in compliance with the law,” the mayor added.

Although if wants to maintain the bicycle street cred he’s built up in the first two weeks of his administration, he needs to stop conversing and start stopping things.

………

The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.

The Canadian Constitutional Foundation is entering the battle over Toronto bike lanes, joining the appeal of a judge’s ruling blocking the province’s effort to rip them out, by contesting the constitutional basis for it.

Road.cc claps back about why “certain MAMILS” ride in the roadway rather than in a bike lane, in response to an anonymous Facebook poster complaining about four people riding perfectly legally two-abreast next to the kerb, uh, curb.

………

Local 

Streetsblog’s Joe Linton takes a look at the work by Caltrans contractors to prepare for new lanes on Santa Monica Blvd in the Sawtelle neighborhood, which can also be used by bicyclists once it’s finished.

 

State

A Wasco man will likely spend the rest of his life behind bars after being sentenced to 86-years to life for fatally shooting a 51-year old man in a dispute over a stolen bicycle — which is convenient since there’s already a state prison right there. Seriously, no bike is worth a human life. Just let it go, and let the cops handle it. 

 

National

Bike Magazine hosts three expert framebuilders discussing the challenges of building bicycles in the US, and the tradeoffs involved in making bikes overseas.

CyclingSavvy offers a lesson on the safe use of separated bikeways.

Forbes writes that ebike regulations are being tightened across the US in the wake of irresponsible drivers. But by “drivers,” they mean the people operating ebikes, not the ones in the big, dangerous machines.

Like Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire, a Massachusetts man says he depended on the kindness of strangers on his recent three-and-a-half year, 46,000-mile bike journey around the world.

New York will appeal a judge’s ruling that blocked an Astoria bike lane, while also addressing the concerns she cited.

A December demonstration project showed the practicality of delivering fresh seafood to a New York market via freight ferry and heavy-duty cargo bikes.

A Wilmington, North Carolina public radio station examines ghost bikes through the lens of a man who would have been 38 yesterday, if he hadn’t been killed by a driver while riding his bike over seven years earlier.

A recent South Carolina college graduate considers the people he met and the lessons learned riding his bike across the US, while raising $2,500 for charity.

 

International

Momentum ranks the bicycle festivals worth traveling to this year, starting with Monterey’s Sea Otter Classic in April.

Quartz highlights ten of the world’s best bike cities. None of which is Los Angeles, of course. Or even in the US. 

An Irish writer considers why bicycles are a favored symbol of the country’s rural life, despite the damp and dreary weather.

A group of Indian soldiers are riding a thousand miles across the subcontinent, retracing the march of Peshwa Bajirao to victory in the 1737 battle of Delhi.

A kindhearted South African woman worked with a local bike shop to repair and refurbish her gardener’s broken bicycle at no cost, which is his main mode of transport.

A Chinese province used a recent mass bike ride to propagandize against “xie jiao,“ or “illicit religions, ranging from Falun Gong to perfectly orthodox Christian churches.

Chinese President Xi Jinping welcomed South Korean President Lee Jae Myung to Beijing with a new ebike, along with Chinese ceramics, a coffee cup set, apples and dried persimmons, and a traditional Korean painting symbolizing peace and prosperity. Seriously, he had me at ebike.

 

Competitive Cycling

In a surprise announcement, 33-year old British pro Simon Yates decided to quit at the top, calling it a career after after winning last year’s Giro, seven years after his first grand tour win in the 2018 Vuelta and 13 years after debuting alongside his twin brother Adam.

 

Finally…

Now you, too, can cosplay being a real Tour de France cyclist. Nothing like a bunch of rapping skinny ass white kids in spandex to get you in the mood for racing season.

And post this one under “problems SoCal bike riders seldom have.”

I had to give up..
byu/manspih inbikecommuting

………

Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , , , ,

LA approves $6.8m for crappy Chandler Bikeway extension, and NY mayor takes literal shovel to bridge bike lane bump

January 7, 2026 / / One comment

Los Angeles thinks you want to ride in the center of the roadway.

And they’re willing to bet nearly $7 million of your money they’re right.

Yesterday, the Los Angeles City Board of Public Works approved a $6.8 million contract to build an extension to the popular Chandler Bikeway, with a design that places the semi, kinda but not really protected bike lanes on the left side of the road.

Because parking.

As in, they weren’t willing to risk the wrath of LA’s angry drivers by removing parking to create space for the bike lane on the right side.

Because nothing is more LA than your God-given right to free car storage right next to the curb in front of your home. Or anyone else’s, for that matter.

But giving city leaders the benefit of the doubt, maybe they think they’re going to protect us by putting bikes over there on the left, where no one would expect it. Kinda like safety in invisibility.

And we know how well that’s worked out for us.

But there it shall be, henceforth and forever more running down the center of the road — not in the median like it is in Burbank, but over there on the left shoulder. With nothing but those chunky white bendable bollards that no one would ever think of running over to protect us.

Right next to what used to be known as the fast lane, before every lane turned into one.

Joe Linton shares his own thoughts about the coming new bike lane in a Bluesky thread that somehow seems only slightly less pessimistic than me.

So take it away, Joe.

Please.

I confess I expect this to be a crappy project. Instead of removing some parking to put protected bike lanes along the curb, cyclists will be shunted into the left lane along the median. Maybe it will work?

— Joe Linton (@lintonjoe.bsky.social) 2026-01-06T17:25:53.737Z

At ~$7M for 3 miles, it's also fairly expensive… per BPW staff report "scope includes remove concrete median islands; reconstruct street pavements, curb & gutter, & ramps; modify traffic signals; install concrete transit platforms"

— Joe Linton (@lintonjoe.bsky.social) 2026-01-06T17:33:18.121Z

Even with that concrete curb work underway, cyclists get only plastic protection: "Class IV bike lanes [protected bike lanes] with raised rubber defenders [basically 'armadillos'] and K-71 bollards [soft-hit white plastic bollards]"

— Joe Linton (@lintonjoe.bsky.social) 2026-01-06T17:36:16.893Z

Center-running bikeways work in some places (ie: some Barcelona ramblas) but have failed spectacularly closer to home – see wretched results on Valencia in SF. sf.streetsblog.org/2024/11/19/s…

— Joe Linton (@lintonjoe.bsky.social) 2026-01-06T17:40:11.824Z

I expect that this Chandler project will spend a lot of money to serve few cyclists… and many folks will still bike in the outer lane. I hope I am wrong.

— Joe Linton (@lintonjoe.bsky.social) 2026-01-06T17:41:24.525Z

………

Call it the further adventures of life in a bike-friendly city.

Unlike, say, here in Los Angeles, where our mayor says she’s one of us, while doing everything she can to avoid implementing the city mobility plan — or complying with the Americans with Disability Act — going so far as to replace street resurfacing with something called “large asphalt repair.”

Because resurfacing the street would trigger Measure HLA’s requirement to implement the mobility plan, as well as requiring ADA-compliant curb cuts.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the country, New York is using $700 million in congestion pricing tolls to improve transit, while the city’s new bikeshare-riding mayor demonstrated his administrations new bike-friendly direction by reversing cuts made to a major bike safety corridor that was tainted by a bribery scandal under the previous adminstration.

Now Mayor Zohran Mamdani is grabbing a shovel himself to repair a major obstacle blocking the bike lane on the Williamsburg Bridge, infamous among the city’s bicyclists as the “Williamsburg Bump.”

Although not everyone was happy, since the bump gave them a chance to catch a little air.

Thanks to Megan for the YouTube video. 

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ActiveSGV & SGV Water Action invite you to join them on a ride to Santa Fe Dam on the 17th.

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LABikeBoy shares what it’s like to live in LA without a car for a full year.

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A 23-year old “lad” rode more than 15,500 miles from the UK to Australia, retracing the bikepacking tour his father took 40 years earlier, while riding the same bicycle.

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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.

Seriously? Business owners in Cathedral City, California try to make the case that new green plastic bike lane bollards are cutting into their sales by reducing visibility and accessibility, leading to a drop in foot traffic. Or maybe foot traffic is down because it’s been raining for the last two weeks. 

Leaders with the UK’s Bikeability training program expressed fears that hostile tabloid media coverage is scaring parents out of letting their kids ride bikes.

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Local 

An ebike rider was lucky to escape without serious injuries when they were right-hooked by a driver while riding in the painted bike lane on Santa Monica Blvd in West Hollywood; witnesses described the crash as a hit-and-run, but sheriff’s deputies insisted the driver stuck around.

 

State

Police in Merced are asking for the public’s help finding an 87-year old man suffering from dementia, who was last seen riding a pink adult-sized bicycle

 

National

A man in Portland was killed when he apparently hit a pothole while riding his bike. Demonstrating once again that bad roads pose a greater risk to bike riders than they do to motorists. And a single hole in an otherwise good road surface can be even more dangerous, because bicyclists may not be expecting it. 

Detroit’s new Gordie Howe International Bridge, named for the former NHL great, is set to open early this year, allowing people to bike and walk between the Canada and the Motor City, as well as drive. Look, I’m not saying I’m old, but I remember watching Howe skate. 

New York bikeshare users are calling on the city to subsidize the Citi Bike program, after fees increased for the fifth year in a row.

Atlanta is about to break ground in the city’s largest greenspace on what they’re calling a “world-class bike park for all ages and skill levels”.

 

International

Momentum is busy recycling old news stories as new news, making it harder to tell what’s actually new and what isn’t — although it’s kind of a dead giveaway when a story about why cargo bikes are better than minivans for family vehicles begins by predicting Europe ‘will’ sell half a million cargo bikes in 2022.

Unbelievable. For the second time in just two days, a 13-year old boy was killed by dogs while riding a bicycle, this time in Nova Scotia, where a boy died three days after he was attacked by “three large-breed dogs” as he was riding past someone’s property. Seriously, just keep your damn dogs secured, already.

A London bicyclist is convinced a professional thief used Strava to track his movements and trace him back to his home before stealing three high-end bikes worth the equivalent of 40 grand.

A Scottish mountain biker relates his obsessive pursuit of summiting all 282 of the Munros, the Highland peaks topping 3,000 feet in elevation named for Sir Hugh Munro, who first mapped them in 1891.

A Dublin professor says it’s about time the city began focusing on better bike lanes and the newly pedestrianized College Green between Trinity College and the old Irish Parliament building, arguing that bikes, buses and walking are the only solutions to worsening congestion.

That didn’t take long. People on motorbikes are already encroaching on Ho Chi Minh City’s first bike lane, less than a week after it was opened in the city formerly known as Saigon, Vietnam.

 

Competitive Cycling

Cyclist ranks pro cycling kits from worst to first; needless to say, Ineos Grenadiers and their white shorts came in dead last — although Velo foresees those white shorts paired with a pink jersey, as they predict a win for the Grenadiers in the Giro.

The world’s most famous bike mechanic is riding off into the sunset, as the mustachioed Calvin Jones hangs up his Park Tool apron after 28 years.

 

Finally…

Why buy a titanium bike when you can acquire the whole brand? That feeling when you meet the love of your life at a bike race, and end up featured in People.

And always ride with a pool cue in case you find yourself unexpectedly jousting with trash.

………

Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

NY congestion pricing works while LA keeps studying…and studying, and making a moral commitment to human life

January 6, 2026 / / No comments

Congestion pricing works.

Despite predictions that it would make Manhattan a ghost town, after a full year in place, New York’s congestion pricing is working according to plan.

The program, which charges $9 a car for each trip into the city’s Central Business District, has raised $700 million in tolls in its first year. The money has gone to support transit, including upgrades to subway lines and station, as well as Metro bus lines.

At the same time, vehicle entries into the district have dropped, although the void was quickly filled by ride-hailing vehicles. Foot traffic is up. Pollution levels have dropped across all five boroughs, bus speeds have increased slightly, and both collisions and traffic injuries dropped.

As Charles Komanoff put it in Vital City,

Before the first-in-the-nation plan went into effect on Jan. 5, 2025, proponents promised that the policy would bring entrenched Manhattan gridlock to heel, while foes predicted far-reaching economic and environmental harm. Gov. Kathy Hochul, fearing electoral consequences, delayed its implementation. The then-incoming Trump administration promised to kill the program in the crib…

But, contra the sky-will-fall predictions, congestion pricing is producing no noticeable social injury. Manhattan businesses haven’t fled. The city’s economy hasn’t contracted. Putative spillover areas like the South Bronx aren’t seeing more trucks and dirtier air. Mirabile dictu: the birth of a major public policy initiative has been attended by little if any disruption.

Those same benefits could accrue right here in Los Angeles, including the possibility of free transit, if Metro hadn’t backed down on this city’s congestion pricing proposal.

Instead, we did what LA does best, conducting yet another study instead of actually doing anything.

That was five years ago.

It will be another two years before we can expect it to be completed. If ever.

Maybe someone can explain why it takes seven full years to conduct one damn study.

But even then, if and when they actually complete the study, does anyone really believe the spineless Metro board will somehow find the courage to stand up to LA’s infamous angry drivers.

And if you thought the whole Playa del Rey road diet fiasco pissed local drivers off, just wait until they have to pay a toll to enter certain parts of the city or use specific roadways.

Thanks to Megan for the video. 

Photo by Kaboompics from Pexels. 

………

He gets it.

The VP of the Napa County Bicycle Coalition Board of Directors considers Vision Zero, and choosing safety over speed and convenience.

Some may dismiss Vision Zero as being uniquely achievable in Europe given different cultures. But here in the U.S., Hoboken, New Jersey — a city of almost 60,000 with a Vision Zero approach — has recently had a seven-year streak with literally zero traffic fatalities.

And Hoboken is no outlier; many U.S. jurisdictions have adopted Vision Zero policies. Napa County happens to be one of them. But as noted in a recent Washington Post investigation, Vision Zero policies are meaningless without moral commitment to making human life paramount and without commensurate political and economic investment in proven life-saving infrastructure and systems.

Which is exactly why it failed so miserably here in Los Angeles, where traffic deaths are higher now than they ten eleven years ago when it became official city policy.

Never mind that traffic deaths were finally supposed to be a thing of the past over a year ago. Or that the most recent Vision Zero news on the city’s website is nearly three years old.

There was no moral commitment from our elected leaders, let alone the political and economic investment necessary to make it work.

Or the courage to actually implement it

So we continue to sacrifice innocent lives to the almighty motor vehicle god.

And will, for the foreseeable future.

………

A horrific story from Kansas, where a 47-year old man faces charges in two separate states after leading police to the body of a 13-year old boy last month.

The boy was found dumped at the bottom of a steep Missouri ravine, a day after he had disappeared while riding his bike to a neighbor’s home half an hour away in Kansas.

An autopsy showed he had died of dog bites.

The suspect faces a charge of abandoning a corpse in Missouri, and interfering with law enforcement, criminal desecration, and allowing a vicious dog to run at large in Kansas.

Sadly, it’s not hard to read between the lines.

Especially if you’ve ever been chased by an angry dog.

Let alone caught by one.

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Rush hour looks a little different in the Netherlands.

And not just because of the snow.

The Utrecht morning rush hour in the snow did not disappoint!

— BicycleDutch (@bicycledutch.bsky.social) 2026-01-05T07:26:33.292Z

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This is why you don’t park in bike lanes.

I just wish they’d do that here.

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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.

A writer for Road.cc says it may be a new year, but Britain’s Daily Mail is still trotting out the same old “anti-cycling ragebait,” accusing riders of routinely breaking a pathway’s 12 mph speed limit. Although it beats being accused of being repulsive to women because of your bikewear.

But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.

Yesterday, we mentioned that London bike riders caught running red lights will have the option of paying the equivalent of a $67 fine or watching a video of a bike rider getting hit by a bus after jumping one; today we learned that the video is of a woman who voluntarily agreed to share it as a warning to others.

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Local 

In an apparent example of legal redundancy, Manhattan Beach now requires any ebikes ridden in the city to have a rear reflector or flashing red light, something that is already required under state law. Never mind that only the state has the legal authority to regulate vehicle equipment, including for bicycles, motorbikes — and yes, ebikes.

 

State

Sad news from Bakersfield, where a 44-year old woman was killed by a driver while riding her bicycle on a highway offramp; police excused the driver by blaming poor lighting and the position of the victim on the roadway.

More bad news, this time from San Jose, where a man died more than two weeks after he was struck by a driver while riding an ebike.

Still more sad news comes from Vallejo, where a man was killed when he somehow lost control and crashed his bicycle; police said there didn’t appear to be any other vehicles involved. Although there’s all kinds of things that can make someone lose control of a bike, from potholes and loose gravel to a too-close pass from a distracted driver. 

 

National

Cycling Weekly marks the passing of Cannondale founder Joe Montgomery, crediting him with changing the bicycle industry by introducing aluminum tubing — along with bankrupting the company with an ill-advised entry into motocross. Although I want to know more about that mid-’90s rollerblade bike.

 

International

A writer for Bike Radar lists ten things he wished he know when he started riding, so you can avoid making the same mistakes. Although in retrospect, I wish I’d skipped the carbon bike and stuck with steel if I couldn’t afford Ti.

Bike theft is virtually legal at UK rail stations, where just 0.5% of bike thefts ever resulted in charges.

Former pro cyclist Marius du Preez plans a 4,300-mile solo bike trip across Africa to raise funds for vulnerable children, camping under the stars amid “lions, leopards, hyenas and elephants.”

A Vietnamese architect says the country should follow the example of bike-friendly Singapore, and not settle for a single bike lane in Ho Chi Minh City.

A 27-year old Aussie man is suing the former premier of Victoria province for defamation, as well as ongoing injuries, a dozen years after he was struck by the ex-premier’s wife while riding a bike; she claimed he crashed into her car after she came to a complete stop, which seems kinda unbelievable given the extent of his injuries and the damage to her windshield.

 

Competitive Cycling

It seems like the pro cycling season just ended last week, yet the WorldTour is already ready to kick off the 2026 season with the Tour Down Under on January 20th through the 25th.

 

Finally…

That feeling when your local bikeway turns into a “raised snake of tarmac goo.” How to scam bikemakers out of $50,000 worth of bikes by pretending to be a YouTube influencer.

And maybe it can be a real crosswalk after it graduates.

………

Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , , , ,

Why this isn’t e-BikinginLA, New York’s new mayor puts his money where his bike is, and new San Diego Fondo this June

January 5, 2026 / / 7 comments
Welcome back!
And thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who donated to the 11th Annual BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive!

I can’t begin to tell you how grateful I am to all those who gave this year to support this humble site.

So thanks to John, Norwood, Mary, Robert, Jim and Glenn for their generous donations in the final days of the fund drive to help keep all the best bike news and advocacy coming your way every day.

In the end, more than 60 people opened their hearts and wallets to donate this year, falling just just a few hundred short of breaking that elusive $5,000 barrier for the first time — far more than I expected after what was such a difficult year for so many of us.

Now the holidays are finally over, and I’m tanned, rested — or maybe rusted after all this rain — and ready to get back to work.

And hey, happy new year! Let’s hope it’s a better one for all of us. 

………

Let’s start with a recent email exchange with someone who seemed to think I write too much about ebikes, suggesting I should change the name of the site to e-BikinginLA.

He warned that things would look a lot different to if I was a parent riding a “real bicycle” with child passenger, and then someone zoomed by in the curb lane or on the sidewalk at 28 mph.

This was my response, which I’m sharing to clarify where I stand on the great ebike debate.

I write about ebikes because that’s what’s in the news these days, just like I’ve written about any number of things that have been in the news over the years.

I’m not a fan of high-speed, throttle-controlled ebikes, which I believe should be recategorized as motorbikes and require a license to operate. I do like ped-assist ebikes with a max speed of 20 mph, simply because they expand the potential for bicycling from the proverbial “young and healthy” we always hear about, to virtually everyone. And provide the potential to trade a car for a bicycle for countless people who might not otherwise even consider it.

I also believe every bicycle should be ridden within the limits of the law whenever practical, which would generally prohibit passing on the inside or riding on the sidewalk at an excessive speed. Everyone should ride in a safe and sane manner, regardless of how their bike may be powered. And no one should ever have a sense of entitlement on the streets, whether walking, biking or driving.

Personally, I’d like to have an e-cargo bike just so I can bike to Costco or the hardware store, and take my service dog with me wherever I go, which doesn’t exactly work on my 18-speed racing bike. However, I’ve never actually ridden one yet, after being a lifelong roadie, and don’t know if I’d really like it or not.

Meanwhile, on a related subject, The New York Daily News says the city could end its “vicious cycle” with high-speed ebikes by requiring them to be licensed and insured as mo-peds, like they do in the Netherlands.

But apparently, they don’t want you to read it, because the editorial is locked behind a paywall for subscribers only.

And a Bay Area woman says she’s all for ebikes, and the problems everyone seems to be complaining about are caused by people on electric motorbikes, not Class 2 ebikes like hers.

………

It didn’t take long for New York’s new mayor to demonstrate his transportation bona fides.

Just days after Mayor Zohran Mamdani took the oath of office, he announced a Complete Streets makeover of McGuinness Boulevard, including parking-protected bike lanes the full length of the corridor, considered a key bicycling route connecting Brooklyn and Queens.

The project was killed by the previous administration following a corruption scandal, when a top aide to former Mayor Eric Adams accepted “a relatively small sum of money” and the promise of a speaking role on a TV series to kill the project.

Thanks to Megan for the heads-up.

………

Oceanside bike lawyer and BikinginLA sponsor Richard Duquette is sponsoring the Giro di San Diego Gran Fondo this June, complete with cash prizes and KOM kits.

………

The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.

A Cathedral City man can be grateful a local driver is a bad shot, after a Palm Springs man is accused of deliberately hitting a man on a bicycle with his car following an argument between the two men, then making a U-turn to fire off a gunshot at the 40-year old victim before fleeing; 47-year old John Nicholas Duran was arrested later in Cathedral City, and faces charges of attempted homicide and assault with a deadly weapon.

But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.

A Florida man was knocked off his bicycle by the cops while carrying a sackful of stolen mail, after a year of posing as a mail carrier to break into people’s mailboxes. Although riding his route on a bicycle should have been a dead giveaway wasn’t a real mail carrier.

Bicyclists in London will now have the option of paying a fine equivalent to $67 if they’re caught running a red light, or watching video of a red-light running bike rider who was in a coma after he was hit by a bus driver. Personally, I’d rather just pay the fine.

Police in the UK are looking for a 20-something road-raging ebike rider accused of threatening and racially abusing a van driver, after being told he was riding too close to the van with no lights on his bike.

………

Local 

Streetsblog’s Joe Linton offers his predictions for the coming year, including a 50% drop in new bike lanes in Los Angeles, as the city puts on the brakes to avoid complying with Measure HLA and ADA-compliant curb cuts.

Burbank has closed a section of the Channel Bike Path between Verdugo and Providencia avenues for an undetermined period to conduct repairs.

San Pedro’s Bike Palace is now boarded up after more than 50 years as a local mainstay, while the owners deal with the aftermath of a devastating pre-Christmas fire; a crowdfunding page has raised more than $62,000 to help the rebuilding efforts. Unfortunately, the Daily Breeze story in the first link may be hidden behind a paywall, so you’re on your own if they block you.

I want to be like him when I grow up. A 79-year old Long Beach man rode his bike every day for more than 18 years, through an appendectomy and the death of his wife, going so far as to pay a man 20 bucks to borrow a kid’s bike after attending the Kentucky Derby.

 

State

Sad news from Fremont, where someone riding a bicycle was killed when a semi driver turned into a driveway in front of the victim. Although someone should tell NBC Bay Area that they might want to at least mention the driver, because the damn truck didn’t do it on its own.

The bikelash is real. San Francisco’s transportation pendulum appears to be swinging back in favor of motorists, as the people on four wheels claw back their political power.

 

National

A Las Vegas writer says the city could be safer for biking and walking if it just invested the same effort into building paved trails as it does for stadiums.

An 18-year old Utah man rode his bicycle 14,000 miles from Morocco to Singapore in five months. At that age, I was happy just to drive across the state line to buy booze. 

Colorado’s state ebike tax credit will be cut in half this year, dropping from $450 to just $225, as bike shop owners understandably question whether that will result in a drop in sales.

For the second time in just two weeks, a Texas driver ran down two people riding their bikes, this time in Houston, killing one person and critically injuring the other. But at least the driver stuck around this time.

A 73-year old man was charged with aggravated vehicular homicide for killing a 44-year old Toledo, Ohio man as he was waiting on his bicycle at a red light, running him down from behind before fleeing the scene. The next time someone asks you why so many bike riders run red lights, remind them about cases like this. 

Tennessee drivers will now be expected to know bicycle hand signals as part of the driver’s test. Although they probably already understand the most common one. 

New York’s street safety efforts seem to be paying off, after 2024 was the safest year on city streets since they began keeping stats 116 years ago.

A 40-year old man from El Cajon, California has been charged in the hit-and-run death of a 49-year old man riding an ebike in Mount Laurel, New Jersey, after spending three days on the run.

New Orleans is the latest city to offer a rebate up to $1,200 to buy a new ebike. Which compares favorably to the $0 offered by Los Angeles.

A 20-year old hit-and-run driver in Louisiana also faces a vehicular homicide count, among other charges, after the 64-year old bike-riding man he ran down while allegedly driving drunk died in the hospital a day later.

Once again, an advocate for safer streets was killed while riding his bike, this time when a Macon, Georgia man was run down from behind by a 73-year old woman, who claims she didn’t see him before the crash — yet police still blamed the victim for simply riding in the roadway, instead of on the shoulder, and not yielding to traffic.

Sad news from Florida, where Joe Montgomery died of apparent heart trouble, 55-year after he founded Cannondale above a Connecticut pickle factory, naming the bikemaker after a nearby train station; he was 86.

 

International

Momentum offers their resolutions for a “very bicycle new year,” including embarking on more aimless, social bike rides, and always make bicycling the first choice.

British Columbia bike riders say winter weather doesn’t stop them, but “snow-packed bike lanes and impatient drivers” can.

Bicycling has hit an all-time high in Flanders, with an increase of 40,000 bicycle trips per day since 2022 in the Dutch-speaking region of northern Belgium.

Take a bicycle tour of Transylvania. But maybe wear a garlic necklace just to be safe. 

Over 1,000 people turned out in Vadodara, India on Sunday for the 55th annual Fit India Sundays on Cycle, just one of the 5,000 bike events held across the country yesterday.

A Zambian woman says the gift of a Buffalo bike from World Bicycle Relief has allowed her to double the profits from her small shop, and help her children dream of a better future.

Bicycling has become a hugely popular form of recreation in China, accounting for a whopping $42.9 billion in bike sales in 2024.

Next time you find yourself in Osaka, Japan, make plans to visit the Shimano Bicycle Museum, where you’ll find a century of exclusive bicycling history from the earliest Safety Bikes, to a rain-proof electric trike and a five-seat racing bike.

 

Competitive Cycling

British Olympic cyclist Sir Chris Hoy made his first appearance just weeks after suffering a severe leg injury in a mountain biking crash, hobbling out on crutches to present a trophy to the winner of the World Darts Championship.

Double Olympic medalist Wout van Aert had surgery to repair a fracture and a sprained ankle after crashing on a snowy ‘cross course.

A Rwandan website considers the role a mother played in the rise of her daughter in junior cycling.

 

Finally…

Who needs an ebike when you’ve got an exoskeleton? Or a camper van when you’ve got a postal ebike?

And doing the Stranger Things bike thing, without that whole downer Upside Down thing.

………

Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

Road rage driver shoots at Italian cycling team, jerk blows vape at ‘cross racer, and LAPD still keeping us all in the dark

December 23, 2025 / / One comment
Day 357 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

It’s the last 2 days of the 11th Annual BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive!

Thanks to Ed for his generous support to help keep all the best bike news and advocacy coming your way every day!

But time is quickly running out, with just three two short days left to give.

So what the hell are you waiting for?

Just stop what you’re doing, and donate right now with just a few clicks through PayPal or Venmo, or via Zelle to ted@bikinginla.com using the banking app on your smartphone.

Give now!!!

………

Good grief.

As if punishment passes and brake checks weren’t bad enough, an apparent Italian road rage driver pulled out a gun and fired off two shots at a local bike team on a training ride.

Although his marksmanship left something to be desired, thankfully.

According to Road.cc,

The shocking attack – which miraculous resulted in no injuries – took place as members of the S.C. Padovani Polo Cherry Bank team, which races in cycling’s Continental third tier, were training on the SS12 road just outside Dolcè, near Lake Garda in northern Italy on Saturday morning, as part of their pre-Christmas training camp.

Footage of the incident, shared by the team on social media, shows a BMW driver pull up alongside the seven riders as they navigate the twisting road, located in Italy’s Val d’Adige district.

According to the squad, the motorist then rolled down his window and produced a gun, before firing two shots at the cyclists. In the footage, one of the riders can be seen ducking as a shot appears to be fired. The motorist then drives off into the distance.

Unfortunately, I can’t seem to embed the video, so you’ll have to click through to see it.

………

Not quite on the same level, but still demonstrating an extreme degree of assholery, is this post Megan forwarded from Mastadon, with some jerk blowing his vape pollution directly into the face of a ‘cross racer.

………

The new Golden State Report news site, founded by former LA Times Opinion writers, takes a look at something we’ve complained about all year — the LAPD’s refusal to release any information about traffic deaths.

Or any crime data, at all.

We’ve gone from open city data under former Mayor Eric Garcetti, to a near total statistical blackout under Mayor Bass and LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell.

The dearth of data hinders transparency, and means members of the public have no real sense of how well crime suppression is working at the neighborhood level. They have no idea, for example, if their neighborhood is experiencing a month to month or year to year rise in burglaries or car break-ins, information they could use to demand action from their senior lead officer or help from their local council office.

It’s not just crime, either — the LAPD’s traffic collision dataset stopped updating earlier this year. While Crosstown was previously able to break down traffic deaths by neighborhood — downtown, Sun Valley and Manchester Square topped the list of fatalities in 2023 — now that can’t happen.

This is problematic in a city where vehicular deaths exceed homicides, and as Golden State just noted, the Vision Zero effort to eliminate auto-related fatalities has been an abject failure. With functioning data we could detail which neighborhoods record the most pedestrians struck, or where the highest number of DUIs occur.

Not only is it impossible to break down traffic deaths by neighborhood, we now have no idea how many people have been killed on our streets, regardless of whether they were walking, biking or driving.

Vision Zero has long been a punchline in this city. But it’s even more ridiculous, and worthless, when city officials can’t or won’t tell us what’s happening on our own streets.

It’s worth giving the whole story a read.

Even if they’re a lot more forgiving than I am, assuming the problem stems from a switch in data systems, rather than a deliberate attempt to keep us in the dark.

………

Bike Portland demonstrates that even good infrastructure is no match for bad drivers.

Because every driver is a bad driver sometimes. And some drivers are bad drivers all the time.

………

As we’ve said before, we’re not the only ones trying to raise funds before the year end, although we are the only one shamelessly exploiting a cute spokescorgi to do it.

In addition to Streetsblog LA, the East Side Rider Bike Club is trying to raise funds; no bike group does more with less to benefit their entire community in ways that go far beyond just bicycles.

And BikeLA, nee Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition, is raising funds as well.

………

‘Tis the season.

Former Green Bay Packers wide receiver Tyrone Goodson hosted his 11th annual bike giveaway, passing out more than one hundred bicycles and toys to kids in Ocala, Florida.

An Arkansas Stop the Violence group is working to deliver 500 bikes to kids across the state during their annual holiday bicycle drive.

………

The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.

As we keep saying, the problem isn’t people on ped-assist bicycles, it’s people on bikes like the one seized by cops Key Biscayne, Florida, that was illegally modified to go 100 mph. Something tells me the rider wasn’t pedaling to go that fast, either. 

No bias here. Residents of a London borough are calling for a total ban on bikes in local parks, after a man had his ticket for exceeding the 12 mph speed limit in the park rescinded by pointing out that a) the limit is too low, b) the limit isn’t posted, and c) most bicycles don’t come with speedometers; again, riders point out that the problem isn’t people on bicycles, but the ones riding illegal electric motorbikes.

But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.

“Britain’s angriest cyclist” was sentenced to six weeks behind bars for a road rage incident that violated his probation for yet another road rage incident; in the most recent case, he went off at a woman walking her baby on a beachfront path after he nearly hit a dog that was running off leash, while he was already on probation for pounding on the windshield of a driver who honked at him.

A tiny Spanish village — population around 1,000 — stopped so many people for riding the wrong way in city alleys after a Christmas market blocked the main street that they had to call in reinforcements to write tickets for lines reaching 30 or more scofflaw salmon cyclists.

………

………

Local 

Pasadena Complete Streets Coalition takes a deep dive into refuting the “big lie about bikes,” aka BLAB, t,o wit “Most people don’t want to ride bikes! If we built a safe bike network, no one will use it.” Something that is demonstrably false. 

 

State

CalMatters outstanding series on the rising death toll from traffic violence on California roadways — fueled in part by the DMV routinely allowing drivers with horrifying records to continue driving — is already resulting in action in the the state legislature.

This is who we share the road with. A post office in San Diego’s Mira Mesa neighborhood was the victim of an 81-year old driver when the woman slammed her car into it for some unknown reason; several people suffered minor injuries, while one person was hospitalized. Which should once again raise the question of how old is too old to drive, but probably won’t.

A senior marketing manager for Strava was kicked to the curb after a video went viral showing her abusing and attacking restaurant workers, after she was told they wouldn’t serve her any more alcohol; she was soon arrested on a charge of public intoxication.

This, too, is who we share the road with. Waymo suspended service in San Francisco after all of their self-driving cabs stalled in the middle of traffic lanes during the city’s widespread power outage over the weekend.

 

National

Speaking of kicked to the curb, a writer for Velo is no longer working for the magazine after Instagram and Substack bike writer James Huang accused them of plagiarizing his reviews.

Police in Portland busted a serial bike thief following a months-long burglary spree, charging him with stealing 43 bicycles and other items. You have to assume those were just the ones he got caught for, too. 

The Frisco, Texas Triathlon Club is hosting a Christmas Eve run to remember the two members who were run down from behind by a pickup driver while on a group ride; they’ve also created a fundraising drive to benefit the League of American Bicyclists, which has already doubled the modest initial $2,600 goal.

New York bike lanes should be a prime beneficiary of New York’s new mayor, as outgoing Mayor Adams delays yet another bike lane, even after it was pared down.

A father in North Carolina is suing the nation’s largest hospital chain, alleging that HCA Healthcare allowed an employee to drive a large box truck without proper training, after he fled the scene following a crash that killed the man’s son as he was riding a bike.

 

International

Momentum highlights the problem of drivers blocking bike lanes, and says the solution is groups like Bike Lane Uprising.

A British man completed a nearly 7,000-mile ride from Cheshire, England to the Chinese border with Kazakhstan to raise funds for a mental health charity. No word on whether he disappeared entirely except for his smile afterwards.

No bias here, either. A shopkeeper in the UK complained about bikes blocking the doorway to his shop, when there were bike racks right in front, except he had blocked access to the bike racks with his van.

 

Finally…

Who needs a tent and sleeping bag when you can tow a full-size fiberglass camper behind your bike? The bad news is, even the fastest bike helmet won’t go any faster than you do.

And before fleeing from the cops on your bike for the eighth time, maybe try putting a damn light on it first.

………

Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Hit-and-run charge in Ackerman killing, driver kills 2 Texas triathletes, and Imperial Beach teen critically injured by DUI driver

December 22, 2025 / / No comments
Day 356 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

It’s the last 3 days of the 11th Annual BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive!

Thanks to John and Austin for their donations Sunday night to save our final fund drive weekend, and help keep all the best bike news and advocacy coming your way every day!

But time is quickly running out, with just three short days left to give.

So I’ll ask you the same question I asked on Day One. What is this site worth to you, and what can you afford to give?

If the information we give you every day is invaluable to you, but you can only afford ten bucks, then give ten. If it’s worth a hundred and you’ve got that, then give that. If you can and want to give more, then great, give more. 

But if it’s not worth a dime to you, or you can’t afford to give anything, then thank you for reading, which I appreciate even more than your money. 

If you want to donate, you can do it right now with just a few clicks through PayPal or Venmo, or via Zelle to ted@bikinginla.com using the banking app on your smartphone.

If you’ve already given, I sincerely and humbly thank you. But either way, I wish a joy filled holiday season for you and all your loved ones. 

And yes, our spokescorgi is just a tad worn out by all this now. 

………

About damn time.

The Los Angeles DA’s office has filed charges against 73-year old Douglas Morton Adams for the July hit-and-run crash that killed 27-year-old Blake Ackerman as he rode his bike on Fountain Ave at Gardner in West Hollywood.

Adams faces a single felony count of hit-and-run resulting in death or serious injury, which carries a penalty of just four years behind bars.

Which hardly seems sufficient for snuffing out the life of a bright young man on the verge of starting a new life with his fiancé here in Los Angeles.

………

Awful news from Dallas suburb of Frisco, where two triathletes were killed by a driver while riding their bikes Saturday morning.

The victims were members of the Frisco Triathlon Club; a friend of the two men says he was supposed to ride with them that morning, but decided to work instead, which may have spared his life.

The driver reportedly started to drive off, but returned to the scene and cooperated with investigators.

Unfortunately, there’s no word yet on how the crash happened, or whether the driver will be charged.

………

A suspected drunk driver is under arrest following a collision with a bike rider in Imperial Beach.

The victim was struck by the driver around 2:40 pm Saturday at Imperial Beach Boulevard and California Street.

The bike rider, reportedly a teenager riding an ebike, was hospitalized with critical injuries.

Anyone with information is urged to call the San Diego Sheriff’s Departmen’s Imperial Beach station at 619/498-2400.

………

‘Tis the season.

Kansas City Chief’s quarterback Patrick Mahomes gave his offensive line new Aveton ebikes for protecting him, along with a host of other high-end swag.

Good for them. An African-American fraternity in South Carolina gave away 22 free bicycles, and as well as warm winter coats to 300 families.

………

LABikeBoy tries riding to the Getty Villa, only to get turned away at the gate for the crime of riding a bicycle.

………

Nothing like riding 136 miles offroad from Mont Blanc to the Matterhorn, with nearly 40,000 feet of elevation gain, in less than 48 hours.

………

The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.

In an example of toxic masculinity run amok, a writer from Cayucos complains that buying your kid an ebike is “guaranteed to turn him into a weak-limb pussy,” and our “young male race into a bunch of butter-soft pansies.” Not that he doesn’t have a point about kids being better off with something they have to pedal, but still. 

Seriously? A politician from Northern Ireland was peeved at the condition of a park after a recent ‘cross race, even though it recovers quickly, and says he refuses to be intimidated by “cycling enthusiasts.” Because it’s not like “cycling enthusiasts” might be local residents or, you know, voters or anything.

But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.

No bias here. A British tabloid says “dog walkers and yummy mummies with pushchairs” are at “WAR” with “inconsiderate cyclists tearing through the park at up to 30 mph.” Then they illustrate it with a “No Cycling” sign, even though the park has a 12 mph speed limit for people on bicycles. “Yummy mummies?” Seriously?

………

………

Local 

A writer on Medium spends years trying to hack life in “car-choked” Los Angeles into something more livable, until he realizes he can have the livable life he wants by moving to Spain.

Santa Clarita’s new bike park is set to open in the first quarter of next year, on a date to be determined.

 

State

No bias here, either. San Diego’s CBS8 reports that residents have concerns about two new community plans, but they can only seem to find one person who complains that a lane reduction and buffered bike lanes could cause problems evacuating the University City area, even while admitting that people could still drive in the bike lanes to get out, if necessary. Never mind that if there’s an anti-bike slant to any story, that station will find it.

San Diego’s longtime San Diego Bike Shop was struck by thieves yet again, losing dozens of high-end bikes at the height of the holiday shopping season, despite efforts to improve security.

San Francisco-based Ridepanda is teaming with corporations to offer leased ebikes to employees, as a perk to get workers to return to the office.

 

National

Singletracks wants to know about the most annoying habits of your bike-riding friends.

In a study that shouldn’t surprise anyone, bicyclists face a greater risk of injury or death in low-income neighborhoods — something born out by virtually any High Injury Network map.

Even tiny Columbia Falls, Montana — population 5,531 — is cracking down on ebikes. But at least they have the sense to differentiate being human-powered bikes, and strictly throttle-controlled devices.

A beloved Philadelphia DJ for a local drag show was killed by a hit-and-run driver while the 54-year old man was riding his bike home from work early Saturday.

 

International

There’s a special place in hell for whoever stole an adaptive e-tricycle from a kid with special needs in a British Columbia community.

This is the danger of a close pass. An English woman suffered multiple broken bones and other injuries when she was forced to hit a pothole on her bike, because a driver passing too close left her nowhere to go.

A British bike rider is warning about the dangers of a green-painted bike lane, after he needed a hip replacement when his bike skidded out from under him because the smooth paint created a slick surface. Which is exactly the fear in this country when green lanes were first introduced, until cities — including Los Angeles — began using textured surfaces. Evidently, that city didn’t get the memo.

A senior political correspondent for the Guardian argues that the UK is not keeping up with rapid changes in bicycling, but emulating the bike-friendly highways enjoyed by the country’s European neighbors will take a lot more money and political will. Sounds a lot like this country, including a certain SoCal megalopolis we could name.

A 58-year-old man died after falling into a canal in Brussels, Belgium with his bicycle, while he was riding home from a Christmas tractor event.

Speaking of Brussels, advocates are calling a ban on bikes in a nearly half-mile long pedestrianized zone “dangerous and absurd.”

The ghost bike movement has made it to Istanbul, Turkey, with a single white bike placed in a memorial to remember all those who have died riding a bicycle.

India’s Financial Express newspaper says bicycling has become the preferred form of exercise in the country, as Indians have “shifted towards outdoor workouts, better heart health and stress relief, driven by post-pandemic habits and growing fitness awareness.”

Travel website Time Out recommends the ten best Aussie bicycling holidays for your next trip Down Under. Which is not the same as the Upside Down, incase you were wondering. 

 

Competitive Cycling

2023 Tour de France Femmes champ Demi Vollering didn’t have anything good to say about all the motorists who passed her by without stopping to see if she was okay after “kissing” the pavement on a training ride in Spain; only a single bicyclist stopped to help her.

Now you, too, can have an ugly Christmas sweater from your favorite cycling team. As long as your favorite team is Visma-Lease a Bike.

 

Finally…

Forget the endless lists of what to buy the bike rider in your life — here’s what not to buy. Loki star Tom Hiddleston is one of us, brown suit and all.

And probably not the best idea to drive back to work after taking “a little bit if everything” at a holiday party.

Let alone pass out on your steering wheel with some of those drugs in plain site.

………

Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The true cost of California’s cancelled ebike program, and how to know ebike classifications and still get it wrong

December 19, 2025 / / 2 comments
Day 352 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

Just 5 days left in the 11th Annual BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive!

 

Thanks to Brian, Joel, and Robert for their generous donations to support SoCal’s best source for bike news and advocacy!

But time’s running out! Just seven six days left to give! 

So stop what you’re doing, and donate right now through PayPal or Venmo, or via Zelle to ted@bikinginla.com using the banking app on your smartphone.

And happy Chanukah to everyone wrapping up your celebration this weekend!

………

This is the cost of cancelling the state’s ebike voucher program.

According to a paywalled story from the Sacramento Bee, republished by Governing, the California Ebike Incentive Program was literally life-changing for residents of a low-income neighborhood in the city.

Dewayne McDaniel, who got a bike he uses to get to the store to buy food, praised the scuttled e-bike program: He couldn’t afford a car but, with the bike, he could easily pick up groceries for himself and for his neighbor who was unable to walk. Another neighbor in his complex, AJ Ortiz, walks with a cane but loves the e-bike he purchased with a voucher. Ortiz’s bike gives him a low-impact way to incorporate more exercise and movement into his life, and he can visit friends downtown and get to the bank without having to rely on the bus.

The money remaining in the program, about $23 million, was shifted to California’s Clean Cars 4 All vehicle trade-in program, which only helps if you can afford a new car.

And many low-income Californians can’t.

But Ortiz, McDaniel, Crespo, Emery and Sala were disappointed that the e-bike program was ended rather than retooled.

In a lot of our families in our community, those old 15-year-old cars, that’s the only car they have, and they’re not gonna give it up,” Sala said. The Clean Cars 4 All program gives up to $12,000 toward the purchase of an electric or hybrid vehicle made within the last eight years, but participants have to trade in their old, less-efficient car. “To give it up for an e-vehicle that costs more money, that will — they’ll have to get a loan — they’re not gonna do that. … The program the way they’re designing it now will not work for poor communities. It just won’t.”

Not to mention that the vehicle program is a trade-in program, so it only works if you already own a car.

So if you don’t have a car or can’t afford one, you’re screwed. And without the voucher program, many low-income Californians would even struggle to afford a used bicycle, let alone a new ebike.

Sala said that many people in low-income neighborhoods would love to get an e-bike if they could afford the initial purchase: The $2,000 voucher could cover the whole cost of a bike as well a helmet and locks. The California Air Resources Board reasoned that an e-bike can replace many shorter car trips for far less money.

As the story points out, not only can an ebike replace shorter car trips, they can also serve as mobility devices for people who might not otherwise be able to get around.

McDaniel uses the bike to get food, too. He said he couldn’t afford a car and — because he has congestive heart failure — he couldn’t walk very far or carry much weight. “I can only do a limited amount,” he said. But now with a new form of transportation, he can go to the store and pick up food for himself and one of his neighbors.

“It makes life simpler,” he said “It gives you a better quality of life.”

Even with his health issues, he can get around with the help of the bike.

This is what CARB took away from us with their money grab that took ebike vouchers from low-income Californians to redistribute to people who can afford a car, actually want one, and are able to drive one.

But according to CARB, they didn’t have a choice, arguing that the state’s budget crisis required them to transfer any available funds into the car program.

Which may or may not be true.

But if they hadn’t had their heads so far up their own asses so badly mismanaged the program for three years, the funds would have been distributed to people in need long before the state budget became an issue.

I’m not the only one who’s called for a state investigation into the whole damn thing. But California Attorney General Rob Bonta apparently is too busy suing Donald Trump to look into problems closer to home.

So we’re stuck with waiting for legislature to find the funds, and the will, to restore the program.

And hopefully find another state agency to manage it.

………

They get it. And they don’t get it.

Simultaneously.

The Los Angeles Times reports on the problem of ebike-born hooligans who attacked a man in Hermosa Beach, leading to charges against at least two boys in their early teens, along with alleged South Bay teen ebike gangs, and others who engage in aggressive behavior.

Some beach cities residents say the teens’ aggression reflects a broader attitude: that e-bike riders, emboldened by their protected status as minors, increasingly act as if they own the streets.

“They run stop signs, they’re speeding, they’re flipping people off. They’re on their phones or filming themselves for social media,” said Redondo Beach resident Darryl Boyd. “It’s a circus — a psycho circus.”

Then the Times carefully makes the point that there are differing types of ebikes.

The machines cost anywhere from $1,000 to $6,000. Type 1 e-bikes, which are pedal-assisted, and Type 2 e-bikes, which are pedal- and throttle-assisted, can reach up to 20 mph, while Type 3 e-bikes can go up to 28 mph and may only be ridden by those 16 and older in California.

Pocket bikes, electric motorcycles and electric dirt bikes, which are generally not street legal in California, can reach speeds of 45 to 55 mph. These devices are particularly popular among teen boys, who use them to perform high-speed stunts.

So far, so good.

The problem comes in the rest of the whole damn article, which never bothers to point out that the misbehaving lads aren’t riding Type 1 or 2 ebikes. Or even Type 3, for that matter.

Instead, they’re roaming the streets on the bikes discussed in that second paragraph above. Mini bikes, e-motorbikes, dirt bikes, and other assorted fast and high-powered machines of questionable legality, too often purchased by indulgent parents.

Which wouldn’t matter, except when the inevitable crackdown comes — as it has in Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach, El Segundo and now Torrance — affecting everyone on any type of ebike, from middle school students and working class bike commuters, to the dirt bike-riding miscreants who caused the problem in the first place.

So congratulations to the LA Times for being one of the first media sources to crack the code on the various ebike classes.

But maybe they could be just a tad clearer on which riders actually cause the problems.

………

‘Tis the season.

A Christmas bike giveaway started by a late police officer will donate 44 bikes to kids in Sinton and Corpus Christi, Texas.

A restaurant in Big Sandy, Texas is hosting a bike giveaway tomorrow, asking donors to just show up with a new bicycle, and kids who want one to just show up with a parent. Apparently, they just have to trade their parent to get a new bike. 

The 18th annual Arkansas Stop the Violence bicycle drive hopes to give away 500 new bicycles to children in need this year, after already collecting 390.

The Tampa, Florida Habitat for Humanity teamed with onbikes to give away 50 bicycles to kids in need, while 25 families will move into new homes built by volunteers.

This one belongs here too, as the kindhearted employees of a Florida school pitched in to buy a new bike for a coworker who rides 17 miles to work every day.

………

The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.

This is why people keep dying on our streets. An alleged road-raging driver who chased an Irish bike rider and pinned his bike to the curb, just for the crime of being told to get off his phone behind the wheel, had his two-year driving ban for failing to cooperate with police investigators lifted, after convincing the judge that it was just too darn inconvenient.

………

………

Local 

Metro has released the draft environmental report on extending the LA River Bike Path south from Elysian Valley through DTLA, Vernon and Maywood; the comment period began yesterday, and will continue to February 2nd, with a series of public hearings at the end of January.

 

State

Huntington Beach has designated September 18th of each year to be Kolby Aipa Day, marking the birthday of the 20-year old surfboard scion killed when the ebike he was riding was being towed by a friend’s car.

This is why people keep dying on our streets, part two. A Fresno man walked without a single day behind bars after pleading no contest to killing a bike-riding college professor and mother of five, after the CHP helpfully testified that it was just really, really hard to see her due to a hill; the judge sentenced him to 180 days split between work release — which doesn’t have to be served in jail — and home vacation.

San Francisco Streetsblog helpfully suggests six projects that fit with the mayor’s new safety initiative, which replaces the city’s failed Vision Zero.

 

National

If your kid is riding in a Schwinn Ovation Bicycle Child Carrier stop using it immediately, after they were recalled for a risk of falling off; meanwhile, about 400 Pedego Fat Tire Trikes have been recalled due to risk of the frame breaking.

Albuquerque, New Mexico is addressing a troubling number of bicycling deaths by installing the city’s first protected bike lane, though only as a pilot project. Because apparently, something that has been repeatedly proven to work to improve safety doesn’t count unless it’s proven again here, wherever here happens to be. 

Once again, someone has been killed in a dispute over a stolen bicycle, this time in Austin, Texas, where police allege a 30-year old man shot another man after accusing him of stealing his bicycle. How many times do we have to say it? No bike is worth a human life. Just let it go, and let the cops handle it.

Suspected ICE agents, who refused to identify themselves or who they work for, tackled a Columbus, Ohio man off his bicycle as he was riding by. Which begs the questions of whether they had a warrant for him, and how could they tell if he was here legally by how he rode a bike? 

The Plymouth, Massachusetts Select Board showed a little common sense by rejecting even a watered-down crackdown on ebikes. By all means, go after the kids on illegal electric motorbikes and dirt bikes, but leave ped-assist bikes out of it. 

Adding a shared use bike path to a replacement for Baltimore’s Chesapeake Bay Bridge could add more than a billion bucks to the total cost, which is already double previous estimate of $7.8 billion. Maybe if they didn’t pave the pathway with gold and diamonds it might lower the cost a bit. 

Woodstock, Georgia — no, not the one where the famous music festival took place — is considering a crackdown on minibikes and ebikes after two men on the former caused $7,000 in damage by doing burnouts on their e-minibikes in a shopping mall elevator. Once again victimizing all ebike riders for the actions of a few on e-motorbikes.

A Florida website considers why the Sunshine State remains the nation’s most dangerous state for people on bicycles, and what can be done about it.

 

International

Momentum says Canadian bicyclists are, like the eponymous geese, migrating south for the winter, but opting for spots in South and Central America rather previous sunny spots like Arizona and Florida, which may seem questionable in the current environment.

A British tutoring firm examines some of the people who have ridden a bicycle around the world.

Ghost bikes have made their way to Cape Town, South Africa to honor the victims of traffic violence.

 

Competitive Cycling

Velo doesn’t seem to be fans of the Ineos Grenadiers cycling team’s new orange and whitish kits, either. I mean, we all know what happens when you sweat through white bike shorts, right?

A UK pro cycling site considers the psychology and history of the 21 hairpin bends that make up the legendary Alpe d’Huez.

Bike Radar considers the rich and ever-changing tapestry of WorldTour cycling team sponsors.

The legendary Eddy Merckx hopes to be able to ride a bike again, after the 80-year old Cannibal broke his hip, and underwent a third hip replacement.

 

Finally…

Doesn’t everyone ride a century on a Penny Farthing dressed as Santa? So much for riding a new Porsche ebike.

And your new riding glasses could be smarter than you are.

Okay, maybe just smarter than me.

………

Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Torrance crackdown lumps e-cargo bikes with illegal minibikes, and quick-build protected bike lane proposed for Jefferson

December 18, 2025 / / One comment
Day 351 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

Just 7 days left in the 11th Annual BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive!

 

Thanks to Beverly, Michael and another Michael for their generous donations to support SoCal’s best source for bike news and advocacy!

But time’s quickly running out! Just seven days — one short week — left to give. 

So stop what you’re doing, and take a moment right now to donate through PayPal or Venmo, or via Zelle to ted@bikinginla.com using the banking app on your smartphone.

Just relax, already, and give now!

………

No surprise here.

The Torrance City Council voted 6 to 1 to approve the proposal cracking down on ebikes. And managed to once again conflate electric motorbikes with ped-assist ebikes.

To wit, according to the Daily Breeze,

Earlier this month, for example, a 22-year-old individual was arrested for riding their e-bike inside the Del Amo Fashion Center — and nearly hitting a mall security officer who got in their path.

“When contacted by mall security personnel,” Torrance Police Department Lt. Charles Fisher said following the arrest, “the rider allegedly attempted to strike a security officer with the minibike, constituting an assault with a deadly weapon.”

While the individual was charged with a felony, the Police Department has limited enforcement ability otherwise, Fisher said.

Note that the police lieutenant clearly identified it as a minibike. But because of incidents like that, which have nothing whatsoever to do with kids riding Class 1 ebikes to school, or commuters riding their e-cargo bike to work, they somehow have to crack down on everyone.

Again, according the the Daily Breeze — which embargoed the story behind their paywall while I was in the middle of writing about it —

The code was amended to include class three e-bikes – a bike that offers pedal assistance up to 28 mph – under the definition of a bicycle, meaning they must follow all applicable traffic laws when it comes to where and when a bicyclist can ride.

The ordinance also prohibits class three e-bikes from being ridden on any sidewalks, or in city parks and recreational facilities. Regular bicycles are also not allowed on sidewalks in business districts or adjacent to schools, churches, recreation centers and playgrounds. And any stunt riding, including wheelies and other “acrobatic maneuvers,” and the use of handheld devices while operating a bicycle are prohibited for any bicyclist, under the ordinance.

So a kid riding an ebike to school will be forced to ride in the street, mixing it up with drivers doing 45 mph, rather than being allowed on the far-safer sidewalks.

And this in a town without a single protected bikeway. Because that would require removing parking spaces, and might somehow make someone somewhere just a tad inconvenienced.

So allowing people free storage for their big, dangerous machines right next to the curb is more important than the lives of little kids, as far as Torrance is concerned.

Noted.

As others have said, when someone shows you who they are, believe them.

And they certainly did.

………

About damn time.

CD11 Councilmember Traci Park is calling for a barrier protected bike lane along Jefferson Blvd between Culver and Lincoln boulevards, creating a safe route connecting “Playa Vista to Playa del Rey while respecting the restored Ballona Wetlands trail,” according to Park.

The proposal call for allocating $175,000 from the Coastal Transportation Corridor Trust Fund to install K-rail barriers along the shoulder of the roadway for a quick-build solution to improve safety.

Which offers Park the added benefit preventing the return of a large RV encampment that was recently cleared.

There’s no word on when her motion will be heard by the city council, but it’s worth considering. Although a lot depends on the condition of the pavement on that shoulder she wants to repurpose.

………

‘Tis the season.

A Catholic nonprofit is teaming with a San Jose bike shop to distribute 100 bikes to kids in the local area.

A Scranton, PA state senator’s annual bike giveaway program distributed 2,000 new, mostly identical, bicycles to local kids, double the total from last year.

A South Carolina program is distributing four refurbished bicycles to randomly selected people in the local area.

………

The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.

A British lord is once again calling for a crackdown on bicyclists, insisting that London is the “Wild West” for bike riders, urging mandatory bike registration, penalty points linked to driving licenses and stricter speed limits on ebikes. Never mind that both the Conservatives and Labour parties have batted down similar proposals a number of times recently.

………

………

Local 

Here’s a great idea. If you rent a Lime bike in LA, you can now round up your total rental price, with the extra money going to fund BikeLA, aka the former Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition.

 

State

San Francisco public television station KQED remembered a 21-year old Stanford student who was killed while riding his bike on campus last spring; the Pakistani student, who was born in the US and raised in Lahore, was mourned by people in both countries.

 

National

Velo picks the year’s best road bikes.

As we mentioned the other day, Seattle-based Rad Power Bikes lived down to expectations by filing bankruptcy, declaring debts of a whopping $73 million.

A Japanese man is crediting luck and the kindness of strangers for allowing him to continue his journey from New York to Los Angeles, after his bicycle was stolen in Albuquerque, New Mexico; local residents provided donations, and he spotted someone riding his bike a few days later, paying the man the $40 to get his bike back and get back on the road to LA.

A 70-year old man from the next town over from my Colorado hometown was blown away by yesterday’s winds. No, literally.

A homeless man from Boulder, Colorado was sentenced to 96 years behind bars after police found the body of a 19-year old woman wrapped in plastic in his abandoned bike trailer; she had apparently been there for several days, after her boyfriend had traded her to her killer for drugs.

Once again, someone riding a bicycle has paid the ultimate price for a police chase, as a 31-year old Nashville bicyclist was collateral damage, killed by a hit-and-run driver fleeing from the cops, who the escaped into the woods after the crash while leaving his female passenger behind.

If you build it, they will come. Boston’s Better Bike Lanes project to install protected bike lanes throughout the metro area has resulted in a substantial increase in bicycle trips, along with a modest decrease in motor vehicle traffic.

That’s more like it. An op-ed on a Queens, New York website agrees with the recent court ruling halting a new bike lane on 31st Street — but only because the bike lane didn’t got far enough to improve safety.

 

International

The Toronto city council unanimously approved dozens of bike lanes in the city’s inner suburbs, which carefully skirt the new provincial ban on removing traffic lanes.

No bias here. Readers of a Bristol, England website are up in arms over new bike lanes, alleging that the construction is complicating their lives and making traffic worse, instead of better. As if every road construction project doesn’t the same problems. 

Five men in Yorkshire, England were convicted of murdering a 28-year old man by breaking into his home and slashing his neck, in a dispute over a stolen ebike.

No justice in the UK, where a truck driver was acquitted for killing a 52-year old wife and mother as she was riding her bike, after playing the universal Get Out Of Jail Free card by claiming he just didn’t see her because the sun was in his eyes.

British broadcaster and bicycle advocate Jeremy Vine received the equivalent of over $800,000 after filing a defamation suit against a former soccer player who called him a “bike nonce” on Twitter/X; nonce is British slang for a pedophile.

Bicyclists in South Africa were outraged after a 27-year old man was released on the equivalent of less than $900 bail despite being accused of killing a 41-year old husband and father riding a bicycle, while speeding and driving under the influence.

Here’s another one for your bike bucket list — okay, mine — with a bicyclist’s guide to New Zealand’s breathtaking “remote and spectacular” Timber Trail through dense virgin forestland.

 

Competitive Cycling

It’s the winter fashion season, and the Ineos Grenadiers opt for bold orange and white, guaranteed to stand out on the runway or in the peloton, although not everyone is a fan — which appears to be an understatement.

Bike Radar names Britain’s Archie Atkinson as their newcomer of the year, while the 21-year old Paris silver medalist aims to become the first paracyclist on the WorldTour.

Reuters is capping the 2025 cycling season by arguing that Tadej Pogačar is nearing GOAT territory, comparing him to the great Eddy Merkx.

USA Cycling unveiled its 2026 national championship schedule for 21 various cycling disciplines.

 

Finally…

That feeling when you ride your bike to your cousin the king’s royal Christmas lunch. Your next gravel bike could be ebike seconds later.

And no, speed limits don’t deter “considerate cyclists.” Just like they don’t deter considerate drivers.

Or inconsiderate ones, for that matter.

………

Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
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