Saturday, November 10, 2012

Wiki Bikes will be closed Monday November 12 in observance of Veterans Day


The basic fixie can get fancy

For the last five years, this column has avoided covering one of the hottest youth-culture urban crazes in the bike world: the fixie — a minimalist, single-speed bike with a fixed gear and no brakes. Some people like them ugly, others gaudy and others tricked-out with doodads and custom paint jobs. To be honest, I thought these bikes, which have introduced thousands of former non-cyclists to two wheels, were dumb deathtraps (hey, no brakes?) and that the fad would disappear along with the first crash.

Well, fixie-mania keeps growing, and a big reason for it is that the bikes are getting fixed. Riders and manufacturers, responding to public safety laws and common sense, have added brakes, multi-gear hubs, freewheels and fluorescent night-light paint. This makes for safer, more practical bikes that are faster, can coast and are more enjoyable to ride — all while keeping the minimalist and mandatory fixie look.

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Monday, November 5, 2012

Vintage bike museum in Ariz. includes work stations

Any grown-up who opens the door to the Oldspokes Classic Bicycle Museum is sure to find a bike that produces a wave of nostalgia.

From the 1940s Monarks to the 1970s BMX bikes, nearly 100 velocipedes in the museum span a century of riding for pleasure and work.

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Bikes rise from New York basements

Jonathan Figueroa paused, looking down more than 100ft to the East River below, and panted: “This is new. It’s tough.”

Past him on the cycle path of the Manhattan Bridge – which Mr Figueroa would normally cross on a D line subway train on the way to Hunter College on Manhattan’s upper west side – pedalled a steady stream of cyclists.

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Friday, November 2, 2012

Can America Embrace Biking the Way Denmark Has?

It’s a Monday morning in Copenhagen, and I’m tearing down a street called Rolighedsvej on my clunky steel rental bike, trying to make it to a meeting for which I’m nearly certain I’ll be late. As I zip along the beautifully maintained bike lanes, it strikes me that I’ve never had a city biking experience quite like this. Not only do I feel totally safe and secure, but I’m able to get to my destination faster and at a fraction of the difficulty and cost than if I were driving a car.

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Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Bike lanes to be installed on Waialae Ave.

It's a major victory for Oahu bicyclists.  The city made room for them on a busy Honolulu thoroughfare.

"This bike lane on Waialae [Avenue], people that have worked on it for 30 to 50 years -- thank you, thank you!" said Patricia Johnson of the "Red Hot Ladies" of the Hawaii Bicycling League.

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Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Colorado's new bicycling beast

BOULDER, Colo. — They sweep down steep, rugged valleys and whip up the other side, flying into the mountain splendor. They build up speed, then force their way across a 100-foot-long sand pit, pumping desperately to reach the other side. They dismount, grab their dual-wheeled vehicles and wheeze up a staircase a mile above sea level.
And they bring their kids — sometimes little kids who are just learning to stay upright on flat streets — who can try their young skills on these arduous challenges.

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