Take the Lane

Dorel to open concept store in New York

I was a little surprised to see the Canadian Press story about Dorel Industries planning to open a boutique store in New York City.

The Quebec-based company's name is probably more familiar to anyone who has ever shopped for a child's car seat, but Dorel also includes Cannondale, Sugoi, GT, Mongoose and Schwinn in its list of cycling name brands.

But Dorel has been largely a wholesaler, not a retailer. It already sells its products through boutique bike shops, like Ziggy's in Kitchener.

According to the report, Dorel is not intending to launch a string of retail stores. The New York operation, complete with a bike-fit component, will be a "concept store" that other bicycle retailers can gaze upon and emulate.

Can't help but think that this will put pressure on other bicycle retailers who are already being squeezed.

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Dorel set to open concept bike store in New York City

CAA wants to hear from cyclists about Ontario's Worst Roads

I may have missed this in previous years, but it appears that the Canadian Autombile Association is asking cyclists to nominate Ontario's worst roads.

CAA Ontario has a Worst Roads campaign every year, mostly to shame the provincial government into doing something about the network of potholes and washboard we sometimes mistake for a highway network.

This year, the invitation letter I got at home read, "Whether the issue is traffic congestion, potholes, timing of traffic lights, road signs or pedestrian and cycling safety, we want to hear from you." The word "cycling" was not highlighted in the letter, but certainly in my mind.

In Waterloo Region, so much material to work with: the junction from Park Street to the Laurel Trail; the Iron Horse Trail crossing on Victoria Street, the washboard on Ottawa Street under the Expressway, the bike lanes that dead-end on busy and crowded Westmount Road . . . I could go on.

Have your turn by participating. You can go here to vote for the Worst Roads in Ontario.

You might want to gloss over the fact that your participation includes you in a draw for a daily draw on a $50 Petro-Canada gift card and a final draw for a prize of gas for a year. Perhaps "fuel" for a year could have been a gift card to Swiss Chalet...

Shall we stop for a drink?

Consider this a sort of antidote to the rain that's falling and the ice-rain that's soon to be calling.

A picnic bike.

I first saw this on the U.K.-based BuzzHunt , but you know how the internet is: nobody gives attribution!

It appears, thanks to Wine Predator, that this image originally came from the Boulder, Col.-based Fat Kitty Cycles, where you can order this bike to be assembled.

To call it a "picnic bike," might be to narrowly define a picnic as a well-lubricated, but food-reduced, stoppage on a leisure ride.

And not to be overly critical, but I can imagine that some knees and sides of legs might be tapped or scraped while riding with this inner-frame attachment. All in favour of creative ways to stay hydrated -- just not sure this is the best way.

 

The bucks in bikes

I know the inherent dangers in doing rough estimates, especially when dollars are involved, but this blog post from Greenfrostings really does make you wonder if the mayor of Toronto is shooting from the lip or has costed out his latest tirade against cycling.

Anyone want to double check the numbers? Would a pay-access bicycle cage really make more money than the parking revenue generated from the motor vehicle spots it would displace?

These Chrome Truks could be a gift to yourself

When I opened the box of Chrome Truks, a sample of cycling shoes sent to me last fall, my first reaction was, "Crap, they sent the wrong shoes."

Because they didn't look like cycling shoes. No cleats. No place to attach cleats. I checked the box to make certain I wasn't missing something.

Here's what I got.

A pair of black canvas shoes, with a flattish gum bottom, laced with black and including an extra set of brown laces. They look like, well, shoes.

My bikes have pedals for cleats. Riding with these would just be slip-sliding away. I almost returned them -- what a mistake that would have been, now that I've used them.

At the time, I had been thinking about outfitting the winter bike with a platform/cleat combo so I could wear my winter boots on some days. So suddenly I had a good excuse to buy new pedals (Shimano PD-M324 SPD dual platforms).

I rode the first day with all the imbedded prejudices of a longtime cleated-cycling-shoe rider. And all I could say at the end of the ride was, "Wow. These work."

Nice stiff feel. So little slippage that I stood on the pedals for the Ottawa Street hill. I changed into my office shoes and put thoughts of the Truks away.

So I used these shoes for a couple of weeks, riding in dry and wet conditions and always changing into work shoes at the office. And then one day, circumstances kept me in the Truks for a couple of hours, and soon my shift was done and I had been in the Truks for nine hours -- and they still felt good.

I should have written about these shoes sooner: they would have made a good Christmas gift. Having said that, the delay did give me time to ride them in snow -- as good regarding slippage as any of my sneakers or boots -- and a couple of freakingly cold days (OK, that's when you need a bootie cover).

And here it is spring again, and I am wearing the Truks again, both on the bike and all day at the office, and thinking, Wow, these work. Maybe it's time for a welcome-to-spring cycling gift to yourself.

If you want to see the Truks in action, the Chrome people put this video up on YouTube earlier this year. Nice music.

 

 

 

 

Why have a headlight when you can have an animation projector?

OK, this is cool. Tech geek Matt Richardson has put together what he calls "Raspberry Pi." It's a Radio-Shack-like circuit board, battery and handlebar-mounted projector that, for now, projects his speed on the road ahead of him.

The result is part headlight, part night-time bicycle computer readout.

He's sharing the results of his experiments in a series of YouTube videos, and is inviting ideas for what kind of animations to project on the road. Anyone who has squinted down at their bicycle computer in the dark at a pitiful display screen, trying to figure out average speed or distance travelled, might appreciate the possibilities.

For me, I was wondering about showing some Pixar shorts on my night ride home.

You really can re-invent the wheel

OK. This is very cool. A folding wheel for wheelchair users, so the chair can be folded into a trunk, overhead storage, whatever. Who's to say that a folding bike wheel won't be next?

 

Ontario wants your input on its draft cycling strategy

If you want to say anything about the Ontario Ministry of Transportation draft cycling strategy, you've got 60 days to do so.

The Ministry is among several provincial agencies that has had something to say about cycling in Ontario. The office of the Chief Coroner this summer released a cycling death review that had a lot to say to various ministries and governments about cycling safety. The Ontario Medical Association weighed in last year with its Enhancing Cycling Safety in Ontario, and various agencies of public health have contributed their thoughts about active lifestyles.

But this is the big one. The Ministry of Transportation actually designates money that builds things: whether that's paved, segregated bicycle lanes or bicycle storage at public transit facilities. And the ministry sets the tone for every new driver who is licensed in Ontario. If you want Ontario drivers to be trained to share the road, you have to have the Ministry of Transportation on side.

So really, you should read the draft strategy and offer your comments. And don't delay. Sixty days have a way of running out. In fact, if you are reading this on Saturday: only 59 days left.

You've probably read something about the draft strategy elsewhere. To recap, the strategy is looking at: better cycling infrastructure through a provincial cycling network, and through provincial support (cash, advice, policy) of municipally authorized cycling networks; better cycling safety, through education for cyclists and drivers and updates to the (incredibly outdated) Highway Traffic Act; and better overwatch, through monitoring and co-ordination (which sounds like a bonanza for consultants, but really does have a bearing on how improvements are made).

It is interesting that two recommendations of the Chief Coroner's report, made specifically to the Ministry of Transportation, are not in any way addressed in the draft strategy:

First, no mention of mandatory bicycle helmet legislation -- which really stirred up the beehive when it was suggested back in June of this year.

Second, no mention of the one-metre/three-foot passing law, which has been the subject of one private member's bill and many lobbying attempts. It appears that it continues to go nowhere fast.

Neither does the draft cycling strategy address the question of e-bikes. There has been a lot of energy generated about e-bikes, whether police are enforcing the law, whether the law is clear enough, whether e-bike users should be required to be licensed. Other than defining what an e-bike is and where it can be used, no discussion of the e-bike's future.

Of course, there are 60 days to discuss all of this. Go to the website, read the draft strategy and press the button to submit your responses.

Nashville Bicycle Lounge fading away

I missed the note on Facebook earlier this month that the Nashville Bicycle Lounge (Nashville's coolest bicycle shop) is closing. Last day is Nov. 30.

There are details on their Facebook page  and a note to clients/friends on their home page.

While they are famously known as a go-to place, they did some mail order, and the hat I'm wearing in my Twitter photo is a Nashville Bicycle Lounge bicycle chapeau that Dan Hensley shipped. I think it is the only bicycle apparel I've ever seen to feature a silhouetted showgirl sprawled over a bicycle chain link.

They are closed today for the U.S. Thanksgiving and closed Friday (cuz they don't have enough inventory for a "Black Friday" sale, but you could call Saturday if you were thinking of trying to buy a last piece of Bicycle Lounge history.

 

Input sought on cycling/walking draft master plan

If you are interested in helping direct the development of Waterloo Region's cycling/walking master plan, you'll want to know about the public information sessions next month.

Walk Cycle Waterloo Region is in the final phases of the master plan recommendations which will be presented to regional council early in 2013 (yes, that's just around the corner).

Now the group is ready to unveil its draft master plan. There will be three public sessions: Nov. 27, hall at Knox Presbyterian Church, 50 Erb St. W., Waterloo; Nov. 28, foyer at Calvary Assembly Church, 127 Hespeler Rd., Cambridge; and Nov. 29, lobby at Regional Administrative Headquarters, 150 Frederick St., Kitchener. The event runs 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. each day.

There's a tonne of information on the regional website, including maps of walking and cycling routes, a video explaining what has been done so far, and requests for input. Worth your time.