Safety

PITTSFIELD, MA (BRAIN) — Berkshire Bike and Board has opened a second store in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Like the original Berkshire Bike and Board located 20 miles away in Great Barrington, the 3,000-square-foot store was designed as a Giant Partner Store. Berkshire has been a Giant retailer since 2007.  Giant’s retail merchandising team worked closely with owners Steffen Root and David Clark on the store’s layout, color scheme and messaging.  Root noted that they saw a need for a second store to better serve Pittsfield and surrounding towns.  “We had been seeing more and more mountain bikers making the trip to the Great Barrington store, so we knew they were missing something in Pittsfield.

BOULDER, CO (BRAIN) — The Outdoor Industry Women’s Coalition will launch its 2nd annual Spring Auction on Thursday. The online auction will run for ten days and supporters can bid on items including a Burton snowboard, six-day river rafting trip, wine tasting trip, a “cowboy camp” experience, and more.

BOULDER, CO (BRAIN) — The Outdoor Industry Women’s Coalition will launch its 2nd annual Spring Auction on Thursday. The online auction will run for ten days and supporters can bid on items including a Burton snowboard, six-day river rafting trip, wine tasting trip, a “cowboy camp” experience, and more. Also up for bid will be gift cards from Arc’teryx, Wolverine boots, Royal Robbins, Moving Comfort, and other outdoor brands.

From the May 1 issue of BRAIN TAIPEI, Taiwan (BRAIN) — Benjamin Cox says that sourcing a line of accessories from Taiwanese, Chinese and Vietnamese manufacturers for his single-location store is a big investment of capital and time. He’s personally had to learn all the tricks of the trade quickly—how much duties are for products he imports, buying product liability insurance, ensuring quality control and that there are no packaging issues.  And, unlike with his American suppliers and distributors, it’s an all-cash transaction wired directly from the bank—no credit here.  Cox, CEO of Newbury Park Bicycle Shop in Southern California, began researching and talking to overseas vendors over the last nearly four years; this year was his second time attending the Taipei Cycle show, where manufacturers go to source products and meet with distributors. He’s grown the shop’s in-house brand of softgoods and accessories to 30 SKUs.  He admits for a smaller business becoming a supplier involves quite a bit of risk, “but that’s why the margins are so much better,” Cox said.  “The other thing, quite frankly, with consumers using us as a showroom and jumping online to find the cheapest price on Amazon, when it’s our product and we control it, there’s less of that,” Cox added.

More than 100,000 stolen bikes were reported in the UK in 2012, and police have warned cyclists that expensive bikes are targets because they represent a lucrative market for criminals.?BikeRadar spoke to policeman Tom Llewellyn and John Moss, founder of?Stolen Bristol Bikes, about what you can do to keep your bike safe and secure.?

“It’s a case of being as savvy as you can and being aware that expensive bikes are a big target,” said PC Llewellyn, who is investigating a stolen goods conspiracy involving high value bikes.?“They’re the easiest thing for people to take.”

1. Create a logbook

When you buy your bike, note down serial numbers for your bike and take photos. As it gets used, log paint chips, scratches and new components as they replace old ones.

“Put a folder together of all the information that makes your bike personal,” said Llewellyn. “We do recover a lot of bikes, but a lot of the time they don’t get identified because the information we get from people who report crimes is often not good enough to identify them.”?

He said many police authorities offer free postcode marking services such as SmartWater.?In the event of the stolen bike being recovered, these forensic tools can help reunite it with the owner.?

2. Store the bike behind a locked door?

The majority of bike thefts are opportunistic raids on sheds, so deter criminals by making sure your bicycle is kept behind a lockable door, in a garage or the house. A padlocked, wooden garden shed won’t do, said Llewellyn: “A padlock can be bolt-cropped in five seconds.”

If your shed is up to the job, securing the bike a second time behind the locked door is worthwhile. Fixings sunk into concrete floors are a good option, as is installing CCTV cameras and security lighting in the garden.? ?

“Thieves will look for the easiest opportunity for theft,” said Llewellyn. “They won’t go, ‘I want to get into that address.’ They might try five or six addresses before they get one that’s easy access or it’s got something inside that they want.?If you have something really precious and you haven’t got those security measures, I would put my bike in the house until I’ve got them in place.”

John Moss suggested using an alarmed padlock in addition to standard bike locks: “In addition to your usual bike locks it can be a useful tool when stopping bike thieves from plucking bikes out of your shed or garage. When it goes off it’s unlikely thieves will hang around to see if anyone has heard it.”

Read more on how to make your shed more secure.

3. Be savvy with ride sharing

Some police forces?have linked ride sharing platforms such as Strava, MapMyRide and Endomondo to bike thefts. Moss said: “If you use Strava or other ride logging applications, set up exclusion zones around areas you regularly store your bike. They don’t typically affect your ride statistics, but turn off the mapping features when you’re within the boundaries of one.”

If you’re planning on leaving your bike unattended, make sure it’s secured with a good quality lock. We recently reported on thieves tailing riders to a caf? and stealing an expensive mountain bike off the roof rack. Watch the BikeRadar?video guide on how to secure your bike properly.?

4. Contact the police and do some DIY tracking

In the event of a theft, Llewellyn said your first move should be to contact the police and pass over the logbook details. However, he said victims should visit websites to find the bike – or parts of it – themselves.?

Telltale signs that a for-sale bike might be stolen are short auctions (to move the goods quickly), a bike that deviates wildly from build specifications, or a seller with a short or non-existent history.???

“If it was my bike I would trail auction websites such as eBay,” said Llewellyn. “A lot of bike handlers will cut and chop bikes together. People who sell stolen high end bikes will go through a second party, and the second party will try to hide the identity of the bike. If you can identify your saddle, handlebars, pedals and so on, and you’ve got documentation, then we can start to make enquiries.”

He warned people not to be put off by item locations: “If people are sending stuff in the post or by courier it makes no difference where it’s coming from.”?

Moss?added that it can be constructive to trawl sites such as www.findthatbike.co.uk. “It collects bike ads from around the UK and puts them all in an easy-to-search gallery,” he explained. “If you do spot your bike for sale online, it’s really important to keep hassling the police to take action, but be ready to prove that the bike is yours.”

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TORONTO, Ontario (BRAIN) — KindHuman, a new bike and accessories brand, is taking an unusual approach to the market, offering discounts to community service employees and supporting racing programs for underprivileged youth. The company is currently offering a high-end carbon road frameset and will soon expand with complete bike kits, clothing and accessories. It is setting up accounts with a handful of IBDs and is building a business model that includes keystone margins for retailers.

GUELPH, Ontario (BRAIN) — Longtime retailer and cycling enthusiast George Vettor passed away last week.

SANTA MONICA, CA (BRAIN) — Pedego Electric Bikes continues to expand its reach by opening its seventh Pedego-branded store in less than three months in Southern California. Pedego Santa Monica opened its doors in early May, and will have a grand opening party this Sunday. The 900-square-foot Santa Monica store joins several new beach city locations including Seal Beach, Redondo Beach, Corona del Mar and Dana Point.  Pedego Santa Monica owner Barb Wittels operated her company Pedal or Not Electric Bicycle Tours (which are taken on Pedego bikes) out of a 5-foot-wide kiosk for three seasons before pursuing the idea of opening a full-fledged store

FLAGSTAFF, AZ (BRAIN) — Cosmic Cycles, a well-known retailer in Flagstaff, has recently reopened in a new location with a new owner. Scott Heinsuis, a longtime employee of the shop, purchased the business last year after it closed for the winter and moved it into its current location before opening for the season May 1.  The 2,000-square-foot store is located at 612 North Humphrey Street. While the shop may have a new look and a fresh start, Heinsuis says that he is dedicated to continuing the shop’s legacy of taking great care of its customers and providing excellent repair service — all while keeping things lively, interesting and fun

Awesome!

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Police officials from BU, Boston, and Brookline are teaming up this week to give away hundreds of free helmets to cyclists riding in the Commonwealth Avenue area, to prevent accidents and spread awareness about biking safety.

Boston University Sgt. Larry Cuzzi said Monday afternoon that police officers had handed out nearly 75 helmets that morning. He estimated that they would donate hundreds by Wednesday evening, when the giveaway ends.

Read the rest here.

These sort of events are just as important as the ticket stings, and I hope they do this more often.

I have been stuck in so much bike traffic lately get your helmets and lights and join us!