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Pedego’s store count grows
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
Bike Jobs!
Get that money! Get that job! Buy a new bike!
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Experienced Bicycle Mechanic (Stoneham)
Green Team Crew Leader (Hyde Park, Boston)
Bicycle Travel Sales Consultant (Arlington)
Sales Account Executive (Cambridge, MA)
Delivery Drivers – Insomnia Cookies Paid Cash Daily! OPEN CALL THURS (65 Mt Auburn St, Cambridge)
The Bicycle Link Weymouth
Bicycle Salesperson (Watertown)
SRAM keeps focus inside in search for future president
From the magazine Editor’s note: The following article is part of BRAIN’s ongoing series on generational change in the bike industry.
BMC team outfitted with official belt-drive commuter bikes
DENVER, CO (BRAIN) — It’s not at all clear what kind of “commute” a pro road racer has, but nevertheless the BMC Racing Team this week has been outfitted with what are possibly the WorldTour’s only official team commuter bikes, the BMC urbanchallenge with Gates belt-drive drivetrains. “The BMC urbanchallenges are fantastic because you can just hop on and go without having to worry about cleaning or lubing a chain,” said Kate Ochowicz, the team’s marketing director.
Whyte Stirling review
The term ‘hybrid’ can mean many things in the cycling world. It can take in anything from a super-heavyweight, bike-shaped object bought from your local supermarket to more modest, reasonably specced machines from your local bike shop and even a very well considered machine such as Whyte’s Stirling, which is probably why Whyte prefer to use the term ‘fast urban’ rather than hybrid. Fast urban certainly sums it up nicely.
It has higher-spec kit than some cheaper urban options, most notably in the shape of a carbon fork, Avid’s excellent hydraulic disc brakes and 2×10-speed SRAM Via gearing. The hydroformed 6061 aluminium frame is pretty similar to what you’d get on a ?1,000 road bike, and very well finished too, but the geometry is different.?
It’s based around mountain bike geometry, with a relaxed head angle and a very long wheelbase: 107cm on our medium model, about 5cm longer than on a similar size road bike. The result is a very stable ride when you get up to speed, and thanks to the reasonable overall weight that’s quite easy to do.?
The stability is balanced by a shorter stem, which offers the sort of nifty handling you need in city traffic. The Stirling also has a relatively narrow handlebar – 58cm – with Ergon’s excellent rubber grips.?
The Whyte has more versatility than some urban bikes designed for faster, flatter riding. It’s no slouch when required, but it has a fairly high number of gears and if steep climbs are part of your daily grind, the 32×32 (small chainring/large sprocket) bottom gear offers a real bailout option, while the 48×11 top gear is higher than 52×12, let alone a compact’s usual 50×12 – so you’re not going to run out of top end choices.
Nominally a city bike, the Stirling is actually light and comfortable enough, and has the versatility, to be pressed into longer rides too. It has a full complement of rack and mudguard fittings, and it’ll do sterling service whatever you use it for.?
We even fitted it with mini tri-bars for some fast fitness riding and it performed perfectly. In spite of its stealth looks – or possibly because of them – this is one that thieves might have their eye on, so if you do leave it locked up, make sure you’ve got decent security.
This article was originally published in Cycling Plus magazine, available on Apple Newsstand and Zinio.
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Dealers’ association takes over Top 100 awards
COSTA MESA, CA (BRAIN) — Bicycle Retailer and Industry News has officially handed off its long running Top 100 and Gold Star retailer recognition program to the National Bicycle Dealers Association.
Cargo Bike History – Svajere in Copenhagen
Here are some historical photos of a cargo bike life in Copenhagen. Above, King Christian X on one of his daily rides through the streets during the Second World War occupation. He always rode without official guards through the streets and was much loved for it. Here, however, he was guarded by the bicycle messengers from the company Achilleus.
Here is a link to an earlier post about the Svajere – or cargo bike messengers of Copenhagen.
The bicycle messengers at the headquarters of the Post & Telegraf service in 1917. Dressed splendidly. The bike messengers – or Svajere – in official service were usually uniformed until the end of the 1940s, when casual wear became the norm.
The bicycle messengers for Illum department store in the 1940s, during the occupation.
A double cargo bike nicknamed Skildpadden – or The Turtle – in the service of Illum department store. 1940s.
The bike messenger team at Byposten messenger company.
Bicycle messengers from the telegraf service lined up on City Hall Square.
Brilliantly dapper.
Young bicycle messengers. Ca. 1940s at left and 1941 at right.
Heavy loads.
A “svajer” giving free rides to kids in the neighbourhood, 1942.
The legendary Svajerløb on Grønttorvet – now Israels Square. The races were organised by a man with a messenger company and the money raised was used to send the young bike messengers to summer camp. The races were popular events in Copenhagen. They were revived in 2009.
More about the Svajere – then and now – right here.
Cartoons about the feisty bike messengers.
A quiet moment with a pipe.
Hubway Bike Share Data Visualized
Boston BikeShare Data Animation (Hubway) from Chris Whong on Vimeo.
This is absolutely fantastic. You can see people getting up late on Sunday, taking the Hubways home after the T closes, and the daily commutes. The Hubway system really is changing the way people get around town for the better.
This city is changing for the better, and we will all look back on these days as the “bad old days” when it was hard to get around by bicycle. It’s clear we are heading towards a more bike/walking/public transportation intensive, and less car oriented city. Our new bike friendly future can’t get here fast enough.
Much more data awesomeness here. (also thanks Ron for the tip)
Nike drops Armstrong, who steps down at Livestrong
BEAVERTON, OR (BRAIN) — Lance Armstrong stepped down as chairman of the Livestrong Foundation on Wednesday, hours before long-time sponsor Nike announced that it was severing its ties with Armstrong, who has been slapped with a lifetime suspension from competition for doping. “Due to the seemingly insurmountable evidence that Lance Armstrong participated in doping and misled Nike for more than a decade, it is with great sadness that we have terminated our contract with him