Shifter – Page 2 – Exploring cities from the seat of a bike

There are, generally, two types of bike lights. In North America, where most bikes are built for speed rather than practicality, lights are often an aftermarket product, powered by rechargeable batteries and affixed to handlebars and seatposts. But there is another way, common elsewhere, to stay lit up while riding by integrating lights that are powered by the rider’s pedal strokes through a dynamo. Which type is best? In this video, I set out to answer that question.

To support this channel, please subscribe, share this video and check out the links below.

• Buy my book Frostbike: The Joy, Pain and Numbness of Winter Cycling: https://amzn.to/3lxJiHT

• Here’s the winter bike I’m riding these days: https://bit.ly/2PhqUqF

• Epidemic Sound for music. It’s great for my YouTube needs: https://bit.ly/3v2Bl05

#cycling #bikecommuting #bikes

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Eight mistakes new bike commuters make that can be easily avoided

By Tom Babin

On December 6, 2021

In Cities

If, like me, you live in a city that is not very bike-friendly, bicycle commuting can sometimes be intimidating. But bike commuting is an amazing way to improve your life, so I thought I’d share a few tips I picked up over the years the hard way. Hopefully, this video will help you avoid some of the mistakes that I made.

To support this channel, please subscribe, share this video and check out the links below.

• Buy my book Frostbike: The Joy, Pain and Numbness of Winter Cycling: https://amzn.to/3lxJiHT

• Here’s the winter bike I’m riding these days: https://bit.ly/2PhqUqF

• Love these pants for cycling without looking like a cyclist: https://bit.ly/3eH1Io5

• Epidemic Sound for music. It’s great for my YouTube needs: https://bit.ly/3v2Bl05 #cycling #bikecommuting #bikes Follow me! Blog: https://shifter.info Twitter: https://twitter.com/tombabin Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tombabin/

This bike is old, plain and slow. So why do I love it so much?

By Tom Babin

On November 29, 2021

In Bikes

The most common question I receive on this channel, by far, is some version of this: “Yo, what’s that bike you’re riding?”

I’ve done videos on my winter bikes, but I’ve never dedicated a video to my beloved summer bike, for a simple reason: There’s not much to talk about. It’s an old, plain, simple machine. But it’s also the bike I love more than any other. So, on the verge of the bike’s first tune-up in a decade (bad bike owner, bad!), I decided to finally give up some details on this bike, and, in the process, explore a little more deeply why I love this bike and, more broadly, why humans seem to make such strong emotional attachments to bicycles.

Thanks to Karly Coleman for sharing her research into the human-bicycle emotional connection. Follow her at https://twitter.com/szaracat and read her complete study here: https://era.library.ualberta.ca/items/384f7788-e638-4a01-adf9-2cbe8e7b7e80

To support this channel, please subscribe, share this video and check out the links below.

• Buy my book Frostbike: The Joy, Pain and Numbness of Winter Cycling: https://amzn.to/3lxJiHT

• Here’s the winter bike I’m riding these days: https://bit.ly/2PhqUqF

• Epidemic Sound for music. It’s great for my YouTube needs: https://bit.ly/3v2Bl05 #cycling #bikecommuting #bikes

Follow me! Blog: https://shifter.info Twitter: https://twitter.com/tombabin Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tombabin/

What’s better for running errands in a city: A car or a bike?

By Tom Babin

On October 18, 2021

In Bikes, Cities

There’s an old argument that suggests bike lanes are bad for local businesses because only a car makes it convenient enough for people to make multiple stops at local businesses to spend their hard-earned money. So today I decided to put that dubious theory to the test. Here’s the scenario: I choose a route about six kilometers long, with three stops along the way. I run it on a bike. Then I run it in a car. I time both journeys with a stopwatch. Which urban vehicle to you think will be faster and more efficient?

What’s best: A front or back basket on your bike?

By Tom Babin

On October 11, 2021

In Bikes

The eternal bike question, finally answered! Having used both front and back baskets on my bike over the years, I’ve mused about the pros and cons of each style a lot. So I decided to finally put a little rigor to those musings and did a series of tests to detemine if it’s better in your urban bike life or bicycle commute to haul your stuff in a basket on the front of your bike, or the back. Here are the tests.

Bike-friendly city showdown compares Amsterdam with Calgary

By Tom Babin

On October 4, 2021

In Cities

Amsterdam is probably the most bike-friendly city in the world. Calgary, Alberta, Canada has been making strides in bike friendliness for a few years, but how do the two cities really compare?

I’ve often wondered this, especially while watching the great videos from Amsterdam by Jason at @Not Just Bikes . So I reached out to Jason with an idea of playing a game called Plus 1 Minus 2, with an urban cycling twist!

Here’s the idea: We both agreed to record a typical everyday ride, Jason in Amsterdam and me in Calgary. Then we swapped footage and scored each other’s cities – score one point for each thing that makes it easy to ride your bike for transportation, and remove two points for everything that makes it difficult. Then, we compare. I think it’s a really cool way of seeing how differently two cities can develop.

I haven’t seen Jason’s video and he hasn’t seen mine, so I’m really looking forward to seeing his perspective on this. Make sure to check out his video after you watch this one: https://youtu.be/M8F5hXqS-Ac