True cargo bikes are amazing. They can haul just about anything, including furniture, children and that Tinder date you just swiped on. But their size can sometimes be limiting for those living smaller urban lifestyles. That’s why I wanted to try out this bike, the Tern GSD S00, a kind of smaller and more portable …
Read more “Can a cargo bike fit your urban life? Maybe this one can. Plus, it’s electric!”
For 30 years it’s been whispered about, a bicycle urban legend passed among envious cyclists throughout North America, every few years rearing its head with a little piece of news that brings hope, then despair. And now, it’s come up again here, in my city of Calgary. It’s the Idaho stop law. In reality, it’s …
Read more “Will cyclists ever get the rolling stops they want?”
There are plenty of good reasons why pedal or coaster brakes are pretty rare these days — disc brakes are better in almost every way. But there’s an important reason why I love old-fashioned coaster brakes on my bike. It’s all about making the bike easy to use for short, urban, practical trips. Check it …
Read more “Ways of making short bike trips as easy as possible”
Over the past decade, Vancouver has undergone a bike renaissance. Separated bike lanes have been installed, a bike-share program has been implemented, and more and more people are riding bikes for transportation. Even a downtown business group that once fought bike infrastructure has become supportive of cycling. But these big changes didn’t come from thin …
Read more “How Dutch-inspired urban design inspired Vancouver’s bike boom”
Last week, I penned a rant about being accosted by an angry dude in a pickup truck frothing at me for existing on this mortal coil while riding a bike on a rural road. Sure, I was still slightly pissed by the whole experience — being screamed at by a stranger tends to stick in …
Read more “After the road rage: Five rules for rural-road users to avoid bike-car conflicts”
I got road raged by a farmer. A friend and I were on our road bikes on a rural Sunday morning ride recently on the outskirts of the city. It was a warm and smoky day, and we had pedalled about 50 kilometres when we turned off onto a secondary road. There was no shoulder …
Read more “Hey road-raging farmer: Why do you hate cyclists so much?”
My first thought was not that someone had deliberately sown tacks on the bike lane. It was a Saturday morning a couple of weeks ago. The air was pleasant. We were pedalling down 102 Ave to meet friends from Holland for brunch. A metallic sound, a kind of clank, from the back of Shelagh’s bike …
Read more “What’s the motivation for whomever put thumbtacks on the bike path?”
Sometimes it can be difficult for us North Americans to truly envision a bike-friendly city. What with our car dominance and the pittances we throw at cycling, breaking the development mould that has dominated for the past half century can be a difficult mental leap. But lately, I’ve been thinking about little spots in every city …
Read more “Finding glimpses of bike-friendliness in your everyday life”
You could drive a car to work every day. But then you’d be missing out on an opportunity to make your life both safer and healthier. So says research from the team of Dr. Kay Teschke from the University of British Columbia, who looked at the relative safety of different modes of transportation. When it …
Read more “How your commute can contribute to a long and healthy life”
My blog earlier this winter offering tips for keeping your feet warm on a bike prompted some questions, so I thought I would expand a bit in video format. So here it is: Five tips for keeping your feet warm on a bike: the expanded edition. For more videos like this, susbscribe to our YouTube channel. …
Read more “More tips for keeping your feet warm while riding a bike”