Category: Bicycles

The Ultimate Utility Bike for Modern Living:  Ziba x Signal Cycles

The Ultimate Utility Bike for Modern Living: Ziba x Signal Cycles

The Constructor’s Design Challenge, held in Portland, OR is a one-of-a-kind design/build competition, in which some of the country’s best custom bike craftsman and design teams work together to create the ultimate modern utility bike.  The mission of the contest is to inspire and foster design innovation around a bike that recognizes the needs of modern living, to celebrate and champion the resurgence of American bike craft, and to show riders and enthusiasts that a well-crafted bike can be a tool integrating seamlessly into everyday life

The bikes are constructed by various teams and then are put through the “Oregon Manifest Field Test,” a road test that assesses the real function of each bike in real world environments including hills, byways and off-road sections. The Field Test requires riders to keep a fast pace that will stress their bikes to the limit, and demands a well-crafted, expertly assembled entry in order to complete the route in good time.

I attended a presentation in May by Ziba Design as part of the Cleveland Institute of Art Spring Design Dhow, and learned about the collaboration between Ziba and Signal cycles for the challenge. Ziba is a dynamic organization that works on projects that range from tactical product design to in-depth strategy. Signal Cycles, who is the team of Matt Cardinal and Nate Meschke who make bikes that are drawn, cut, brazed and finished in their North Portland, Oregon workshop.  What happens when you put these two groups together?  A bike  with a sidecar, custom bags, and a lock that all fit well on a great looking well-crafted bike that would be great to use when doing errands around town.

The project took 6 months to do, and the final bike was called The Fremont.  In the design, the focus was on how to get a regular person around town and take care of everyday tasks without a car.

The team made the frame of the bike a step-through frame, which is helpful when carrying cargo and wearing normal clothes.  The unique belt drive design on the bike is a great choice, since chain grease and drive side maintenance can be annoyances to the everyday rider. The overall design is very classic and understated and will appeal to riders who do not want their bike to stand out.  The cargo bags fold flat when they are not in use, are easy to install, and can be locked to the frame.  Another great feature on the bike is that the lights are powered by a generator hub, so the lights do not need batteries or recharging.

I recently traded in my road bike for a more practical commuter, upright bike.  My cargo baskets are not as cool as on the Fremont – but I am excited to have a bike that is more practical for everyday errands, and also is better for my shoulders that I injuired the last couple of years.

If you want to see other great inspirational commuter/ everyday bikes from the contest, check out the  Constructor’s Design Challenge website, or Ziba’s article about working with Signal Cycles on their site.

Image Source:
www.ziba.com – article about the-fremont

Links:
www.ziba.com – article about the-fremont

oregonmanifest.com/

signalcycles.com

www.ziba.com

Pump up Your Bike Tires – It’s National Bicycle Month with Ride to School and Work Days

Pump up Your Bike Tires – It’s National Bicycle Month with Ride to School and Work Days

Do you hear bicycle bells ringing in the air?  You might see more kids and teachers on bicycles tomorrow on May 9th on the first National Bike to School Day.  Schools, cities, bicycle groups, and public health organizations are organizing bike rides and bike rides to school to highlight and celebrate the benefits of choosing bike transportation to school.  More than 700 Bike to School Day events in 49 states and the District of Columbia are registered on the official website.  Here in Cleveland Heights, the city is promoting the Bike to School day.

May is National Bike month, and there are lots of of bike activities, rides, and events including the national Ride to Work day on May 18h – where everyone is encouraged to bike to work, and the Ride of Silence on Wednesday May 16th, where cyclists do a silent slow-paced ride in honor of those who have been injured or killed cycling on public highways.  Check the air in your bike tires, and check out your local bike site to get riding!
Image Source:
Thurston County Bike Commuter

 

Links:

www.walkbiketoschool.org.

bikecleveland.org/month

A Compost Bike Trailer- Making Soil in Brooklyn

A Compost Bike Trailer- Making Soil in Brooklyn

Have you been passed by a trailer of compost recently while riding your bike?

Compost for Brooklyn, founded in March 2010 in New York, is a group that transformed a vacant lot into a community composting project and a refuge for native plants and community members.  Every week, neighbors come to the garden to visit, and drop off their veggie scraps and other organic waste. In the summer of 2011 alone they received over 8,600 pounds of food scraps from individuals, local schools and businesses from the area.  The garden grows native plants that provide food and shelter for birds and insects.  The group also does education about urban soil and the environment.

Compost for Brooklyn partnered with Ditmas Park CSA and built a CSA / Compost Bike Trailer, which uses a bicycle as a delivery and cargo carrying transportation device to both deliver CSA shares and to collect compost from CSA members.

Want to build one?  A detailed set of free construction documents are available online.  All materials used to make the bike trailer are easily and inexpensively accessible at local hardware stores.

 

Image Source:
www.instructables.com/id/CSA-and-Compost-Bicycle-Trailer/

 

Links:

http://compostforbrooklyn.org/about/

http://www.instructables.com/id/CSA-and-Compost-Bicycle-Trailer/

 

The Bike Rack –  New Bike Commuting Center in Downtown Cleveland

The Bike Rack – New Bike Commuting Center in Downtown Cleveland

A couple of years ago – I managed to ride by bike through the month of October.  I put fenders on my bike, got breathable long underwear, arm warmers, and was able to commute and ride my bike to work until the snow came.

If you are a bike commuter or just want to bike downtown and be able to park your bike downtown for a game or event, you are in luck.  In August, the new Bike Rack, the new bike commuting and service center opened.  The center is located at the corner of E.4th and High St. in downtown Cleveland is worth riding to (and parking at.)

The center has both outdoor and indoor bike parking, shower and changing facilities, lockers, a bike repair shop, and also rentals.  To get access to all the facilities, you can get a monthly pass for $25, or pay $5 per day.  The monthly pass lets you enter the facility 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to park your bike.  You do need to bring your own lock for your bike, but not for the day-use lockers.

I made a trip down to The Bike Rack this week – and talked to John Sirignano, Operations Manager, about how people have been using the center since it opened.  The main use of the center has been for bike commuters, who usually bike to work, shower up a the center, park the bike, and then go to work.  Some people will ride home, but many will put the bike on the rapid and take the bus home.  Currently there is not a direct bus line to the center, but it is rumored that a shuttle will be added to go down 4th Street.

In Spring, the center plans to have some programming and partner with the Ohio City Bike Coop to provide some workshops and events.

The center is a partnership of the City of Cleveland and The Downtown Cleveland Alliance to create a more bike friendly environment in downtown Cleveland.

The Bike Rack directly supports the Sustainable Cleveland 2019 Initiative by promoting alternative forms of transportation and was funded from Energy Efficiency Conservation Block Grants.  The long range goal is to build more facilities in different parts of the city, and to support bike commuting in Cleveland.

Other uses of the center are to provide bike storage for residents living in small living units downtown.  Currently on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons, the center hosts spinning – and people bring their stationary bike trainers – and do a spinning video together.

Ready to bike downtown?  Check the air in your tires then check out The Bike Rack’s website to get ready.

 

Links:

The Cleveland Bike Rack

Download – Bike To Work Commuter Booklet

 

 

 

 

Ecology, Ethics, and Interdependence:  Biking to Work can Improve Health

Ecology, Ethics, and Interdependence: Biking to Work can Improve Health

The Mind & Life Institute is a non-profit organization that seeks to understand the human mind and the benefits of contemplative practices through an integrated mode of knowing that combines first person knowledge from the world’s contemplative traditions with methods and findings from contemporary scientific inquiry.

The institute organizes Mind and Life Dialogues with the Dalai Lama, publications with report on these dialogues, a research institute, and other programs.

The “Ecology, Ethics, and Interdependence,” Mind and Life XXII conference with the Dalai Lama and scholars, activitsts, and ecological scientists was held in Charamsalasa, India from October 17-21, 2011. The sessions were recorded, and you can watch sessions from the conference online.

In Session 2 of the conference : Interdependence Between the Environment and Our Health: Risk and Opportunities  the session began with a presentation by Jonathan Patz, director of the Global Health Institute at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and lead author of a new study highlighting the “four-way win” that comes with swapping cars for bikes: reduced greenhouse emissions and gains in air quality, fitness and the economy. Patz is also a professor in Madison’s Nelson Institute and Department of Population Health Sciences.

In the study, published in Environmental Health Perspectives, Patz and his team looked at the Midwest states and  asked: What if during the nicest four months of the year, those residents biked instead of driving for round-trips of five miles or less?   According to their study, this could save approximately four trillion pounds of carbon dioxide emissions, 1,100 lives and $7 billion in mortality and health care costs for the region every year.

You can watch present Patz present his study in the online video from the conference and talk about the health impacts and ethics of climate change, and the potential for environment and health improvements of interventions.

In the session, Patz said “Fighting global climate change could be one of the greatest public health opportunities we’ve had in a century.  “This is where I look to your wisdom and writing,” he added. “Everything starts with the individual — we start with ourselves.”

“Wonderful,” Dalai Lama replied, bowing his head to Patz. “Wonderful. Very good.”

Image Source:
www.performancebike.com

 

Links:

Video of – Mind and Life XXIII – Session 2 – Ecology, Ethics and Interdependence

Patz’s Study highlighting the “four-way win” of biking and health

The Mind and Life Institute

The Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama