bikes What The Hell Are Are These New Bike Guidelines San Francisco Adopted?

Posted By Leif Haven on Fri, Oct 10, 2014 at 4:37 PM

Earlier this week, the Board of Supervisors officially adopted the NACTO guidelines with as much glee as if they they were taking home the cutest puppy from the humane society.

Never mind the cute puppy, what the hell are NACTO guidelines, you ask, and why are we adopting them?

NACTO, or the National Association of City Transportation Officials, is exactly what it sounds like: a bunch of people who think that they can tell us how to make cities better ...and surprise: the NACTO Designing Cities Conference, is happening October 22-25, so the PR timing couldn't have been better.

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bikes The Most Ridiculous Things From the Biggest Bike Trade Show

Posted By Leif Haven on Fri, Oct 3, 2014 at 9:49 AM

I read somewhere once that if you want to make a small fortune in the bike industry then you should start out with a large one. It makes sense that the bike industry’s biggest trade show is in Las Vegas every year: these people are making Hail Mary bets that their insane boutique bike contraption will make them rich – and they’ve got about as much chance as somebody playing dollar slots.

Here are some of my favorite wacky two-wheel related products from InterBike 2014.

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bikes Now You Can Ride Your Bike in Cyberspace

Posted By Leif Haven on Fri, Sep 12, 2014 at 9:04 AM

After going on a long ride in the dirt, I’ve got to clean off my bike. I’ve got to upload my ride to Strava. I’ve got to lube my chain. I’ve got to take a shower. Wouldn’t it be great if we didn't have to do any of that?

Luckily, some smart people are hard at work at helping you never leave the house again with apps and hardware.

Why worry about rain, sun, dirt, traffic, or anything else, when you can ride and even race against your friends in their own homes, from the comfort of your own home?The most interesting of these new apps is called Zwift, a massively multiplayer game for cyclists that will go live later this month.

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bikes 5 Elevated Bike Lanes That San Francisco Should Consider

Posted By Leif Haven on Fri, Aug 29, 2014 at 1:44 PM

You might have heard about how the Mission District is set to get its first elevated bike lane. No doubt visions of pedaling easily above the roofs of the thousands of two story row-houses and congested streets has you excited. Unfortunately, the new elevated bike way will only be elevated a few inches above street level.

Lots of uber bike-friendly cities, including Copenhagen, Amsterdam, etc.,  already have many elevated bike lanes. An elevated bike lane makes it all that much harder for cars to plow into you from behind. But what if we thought bigger? Or, in this case, what if we thought higher?

Don’t worry, plenty of people already have. While most elevated bikeways are purely fantasy at this point, these five sure are cool.

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bikes The 5 Best Views of the Bay Area by Bike

Posted By Leif Haven on Fri, Aug 15, 2014 at 1:49 PM

Maybe it's because I'm from the flatlands of the flyover states, but I tend to gravitate toward the hills anytime I ride. So this week I decided to incorporate some breath-taking beauty into those hellish hills and pedal some of the toughest climbs in the Bay Area. 

It wasn't easy, given my time constraints (deadline) and tired legs, but it was satisfying nonetheless. 

So here it is, the five most scenic bike routes that embraces both brawn and beauty.

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bikes Transportation Ballot Measure Fails to Balance Transportation Needs

Posted By Leif Haven on Fri, Aug 1, 2014 at 3:02 PM

A bunch of people have collected 17,500 signatures to push an initiative onto the November ballot dubbed Restore Transportation Balance in San Francisco. You'd assume with a name like, the measure might actually address balancing transportation needs of the city’s population.

Then again, you might also assume the Tea Party is about tea.

The major parts of the initiative are aimed at exclusively benefiting drivers. According to the initiative, "balance" can be achieved by allowing more free parking at metered spots, lowering parking fees, prioritizing cars over bikes, and the putting motorists on the SFMTA board. 

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bikes Hipsters, Rejoice! You Can Now Charge Your Smartphone While Riding Your Fixie.

Posted By Ben Christopher on Fri, Apr 26, 2013 at 7:55 AM

When Aaron Latzke and David Delcourt launched the Kickstarter campaign for their "Siva Cycle Atom" on Tuesday morning, they gave themselves a month to amass $85,000. When I spoke to Latzke yesterday afternoon, some 54 hours later, they'd raised more than $58,000.

The masses (at least, those among them willing to send money to strangers on the Internet) have spoken: charging your iPhone with your bike is an idea worth throwing lots of cash at.

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