Lock your bicycle - Winning

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It seems the only way to get the local media to report on the issue of bicycle theft is when it happens to one of their own, 6ABC reporter Brian Taff, we get an in depth report.

http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/video?id=8373535

After watching this video I can understand why Brian's lock got cut, it was never intended to be a primary lock in a city environment. It's the type of lock that could be cut with the scissors they used to give us in kindergarten. While its effective to lock a rim or a seat, I would never use it as a primary lock for any bicycle.

The error is compounded by the advice given by Lee Rogers, owner of Bicycle Therapy. Given the cost of replacing a rear wheel, a minimum of $140.00, I would never lock a rear wheel with any cable. All it takes it some bolt cutters, a little bit of muscle, and you have a set of rims.

But instead of pontificating, I would rather bring in an expert of my own, Hal Ruzal, founding partner of Bicycle Habitat. In 2003 Hal did a video where he walked the streets of Manhattan with a camera crew rating how well people had locked their bicycles.

This lead to to two more videos, the third leads off with Hal showing you how he locks his bicycle before he goes on a tour of the streets.

So what grade would you give yourself on how you lock your bicycle?

Fourth Annual Philadelphia Tweed Ride

Just like Sarah Palin's mythological Paul Revere I would love to ride through the streets of Philadelphia ringing church bells and shooting guns to alert everyone about the Fourth Annual Philadelphia Tweed Ride on Saturday, November 19 at 12:00. I'll just have to settle for writing about it in this blog.

What is a Tweed ride? Contrary to what you may be thinking the Philadelphia Tweed Ride is not a bunch of hipsters. Participants are a wide range of ages and backgrounds. A tweed ride is a return to a bygone era in England when families would dress in their best clothing, assemble a picnic lunch, get on the train with their bicycles and go out to the countryside. Riding their bicycles home.

What should I wear? Ideally your looking for Edwardian or Victorian era look. You don't have to dress in vintage clothing, with a little bit of creativity you can use modern clothing to create a vintage look. If your looking for inspiration use this link and scroll down to the Third Annual Tweed Ride and you'll find links to photo galleries of last years riders.

What kind of bike should I ride? Every bicycle and cyclist is welcome, of course if you have something that looks vintage, like a three speed or an British bicycle like a Brompton all the better. This is not Critical Mass and the ride organizers make it clear at the start that they expect everyone to obey the traffic laws. With the normal stop and go traffic in Philadelphia and the large number of cyclists that participate you'll never get lost. But be prepared to have people wave at you, because they do think it's some sort of parade.

Will there be other activities? In the course of the ride there is one stop at a local park. Where pipes are smoked, hip flasks are sipped, and don't be surprised if a croquet game starts.

Lets annoy Stu Bykofsky

As many of you are aware we have a local news pundit, Stu Bykofsky, he makes his living as a commentator for the Philadelphia Daily News. Back in 2009 Stu made bicycles, bicycle infrastructure, and cyclists his personal crusade.

And like Don Quixote, Stu has his imaginary world where bicyclists are the Four Horseman of the Apocalypse and bicycle lanes are the road they travel upon. In his columns cyclists are “bikeheads” and “pedalphiles” and every cyclist is a lawbreaker. Running red and stop signs, riding on the sidewalk, and weaving in and out of traffic. Bicycle lanes and cyclists slow down traffic and create congestion. Since Stu is just writing commentary he doesn't have to back up his claims with facts.

There is one thing, that try as he might Stu has not been able to counter, the bi-annual bicycle count held by the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia which the City of Philadelphia government uses as part of traffic engineering. Stu claims the numbers can't be trusted because of the partisan nature of the BCGP and looks for loopholes in the instructions such as “don't count bicycles on rainy days”. Which is the equivalent of counting cars during a blizzard. But for all of the whining and kvetching Stu does he is unwilling to provide a bike count of his own. After all how difficult would it be to send some interns from the Daily News to the same street corners that the BCGP uses?

So now you can help to annoy Stu Bykofsky by participating in the BCGP Fall bicycle count by volunteering 90 minutes of your time during the morning or afternoon rush hour. For more information click here. Remember your not just helping to improve infrastructure for cyclists throughout Philadelphia, you're also annoying Stu Bykofsky.

Honk, Honk

In Honk I made an attempt to educate the Honker, in this post I'll address what options you the cyclist have as the Honkee. First of keep in mind the state you are in, your riding along try to pay attention to the traffic around you because the slightest accident can hospitalize and all of sudden some moron behind you blares their horn for no apparent reason. Scaring the daylights out of you, as you desperately look around for the signs of the impending accident. When in reality it's some impatient idiot driving an SUV. Who thinks they are going to get to the next traffic light that much faster if you get out of their way.

So with your adrenaline on overtime there are options you can take, unfortunately some of them just generate more anger on the part of the automobile driver who is under the impression they are not at fault.

1.     Yell at them – This never works because you come off as an angry jerk that is causing the problem.

2.     Give then the finger – Not a good option, keep all of your fingers firmly on the handlebars unless you are going to wave back at them with all five fingers on the same hand. An extremely aggressive gesture that never works

So what are your options? 

1.     An air horn – I’ve considered myself but have yet to follow though on it. One way to go is the Airzound based on the reviews on Amazon and the video below it seems to be very effective. Personally I though it had to many parts where something could be stolen or break and I would consider using a refillable air horn with a handlebar bottle cage mount so for city riding I just have to remove one item when I lock my bike.

           2. An electronic horn – I’ve tried these and they sound like a really loud cricket.

           3. A whistle – Whistles have become the most effective and low-tech solution I have found, my personal preference are the Fox 40 whistles. These whistles are ear piercingly loud and the harder you blow the louder it gets, sometimes they even get mistaken for a policeman’s whistle. They also come with a bite guard so you can hold the whistle in your mouth for long periods of times with out drooling. Where it around your neck on a lanyard and you’ll always be able to find it.

South Philly Costume Crit 2.0

Looking for something to do this Saturday, October 29? Check out the Philadelphia Costume Crit 2.0. A costumed bicycle race at FDR Park at the tennis courts and recycling center. Hopefully the race organizers will require anyone not in a costume or someone who is wearing regular clothing over the Lycra to start at the back of the pack.