Police Give Out Hundreds Of Free Helmets And Lights

Awesome!

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Police officials from BU, Boston, and Brookline are teaming up this week to give away hundreds of free helmets to cyclists riding in the Commonwealth Avenue area, to prevent accidents and spread awareness about biking safety.

Boston University Sgt. Larry Cuzzi said Monday afternoon that police officers had handed out nearly 75 helmets that morning. He estimated that they would donate hundreds by Wednesday evening, when the giveaway ends.

Read the rest here.

These sort of events are just as important as the ticket stings, and I hope they do this more often.

I have been stuck in so much bike traffic lately get your helmets and lights and join us!

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Weekend Reading: Bikes And Gender

I LOVED this:

The Gender Candy Store: Biking While Genderqueer

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I got a big dick swagger to me. I sit with my knees too wide. One of my favorite activities is listening to punk rock, drinking cheap beer, and performing bike maintenance squatting on my kitchen’s dirty linoleum.

I’ve wanted to be one of the boys forever, and sometimes I feel like I am one. I have boy days. I don’t flash friendly smiles, I don’t show off my jigglier body parts. I throw on a loose Cadence t-shirt and some cut off jean shorts that need a laundering, I get drunk on malt liquor half-sleeping in the sun in Humboldt Park, I jerk off to porn & take a blunt nap, I wake up and go to the bar and sneak in the men’s restroom because why do girls always take so long to pee, anyway?

I have my girl days, too, where I watch Earth Girls Are Easy and do my nails and sing elaborate parodies of 1960s girl group ballads to my dog. I mean, twenty percent of my wardrobe comes from the Target Little Girls section, and I read Japanese fashion magazines for teenage girls in the bathroom obsessively. I even had the cutest Hello Kitty Kawaii Town of all time.

….

There’s incredible diversity out there. It’s my favorite thing about the human race. There are people out there who were born intersex, or who were born with a brain that doesn’t match the sex of their body, people who choose to present themselves androgynously and fuck you very much if you want to know if they’re a boy or a girl. When we try to fit every person into a specific little blue or pink box, it discriminates against everyone who can never possibly fit in those little boxes, and everyone who doesn’t even want to.

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Amazing Tall Bike Will Make You Forget This Horrible Rain

Holy shit…thats a very tall bike. Watch to the end for scale.

From youtube:

It’s safe to say that you probably won’t see this bike on public streets again any time soon. What an awesome adventure, but too much risk to bring around others. Thanks for all the support and all those beautiful smiles.

14.5ft at the Seat
Built in 12 work hours
One Huffy beach cruiser, 2″ square tubing, 3/4″ round tubing, and 1″ round tubing
26″ single speed coaster brake wheelset
6 1/2 single speed bicycle chains (32.5ft of chain)

To bend the pipe i used an upside down shopping cart and a split log. Ghetto, i know, but hey – IT WORKS.

My last tallbike was just under 10ft tall at the seat and you can see us featured in 30 Seconds to Mars’ music video, “Kings and Queens” – http://youtu.be/hTMrlHHVx8A
STOOPIDTALL, is the inbetween from that one (Kafourki) and the world record tallest bike that i’ll be building next this year.

Thank you to all the Angelopes who guided STOOPIDTALL through the sea of fellow cyclists!

And thanks to all the photographers and videographers who documented STOOPIDTALL’s Maiden Voyage!

Much love, Richie

LA BIKE CULT

Music:
“Contact High” – Architecture in Helsinki (misspelt in video, DAMN)
“Amoebaz” – RUNE!

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The Cambridge Bicycle Committee Presents The Sweet Ride

From here, looks awesome:

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The Cambridge Bicycle Committee Presents

The “Sweet Ride”

Delicious bike design by Britta Hope Carlson

Saturday, May 18, 2013

Orientation at 10:00 AM at the Main Library, 459 Broadway

Ride departs promptly at 10:15 AM

Ride FAQ

We all know living in Cambridge is sweet. But did you know we have a sweet history?

Fig Newtons were created in Cambridge and named after our neighboring town. The NECCO building on Mass Ave was for a time the largest candy factory in the world. Fifteen million Junior Mints are still being made each day on Main Street, perfuming Central Square with the delightful scent of chocolate.

There’s a lot that’s sweet about our city but let’s not forget the savory either. It was Zachariah B. Porter’s restaurant in North Cambridge that gave us both Porter Square and the Porterhouse steak. Julia Child’s “Mastering the Art of French Cooking,” which raised the culinary standards of the nation, was published while she lived on Irving Street.

Please join us for a gorgeous springtime ride, at an easy pace, on mostly level terrain. No rain date: heavy rain cancels. Rain announcements will be posted here on the morning of the ride. Like all our tours, this ride is free of charge.

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Italian Bicycle Tire Brand, Vittoria Industries, Opens Boston Office

Got this in the email today.  Vittoria makes great product, and has been very supportive of local builders.  Check out their press release below.  Nice to see the growth in cycling bringing industry (and jobs) to the area.  I might be wrong but I think they might be moving in right down the street from Geekhouse bikes/HQ boston in the “innovation district.”  Would love to see that area become a bike business hub.

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On Friday, April 12^th 2013, the Italian tire manufacturer, Vittoria Industries, will celebrate the opening of their new Boston office

Boston, MA – Located in the heart of the Seaport district, Vittoria is excited to open its doors and embrace the cycling culture that is so deeply rooted here in Boston.

“The combination of a skilled labor force, strong outdoor enthusiast base, and geographical location made Boston an easy choice,” said Vittoria Industries North America President, EJ Riordan. “We are looking forward to growing with the local cycling scene, while continuing to provide the very best product available.”

Vittoria Industries Ltd. leads a global operation, with its origins and Global Headquarters in Madone, Italy. Since 1953 Vittoria Industries Ltd. has built highly reputable partnerships within in the cycling industry and created a unique brand image. Today, Vittoria Industries is the world’s leading manufacturer of bicycle tires with an annual production of more than 7 million tires and 900,000 high performance tubulars and cotton tires. Its research & development center develops the best racing tires for all levels.

The group owns two brands; Vittoria for road tires and GEAX for mountain bike.  Additionally it trades third party brands such as Northwave, 3T and Selle Italia.

Our mission and vision:

“We believe that challenging yourself and achieving the next level in sports is the most gratifying, great feeling there is. It is our mission to help you improve your cycling performance and achieve your next level by producing the best and fastest bicycle tires in the world. We have been doing so for the past 60 years.”

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City To Install New Bike/Ped Infrastructure, Hire “Cycling Ambassadors”

Boston Bikes announced today that it will be installing new cycling and pedestrian infrastructure designed to improve bicycling safety, mostly by “slowing cycling and walking to a manageable speed”

From the cities website:

“We think cycling and walking are great ways to see our city, but have been disappointed in the high speed that pedestrians and cyclists are traveling through our city.”

Consisting of a series of “pedestrian speed bumps” and “cycling sand pits” these additions are being installed now as the snow fall we had this winter and spring made it impossible.

Standing 3 feet tall the pedestrian speed bumps must be vaulted over slowing the pedestrian considerably, while the sand pits are 4 foot by 6 foot pits of sand placed near the intersections on streets that have bike lanes.

“Our hope is the sand will slow the cyclists enough that they are no longer a danger to cars turning in the intersection.” Said one city official.

In an effort to make sure that motorists don’t feel left out the city has also hired 32 “cycling ambassadors,” highly fit cyclists in spandex to wander the streets encouraging more people to cycle.

“Basically we hang around highly trafficked areas and approach people we see getting out of cars. Then we let them know how much better for the earth and for their health cycling is, and how much nicer they would look in pants, how they could eat more chocolate and not feel guilty, how they wouldn’t have to deal with traffic, how parking is always a breeze, how much better they will feel as parents, how it helps reduce air pollution, how it can help stop wars for oil, how it encourages more efficient urban planning, how it decreases outbursts by children in school, how it helps prevent diabetes, did I mention global warming? That sort of thing. I think its working because I followed one guy around for so long yesterday that he told me he wished he had a bicycle right now so he could get away from me.”

The ambassadors will be around until mid-summer, when they will be replaced by extra meter attendants and mascots for our local sports teams.

“We are going from Bean Town to Green town” Said outgoing Mayor Menino. He then added “GREEN TOWN” speaking slowly and clearly enunciating each syllable.

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RAWR Bikes!

From the cities bike blog:

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Bike Art Salon Wed The 27th

Got this in the email, looks awesome!

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March 2013 Salon: The Intersection of Bikes and Art

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