DotBike Turns 1, Has Lots Of Fun Events Coming Up!

Got the following from DotBike. They are very cool, you should check them out.

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The cycling season is about to kick into high gear and DotBike is getting ready. Here are a few upcoming events including a 2009 DotBike kickoff so read on.

DotBike 2009 Kickoff – April 9th 6:30 – 8 p.m. Dot2Dot cafe

DotBike has just recently turned one year old.

We’re going to launch the 2009 Biking season with a get together at the Dot2Dot cafe on Thursday April 9th from 6:30 – 8 p.m.

Reconnect with old friends and make new ones. Hear what’s been going on over the looong winter. We’ll let you know about some rides and activities we’re planning for the upcoming bicycling season.

But more importantly we want to hear from you! Are we doing a good job? Let us know where you’d like to see DotBike’s efforts directed. Do you have ideas for rides, advocacy efforts, community events. We want to hear about them.

The Dot2Dot is located at 1739 Dorchester Avenue, a short walk or ride from Shawmut and Ashmont MBTA Stations.

We’ll have free food and beverages. Stay tuned for additional updates.

Other upcoming events

MassBike Thirsty Rider’s club – Wednesday March 25th at 5:00 p.m. at Coogan’s pub.

Join MassBike members to share drinks, laughs, and winter riding stories at Coogan’s pub 171 Milk St. Boston from 5-8.

DotBike commute ride home – Wednesday April 15th – meet at 5:30 p.m. at Brewer’s fountain on the Boston Common.

Meet at Brewer’s fountain near Park Street station and ride home with fellow DotBikers along Dorchester Ave.

DotBike’s Shiny Green Dot ride – Saturday April 25th time and start location TBA.

After you’ve helped make your neighborhood shine, join DotBike for a tour of some of our neighborhoods parks and green spaces. The ride will be at an easy pace and will include several stops to hear some of the history and current activities going on in the great parks in our neighborhood. We’ll provide more details as the ride approaches.

For more info on these and other events see the event calendar at www.dotbike.org.

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Bikes Not Bombs Mega Event Update

Got this mega update in the mail today, Bikes Not Bombs knows how to party! Check out all the sweet events below, or on the event calendar over on the right.

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ENRIQUE PEÑALOSA SPEAKS ON ECONOMIC JUSTICE AND URBAN TRANSPORTATION
Saturday February 7th
3:30 – 5:00
At the BNB Hub, 284 Amory St, Jamaica Plain, MA
Full info here.

Did you ever wonder how the urban space could be redesigned to be equitable and accessible for all people, whether walking, biking, using public transportation, or driving? Come see an inspiring presentation by Enrique Peñalosa, an internationally reknowned speaker who transformed Bogotá, Colombia into a model of transportation justice during his term as mayor.

Livable Streets and the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP) are bringing Peñalosa (an avid biker!) to Boston for four days of activities. Bikes Not Bombs is proud to host his presentation on transforming cities into more equitable and happier places to live. You are invited to come hear the talk and ask questions afterwards! This event is free and open to the public. RSVP is encouraged but not required. (To RSVP, drop a line to mail_at_bikesnotbombs.org). Make sure you see Peñalosa, either here or at other venues!

Also see PEÑALOSA at the BOSTON PUBLIC LIBRARY, COPLEY
Thursday February 5th, 6:30pm
Full info here.

Enrique Peñalosa completed his three-year term as Mayor of Bogotá, Colombia on December 31, 2000. While mayor, he promoted a city model giving priority to children and public spaces and restricting private car use, building hundreds of kilometers of sidewalks, bicycle paths, pedestrian streets, greenways, and parks. After organizing a Car-Free Day in 2000, he was awarded the Stockholm Challenge Award and rewarded by a referendum vote endorsing an annual car-free day. Peñalosa also led efforts to improve Bogotá’s marginal neighborhoods through citizen involvement; planted more than 100,000 trees; created a new, highly successful bus-based transit system; and turned a deteriorated downtown avenue into a dynamic pedestrian public space. He helped transform the city’s attitude from one of negative hopelessness to one of pride and hope, developing a model for urban improvement based on the equal rights of all people to transportation, education, and public spaces.

Watch StreetFilms of Enrique Peñalosa and Bogotá here.

PHOTOGRAPHER & VIDEOGRAPHER WANTED
Let us know if you can help document this event!

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BNB DANCE PARTY FUNDRAISER at the MILKY WAY
Sunday Feb 15th
starting at 8pm at the Milky Way Lounge and Lanes
http://www.milkywayjp.com for directions

DANCING! DJs! RAFFLE! POOL & CANDLEPIN! BOLDSPRINTS!

Come dance the night away! Have fun raising money to support an awesome organization (and your great local bike shop!) Buy some raffle tickets and win some fabulous prizes!

DJs Patrick & Stella of Gross Anatomy
DJ D’Hana of The Neighborhood
DJ Lonewolf of Todo Mundo

The raffle will include great prizes by local businesses, as well as Baileyworks, Swerv Cycling Apparel, the BNB retail shop, and more!
Boldsprints means head-to-head bike racing on rollers, making that solitary winter training into a social event.

$5-20+ sliding scale – cover charges raised go entirely to BNB. All Milky Way events are 21+.

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SPECIAL DISCOUNTS ON BIKE REPAIRS

The Bike Shop is offering BNB members a 20% discount and non-members a 15% discount on parts involved in a Major Tune-up or Complete Overhaul repair package.

A Major Tune-Up includes the installation of cables, chain, brake pads and other external parts you might need. A lot of people need this service at least once a year, but put it off longer than they should! A Complete Overhaul is a major tune-up that includes labor for overhauling all rotational systems on the bike. This is a good idea to think about every two years, depending on what conditions your bike endures.

Whether you’ve been riding all winter or you’re waiting for spring, consider getting that much-needed repair done now at a discount. Call the bike shop at 617-522-0226 or bring your bike in for a free estimate. This offer is good until February 28.

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ADULT MECHANICS COURSE

Learn to repair your own bike! This is a “basic” mechanics courses that gives you the skills to do a full tune-up, plus more advanced work overhauling rotational systems. Classes cover bike fit, flats, brakes, gears, and adjustments and overhauls of hubs. The final session will allow you to pick more topics to cover (wheel truing, etc) depending on the needs of your bike.

The course meets at the Bikes Not Bombs Bike Shop once a week for 5 weeks, and you bring your own bike to work on and improve. The cost for a full course is $120. For this tuition, you get the knowledge AND your bike gets work that would cost nearly $100 in most shops.

There are only six spots per class, so you must enroll in advance. Call the bike shop at 617-522-0226 to pay by credit card over the phone, or stop by the shop. You can send a check, but note that we’ll reserve a space for you only AFTER we receive payment, and classes fill quickly.

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WHEEL BUILDING COURSE
February 17th – March 17th
each Tuesday 8-10 pm (5 sessions)

The first session is a consultation where we’ll help you pick out and purchase hubs, rims, and spokes for your new wheelset ($60-80 for rims, $64 for spokes and $50-100 for hubs; all students receive a 10% discount on all parts bought for the class, including any tools you want for home). We’ll also cover some wheelbuilding theory and time permitting do spoke length calculations. The second session will focus on lacing both wheels. The third and fourth sessions will focus on tensioning the spokes, and lacing the second wheel. The final session will give students time to focus on finishing their wheels and to discuss other aspects of wheelbuilding.

Building a bicycle wheel is like tuning a piano – it takes care and patience and a little art to balance the tensions, and when it is in tune it is a beautiful thing! For a wheel to be perfectly round, the tension on each spoke must be adjusted and balanced, each slightly different to account for the flex response of the rim. These days most wheels are built by machines, which do a fine job, but don’t have nearly the sophistication of a human set of hands and eyes. A hand-built wheel is substantially more durable and will last longer, ride smoother, and need truing less often, but they get expensive when you pay a mechanic for the labor time involved. When you can build your own wheels, you can choose the quality and type of each component (hub, spokes, and rim) and you get high-quality technology for cheap because you don’t have to pay for labor! Learning to build wheels will also give you the skills to understand problems in used wheels and to true them by adjusting spoke tensions.

The cost for the full course is $120, and you must enroll in advance. Call the bike shop at 617-522-0226 to pay by credit card over the phone, or stop by the shop. You can send a check, but note that we’ll reserve a space for you only AFTER we receive payment, and classes fill quickly. Questions? Contact [email protected] or talk to Charlie Schubert, our Bike Shop Service Manager.

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NEWS FROM GHANA, TANZANIA, and NEVIS KOFORIDUA

GHANA: ABILITY BIKES

The Ability Bike shop is up and running! This project sponsored by Bikes Not Bombs and Emmanuel’s Educational Foundation and Sports Academy (EEFSA) was begun in early 2008 and has faced many financial challenges throughout the year. The success story has been documented by David Branigan, the BNB trainer in his blog http://bikesnotbombs-eefsa.blogspot.com/ – the story of 6 physically challenged individuals becoming Ghana’s first cooperatively owned and operated bike enterprise. David, the Ability Bikes staff, and EEFSA were all intensively engaged in clearing the customs and raising the needed funds to pay fees and trucking on the second donated 40’ container of bicycle aid from Bikes Not Bombs and a solidarity committee based in Brattelboro VT. The clearing process, finalized on Jan 23rd was made much more difficult by the recent change in government and changing administrative posts. With this second container, Ability Bikes is now assured financial security for the first half of 2009 as they proceed to becoming an officially registered cooperative enterprise in April 2009.

ARUSHA, TANZANIA: GLOBAL ALLIANCE FOR AFRICA’S VIJANA CENTER

After a long and arduous process the Vijana Vocational Training Center’s administrative director Boniface Kimboka was able to clear the customs on our container that was shipped back in October! This was the second container BNB shipped to this project. After BNB International Programs Director, Carl Kurz, made his visit in late Sept, he and Boniface have been in constant email contact and are looking forward to shipping two containers of bicycle aid in 2009. Vijana is going through an expansion of its vocational services; expanding the welding skills program and adding courses in computer repair and the bike progam. These additions will also provide sellable items for the school to generate more income – items like door and window frames, craft items and furniture made from bike parts, and more repair services for bikes and computers. This is great news for the more than 200 orphans that attend the school.

NEVIS, ST. KITTS: NEVIS BIKES NOT BOMBS

Two individuals from the expanding Nevis Bikes Not Bombs Earn-A-Bike program will be coming to Boston in March to participate in a skills development workshop. To make this program even more effective a BNB trainer will be traveling to Nevis to witness first-hand the conditions on the ground for Earn-A-Bike programs and view the proposed sites and engage in discussions around expansion of this successful program to more communities on the island.

BNB will commit to a bike aid shipment in April of 2009 and will be working closely with Nevis BNB to procure tools and items needed for their expansion. Program manager Kristina Stoney reports, “Don and Bass have worked hard and beautifully on the Earn-A-Bike program here, liaising with Ms. Maynard for regular meetings, creating more support in communities and running classes for New Castle and Gingerland areas.“

This travel exchange is being funded by John Rowse, one of the founders of the Boston Building Materials Cooperative (BBMC), as a memorial to Don Malloy, a long term employee of the BBMC who was also an avid cyclist and BNB supporter. Don was killed in and auto accident while volunteering in an effort to rebuild houses destroyed by hurricane Katrina in Mobile, Alabama. Being able to carry out this project in honor of Don adds deeper meaning to this important act of international solidarity.

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CARLOS SASTRE DONATES YELLOW JERSEY TO BNB

Carlos Sastre, winner of the 2008 Tour de France, is donating one of his yellow jerseys to Bikes Not Bombs!!! The Maillot Jaune (yellow jersey) is the most coveted prize in all of professional bicycle racing. At each stage of the 2,300 mile long Tour de France, the racer who is in the overall lead on time classification wears a yellow jersey while racing. Carlos was contacted by his brother and BNB supporter Eduardo Sastre, and was inspired to make the generous donation to Bikes Not Bombs to sell as a fundraiser. We will be honoring the Maillot Jaune at the BNB shop for a few months before selling it in conjunction with our BNB 25th anniversary, so be sure to come by and see this amazing piece of cycling history! Thanks Carlos and good luck for your bid in 2009.

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VOLUNTEER APPRECIATION PARTY
Wed March 4th
7-10 pm

This will be a special party to appreciate the volunteers who together put in thousands of hours of crucial work at Bikes Not Bombs. All who have volunteered for BNB are invited to this party. More details coming soon, but save the date!

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WANT LIST: LAPTOPS & more

– laptops!
– a regular supply of rags
– digital video camera
– and more

Full info at http://www.bikesnotbombs.org/donate#stuff

Contact Arik at [email protected] or 617-522-0222 if you have things to donate. Please check in before donating, thanks!

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DotBike On Fire This August With Events All Over

DotBike is really doing a lot of great things in Dorchester, be sure to check it all out. Below is an email I got today.

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RIDE TO THE BEACH WITH DOTBIKE SATURDAY AUGUST 16TH at 10:30 AM.

The Dorchester Beach Festival is happening on Saturday August 16th from 11-4 at Malibu Beach in Savin Hill. Check out their web site for all the fun things to do and see: www.dorchesterbeachfestival.com

DotBike is leading a family friendly ride to the festival along the Neponset River and Harbor Trails. The ride is primarily on dedicated bike paths and low traffic streets. If you’ve never been on these paths you’re in for a treat.

There are two distance options.

* For a 4.5 mile ride meet us at 10:30 at the southern end of the Neponset River Trail near the intersection of Central Ave. and River St. in Milton.
* For a 3 mile ride meet us at 10:45 in Pope John Paul II park near the Hallet St. parking area.

At the festival DotBike will provide free valet parking for your bike, bike safety checks, giveaways and information on our efforts to close the gaps in the Harbor Trail. We will also be providing escorts by bike back to where you started.

And if you can’t make it to our ride at 10:30 but still want to ride to the festival we will have someone to meet you at Pope John Paul II park every hour on the half hour from 11:30 to 2:30 to provide an escort. Or you can check out our recommended routes on the map on our Beach festival page http://dotbike.bostonbiker.org/dotbike-dorchester-beach-festival/ or at the ‘Directions’ page of the beach festival site.

If you would like to volunteer to help us out or for more information on this event check out: http://dotbike.bostonbiker.org/dotbike-dorchester-beach-festival/, email [email protected] or call Andy at 781-367-9200.

OTHER PLACES TO FIND DOTBIKE IN AUGUST

* Representative Marie St.-Fleur Community Hot Dog nights;

Tuesday August 12th 6-7:30 p.m. at St. Peter’s Teen Center 294 Bowdoin St.
Wednesday August 13th 6-7:30 p.m. at Project Hope 555 Dudley St.

DotBike will have demos, safety checks and giveaways at these events.

* Our monthly DotBike commute ride home Wednesday August 13th at 5:30 p.m. from the Boston Common down Dot Ave to Dorchester.
see http://dotbike.bostonbiker.org/dot-bike-ride-home/ for more info

* Boston Bike Friday August 22nd at 7:00 a.m.

Ride with DotBike and others with a police escort up Dorchester Ave. to City Hall Plaza for free breakfast and bike expo. See http://www.cityofboston.gov/bikes/bikefridays.asp to sign up or for more info.

For more information on all these and other upcoming events check out our event calendar at www.dotbike.org or email us at [email protected]

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Whole Bunch Of New Events

I just added a whole bunch of new rides and events to the calendar. Be sure to check them out over there on the right —>

I have reprinted them below in case you want to look at them all at once.

Read more »

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