Top Town Bikes and Bicycles

Archive for the ‘Edinburgh’ Category

Mike Sinyard said “Aero Is Everything” a few times in the last couple of weeks and everybody anticipated a new product launch.

Instead, his company launched something a little more interesting — their brand new wind tunnel to test bicycles, accessories and apparel in Morgan Hill, California.

Specialized engineers will hold a live, online Q&A session beginning at 4 PM California time just 45 minutes after I post this). Tag your questions with #aeroiseverything on Twitter.

Related posts:

1. Specialized launches US sales for Turbo eBikes
2. 2010 Specialized Stumpjumper FSR
3. General Motors buys Specialized Bicycles!

Don’t you hate those scofflaw, law breaking drivers? They should make them get registration and take driving tests to learn the rules of the road before they kill somebody.

Just the other day, Bill Walsh was just riding along on Pennsylvania Avenue with his helmet cam when a cab driver pulls a U-turn directly in front of him and next to a “NO U-TURN” sign. Walsh stops to avoid bumping the cab door. To his surprise, Walsh hears a siren behind him. A cop had witnessed the whole thing and pulled the taxi driver over.

Stupid question from me: Can the FBI police enforce DC traffic regulations? They normally do security type work for FBI facilities in the District.

Related posts:

1. Bicycle proximity siren when cars are too close
2. Colorado cyclist hits bear
3. Bronx cyclist doored, killed by bus

Jamis announced their 2013 Hudson Sport and Sport Deluxe with Slidepad single lever brakes.

A single lever controls both front and rear brakes. The cable runs from the lever to the rear brake. when the brake pad hits the rim, the brake pad moves forward which, turn, pulls the cable for the front brake.

Hudson Sport was designed to ease the transition from non-cycling to cycling for those who haven’t been on a bike in some time. The townie-style bike features a laid back seat tube and lowered bottom bracket height allows riders to position their saddles for efficient leg extension and still easily reach the ground while seated for balance when stopped. The longer chainstays and wheelbase in tandem with the lower center of gravity offers a very smooth, stable ride.

Although this geometry makes it difficult to flip over the handlebars, Jamis goes a step further with the Slidepad brakes. Slidepad’s idea is to remove the fear of end-over crashes. The video shows how it works.

Experienced cyclists often pooh-pooh the idea of this single-lever system. Something like this can come in handy when I’m riding fast while shooting photos, and there have been a few occasions where braking both wheels with one hand can come in handy. Or I could just get a coaster brake bike with a front hand brake.

Besides the Slidepad brakes, the Hudson Sport features ProMax forged alloy direct pull brakes and Tektro alloy comfort lever; a seven-speed Shimano twist-shifting single chain ring drivetrain is available on the Sport and the Nexus 5-speed internal geared hub upgrade on the Sport Deluxe. The Hudson Sport’s lightweight aluminum frame is available in six sizes, including two step-through. It comes with Jamis Sport Comfort tires with whitewalls or skinwalls, and the Jamis Comfort Sport seat with memory foam and synthetic suede top, and a near all-alloy parts reducing weight, adding value and is rust proof. The Sport Deluxe (MSRP $ 550) is available in Azurite Blue, Candy Apple and Gloss Black and the Step-Through in Cucumber, Grape Jelly and Tiger’s Eye. The Sport (MSRP $465) is available in Candy Apple, Electric Blue, Gloss Black and Tiger’s Eye, and the Step-Through in Daiquiri Blue, Lemonade, Pearl White and Sage.

Related posts:

1. Jamis Commuter with NuVinci N360
2. Kate Hudson rides a bicycle
3. Jamis Commuter 4.0 review

May is both national bike month and Motorcycle Safety Awareness Month. In California, this means Caltrans posts “Watch for motorcycles” messages on their electronic Sigalert highway signs.

What’s the impact of this enhanced safety awareness? Motorcycle groups applaud Caltrans for raising awareness, bicycle groups grumble “What about us?” and drivers continue killing and maiming motorcycles and cyclists around the state, including this nimrod who pulled a u-turn directly in front of a CHP motorcycle officer and sent him to the hospital.

A driver killed a San Jose teen biking to school this morning near East Capitol Expressway. This fatality occurred just four miles from another collision that killed a five year old girl walking to school last week.

It’s not just motorcyclists, cyclists, and pedestrians who are hit and killed, of course. I saw the aftermath of this rollover crash at Camden Avenue and Highway 17 in Campbell, CA over the weekend. And North (Monterey) County Fire Chief Chris Orman tells the Mercury News his views on the number of auto crash fatalities in his jurisdiction:

This county averages 20 to 30 fatalities per year on these roads. If a commuter jet with 20 to 30 people crashed every year, there would be no limit to what our lawmakers would do to investigate and prevent this terrible tragedy. But because the deaths are one or two at a time on the roads, and, well, you’ve seen the roads, right? Well, what are you going to do?

Orman believes State Highway 156 is particularly dangerous. 156 links U.S. Highway 101 with State Highway 1 to provide access between San Jose and Monterey. Orman says he leaves a truck and its crew parked on the side of this highway on busy weekends in order to cut response times for the inevitable collisions on this very congested route. The Transportation Agency for Monterey County (TAMC) suggests converting 156 into a toll road to pay for improvements to speed traffic and improve safety. The reader comments following the toll road story are universally negative. I guess these communist welfare liberals who use this highway believe Orman and his paramedics work for no pay.

Monterey County has no local transportation tax, and California’s state gas tax is partially divied out to counties based on the number of registered vehicles in the county. I don’t personally have an opinion on 156 as toll road or not, but it seems reasonable to charge a user fee for the huge number of visitors from out-of-county using this highway and other local roads.

Speaking of road projects, Mercury News transportation columnist Gary Richards comments on a couple of other California road projects. One of interest it the Highway 108 bypass in Sonora: he says the $53 million project will save about five minutes of travel time for travelers on their way to the eastern Sierra Nevada region from the Central Valley.

To recap: Watch for motorcycles, okay? And bicyclists and pedestrians while you’re at it. Because one of them might be the mayor of Portland participating in a crosswalk sting operation. Or, just as importantly, it might even be a neighbor’s kid. Please be careful.

Related posts:

1. Test your awareness and perception skills
2. Mulholland Highway motorcycle vs bicycle
3. MAP-21 performance measures and cycling fatalities

I spotted the famous “Oreik Et” bicycle at San Jose Bike Party last Friday night.

Oreik Et is Te Kiero backwards. Te quiero is one way to say “I love you” in Spanish.

The owner of this bike is known for building crazy machines like this in his secret workshop somewhere in San Jose. iMinusD has a little more about the builder and his crazy bikes over at their blog. You can view my slideshow of the Bike Party “Safety Ride” here.

Related posts:

1. SF Bike Expo
2. Powered by beans
3. Ladies Ride in San Jose

Mari Lynch tells me that Ciclovia Salinas — Monterey County’s first open streets event — will take place on August 25, 2013.

Keep up to date on the coming Ciclovia Salinas at their Faceboke page and on Twitter.

Related posts:

1. Sunday Ciclovia Clearwater Florida
2. Bike activities for Monterey County
3. The second bicycle music video of 2013!

Start photos from Friday’s professional women’s individual time trial race from Bailey Road to Metcalf Road in San Jose

Click on each photo to ID the riders.

Related posts:

1. Pro women’s time trial today in San Jose
2. Beijing Olympics: Individual Time Trial
3. Three days of pro cycling in the San Francisco Bay Area this weekend

It’s 1 AM Saturday morning. On Friday, I covered the Amgen Tour of California time trial in San Jose and San Jose Bike Party. I’m wiped out right now, so I’ll just point you to my Flickr stream, Youtube channel and personal Google Plus page. I uploaded Bike Party photos but not many Amgen photos because I’m done for the night. The Google Plus page is where you can find most of my notes and updates from yesterday.

I’ll be at Mount Diablo Saturday, which I think is today. Saturday’s stage from Livermore finishes there. It should be fun. Ping me on Google Plus or on Twitter if you’re there too.

Related posts:

1. Your Amgen Tour of California photos
2. SF Bike Expo
3. The National Bike Summit and Social Media

The pro women’s individual time trial begins at 12:45 PM just before the pro men’s time trial on Bailey Avenue just south of Santa Teresa Boulevard in San Jose during the Amgen Tour of California. The women will follow the same route as the men, including the finish at the County Motorcycle Park on Metcalf Road.

Metcalf Road is closed all day today between Highway 101 and the park. The rest of the time trial course closes at noon.

View Stage 6 details here.

Related posts:

1. Solvang Women’s Time Trial
2. Santa Cruz in 2012 Tour of California?
3. Beijing Olympics: Individual Time Trial

Join the Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition and Dishcrawl for a “Bikes Mean Business” bike ride visit to San Jose restaurants this weekend.

On Saturday afternoon, May 18th, riders will gather in San José for a short tour through downtown with four delicious restaurant stops along the way. The “Bikes Mean Business” Bikecrawl is designed to highlight the important and growing role that a well designed bicycle transportation system plays in supporting local businesses. The Bikecrawl ride will include the Guadalupe River Trail and the new bike lanes on South Fourth and Tenth Streets.

This Bikecrawl will include tasty food from Dishcrawl’s favorite spots in downtown San Jose as well as San Pedro Square, Japantown and Naglee Park.

Tickets are $25 and the ride begins at 2 PM on Saturday. For more details and to buy tickets, visit Dishcrawl.com. Dishcrawl is a national startup founded on the premise that communities can be brought together through good food and good company.

Related posts:

1. New bike lanes San Jose downtown
2. San Jose Slow Roll to Maker Faire
3. San Jose Coffee Crawl