Cycling | Evolving Consumer

Artful Inspiration

This week Louis Garneau presented his new series of 12 paintings entitled Hope. All the proceeds from the sale of these paintings will be donated to Rwanda’s National Cycling Team. The paintings of the Hope series are sold for $20,000 each, and all in profit of the development of cycling in Rwanda.

“For the rest of my life, I have decided to give all funds generated by the sale of my paintings to causes that I believe in. Team Rwanda is one of those,” declared businessman and artist Louis Garneau. “About 4 years ago, Jonathan (“Jock”) Boyer, the first American to participate in the Tour de France, contacted me asking me to provide assistance to Rwanda’s National Cycling Team, newly created and composed entirely of young survivors of the 1994 genocide. How could I say no to a cause like that? It is why I decided to paint the Hope series, to highlight the extraordinary accomplishments of Mr. Boyer and his riders. I am filled with admiration for these young men who lived the atrocities of the genocide and who, refusing to be taken down, chose to keep living, opting to compete in one of the most demanding sports there is.” Continue reading Artful Inspiration

Cycling the World

Lee Fancourt is one of five endurance cyclists who are literally racing around the world. The group set off from the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, England last week and Fancourt is looking to compete the trip – including the necessary air travel – in about 90 days. The previous record for an endurance ride was 106 days, 10 hours and 33 minutes – and was set by Alan Bate in 2010.

The route will take him through Europe and Russia, then to India, the Far East, Australia and New Zealand. He’ll head to North America and then to Portugal and finally back to London. In total this route will cover more than 18,000 miles – and Fancourt (and the others) will need to pedal as many as 225 miles a day!

We wish all five racers the best of luck and say happy riding!

[Via BikeRadar: Endurance rider aims to smash around-the-world cycling record]

Court Ruling

This week the Supreme Court ruled that Railroad Right of Way Act of 1875,which gave government control of land specifically for railroads, does not mean that the old tracks can be converted into land trails for bicycles or other uses. Instead, once the rails were abandoned the land reverts to its owners.

The 8-1 decision, reached after two lower courts found in favor of the government, was hailed as a victory for private landowners. Media reports have called the decision a huge blow to trails built or planned for former railroad corridors on private property.

However, this is not really the case.

“This only affects federally granted rights of ways acquired under the 1875 Act,” Kevin Mills, senior vice president of policy and programs for the Rails to Trails Conservancy. “And the government can still decide that the trail is an important asset and use eminent domain to keep the property. We’re dealing with a narrowly prescribed set of circumstances. If you have an existing rail trail on federally granted right of way land acquired under the 1875 Act not railbanked and for which the government would not pay just compensation, then the adjacent landowner could take back a piece of the land.”

Rails-to-Trails: The Supreme Court Decision: How Does It Affect Rail-Trails?
Supreme Court: MARVIN M. BRANDT REVOCABLE TRUST ET AL. v. UNITED STATES
[Via Bicycle Retailer: Supreme Court ruling on rail trails is limited, expert says]

The Zambulance Makes a Difference

At Interbike last year we heard about the Zambulance, a bicycle ambulance, developed by ZamBikes. The developers of this bike believe it can make a difference in the developing world. The president and co-founder, Dustin McBride recently shared a story on how much of a difference this can be.

A Letter From the Director:
I don’t cry often. And when I cry, it’s usually because of a tragic loss of a loved one or some other serious pain that is ‘close to home’. Last week I visited some villages in Kamuli, central Uganda to check on Zambulances that we’ve distributed in partnership with Plan Uganda a few months ago. We visited many patients and the stories were touching, powerful, and some very hard to hear.

One story we experienced was about a woman, Susan, who was pregnant with twins. She gave birth to the first twin at home in the village but because of complications was struggling to deliver the second baby. The Zambulance was able to transport her to the hospital where she had a C-section and safely gave birth to the second twin. In a way, the story seems beautiful and victorious. But the story doesn’t end there. Susan has mental disabilities and is HIV+. We assume she was raped since the dad is in hiding and Susan can’t identify him. Because of her mental state, her healthy, beautiful twins were sent to an orphanage in another town. Continue reading The Zambulance Makes a Difference

Spring Forward

It has been a long winter and we’re looking forward to spring riding and that could include a trek on the off-road bike tour of Idaho’s hot springs. The Adventure Cycling Association has released a set of maps and guides for a 518-mile off-pavement ride on this route, which includes singletrack options. The route passes by more than 50 hot springs, including some that are commercialized and others that are undeveloped.

The Idaho Hot Springs Mountain Bike Route is offered as a two-map set, with the first map section featuring the main, off-pavement route — a loop route that primarily follows dirt roads for 518 miles, with a few stretches of pavement in the mix. The second map set covers the four singletrack options, and some sections are expert-only riding or hike-a-biking for those who aren’t experts.

Adventure Cycling Association Official Website

Logical Lights

It is just logical to have a light when riding at night, and BioLogic has released the Argus LED, a pair of safety lights that offer 60 degrees of adjustability — vertically and horizontally — which allow riders to aim the light exactly where it is needed so that they can be seen.

Sold as a matched pair of white and red for front and rear use, the Argus LED include a flexible mounting strap allows placement on handlebars, seatposts, helmets, or bags. These lights feature a precision machined aluminum body with weatherproof seals, while flanges in the sides allow for visibility to side-coming traffic.

BioLogic Official Website

Muddy Bike

The “Rasputitsa” is the semiannual mud season when unpaved roads can become difficult to traverse in most of Eastern Europe. It isn’t a problem so much today, but it presented problems for those who ever tried to invade Russia and for centuries isolated the east from the west.

It is thus a fitting name for the limited edition all road endurance bike from Honey Bicycles. The Rasputitsa is built and painted to truly celebrate the mud season. It is also just one of 22 models from the bicycle company, which appears to be ready to get things in high gear.

From the look of it the Rasputitsa is ready to tackle mud, gravel and just about any condition on paved, semi-paved or even unpaved roads. We don’t think the mud season would stop this one.

Honey Bicycles Official Website
[Via BikeRumor: HONEY BICYCLES KICKS THINGS OFF (AGAIN, SORTA) W/ LIMITED EDITION RASPUTITSA ALL ROAD ENDURANCE BIKE]

Drive Time

Cartoonish Andy Singer has released a new book “Why We Drive,” which offers 160 pages of entertaining and provocative cartoons, facts, history and the politics of America’s car culture and how it adversely impacts our society. He offers a sampling of the book on his website, but as the above image shows the car has truly changed the country for better and worse.

AndySinger .com

Little Fatty

Kids grow out of bikes pretty fast, so it is no wonder that many parents might head to retailers like Target or Walmart for bikes instead of a bike shop – and actually we’ve been impressed over the last couple of years at what Walmart has offered.

The latest find is a budget line of fat tire bikes that include the 20-inch Mongoose Boys’ Massif, which is available now for under $200. It features tires that are four inches wide, along with a 1×7 drivetrain, disc brakes and twist shifters.

20″ Mongoose Boys’ Massif at Walmart
[Via GearJunkie: ‘Fat Bike’ For Kids (made by Mongoose, sold at Wal-Mart)]

Fender Lights to Protect from Fender Benders

Being seen at night is really the first line of defense for cyclists, and the developers of the Revolights have created a bicycle fender that features an integrated light. However, the Revolights Arc is much more than a set of LED tail lights – it features sensors that actually allow it to operate much like a brake light as well. It can actually increase in brightness much like a car’s brake or go into a blinking mode to help really draw some attention to drivers.

The Revolights Arc is being developed now via a Kickstarter campaign. Video after the jump

Fly It On

It seems everyone is creating wearable fitness trackers for the wrist. However, the designer of the Flyfit is now looking to have cyclists, runners and swimmers put in the ankles instead!

Designer Jimmy Leu, who has taken his concept to Kickstarter, believes that the wrists are not exactly the optimal place to track body movement while exercising. By placing a monitor on the ankle it can better track movement and even different kinds of leg activity. It can thus track cycling rotation and cadence, swim leg strokes and steps taken while running or jogging. It can then stream the data collected via Bluetooth to an Android or iOS device on the fly. Video after the jump

Fat Tire Camo

Despite the popularity of the original Netflix series Orange is the New Black, we think that camo is the new black – at least in the world of fitness and more specifically cycling. We’ve seen bike seats, bags, jerseys and now even a camouflage fatbike – which is fitting as it can almost blend into the woods.

At the recent Frostbite Fat Tire bike summit Cogburn unveiled a special version of its CB4 fat tire bike, which will be available with Real Tree APS camo with winter snow. It isn’t like the snow is looking to leave anytime soon, so now you can get this bike and match the terrain.

[Via BikeRumor: FROSTBIKE: YOU CAN’T SEE ME! COGBURN’S LIMITED EDITION REAL TREE SNOW CAMO FAT BIKE]

Dear Abbey

The Stu Stick is simple but it gets the job done. Named for the famed cyclocross team mechanic and retailer Stu Thorne, this new aluminum offering from Abbey Bike Tools weighs just 44 grams, so it is lighter than steel rotor tools, but also includes a bottle opener. Not everyone might need a brake rotor straightening tool, but considering this one is so light there is no reason not to have it on race day.

Abbey Bike Tools Official Website