So. Full. Of. Win.

Posted on July 31, 2008
Filed Under Bike Kwak, Misc | Leave a Comment

It’s going to be one of those days.  :D

Dead Baby!

Posted on July 31, 2008
Filed Under Bike Kwak, Dead Baby, Events | Leave a Comment

It is coming.

http://deadbabybikes.org/raceshit/racenow.htm

Start: registration 5:00-6:45pm
El Chupacabra
6711 Greenwood Ave N
High on Phinney Ridge
Race at
7pm sharp!
down to
the Greatest Party
Known to Humankind

Need a bike part made?

Posted on July 28, 2008
Filed Under Bike Kwak, Misc | 1 Comment

http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2008/07/big_blue_saw_has_a_free_p.html?CMP=OTC-0D6B48984890

Big Blue Saw, a leading online retailer of machining services, announces the first Free Part Day, allowing everyone to receive a custom machined metal or plastic part of their own design. On Free Part Day, August 6, 2008, customers across the Internet will be able to design and create their own custom plastic or metal part.

During Free Part Day, a customer might, for example, order a tailor-made aluminum nameplate, a specialized lifting arm for a hobby robot, or a custom sized plastic decoration. The shape of these parts is limited only by the customer’s imagination.

“This represents a great opportunity for people to find out about Big Blue Saw’s machining services by offering everyone a way to get a free plastic or metal part of their own design,” said Simon Arthur, founder of Big Blue Saw. “We are also proud to present Free Part Day to our loyal customers as a thank-you for their patronage.”

Big Blue Saw is on the cutting edge in the new field of digital manufacturing services. Its customers upload their designs for anything their creative imaginations demand: model aircraft, decorative craft tools, robotic rovers, or movie prop replicas; Big Blue Saw then turns the designs into physical parts using robotic manufacturing machines including waterjet and laser cutters. Customers have the flexibility of having their designs come to life in a range of materials ranging from aluminum to stainless steel to plastic.

Part 2 of the Critical Mass Debacle…

Posted on July 27, 2008
Filed Under Bike Kwak, Critical Mass | 4 Comments

Normally I’d never do this, but I’m referring you to the SLOG for further reading. I know, I know, just shaddap. I’m tired of talking about this already and want to go ride bikes.

Last Night’s Critical Mass Melee

A Report from a Critical Mass Eyewitness

Defective By Design: Cycling in Seattle

A Few Questions

Another Eye Witness Weighs In

“I Literally Got Run Over”

AND FINALLY!!!!

The Driver Speaks!

—

Having just ruined any sort of credibility I might have had by referring the Strangers SLOG directly as a credible news source, I now withdraw from this catastrophe so I can

A.) Ride Bikes
B.) Drink Beer
C.) Fuck Bitches
D.) All of the above

Thats right friends. D.) All of the above.

Ride bikes bitches!

Onward.

Critical Mass Cyclists Assaulted by Road Rage Driver…

Posted on July 26, 2008
Filed Under Bike Kwak, Critical Mass | 73 Comments

Critical Mass last night was pretty crazy. Another road rage driver incident with a driver who did not want to wait for Mass to pass. In short, a couple cyclists tried to “cork” this guy who was threatening with his car by revving the engine, and then trying to drive through cyclists. Finally he apparently had enough, tried to back up, almost hit a couple people, then pulled forward running over bicycles and cyclists alike. “The sound of crunching metal and screaming” neighbors said. Cyclists tried to stop him from leaving until police arrived, but the man wouldn’t stop. By the time the police showed up, 2 windows had been smashed (including the windshield) and all 4 tires had been slashed and cyclists were waiting for police to arrive.

HERES AN EYE WITNESS ACCOUNT

But when police arrived, 2 cyclists were arrested for malicious mischief and the driver was taken to the hospital to treat a wound on the back of his head. There were several wrecked bikes on the scene. Fortunately nobody was seriously hurt.

“Corking” is something we do when we ride in a group. It’s a safety measure. Like a crossing guard at a school crosswalk, at intersections or crossings cyclists will pull “road guard” duty, putting themselves in front of cross traffic to ensure that automobiles do not hit fellow cyclists while they cross. During Critical Mass, we run into a fair number of aggravated drivers who do not want to wait for the group to pass, and “corking” is also used to stop them from injuring other cyclists by plowing through – which they’ve been known to do.

Road Guards do this by placing themselves in front of the vehicle (effectively “corking” it, like a bottle) until everyone has passed. Its a passive technique. Corking is used only as long as it takes for people to cross, (we’re talking only a couple minutes), and then these Road Guards merge back into the pack of cyclists, and motorists are allowed to continue along their way. We also used Road Guards as a safety practice in the Army too, when we’d run or travel in a group. When road guards don’t do their job, people get seriously hurt.

twisted-fixie-h-bars-small

Well in this case Mass was rolling down a narrow residential street and they tried to cork this guy until we passed so he wouldn’t hurt anybody. He got angry and impatient and tried to go anyhow, driving over bicycles and hitting people. When cyclists stopped him from leaving until the police arrived by slashing his tires, the cyclists are now in jail and the media is spinning this like a man simply trying to protect his family (and pregnant wife!) against violent thuggery by a mob of angry cyclists.

From Muir Kumph at Seattle Critical Mass…

—– Original Message —–
Subject: [critical mass july 08 incident important!!!]
From: Muir Kumph
To: criticalmass@scrimass.org
Date: 07-26-2008 9:43

There was an incident on 7/25/08 during Critical Mass ride at 15th and Aloha.

3-4 bikers were blocking off a car so the rest of the riders can continue, they were telling the driver that he needs to wait couple of minutes. Driver was inpatient, and kept telling things like “I have a reservation, I have to go” There was more bikes blocking him off because of the argument, at some point the driver got very mad, and turned around going on the side walk, almost hitting some bikes. Then the bikers started getting closer to the car so he wouldnt drive in the middle of the riders, and the argument got heated. Bikers were telling him to wait, and all of a sudden the driver said something like “Fuck this” and drove into the bikers. He intentionally hit people, injuring 2 bikers, and smashing couple of bikes, and back packs. He started driving away while everyone was running away from him so they wouldnt get hit as well.

Some bikers ran after the car, while others call 911. By the time police showed up, 2 of the car windows were broken and his tires were slashed. When the driver saw the police, he started crying and saying he was just scared, but none of the bikers even touched him before he ran over people.

I heard someone saying “The tires were slashed so he couldnt drive off”

2 of the bikers got arrested for property damage, and they are booked to jail. THEY HAVE COURT TODAY STARTING AT 12.30 PM AT KING COUNTY COURT HOUSE, COURT ROOM #1. So we need people who saw what happened to contact us, because the driver is trying to pull off that he didnt do anything.

Channel 5 tried to interview us, but we refused to talk with them, and it seems like media is showing the incident like “Violent bikers attacked a car…”

Bikers who got hit by the maniac driver, and bikers who got arrested need support from the community. Please contact via e-mail ekirgoz@yahoo.com, if you were witness or if you could show any kind of support, and share ideas…

I will post updates on this case but in the mean time please remember there is a court today !!!

The media is already spinning this: FROM THE SEATTLE TIMES…

Critical Mass riders attack, injure driver on Capitol Hill

Seattle police were still looking today for one of a group of Critical Mass bicyclists who attacked and injured a driver during a violent altercation on Capitol Hill Friday evening.

By Seattle Times staff

Seattle police were still looking today for one of a group of Critical Mass bicyclists who attacked and injured a driver during a violent altercation on Capitol Hill Friday evening.

Two other bicyclists have been jailed.

Just after 7 p.m. Friday, the group of at least 100 bicyclists was moving en masse down East Aloha Street when a man and his girlfriend in a Subaru station wagon tried to pull out of a parking spot, said Seattle police spokesman Mark Jamieson.

For years, Critical Mass has held monthly public bike rides through Seattle to demonstrate for bicyclists’ road rights.

Some of the Critical Mass bikers, who filled the street and were blocking traffic, got in the way of the Subaru and prevented it from leaving, Jamieson said. Some bikers sat on the car and were banging on it, he said.

“The driver was pretty fearful that he was about to be assaulted by the bicyclists,” Jamieson said.

The man tried to back up, but bumped into a biker. “This enraged the group,” Jamieson said.

Several of the bikers bashed up the Subaru, shattering the windshield and rear window, Jamieson said.

The driver tried to drive away, but hit another bicyclist, Jamieson said. Still, he drove about a block, to the corner of Aloha and 15th Avenue East, before the Critical Mass riders cornered the car again and started spitting on it and banging against it.

One bicyclist punched the driver through his open window, and another used a knife to slash the Subaru’s tires, Jamieson said.

The driver got out of his car, and was hit in the back of the head, opening a large gash.

Eventually police arrived and the crowd dispersed. Witnesses identified two bikers who damaged the Subaru, two men in their early 20s, and they were booked into the King County Jail for investigation of malicious mischief, Jamieson said.

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Police interviewed and got the identity of the man who hit the driver, but turned him loose before a witness identified him as the attacker, Jamieson said. But police know who he is and were trying to find him today.

The driver was taken to a local hospital, but his injuries were not life-threatening, Jamieson said. His girlfriend wasn’t hurt. The bicyclists didn’t suffer any serious injuries, Jamieson said.

Jamieson said it was too early this weekend to say whether the incident might change the way the Seattle Police Department handles future Critical Mass rides, which are held on the last Fridays of each month.

No one from Critical Mass could be reached today to comment.

and FROM KING 5 NEWS…

Bicycle demonstration turns violent

10:47 PM PDT on Friday, July 25, 2008

By ELISA HAHN / KING 5 News

Video: Bicycle demonstrators have confrontation with driver
Larger screen E-mail this clip

SEATTLE – A demonstration turned violent Friday night after a group of cyclists taking part in the Critical Mass demonstration got into an argument with a driver on Seattle’s Capitol Hill.

Critical Mass is a group of cyclists that takes to the streets the last Friday of every month to promote cyclists’ right to the road.

It’s wasn’t clear what sparked the confrontation at 15th and Aloha, but witnesses say they saw about a dozen cyclists surround a white Subaru, blocking in the driver.

“There was some screaming and yelling and crunching as he pulled out into the street,” described witness Mark Pedersen.

Apparently, the driver felt intimidated and tried to back up to get away, but he backed into at least two cyclists.

He then tried to take off, but cyclists chased after him, bashed in his car window and assaulted the driver.

“There was a giant hole in the windshield… and blood around his neck,” said witness Barbara Rockey.

The driver was taken to an area hospital.

The two bicyclists suffered minor injuries in the melee.

KING 5 was told there were two passengers in the Subaru. One appeared to be a pregnant woman. It was not immediately known if the passengers were injured.

It was not clear how many cyclists were arrested.

The cyclists on the scene declined to comment on what happened.

I like how the media – and the police spokesman – is playing down the injuries suffered to cyclists. Cyclists weren’t hit or run over, they were “bumped”. Injuries to cyclists were “minor” but the injuries to the driver involved a trip to the hospital where fortunately he narrowly avoided having life threatening injuries.

If you want to talk about people narrowly avoiding life threatening injuries and trying to defend themselves , lets talk about cyclists who manage to barely scramble out of the way while the guy accelerates through the crowd of cyclists, running over bikes and people alike so he can make his dinner reservations.

I like how in the press coverage, the driver felt intimidated and acted to defend himself. Not that he was aggravated and angry to begin with when told to wait a couple minutes so cyclists could pass.

Updates as I have them. I didn’t make the court hearing unfortunately.

Update: Blog entry from an eye witness:

Riding up Aloha street on Capitol Hill, between 14th and 15th, the critical mass encountered a man and a woman in a white Subaru who were late to a dinner reservation. Although he wanted to go the opposite direction we were going, due to the cars parked on his side of the road, there was not enough room for both the cyclists and car. So, to prevent any rash moves, a couple of cyclists had stopped in front of the car to allow the rest of the group to pass by safely — in effect, the car had been corked. However, the man driving with his girlfriend/wife was clearly unhappy about the blockage, so in order to lend support to the brave souls that were corking, I stopped as well. If enough cyclists were stopped in front of him, I figured, we would all be safer.

I was wrong.

Not long after I arrived on the scene, the driver decided that he would turn around. This didn’t make any sense, since there were by this time many more cyclists to his east (the direction he was turning around to head) than to his west (the direction he was originally heading). So, to turn around, since we were in front of him, he backed up off of the road onto the grassy knoll behind him, which concerned all of us because it was kind of crazy. But I didn’t think he’d be crazy enough to then pull forward.

Again, I was wrong.

With two cyclists directly in front of him, two on the drivers side, and me and another guy on the passenger side of his car, the man at the wheel slammed on his accelerator and drove straight into two cyclists. One, a petite girl, got mostly out of the way. The second, a man, was not so fortunate. He fell to the ground and was pushed six feet across the pavement, his bicycle flattened, his hands on the car’s front bumper to avoid being pulled under, before the car turned left, ran over his right leg, and accelerated east on Aloha towards 15th. The woman in the passenger seat was screaming hysterically as she passed me, the car grazing my front wheel. A cyclist directly in front of the car heard the acceleration and turned around to see the car coming right at him, so to avoid being hit, he jumped up on the hood of the car…

Read on…

Quick update!

Posted on July 25, 2008
Filed Under Bike Kwak, Misc | Leave a Comment

I haven’t been blogging much lately. I’ve been too busy bicycling! HA! Summer is excellent.

Today many friends departed for far lands on bikes and I’d like to say goodbye.

Aden and Trevor took off for Colorado – Trevor for good, and Aden – well because Aden’s crazy and touring for the sake of touring. Crazy in a good way. Goodbye Trevor, you crazy fuck:

and his trike…

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And goodbye Aden (this is my favorite picture of her) taken by yours truly.

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Tomorrow Nova and the Ride Green / Build Green crew rolls for San Francisco. Goodbye Nova!

IMG_9409.jpg

Last week my check came from the insurance company for the bus accident finally. $3200! Woot!

Long Haul Trucker Motherfuckers here I come!

Oh, speaking of, this was taken at the annual bike-in where we hung around Cal Anderson park, listened to bands and watched movies in this big biking extravaganza. One was a cool (if slightly boring) documentary on some intense bike race in France in 1976, largely over cobblestones (not the Tour De France). One of the personally interesting things about the film was a moment when they’re panning over this French villa on the morning of April 11 – so it was the day I was being born.

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This summer has been so busy. Jeez. Dead Baby downhill race is coming. Crap, I gotta make a separate post for that.

I have to go to bed. Last pic from Tuesdays bike stop at Bens house, from left to right Courtney (visiting from Austin TX), Nova, and Trevor.

IMG_0513.JPG

Aaaaahhh!

Night gang.

MEG-HA!!!

Posted on July 21, 2008
Filed Under Bike Kwak | 2 Comments

Found this on someone starting a chicks on bikes blog/flickr thingy…

http://www.flickr.com/photos/2kings/2649191187/in/pool-velovixens

(jerks disabled image linking)

Found this on Remington’s Flickr

Posted on July 19, 2008
Filed Under .83, Bike Kwak | Leave a Comment

Ben Country 3.0

Awesome

(Spring 2008)

bullhorn howto – with gears

Posted on July 18, 2008
Filed Under Bike Kwak, Mechanical | 14 Comments

So I’m posting recent pics. Don’t get excited. Click the pic for larger image.

IMG_0452.JPG Shifters on a set of bullhorns. This is a commercially produced bullhorn/stoker handlebar. The brake levers are standard time trial brake levers. The shifters are standard Shimano bar-end shifters, mounted to a Pauls Thumbies bracket. Google Pauls Thumbies if you don’t know what they are. The bracket is the only non standard piece of equipment in this whole setup.Buy Pauls Thumbies.You must use the 26mm road thumbies, and you must shim them.  Electrical or cloth tape works fine.  It’s a small detail and always forget until someone asks me.
IMG_0455.JPG  
IMG_0456.JPG It is a very natural fit. I was worried about the tightening screw on the bracket there in the web of my hand as being a problem during riding. It absolutely is not a problem – not even uncomfortable. It only looks like it’s going to be in the middle of my hand because of the angle I had to hold my arm and take the picture at the same time.In fact that little nubbin provides a nice little upward lip in which to rest your hand when riding, sort of an upward stop. I ride with gloves so that may have something to do with it, but if it were that much of an issue it’s easily padded/covered. It’s not, so I don’t.
IMG_0457.JPG There is excellent control of both the brakes and the shifting. You get better mechanical advantage with the levers then you do with STI or standard “drop” brake levers. As you can see this is more of a direct pull. Shifting is simple and solid, using thumb or index finger while you’re riding – all you hear is “snick” “snick” “snick” as you switch between gears. (yeah okay well not THIS side, the other side. Just shaddap already.)The brake levers have a return spring – it’s absolutely mandatory to have that but most of them come that way these days anyhow. The shifter mechanism is not in any way spring operated, but is not difficult to shift back and forth in the least.
IMG_0451.JPG  
IMG_0454.JPG You can see the shifter cable and adjustment barrel leaving the shifter. If you pay attention you’ll see the brake cable taped along the bottom of the bars. The two do not interfere with one another, and mount cleanly.Incidentally, I didn’t realize until I put these pictures up that theres a smidgen of rust inside my brake lever bolts. You can see it in the pictures. Going to have to do something about that I guess. Heh.
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IMG_0432.JPG You can see the shifter cable spiral one rotation down to the downtube mounting brackets… Kinda cool.
   

I get a lot of incidental traffic on this blog from search engines on this topic. People hit me up all the time about it. Bullhorns on a geared bike. Tonight I got a question about a blog entry I made last year on this topic. So anyhow – here you go.

I’m doing this very thing on the Raleigh – and am considering doing it on my Long Haul Trucker. We shall see.

Onward.

The 3rd annual Seattle Bike-In!

Posted on July 17, 2008
Filed Under Bike Kwak, Events | Leave a Comment

SEATTLE BIKE-IN
The 3rd annual Seattle Bike-In at Cal Anderson Park is coming!Sunday, July 20Bands at 4pm, movies at dusk

Northwest Film forum teams up with Sustainable Capitol Hill to bring you this year’s Seattle’s Bike-In. Entering its third year of supporting alternative transportation in the city, this year’s partnership includes an all day event called Imagine Capitol Hill, where Sustainable Capitol Hill and its partners provide information and entertainment about sustainable issues facing Capitol Hill residents. Imagine Capitol Hill takes place at the Broadway Farmers market and is followed by a bicycle parade to Cal Anderson Park for music and movies!

This year the musical lineup will include Steve Arntson, who plays concertina, Medieval Woman, and SEAHORSE.

We will be showing Jorgen Leth’s A SUNDAY IN HELL, as well as an assortment of cycling-themed short movies.

Organizations attending include Cascade Bicycle Club, Bikeworks, 2020 Cycles, Neighborhood Matching Fund, Puget Sound Sage, the Sierra Club, and World Naked Bicyclists.

More details coming soon!

From HERE: http://www.nwfilmforum.org/bikein.php

keep looking »