Author Archives: jm

What if I only have one locker

I have talked about how to lock the bicycle up in past posts. We all know how to do it rightly. Now, suppose you forget taking one locker, so that you ride happily your bike with only one locker. You realize it when you get your final location. But then you hesitate letting your bike on the street or going back to your start point as you do not want to lose your precious partner. There is one possibility of not returning and locking up your bike on the street. We will need an adjustable wrench or a front wheel with quick release mechanism for such a task. First, we find a proper object to lock it up. Second, we dismantle the front wheel. Third, we use our unique locker to lock up the rear wheel with the frame plus the front wheel. I know it sounds crazy, but it can be done. Just look carefully at the next picture. Finally, take into account that it is better to lock up your bike with one locker if you use the strongest one and put your bicycle face up (unlikely to the bike in the photo).

How not to lock your bike up

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There are lots of ways of locking your bike up and the three essential parts you have to take into account consist in the wheels and the frame. The seat is also important if your bicycle has an easy-to-remove seat post. I am sure you have seen several examples of bikes which lack of a wheel and here I am going to show you extreme examples of harmed ones.

In this picture, the thief has stolen both the seat and the front wheel. This was done because the pad only locked up the frame. If the thief would had wanted to stole almost the entire bicycle, he could have done so.

Going a step further, in this photo the yellow bike’s owner locked it wrongly. He only secured the rear wheel and the frame, allowing the thief to steal the front wheel, the seat and the handlebars, not to mention the apparent low-quality bicycle lock.

Although it could sound a little alarming, having good bike locks and knowing how to use them properly are about to save your bike from thieves.

Road tax for bikes?

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One of the main claims in the less developed countries regarding bikes and sustainable mobility is that bicycles should pay a road tax. This usually comes from scared car drivers who see how the bicycle trend takes car lines and transform them into bike lines. Or also how pacification of traffic does not allow them to drive so fast and consequently force them to fulfill the traffic law. This anger scream represents the loss of a false liberty in essence.

Today I am going to focus on the proposition of road tax for bicycles. Why does road tax apply to cars? Because of the negative impacts it has on society. Cars occupy too much space in streets. Approximately, one car has the same surface as eight bicycles. It also impacts negatively on the pavement as one ton (2,204 pounds) machines passing on by thousands or even millions every year on the same streets cause wear in impressive magnitude. Compare this fact with the usual weight of bikes 10-15 kg (22 – 33 pounds) or even less if the frame is made of carbon fiber. Furthermore, road tax is also paid as a result of all the diseases and health problems the poison of exhaust pipes expels. It would not be fair if all the people pay for problems caused by a fraction of the whole population. Not to mention the deaths car causes because of car accidents.

To sum up, it would be a nonsense if bicycles pay the road tax as they do not provoke as many problems as cars do.

Infamous laws

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Laws are written by politicians. Politicians do not need to know about everything to develop their job and advisors with specific knowledge help them. Sometimes malfunctions happen. This is the case when one tries to understand controversial laws. One of them is the Valencian mobility law. The implementing regulation has several nonsenses when comparing the treat on bikes and cars. Just one example. Driving a car at 70 km/h (43.5 mph) in a street with speed limit 50 km/h (31.07 mph) is fined with 100€. The same amount is fined to a cyclist riding a bike without bell. The preposterous sum is discredited if you think about the potential consequences of both actions. On the one hand, driving a car at 70 km/h can cause a fatal accident with deaths, injured people and material damages. On the other hand, lacking a bell is substituted by shouting in order to avoid a crash. Again, bad laws are present in every country and absurd laws should also be banished.

Street users pyramid

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Every day you share the street with other people who walk, use a wheelchair, ride a bike or drive a motorcycle, a car, a van, a truck, etc. There is a myriad of ways of moving from one point to another. I like to think it as a pyramid regarding the protection each group should have. On the bottom of this gradation, there would be walking people and wheelchair users since each and every person belongs to this group and are the most vulnerable. Next, bikers and skaters would take up the second step. They go faster than most of walkers. This fact determines they should ride in a different, separate space in the street in order to avoid accidents and troubles. Then, we have the motorcycle drivers. Obviously, the speed they reach is the higher up until now, but they are fragile compared with car drivers. It is no difficult to imagine who would be worse off in an accident between a motorcycle and a car. On the top of this pyramid I put car, van and truck drivers. Since they move in the heaviest machines, the potential damage they can cause in road accidents is the most important. Indeed, it is common that most of deaths in road (at least in Western countries) are car drivers.

Sidewalks and bikers

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One of the main problems when surveys are done regarding urban mobility is the conflict between bikers and pedestrians. Riding on sidewalks (outside bike-lines) is fined in a lot of countries. The bike is logically considered as a vehicle and thus it should move on pavement or bike-lines. Bikers who ride their bikes on sidewalks probably do it because:

– They act as pedestrians, following the same paths and mental schemes as if they were walking. But not, they are riding and this can cause problems due to the higher speed than human step and/or the potential accident caused by the fact that it is an almost noiseless transport.

– This kind of bikers also can present fear to ride on pavement. This fear is understandable in some cases specially in avenues in which cars and motorcycles do not usually respect the speed limit. This reason makes it difficult to convince those bikers to move to the pavement since the more bikers on it, the more calmed traffic we will enjoy. In order to avoid going around in circles, government actions on sustainable mobility should calm traffic and, at the same time, bikers should take the pavement.

The 2017 World Bike Forum

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A World Bike Forum (WBF) is a yearly event in which most of the issue related to urban cycling and mobility are discussed. One can find planning of cities, innovative actions on bike infrastructure or the main tendencies in urban cycling. It started in 2011 as a result of the tragic collision first anniversary. On the eve of the Critical Mass in Porto Alegre, a mad driver deliberately collided with around 20 cyclists on February 25. The next year, the first edition of the World Forum took place in the very same city. The Brazilian city repeated as WBF host city the next year. In 2014, another Brazilian city organised it. Then, it moved to Medellin (Colombia) in 2015 and Santiago (Chile) in 2016. This year Mexico city will be the city host of the WBF.

Among all, the best way to define it is freedom. The key principles are:
– Freeness: All the activities in the Forum are free
– Horizontally: The organizing work is done by volunteers, all the information is public and only flat organisation is allowed
– Most of the activities are self managed
– It is done by people for people, hence no publicity, logos or trademarked brands are allowed

The event will take place in Mexico in April 19th-23th 2017. It is so important that even the United Nations has cover its press conference launching (http://webtv.un.org/watch/launch-of-the-sixth-world-bike-forum-in-2017-in-mexico-city-press-conference-habitat-iii/5176866406001?page=1). You can’t miss it!

The Pitiusona

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Once a year, a big, interplanetary Critical Mass called the Criticona is done in a different location in Spain. It has been taken place in Madrid, Bilbao, Valladolid, Gijón, Valencia and Barcelona in the past. Everyplace has adapted its name to the specific event. In this edition, the Criticona will full Ibiza with bikes. For such a reason, the Criticona is called Pitiusona as “pitiusas” is another name for the Balearic islands.

The central activity will be developed on the 29 of April, consisting of a easy ride on decorated bicycles with colored strips, banners and balloons on Ibiza. Nevertheless, a lot of activities will be producing from 28 April to 1 May.

28 April: Visit to the Bicycle museum on the morning. On the afternoon, riding to the Can Jordy Blues station
29 April: Ride to the natural park Ses Salines and working-class eating on the morning. Interplanetary Pitiusona at 18:00. When finalizing, the location for the next Criticona will be made.
30 April: Riding the bike to San Antonio cycle track and bike activities. Big paella to eat. On the evening, cycling to a small, secret bay to admire the sunset.
1 May: Farewell

Organizers help with accommodation and meals, offering them at low prices or even free. You can not miss it!

All the information can be found in The Pitiusona (in Spanish).

Locking bicycles (2/2)

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As I previously wrote about, locking the bike is key if you want to enjoy it. Today, I am going to focus on how to avoid bike thefts. Of course, the best way is to lock your bike at home, specially on nights, but this is not always possible. When you lock your bike in the street, you should consider a few points:

Locking bikes on thin metal bicycle parkings is a bad idea. Better, locked it to a sturdy, hard to hack post or a tree (this last point could be controversial according to some local laws)
Difficult, but not impossible: Locking wheels to the frame so that they can’t turn, but not locking the frame to a post or something. Bicycle can easily be carried away and locks open at one’s convenience at home.
Locking just wheels, not the frame itself, to a post or a tree. Wheels are simply taken off, left, while the rest of the bike is carried away.
Locking the frame, but leaving the chain close to the ground. Ground provides lots of leverage for different cutting tools. Keep locks as high as possible.
Having too long to wide locks and padlocks, leaving room to insert leverage metal bars, car lifting jacks etc – is also a bad idea.
Combine at least two types of locks so that thieves must use at least two different tools.
Lock the frame to a strong immobile object, putting the lock through the frame so that it can’t be taken off without cutting the frame (or the lock).
Lock both wheels (to the frame, or an immobile object).
Make sure saddle, or other expensive parts are either taken off, or locked to the frame as well.

No method is 100% safe. Even a well locked bicycle with a good lock takes about 20 minutes to hack. If the thief uses a battery powered angle grinder, it is just few minutes. However, if the bike is better locked than the other bikes in the street and it doesn’t look more expensive, there is a greater chance you conserve it the next day.

Locking bicycles (1/2)

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When one thinks about locking the bike to a cycle parking or a piece of a street furniture, it is always useful to consider three key elements in whatever bike. No matter if you have a folding bike, tandem or mountain bike, all have the same parts. Saddle, front and rear wheels should be properly locked as these elements are the most common target of bike thieves. Of course, they can steal the whole bike, but it is normally faster to just rob one part. Nevertheless, I will write about the whole bike and the ways of locking it right in other time. For now, take into account how your bike elements are secured because it is not the same having fast-open locks, locking skewer or traditional nuts. The last ones make thefts to take more time, because an adjustable wrench is needed. Also, try to use different locks so that you have an indirected advantage: more than one tool is need.

As it comes to bike locks, you can find several types in the market.

Chain and padlock: Hardened steel chains are heavy, but flexible. Try to use one with hexagonal profile so that cutters press on a wider area, creating less force per mm. It should be at least 10 mm thick.
Cable with lock: Cable locks use to be easy to carry and flexible. However, they are a bit easier to cut and I recommend use them as additional locks.
U-lock: Lower weight per level of protection and easy to carry, but it has the lowest flexibility and you need to find a proper post.
Folding lock: The best locks joint with the U-locks. The folding locks offer good security and are easy to carry.

Cheap bad locks and poorly locked bicycles are taken within a minute or less with ordinary tools every small thief has. Better use a combination of good locks and lock the bike in secure, crowded places.