Category: Offbeat Bicycle News

Bicycle Film Festival cities announced

The Bicycle Film Festival is expanding to 16 cities in 2007, starting with showing in New York City from May 16-20.

The festival celebrates all kinds of bikes through film, art and music. Films are usually presented by independent producers. Last year's films included “B.I.K.E.,” a film about New York's Black Label Bicycle Club, and “Something to Aim At,” the tragic story of bicycle racer Tom Simpson written and narrated by Phil Liggett.

In addition to New York, the Bike Film Festival is scheduled to visit Los Angeles, London, Paris, Chicago, Minneapolis, Toronto, Portland, San Francisco, Vienna, London, Milan, Rome, Barcelona, Tokyo, and Sydney. …

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2007/04/17/bicycle-film-festival-cities-announced/

World's only bicycle lift is in Norway

Need a lift? An actual bicycle lift in the city of Trondheim, Norway, has provided cyclists with a little boost to the top of a steep hill in the historical part of town since the mid-1990s.

The owner of the bicycle lift, Design Management AS, says it's the only one in the world. Nearly a quarter-million people have used the lift since testing began in 1993, and the rate has increased to 20,000 to 30,000 a year.

About half of the passengers are college students who attend University of Trondheim at the top of the 425-foot-long hill, and 41% of the users say they ride a bicycle more often because of the lift. — Video and

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2007/04/16/worlds-only-bicycle-lift-is-in-norway/

“The Flying Scotsman” bike movie opens in select cities in May

The film adaptation of two-time bicycling one-hour world record holder Graeme Obree's life is scheduled for release May 4 in Seattle, Boston, Chicago, New York, San Francisco, Toronto and Washington DC.

The year's first US screening, however, will be Friday night at the 16th Philadelphia Film Festival.  Here's a two-and-a-half minute trailer for the film:

Obree's accomplishments are amazing, considering that he broke the world record as an amateur racing on a bicycle that he designed. He also battled bicycling federation bureaucrats who disapproved of his riding style, and his own inner demons, as he was later diagnosed with bipolar disorder. …

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2007/04/05/the-flying-scotsman-bike-movie-opens-in-select-cities-in-may/

Kicking the tires at the virtual used bicycle lot

After perusing hundreds of bicycles for sale online, I've concluded that an amazing number of people buy bicycles that they don't ride. OK, maybe once or twice.

My son has outgrown his mountain bike and is interested in getting a road bike for a summer bike tour. At the rate he's growing, I'm a little reluctant to buy something brand new. So I'm looking for something used on Craigslist

I'm surprised at how many low mileage bikes are out there. Here are some of the unusual ads I've come across:

Fixed Gear: “Although 2 years old it has never been ridden. Complete except for pedals (not included). I bought it before my wife got pregnant, and, well you know how it goes.” …

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2007/04/03/kicking-the-tires-at-the-virtual-used-bicycle-lot/

Rolling bar begins tour in Twin Cities

Here's a way to get smashed while you're cycling and walk away unscathed.

The PedalPub in Minneapolis-St. Paul is a rolling bar built for 16. Ten seats are set up with freewheels for pedaling, with room for a few freeloaders, a bartender and a driver.

Owners Al Boyce and Eric Olson report at their PedalPub website that the activity is strictly legal — PedalPub doesn't sell, supply or serve any beverages. That's left up to the renters who can bring anything along, much as they would in a limo. …

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2007/03/31/rolling-bar-begins-tour-in-twin-cities/

2 Seconds; how quickly your life can change

Have you ever been out on one of those perfect bike rides when everything seemed right and you kept pedaling and pedaling and suddenly discovered you were either way far from home or just plain lost?

Then you can identify with Laurie, the heroine in the French Canadian movie “2 Seconds.”

Laurie is an accomplished downhill racer who loses her sponsor after spending too much time (hmmm, about 2 seconds) behind the starting gate when it opens. Fired, she returns to Montreal to live in her brother's apartment and get a job as a bike messenger. …

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2007/03/25/2-seconds-how-quickly-your-life-can-change/

Oldest bike shop in West closes store

A Salt Lake City bicycle concern has closed one of its locations that was proclaimed as the oldest bike shop in the western United States.

Guthrie Bicycle closed its downtown location at East 200th South in January. Housed in a three-story building erected in 1890, a sign in the window said Guthrie's was opened in 1904.

Kiril Kundurazieff's Cycling Dude blog lists old bike shops, and the shop closure in Salt Lake City would make Jones Bicycles (established 1910) in Long Beach, California, the oldest in the West. …

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2007/03/23/oldest-bike-shop-in-west-closes-store/

Boy's bike stolen: Will trade Yu-Gi-Oh! cards for new ride

I was scanning the “bikes for sale” ads on Craigslist when I ran across this item:

“Boy's bike wanted — please read — it's also missing”

It turns out a boy in the Hillside area near Fort Lewis, south of Tacoma, Washington, had his bicycle, left, stolen over the weekend. One of his parents placed an ad on Craigslist, saying that the boy was willing to trade his Yu-Gi-Oh! card collection for a replacement bike.

If you have kids, especially boys, you can probably appreciate how much they treasure game cards like Yu-Gi-Oh! and Pokemon. To be willing to trade them for a bike is a big sacrifice. This kid must be a bike fanatic in the making. …

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2007/03/23/boys-bike-stolen-will-trade-yu-gi-oh-cards-for-new-ride/

Dog-powered scooter could be a plus for cyclists

At first I wasn't going to write about the dog-powered scooter that inventor Mark Schuette e-mailed me about. Technically, it ain't a bicycle.

Schuette's contraption does have two wheels, but the similarity to a bicycle pretty much ends there. The scooter is powered by a dog, the rider doesn't get a whole lot of exercise except for balancing and steering.

But as I read through the Dog-Powered Scooter website, I started seeing some advantages for bicyclists, especially those who take to multi-use bicycle paths where people like to walk or run their dogs. …

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2007/03/22/dog-powered-scooter-could-be-a-plus-for-cyclists/

Deadly business of hauling coal by bicycle in India

A story out of India this weekend about people who haul coal by bicycle struck me for two reasons: 1) it's about bikes, and more importantly, 2) it shows the risks people will take to scratch out a living.

The reporter interviewed coal carriers in the Jharkhand area of eastern India, where abandoned coal mines still cough up enough fuel for locals to illegally mine and transport to larger cities for sale on the black market.

It's a dangerous business. The bicyclists haul 1.5 quintal (330 pounds) of coal by bicycle on narrow roads out of the hills 30 or 40 miles to their destination. They'll make a couple of trips a week, earning less than $70 a month for their efforts. …

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2007/03/19/deadly-business-of-hauling-coal-by-bicycle-in-india/