Free Republic

--SNIP-- Today the bicycle is a mixed bag, usually with more negatives than positives. In many cities, bike lanes now consume more road space than they free up, they add to pollution as well as reducing it, they hurt neighbourhoods and business districts alike, and they have become a drain on the public purse. The bicycle today — or rather the infrastructure that now supports it — exemplifies “inappropriate technology,” a good idea gone wrong through unsustainable, willy-nilly top-down planning. London, where former mayor Boris Johnston began a “cycling revolution,” shows where the road to ruin can lead. Although criticism...

Boulder City is planning a beautification project for Nevada Highway, and several local merchants are concerned with how it could affect their businesses. As part of the Boulder City Parkway complete street project, the plan is to widen the sidewalks, create bike lanes, improve pedestrian and bike crossings, improve the median, and create bus turnouts from Gingerwood Street to Buchanan Boulevard. All these additions will take away space from the businesses along that portion of the roadway. Chris Gatlin, owner of Woodchuck’s, is concerned about the lack of space he’ll have once the sidewalk and road are widened. Woodchuck’s, at...

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - California regulators were poised on Wednesday to adopt the nation's first mandatory energy efficiency rules for computers and monitors - devices that account for 3 percent of home electric bills and 7 percent of commercial power costs in the state. The state Energy Commission said that when fully implemented, the plan will save consumers $373 million a year and conserve as much electricity annually as it takes to power all San Francisco's homes. Final approval of the standards, expected at a meeting in Sacramento of the five-member commission, caps a nearly two-year planning process that had...

The National Park Service and the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) have announced a new partnership to construct the nation's first bicycle High Occupancy/Toll Express Lanes on the Mount Vernon Trail between Rosslyn and Mount Vernon.

It's every cyclist's dream: no red lights, no trucks, just a clear, smooth lane to zoom down with the wind in your face. Welcome to Germany's first bicycle Autobahn. Fans hail the smooth new velo routes as the answer to urban traffic jams and air pollution, and a way to safely get nine-to-fivers outdoors. As a glimpse of a greener urban transport future, Germany has just opened the first five-kilometer (three-mile) stretch of a bicycle highway that is set to span over 100 kilometers. It will connect 10 western cities including Duisburg, Bochum and Hamm and four universities, running largely...

Bicyclists had free rein of Milan's streets Monday during a six-hour ban on private cars in a bid to alleviate persistent smog. Pollution levels in Italy's business capital have exceeded levels considered healthy for more than 30 days straight, prompting officials to ban private cars from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. Monday through Wednesday this week. Officials said private motorists, who risked steep fines, widely respected the ban on its first day. ...

My favorite response was from a woman with a funny name -- one of those names where the alphabet got tossed up in the air -- who told me that she bicycles to and from work, to any event, social or otherwise, to the store, what have you. Really? You ride your bike to social events? Don't you get sweaty? I'm wondering what would constitute a social event that you could ride your bike to. Let's say you're going to an art museum charity fundraiser. Do you wear a dress? Valet park? I'm not buying that, any more than I...

WaveCrest Laboratories Names Former NATO Commander General Wesley K. Clark as Chairman Company Will Commercialize Its Environmentally Friendly Propulsion Technology Across Numerous Transportation and Energy Applications, Including Automobiles WASHINGTON, April 21 /PRNewswire/ -- WaveCrest Laboratories today announced that Gen. Wesley K. Clark, former Supreme Allied Commander of NATO and one of the nation's most highly decorated military officers, has been named Chairman of the Board. To view the Multimedia News Release, complete with video and images, go to: http://www.prnewswire.com/mnr/wavecrestlabs/10740/ WaveCrest Laboratories is a Dulles, Va.-based technology company that has developed a breakthrough electric propulsion system that transforms electrical energy...

Tuesday, Sep. 23, 2003. Page 1 Bike Boffins Pedal With General Clark By Kevin O'Flynn Staff Writer One was a doctor from Siberia, the other an American general now running for president, and best known in Russia for his brinkmanship in Kosovo. But now the fortunes of Alexander Pyntikov and former NATO commander General Wesley Clark -- who last week created a political sensation by declaring his candidacy for U.S. president -- are entwined in a company that makes push bikes. But these are no ordinary push bikes: The U.S. Special Forces Command currently freewheels on them, as do police...

New York Citi Bike riders are at risk according to a new audit exposing spotty maintenance checks, poor cleanliness and defective docking stations. Comptroller Scott Stringer released his report Thursday looking at if New York City Bike Share, which manages the scheme, is in compliance with its Department of Transport contract. According to maintenance data, only 28per cent of the 6,000 two-wheelers in Manhattan and Brooklyn were inspected in November 2013, 34per cent in December 2013 and 38per cent in January 2014.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) spent $300,000 studying how “humans interact with bicycles,” the latest example of what a House committee chairman calls waste in the agency. The premise for the project, which was conducted between October 2009 and June 2013, was that bicycle dynamics are “poorly understood,” and researchers set out to come up with new designs to encourage more Americans to bike to lower their carbon footprint. […] To fulfill this goal, the researchers built two bicycles and rode them on treadmills. …

I have been able to do many (free) basic repairs on bikes in this poor inner city, thank God, but now my neighbor needs a new rear wheel for a BMX bike as the old rim was run over by a car. It has the smaller type sprocket on both the crank ("chainring?") and the rear wheel, and when i tried to put the old hub in a freewheel rim then it would not fit. And with the smaller type crank then a the larger, standard type rear sprocket is not feasible. I have looked a lot online, and see...

The Vanhawks Valour claims to be the "first ever connected carbon fibre bicycle." I have a few questions: First off, what is it connected to? And why is fiber spelled like that? The Vanhawks Valour might be what we could call the first "smart bike." Like the smart phone before it, the Vanhawks Valour takes the venerable bike -- complete with two wheels, pedals, etc. -- and adds "smart" stuff. This must be a massively appealing prospect to many, many cyclists, because the Vanhawks Valour has already raised over $440,000 on Kickstarter -- that's more than four times its original...

In the 1980s, the conservative humourist P.J. O’Rourke wrote “A Cool and Logical Analysis of the Bicycle Menace.” He was joking. In 2013, Wall Street Journal editorial board member Dorothy Rabinowitz said, “the bike lobby is an all-powerful enterprise” and the presence of a bike-sharing program in New York was an example of “the totalitarians running the government of this city.” She wasn’t joking. Rabinowitz’s widely discussed appearance on a Wall Street Journal video, which was picked up by many news outlets and The Daily Show (“Slow down, lady, they’re just bikes!” Jon Stewart exclaimed), did more than draw attention...

LONDON, July 21 (Reuters) - Olympic organisers are "very alive" to the threat of a cyber attack on the London 2012 Olympics, made more challenging because of its evolving nature, senior Interior Ministry officials said on Tuesday. Ticketing systems, the transport network and hotel bookings as well as security are among potential targets. Olympic security officials are also planning for the possible diversion of aircraft to protect airspace around the venues from terrorist attacks, the officials said. The greatest threat to security at the Games is international terrorism, the government's latest "Safety and Security Strategy" report said.

A daring daytime armed robbery ended this morning with the victim chasing the robbers and police catching them, both who were on bicycles. The victim tells WITN News that he was painting the outside of a home on Rock Spring Road around 9:20 a.m. when he saw two men riding by on bikes. A short time later one of the men armed with hand gun approached him and demanded money. The victim gave the gunman about $30 in cash and the robber made his getaway on a bike. The victim and then another co-worker decided to chase the gunman while...

It was a typical early summer evening in Portland: cloudy skies threatening rain, temperatures in the mid-60s, and thousands of naked bicyclists gathered near the city's waterfront for a clothing-free night ride. The Portland version of the World Naked Bike Ride was about to begin. "It is the most liberating, natural feeling possible," said Brooklyn Jay, who came all the way from Phoenix for the ride. World Naked Bike Ride is a globally observed event among hard-core bikers designed, at least ostensibly, to promote the use of the bicycle for transportation. But Portland cyclists have been especially adamant about making...

The car turned from a blind corner and hit riders who had stopped in a traffic lane to wait for others to catch up, said Sgt. David Krumer, the LAPD's bicycle liaison. "It appears that they were stopped in traffic" and some who had dismounted to chat with friends technically were pedestrians, Krumer said. Bicyclists have a legal right to use the right traffic lane unless they impede traffic, and pedestrians are barred from traffic lanes, Krumer said. Violators potentially could be cited, he added. However, drivers have a legal responsibility to exercise caution regardless of the circumstances, Krumer said....

All do respect to Andy Schleck but Fabian Cancellara is a two time winner of Paris Roubaix, the defending champion at the Tour of Flanders and is a four-time World Time Trial Champion. With credentials like that, Cancellara should be just as big a cog in the Leopard Trek machine as Schleck (if not bigger) and I wanted to know how the move was going to affect him?

"To prove that they had registered their "motor vehicles," each rider would have had to attach a license plate to their human-powered transportation that would read "BICYCLE," reports NJ.com. ... “My intention was never to impose a burden or additional costs," Tucker said in a statement. "My goal was to at least begin a discussion of how best to protect elderly pedestrians. No idea is perfect, but protecting elderly pedestrians deserves attention." Tucker says that her bicycle-plate bill was inspired by several senior citizens who called her and complained about kids on bikes. "