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Lawyer Jim’s bike light recommendation

July 27, 2011 / / 0 Comments

At Monday’s Moving Design meeting, Lawyer Jim Freeman spoke about bicycling, bike crashes, and the law.

“Be conspicuous” is half his motto. (I forgot the other half.)

During Q&A, I asked Jim, “If I had $20 to buy a bike light, which one should I buy?”

Jim had no trouble answering that bicyclists should have something at least as capable as the Planet Bike Beamer 3. I agree. It has three LEDs, comes with batteries, has a flashing mode, is easy to mount on your handlebars, and really costs just $20. Ride legally at night in the State of Illinois with it!

I’m a huge fan of Planet Bike products, as you’ll see on my bicycle product reviews page.

More information

More letter writing

July 21, 2011 / / 0 Comments

I’m two for two on writing letters and getting the results I intended to see.

First, there was getting the bike rack at Dominick’s in Bridgeport.

Then there was getting parking spaces removed so a pinch point in the Halsted Street bike lane at 15th Street was less “pinchy.”

Now I’m trying to get the United States Postal Service to stop parking and driving in bike lanes, especially the Kinzie Street protected bike lane.

I mailed out letters to six recipients on Wednesday.

On sucker poles

July 19, 2011 / / 0 Comments

Twice in the past seven days I’ve encountered an unsecured sucker pole.

A sucker pole next to a highly-secure bike rack provided by the City of Chicago’s Bicycle Program. The adjacent placement of the two fixtures is an unfortunate side effect of construction crews who didn’t receive guidance on bike rack placement. 

What’s a sucker pole? Any sign pole that’s not embedded in concrete or securely fastened to the ground in another fashion. A simple hex nut on a bolt fastens the pole to the base.

So last Saturday I encountered my latest one in front of India House (59 W Grand), just hours after Alexis Finch of Thought You Knew pinup calendar fame mentioned a specific sucker pole at the Green Eye (2403 W Homer) – I could completely remove the pole from its base.

Alexis reported that when she visits that bar, she removes the pole from its base and lays it on the sidewalk to prevent others from locking their bikes there.

I want you to spread the word about sucker poles while at the same time requesting a bike rack for that spot. I invite designers to remake this crappy poster I created and thankfully never printed.

Remake this “beware of sucker poles” poster into something cool and I’ll pay to print a few copies for you to keep and give to friends or bike shops. 

Why do you bike?

July 9, 2011 / / 0 Comments

Answering this question may help you come up with a slogan for my contest, in which you’ll win a cycling cap from Kozie Prery. You have until Monday at midnight to submit your ideas (read the rules first)!

“Save gas and lose the ass. Go by bike!” Photo by Serge Lubomudrov.

I haven’t counted all the entries, but at quick glance it looks like I have about 12 entries. That’s a lot more than the two I had for the New Belgium Urban Assault Ride contest!

Urbanity fails again

July 8, 2011 / / 0 Comments

Photo by my friend and UIC alum, Joshua Koonce.

I asked him about the photo’s title, “Urbanity fails again.” He replied:

I just thought it up on the fly, but you do see a lot of just these really little urban failures. Like, decayed bike lanes, weeds, potholes, gaps, sidewalk plates missing, leaky viaducts, “minor urban disasters” so to speak.

I feature Josh’s photos often on Steven Can Plan and now Grid. I also created a Flickr group for Grid where you can showcase your photos about sustainable transportation in Chicagoland.