Yvonne Bambrick

Light it up folks!

Bike lights have sure come a long way, baby.  No more fiddling around with brackets & screwdrivers (unless you really want to) – you can now brighten up your ride in seconds with a couple colourful, rubberized & powerful LED wrap lights.

Although things are improving, I’ve been amazed at the number of folks that still don’t seem to care about or understand the importance of using bike lights when riding at night.  There’s a good reason it is a legal requirement of all cyclists – making yourself visible to drivers, pedestrians and your fellow riders decreases your chances of being in, or causing, a collision. Period.

While it’s always important to do our part as cyclists to be visible on the road, it becomes vital in inclement weather – snow and rain significantly reduce driver visibility and dramatically increase your chances of getting clipped because… “I just didn’t see you!”

But my lights keep getting stolen!
Yes, bike lights tend to be easy to steal and theft is often an excuse for not having them.  That said, I’ve found a great system that can work for anyone.

• Both my front and back lights come on and off in a snap, and then hook nicely onto my caribeener with my keys.
• I put the lights on when I unlock my bike, and take them off when I lock it back up again.
• The keys & lights then get clipped onto my bag/belt-loop so that they’re always where I can find them, and ready to go.  Highly recommend!

So, no lights? No excuse! Please do us all a favour and pay a quick visit to your local bike shop.  You might even find the awesome lights that I just picked up – they come with a usb cable so that you can recharge them through your computer!!

The 2nd annual Complete Streets Forum took place on April 28th & 29th, 2011 and I was there to listen, learn and capture it all on camera.

Here are some photos from the conference at Hart House, and the cycling and walking tours that took place on day two. I shot most photos of our bike infrastructure tour while riding along.

All other conference & tour photos can be viewed here on Flickr.

With fairer weather now in season, lots of folks are getting back on their bikes, or buying new ones and taking to two wheeled transportation for the first time.

In an effort to help avoid the heartbreak of bike-theft, I thought I’d share these tips for keeping your trusty steed safe and sound.

QUICK TIPS:

• It generally costs you more to replace a bike than to invest in a good quality lock – it may be worth taking a second look at yours…  (I love my thick, cloth covered, Abus chain – super strong, and gives me the flexibility to lock to more than just a post & ring.)

 

• As Eric of Curbside says, “Never buy a cable lock. It’s like locking your house with a screen door.”

 

• Consider using two different kinds of locks, one chain, one U-lock.  This will make your bike harder to steal quickly since different tools are required…

 

• Unless you absolutely need them, do not use quick release on your wheels or seat.

 

• Nice seats are easy targets so lock ‘em down with an extra seat lock, or use a quick release and take it with you every time you lock your bike. (Check out the awesome bike chain seat lock in the photo above!)

 

• If using a u-lock, the bigger a gap you leave when locking, the more likely your U-lock can be busted open with a bit of torque. Keep it tight.

 

• Avoid leaving your bike outside overnight.

 

• Personalise your bike:  I love my flower covered basket   Aside from being pretty and making me more visible, it’s also a theft deterrent.  In general, it is men who steal bikes… girly flowers can help.  Boys can certainly do something similar – use your imagination!


 

• Take a photo of your bike and mark down key identifying information such as the registration number (usually on the underside of the bottom bracket – flip her over and take a look).  If your bike is stolen, you have the details handy and can prove it’s yours should it be recovered.

 

• Use these details to register your bike with the Toronto Police Services Bicycle Registry.  If they recover stolen property they can only return it to you if your bike is in the system.

For more theft prevention tips, and to register your bike with TPS, visit http://www.torontopolice.on.ca/bike/

Finally, without putting yourself in harms way, if you notice someone messing with a bike, say something – even a joke will do.  We can all help each other by participating in a bit of ‘Neighbourhood Watch’ style community support.

Ride on.  And please share this note with any cyclists you know.

Looks as though the ladies at Momentum magazine have done it again!  Their 50th issue was launched on Mar 1st with significant rebranding – both the mag and website are looking hotter than ever.  The cheeky cover shot certainly helps.

Great new logo!

In addition to my appreciation for the hard work and finished product of the amazing Vancouver-based Momentum team, I’m also happy to have been included for comment in one of their feature articles, This is the Bike Lifestyle, alongside friend, colleague and ‘bike-lifestylist’, Eric Kamphof from Toronto’s Curbside Cycle, and NYC Streetfilms Director of  (awesome!) Video Production, Clarence Eckerson Jr.

My bike is looking good in this pic! Got it from Eric's shop - the guy to my left.

Today’s excellent post (with useful links) by Grist columnist Elly Blue, ‘How Bicycling Will Save the Local Economy (if we let it)‘ reminded me of how often I’ve tried to emphasize this message when speaking about the myriad benefits of cycling.

“Imagine getting a $3,000 to $12,000 tax rebate this year. Now imagine it coming again and again. Every year it grows by around a thousand dollars. Imagine how this would change your daily life. … it’s actually a conservative estimate of how much you’d save by ditching your car, or even just one of your cars — and getting on a bicycle instead.”

By switching to cycling transportation, rather than spending a yearly average of $8,500 of your hard-earned income on car payments, insurance, parking, tickets, maintenance and gas… you can redirect some of it into the local economy via groceries, theatre, restaurants, services, etc.., as well as contribute more to your own personal savings for retirement (don’t know about you, but this is something I’m starting to take more seriously).

Thanks to great car-sharing services like Auto-Share now widely available in the city, you can have access to 4 wheels whenever you really need them and still save thousands!  I sold my car (that I was very attached to) back in 2001 to help pay for grad school – I’ve been on 2 wheels, year-round, ever since and haven’t missed the expense, responsibility, or hassle of car ownership one bit.  I’ve structured my life in such a way that I can get to 95% of my regular destinations by bike.  The TTC, or car rental, are handily available on the rare occasions that my bike just won’t get me there.  Although I don’t have to worry about children, I have several friends with kids who have found excellent, non-car solutions.

Although this infographic is specific to car ownership costs in the US, it applies equally well here in Canada and shows the immense amounts of money that are redirected out of our local economy due to the automobile.

Investing in the local economy. Infographic by MGMT Design

And bikes/cyclists really are great for business! There’s been some excellent research done locally by the Toronto Coalition for Active Transportation and the Clean Air Partnership via their 2009 report ‘Bike Lanes, On-Street Parking and Business‘. Amongst other very compelling findings about the benefits of on street bike infrastructure, they found that in the study area, “Patrons arriving by foot and bicycle visit the most often and spend the most money per month.”

As per Elly’s piece – there are many additional economic, environmental and health-related benefits to cycling. Not to mention how much FUN it is to ride!

Pretty sure this is not where the bus stops… maybe I’m wrong but I think the stop is on the South-West corner of Queen.  I took these photos on the NW corner of Dufferin/Queen St. W.

I watched two Southbound Dufferin buses drive the full length of this, admittedly very short, very new, bike lane. Do TTC drivers get retrained for major street modifications like this – now that the ‘Dufferin Jog’ has been eliminated?

No need to drive in the bike lane here – is it arrogance or ignorance? New street configuration or not, bike lanes are for cyclists, not buses. Surely that is part of TTC driver training.