Little Green Shopper

I saw this shopper of ambiguous vintage in the South End and thought of you Velouria: Green frame, cream tires... It would be cuter if the fenders were green too, don't you think?  :)

Sometimes you just need a car?

I have a new commute. My friend watches Future Cyclist two days a week. She's in Arlington just off the Minuteman. At first I drove to her and then rode my bike to work, because that's what we knew. I quickly realized how miserable it is to have my baby in the backseat while I'm stuck driving, so now we take the subway to Alewife, walk a ways to my friend's house, and then I bike to work... Some people make think we just need a car but these mornings together are the highlight of my day.

All this leadup to explain why I was on the subway and saw this Zipcar advertisement:

OK, I agree, sometimes you might just need a car. That's true. But the example given in the photo? That's just not the case there. Sometime you just need SOME BIKE RACKS people! For the $60 annual Zipcar subscription you could get a decent set of front and rear racks, solving the problem posed in the photo for more than just one year.

My HandleBar

I finally have half a moment to post a photo from my brother's wedding this summer. We were enjoying a sunny afternoon in downtown Boulder when MyHandleBar rolled into town. This thing looked like so much fun I went running over with my niece and her grandpa (my sister's father-in-law, is there a name for our relationship?) Here they are for scale as we checked this thing out:

It is a mobile bicycle bar, with one driver and everyone else literally saddled up to the bar.

The geometry of the cockpit is "relaxed", to say the least. They need 3 people minimum, if I remember correctly, and can take on more than will have pedals. The slope of your hill can't exceed 5 or 6%, but given those constraints it looked like a blast. Maybe someday Harpoon will have one of these and we won't have to ride Brewery to Brewery, we can just bring the beer along!

Boots in the South End

Submitted by my friend J.

Freebie Friday

Wow, it has been a LONG time since this blog has had a freebie friday.

In hopes of making up for all that lost time, I would like to offer someone in the Boston area my custom-reinforced Cyclist-themed Bike Rack Wine Box.

For information about the box please see this post with the details and this post with more photos. This box will work best for you if you have a Blackburn rear rack, but should be customizable for another rack. Email me to discuss picking this up for free. *CLAIMED*

Happy Friday everyone!!!

The Things We'll Do

Yes, this man is crossing the double yellow line. Yet he looks so handsome doing it, and I happen to know that he was crossing over to go to Flour Bakery. So you see, there were mitigating circumstances to his traffic infraction. I know people (in my family!) who fly across the country to go to Flour Bakery...

Wooden Rack Box

Awesome rack-mounted box spotted on Mass Ave. I peeked inside it and the owner had a bike helmet in there at the time of these photos. I particularly liked the wide leather straps, this was clearly a DIY project.

Whoa there stranger!

I am sure there is a treasure trove out there on the internet, but a quick Google search did not turn it up...

So this morning I left Future Cyclist with his nanny and got on my bike to head to work. Very first stoplight a cyclist pulls in about 2 cm from my shoulder. YIKES! I startled, and all I could think to say was "oh, hi." Later he passed me at the next red light, and then I very loudly said "On your left!" as I dropped him on the bridge.

Always too late at this sort of thing I thought later that what I wished I'd said was something more like "I don't usually let a man get this close to me 'till I've got his phone number" or something like that.

Witty people, or people with better Googling skills, what could we be saying in these situations, something that indicates no-harm-done but next time say something!?

Coolest thing I saw today

Someone was moving their apartment via pedicab! Lots of boxes labeled "kitchen" and stuff. No photos though, my hands were full.

Stay safe out there, lots of inexperienced drivers at the wheel of very large moving trucks.

New Mixte on the Block

This mixte has moved into my neighborhood. I'm loving all the chrome, the VO double-hammered fenders in particular, and the stitched leather handgrips. I'm definitely doing that next time I re-wrap my bars.

The cloth tape protection is a nice touch!

I'm tempted to leave a note saying this bike is too sexy to spend the night outside. We've had a lot of bike thefts recently. My husband commented that he hopes it's not another of those "boyfriend builds his girlfriend the perfect bike but she doesn't fully appreciate the effort" stories. Hmmmm.