Tweed Rides have gotten a lot of press lately, but for us Texans, denim and boots are more our style. Social Cycling ATX has picked up on this and is making this week’s Thursday Night Social Ride themed as a Denim Ride.

I want to see stitched denim, bedazzled denim, jorts, denim jackets, denim loin cloths or even just your plain old everyday Canadian Tuxedo. We’re going to ride around and show off our style, then end up at the Red 7 for the usual refreshements. There are even bands outside if you’re into that thing. But inside we’ll be having a few contests for our riders with PRIZES provided by OZONE BIKE DEPARTMENT.

Our denim contests include:
Short jorts contest… for the ladies and gentlemen
Best Camel Toe
Best Moose Knuckle (guys, no cheating)

So dust off that jean jacket, pull out those dungarees, and track down that denim cowboy hat so you can join in the blues on Thursday.

Back in December, we shared a video that mentioned how Copenhagen is so focused on making bikes the preferred form of transportation that the lights on one of their major roads is timed to allow cyclists 6 km of travel without having to stop. Rotterdam is installing an even higher tech version called Evergreen that will let cyclists know the right speed to travel to avoid the dreaded red. LEDs embedded in the pavement will run the length of the road at the rate of speed you need to be going to either speed up or slow down to make there during the green. Pretty slick!

This system should be installed by this summer.

UPDATE: The Dropout is now offering a yearly subscription to their magazine for $20. This gets you 6 issues at a $1 off each plus a copy of this great zine delivered to your door.

The Dropout Issue 3 Release Party
Sunday, March 7, 7 PM
Fast Folks Cyclery, 2513 East 6th St
Austin’s very own cycling zine, The Dropout, is putting out it’s third issue and this one is hot, hot, hot with bicycle pin-ups featuring some of Austin’s loveliest ladies. There will be free Lonestars and $5 will get you a copy of this issue while it lasts.

The theft of this rather unique looking bike comes to us from the Austin Texas Bike Polo Social Club. Please keep a look out for this bike and report to the police and the owner below.

My polo bike was stolen last night. It was sitting out on avenue f and 46th st. For those of you who haven’t seen it, as long as the wheel covers are on it, it stands out pretty well. If you happen to see it around town feel free to kick the crap eagle ridding it in the head or at least just call me and let me know. 281-898-8534.

Thanks,

Kevin King Beahan

My experience: Yuba sent me a Mundo 21 speed with lots of accessories to test, and I’ve been riding it several times a week for 6 weeks.

Build Quality: 3.5/5

Function: 4.5/5

Style: 2/5

Overall: 4/5

Availability: Yuba is actively looking for an Austin dealer but for now you must order online at the Yuba site. A stripped down 6 speed version is available at $850 in green or orange and a nicely equipped 21 speed at $1100 in blue, orange or black. One size fits most. Like the Xtracycle, Yuba also sells other accessories including bags and child seats through their online store.

Summary:

Along with the Xtracycle and Kona Ute, the Yuba Mundo offers riders a full on cargo bike with a long tail as a legitimate automobile replacement for carrying kids, groceries and just about anything else you can stand to pedal. While the finish and build quality is a little rough around the edges, the Mundo gives you a well functioning cargo bike and a best in class hauling capacity at an astonishing $850 entry level for the bare bones 6 speed version and $1100 for a very nicely equipped 21 speed version.

Build quality and Style

Yuba sent me an orange (they call it Carrot) 21 speed bike with several accessories including pannier bags and a child seat. It arrived dealer ready which meant I had to do final brake and shifter installation as well as install of the wheels, seat, and handlebars. The Mundo also has a large side runner tube for a foot and bag rest that was separate and hand no installation instructions. Keep this in mind if you order online. If you are not confident of your ability to do a final build up, you’ll need to budget a little bit more and pay your local bike shop to get it ready for you.

The frame itself is extremely beefy but had sloppy, industrial welds at the joint. These do appear plenty strong, and  for the price point of this bike you are not getting master framebuilder elegance. There were some other rough edges in the bike including a fork that was out of alignment but not enough to be an issue. Also, the wheels were quite out of true and the many bolt bosses on the frame has to be re-tapped. Again, these are issues your local bike shop can address, but a sign of the lack of attention to detail that you are going to get with something mass produced at this price. The standard Mundo comes equipped with V-brakes but also has dropouts that allow disc brakes. The rear dropouts are vertical and designed with an external derailleur system in mind.

The actual equipment spec’ing of this bike is quite good. Unlike the Madsen, Yuba had the rider in mind, and swept back bars and a saddle designed for an upright seated position provides a very comfortable natural position. They’ve been paying attention to good utility bike rider geometry. The brakes and shifter groups are nothing to write home about but of a good quality for the utility purpose. The pedals are huge Victor VP-565 pedals with a nice grippy platform, my favorite component on the bike. While I’m a fan of the double footed kickstand (available as an add on), Yuba has provided the best single foot kickstand I’ve used to date. It is very larger and long providing a sturdy, stable resting point. Finally, little things like full on fenders and a bell showed the designers were thinking of the real world use of transportation cycling when pulling this together.

The only glaring omission on accessories were lights. I know it is popular to let the consumer choose lights as a way to keep the price point down, but this is a serious transportation bike and should come with the ability to ride after dark out of the box.

The overall style of the bike tends toward the industrial mountain bike look. This is not my cup of tea, but the orange paint job looks really good, and I got lots of compliments on how good the bike and it’s matching bags looked.

Function and ride Continue reading →

Here’s is the week that was in cycling via the abridged version of Austin on Two Wheel’s Twitter feed.

This gives those not on Twitter or who missed our Tweets a chance to check out interesting bike related articles, photos, and videos from the week that might not warrant a full post on our site. If you want more up to the minute info, you can follow us on Twitter by adding us to your following list here or by adding “austinon2wheels.”

1. Yep, there are no new ideas: Separated Bike Infrastructure- 1915 http://tiny.cc/DOo2V via @copenhagenize
2. This just in: CapMetro’s rail service got the green light from the Feds and will begin service on Mar 22. First week is free.
3. I too often have Phil & Paul in my head as I ride. RT @BikePortland Video: A “Commuter Dreams” of the Tour de France http://bit.ly/ccJHxd
4. Friday Film Fun: Shots from the 2010 NAHBS http://tiny.cc/B6PIZ
5. RT @KVUE Rise Across Texas: Cycling is more than a recreational sport. . . http://bit.ly/cnrwsc
6. To all my followers, @tiffstreats didn’t come out against the bike blvd & the sign was unauthorized. Keep getting your sugar fix from Tiff’s
7. Wanting a great supported ride through some beautiful pine woods just outside of ATX? Check out Pedal Thru the Pines! http://tiny.cc/VxI4q
8. Austin Bike Culture Calendar Events: 3/4- 3/10/10 http://tiny.cc/Ktse2
9. I’ve been criticized for never covering BMX in ATX. Turns out the city is building a new BMX/skate park: http://tiny.cc/aoHnj via @ATXBS
10. Have you RSVP’d for the @bikehugger SXSW Mobile Social on Sat, Mar 13? It’s gonna be big! Over 1350 have RSVP’d on FB. http://tiny.cc/i4k5G
11. Gotta get me one of these: Beer Can Bottle Cage Love http://tiny.cc/sq3EQ (via @BikeHugger)
12. Duh! RT @alttransport: British Govt: More car ownership, less walking and biking factors behind rising obesity: http://bit.ly/97hXaJ
13. RT @DrivewayRaces Full & 1/2 season passes available for ‘10 Series. Race more 4 less money! Info under the Season Pass http://bit.ly/bTj79p
14. APD Chief Acevedo returns for second forum with the cycling community http://tiny.cc/cLgzD
15. Yikes. Saudi youth purposely plow down British cyclist and UK embassy says no foul play, it was accident. http://tiny.cc/7IdEK Continue reading →

In case you haven’t been following the site in the last week, the 2010 North American Handmade Bicycle Show was held last weekend in Richmond, VA and ended with the exciting announcement that the show is coming to Austin in 2011. This will be our chance to see some of the finest crafted bicycles made in the world today.

As another preview of what’s coming to town, this short video of the 2010 show was put together by attendee Michael Wendell.

2010 North American Handmade Bicycle Show from Michael Wendell on Vimeo.

Can’t wait for 2011!

Austin on Two Wheels is a sponsor of the Pedal Thru the Pines ride this Saturday, March 6 and encourages everyone who wants to participate in a great supported ride through some of the most gorgeous park land in the Austin area to get out there this weekend.

The Pedal Thru the Pines crew will be here in Austin today at Nelo’s Cycle (8108 Mesa Dr # B105 just north of Spicewood Springs Rd) until 7 PM doing packet pickup and late registration. The ride will go through Bastrop and Buescher State Parks with distances of 16, 27, 50 or 65 miles and is an BP MS 150 recommended ride. Registration is $40 and can be done in person on Saturday morning from 6:30 to 8:30 AM if you can’t make it to Nelo’s today.

It should be a beautiful next couple days to get out and ride before rain rolls into town on Sunday. There’s lots of fun events going on this weekend including the first charity ride of the season, Pedal Thru the Pines, what will probably be the biggest Thursday Night Social Ride in months tonight (with training before hand for potential ride leaders) and the hot, hot, hot release party on Sunday for The Dropout’s third issue featuring Austin pinups on bikes. If you don’t get enough titillation on Sunday, the Bike Porn film festival will be making a stop in Austin on Wednesday night.

Here’s a quick run down of recommended events for the coming week from our comprehensive calendar of all cycling events. Thanks to Jason at ATXBS for letting us know about some events we couldn’t find elsewhere. As always, if there is an event you know about that’s not on our calendar contact us, and we’ll add your event on and possibly add it to the weekly round up.

Thursday, March 4

Thursday Night Bike Polo
5:30 PM, Eastwoods Park, 3001 Harris Park Ave
The Austin Bike Polo Club’s weekday match. All bikes and skill levels are welcome and spare mallets and balls are available if you don’t have any. Check out our recent article on bike polo for more info.

Social Cycling ATX Rider Leader training
6:30 PM, The Scoot Inn, 1308 E. 4th St. (Corner of 4th and Navasota)
Ever wanted to help out on the popular Social Cycling ATX Thursday Night Social Ride or other social rides. Show up for a brief training and join in on the ride later.

Thursday Night Social Ride
7:30 PM, The Scoot Inn, 1308 E. 4th St. (Corner of 4th and Navasota)
A ride from the Facebook group Social Cycling ATX. that has gotten so big it had to abandon the Pfluger Bridge start location. Meet  at 7:30 p.m. leave at 8 p.m. Details on this week’s ride: “TA nice social cruise around town with a stop at a park for some bike games. Once we are through riding around, we are heading to Creekside Lounge where will have a DJ and some free beer for us on the outside patio. We will be able to bring our bikes onto the patio as long as space permits.” Read our recent article on the popular weekly ride.

Friday, March 5

Fabulous Fixed First Friday (Alleycat)
6 PM, Capitol Grounds
The first Friday of the month means Fabulous Fixed First Friday alleycat races sponsored by Fast Folks. Bring $5 and a fixed gear bike to race. No bag required this month. Come and cheer even if you don’t plan to race so you can start your weekend right. There will be an afterparty but you have to come to find out where.

Saturday, March 6

Pedal Thru the Pines
Bastrop High School, 1700 Chambers St, Bastrop, TX
The 8th Annual Pedal Thru The Pines hosted by the Family Crisis Center invites you to participate in a fun filled day that supports the Center’s vision of a safe community built on equality without the existence of violence. Cyclists will enjoy traversing the beautiful Loblolly Pines of Bastrop and Buescher State Parks and the surrounding country roads of Bastrop, Fayette and Lee counties. The routes provide a unique experience for cyclists of every level. Well stocked rest stops, friendly volunteers and a top notch veteran SAG Team add to the success of this must do event. Distances of 16, 27, 50 or 65 miles (on paved roads).

Mellow Johnny’s Scout-A-RideMueller Meander
9:30 AM, Mellow Johnny’s, 400 Nueces St
Saturday mornings spent exploring City of Austin bike routes finding new neighborhoods and ways to get around on your bike.  Today’s ride cruises through the east side to check out the new Mueller development then visits Cherrywood before returning. These rides are meant for exploring so bring your questions and leave your heart rate monitor at home. Come by at 9:00 for coffee. Ride organizer: Eileen Schaubert at eileen@mellowjohnnys.com or 512-426-4851.

Mountain Bike Skills Clinic
9:30 AM, Pure Austin Quarry Lake, 210 W. Braker Ln
As part of the PURE Austin FITNESS EXPO, bring your mountain bike and join Bicycle Sport Shop’s 2010 Mountain Bike Team for a riding skills clinic and bike maintenance class at Pure Austin!  Learn how to bunny hop, ride over logs, pop your wheel over a curb, ride obstacles and much more!  Also learn to change a flat and the basics of bike maintenance.  Come meet our team and learn more about the Bicycle Sport Shop club team and join them beginning at noon for team member-led mountain bike rides at Walnut Creek! RSVP here.

SkelliCyclists Poker Pub Crawl Pirate Ride
3 PM, The Draught House, 4112 Medical Parkway
The SkelliCyclists Bike Club is putting on this rogue ride with a chance to win prizes and treasure. Come dressed as a pirate and bring $3 if you want to play poker for the booty. Arrr!

Continue reading →

The weather outside may have been cold and stormy, but the reception from the cycling community to Austin Police Department Chief Art Acevedo was warm at last night’s forum at One Texas Center. The forum was a follow-up on last year’s meeting with the Chief, the first of its kind in Austin, and was sponsored by the Austin Cycling Association, Bicycle Advisory Council, Bike Texas, League of Bicycling Voters, and Austin Yellow Bike Project. The forum began with pre-selected questions from a panel chosen by the sponsors and then opened up to questions from the general audience.

In the past, the cycling community has had many issues with APD including a belief that cyclists are not treated fairly and that officers are ignorant of the law as it applies to cyclists. Chief Acevedo took these criticisms to heart and the department developed a training specifically on bicycle law that the entire department took and was tested on this last year. An updated training was done when the safe passing law went into effect. He also helped quantify how much cyclists are being ticketed for traffic offenses. In 2009, out of the 257,000 traffic citations generated by APD officers, 671 citations or .3% were written to cyclists. In addition, it was mentioned that 1 citation has been made so far on the new safe passing ordinance.

The department is also looking at more transparency with the public on traffic enforcement. Beginning in late spring or early summer, data on crashes and citations will become available online through the APD website for analysis and reports. APD is also working on a frequency asked questions section on bicycle law to help clarify to all road users what bicycles are legally allowed and expected to do. Finally on the online front, a bicycle serial number registration system will go live in the next month as an anti-bike theft program for the city.

A few questions about bike law and its enforcement did come up during the meeting as well. Several questions involved a cyclist’s right to the road and avoiding tickets for impeding traffic. Essentially, if cyclists cannot ride at the pace of traffic they should remain in the right lane on a multi-lane road or as far right as is safe on a single lane road. It was mentioned that you are not required by Texas law to ride in a bike lane if present. It was recommended, but if conditions meant the bike lane was not safe, riding in a regular lane of traffic is acceptable. Also covered were the legality of a track stand versus putting a foot down (no foot required if the bike comes to a complete stop) and drinking and riding (riding a bike drunk is a Public Intoxication offense which does not require a blood alcohol test and can result in arrest and vehicle impoundment.) Continue reading →