Back in 2011 a family of four came into the shop to buy their first bike. Their experience is documented at length — a worthwhile read to the cargo bike curious.
To the kid wrangling parents out there: know that the Minute stood up to the “How will we feel about this after 6 months?” test. We all know kidproofing is tough stuff. So, thanks Kona. You did well.
If you’re curious, here are the full specs on the 2013 model Kona Minute.
Cheers.
Just around the corner from the shop is Problem Library. This Saturday, it presents a coming together of 5 artists.
Olivia Ward will bring monsters
Shane York will bring embroidered beauties
Geoffrey Colburn will offer a sampling of his catalogue of cast offs
Jasper Sanidad will bring us pictures to ponder
Rick Kenciano will bring armored guardians
Come for art, drinks, & good people.
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We’ve been working on putting this show together for a few months. Olivia has been painting and cutting and pasting and Shane has been poking needle through cotton millions of times over. Geoffrey and Jasper have been collecting their images and videos to show. Rick has been painting his hoodies for years — now’s the time to share them.
We’re looking forward to this; can’t wait to see y’all.
Saturday, May 18th, 2013 @ 8pm
Problem Library
1288 15th Ave
San Francisco, CA 94122
RSVP on Facebook
For those curious, this is what brakes that cost $1,125.00 look like:
By way of the aptly named Campagnolo Delta Brakes blog.
The burning question: what’s so great about Delta brakes?
INNER SUNSET community-wide block party on the school blacktop on 6th Ave (b/t Judah and Irving).
“ACTIVE FAMILIES” THEME so bring your bikes!
- FOOD TRUCK
- BIKE/SCOOTER/TRICYCLE RACES for Kids
- FREE BIKE MAINTENANCE by Everybody Bikes
- “Two-wheeler” Training for kids
- A ton of FREE BALLOONS
- Water Balloon toss, and more.
HAVE FUN AND GET TO KNOW YOUR COMMUNITY!
This is open to the community, and neighbors are invited to help contribute activities, games, and ideas.
East Coasters, New Yorkers, bright color lovers, fans of the early years of bike racing, unite.
Bike lights,
night lights:
red light,
white light.
We want lights.
They are for the night.
We need one red.
We need one white.
But which light?
I’ve had several compliments on my Serfas Thunderbolt. Here’s the rear/red light.
An array of LED’s — its battery is decent, and it’s USB-charged. Best of all: it’s bright.
It’s in the shop now!
Recycling circuit boards in developing countries where electronic waste is abundant, may now be available through pedal power due to the Bicyclean invention, instead of using current harvesting methods which are dangerous to both people and the environment.
I love steel. That said- I find this project fascinating not for its’ perfection, but for the pure amount of innovation behind it. I watched this video first on Hyperallergic.
I left San Francisco to bike through France and now I’m in Berlin, Germany visiting a friend. Berlin is exploding with creativity and innovation with their rapidly growing start-up tech scene. This is not the only city nor field full of innovation in Europe right now, though. This video is going viral in Europe right now. Two young women from Sweden have been researching bicycle collisions for 7 years and have developed an invisible helmet.
Bicycle culture in Europe is much different than in San Francisco. The majority of riders are not solely young people. I regularly see people of all ages, from children as young as 7 with front and rear panniers touring with their families, to women in their 80′s who don’t look particularly sporty, they just simply ride their bike to get around. Another stark difference is that 99 percent of city bikes that I see are cruisers. Everybody rides cruisers! Another difference is that tourers in Europe favor a mountain bike touring hybrid set-up over road bikes. The relevance of bicycling remains the same across the globe though. As one of the entrepreneurs in the short film says, “Cars are so yesterday. Bikes are the future.” Safety concerns also remain the same, especially for city dwellers so this invention could be an exciting addition to bicycle culture. There have been critical comments already, which is not a bad thing when it comes to your safety. Another remarkable difference between American cycling culture and in Europe is that people here very rarely wear helmets while riding even while touring or road riding. So in this case, something may be better than nothing. See for yourself here.
I’m satisfied: this is my second pedal/clip/strap setup using these components. Everybody has different requirements for a pedal setup. A good balance of comfort, quality and style is what I seek. Comfort, for me, means a good tolerance for both downward and upward force on one’s feet. Quality and style are all about the materials and the design.
Take a look:
The combo
MKS Sylvan Touring pedals
MKS LL (biggest size) single strap cages (double should work fine too, but hasn’t seemed necessary so far)
Plemons straps
The comfort is the result of a combination of elements.
Surface area
A lot of surface area — get as much foot-on-pedal action as possible with the Sylvan Touring, MKS’s biggest pedal. When I first tried this setup my clips weren’t big enough (the sizes available are S, M, L and LL). I was using the L size and my foot sat too far back on the pedal. Indeed, you must make sure your foot is sitting right, and it might take trying out a size or two.
Leather upper
The leather upper that sits under the top of the clip is critical. In most setups like this I see the leather placed over the clip — I tried that for about a day before I realized it was a decision based solely on style (it’s nice to look down at clean piece of leather). Flip it around like you see in the picture — you’ll be happy.
Quality leather
Finally, and the quality of the Plemons leather makes getting in/out easy, they wear well, and when pulling up in your pedal stroke it feels nice on your feet — no odd and uncomfortable points of pressure.
We have the pedals and the clips at the shop. Ask Mike or Millen to put in an order for some Plemons straps.
