Copenhagen

This is an interesting web site: http://www.copenhagenize.com/

It's a bike blog but it's full of interesting stories and worth a bookmark for revisiting every now and then.

Tandem braking article

This article about braking on tandems is interesting in itself, particularly if you ride a tandem, but Thorn, a UK bike building company, is well worth a look at for rugged solos and tandems they build.

And for the keen tandemists, Thorn are the world's supplier of 48 spoke Rohloff hubs, which they do sell to Australia, as with their bikes, if you ask nicely and send a few dollars over too.

Take a look at this article and at the Thorn site:

Tandem braking: http://www.thorncycles.co.uk/tandembraking.html

Thorn home page: http://www.thorncycles.co.uk/index.html

A new school bus

For Queensland Transport, or the larger family, comes a new Dutch bike for carrying 'a few' children around.

This should be the next P&C fund raiser objective at every Queensland school. Parents can take it in turns to garage the bike and pick up their fares.

Take a peek at the latest transport revolution:
http://workcycles.com/workbike/bicycles/bakfiets.nl/bakfiets.nl-cargobike-extra-long.html

TBUG shirt design?

Place mouse on shirt and click to see a bigger picture.

See previous link for details:
http://toowoombabug.blogspot.com/2009/07/talking-point.html

Two cycle from Oxford to Sydney

Here is the first episode of a fourteen part Youtube series that records the travels, thoughts, trials and tribulations of a young couple who cycled from the UK to Australia.

Not a bad effort, for a pair who really did not cycle much beforehand.

There, but for the size of the task, go many other people.

Watch this one, and then see if you want to watch the rest.

It is compelling viewing, and each episode is only about 7 minutes long.

The postscript episode catches up with the pair, living in NSW seven years after stopping their ride at the Opera House, with two children and one more on the way, still living simply, still with their well travelled bikes, and still trying to keep their 'footprint' down.

Well worth episode one anyway:
http://www.mefeedia.com/entry/episode01-bike2oz-oxford-to-amsterdam/14657497

More trips by bike than car-Amsterdam not Toowoomba

Amsterdam: More Trips by Bike than by Car
The bicycle is the means of transport used most often in Amsterdam. Between 2005 and 2007 people in the city used their bikes on average 0.87 times a day, compared to 0.84 for their cars. This is the first time that bicycle use exceeds car use.

In 2006 the inhabitants of Amsterdam engaged in some 2 million trips a day, an 8% reduction compared to 1990. This is due to the number of trips per person per day falling from 3.6 to 3.1%. The number of transfers has fallen in the old city within the ring road in particular.

The number of trips by car, compared to 1990, has fallen in all districts (-14%), whereas the number of trips by bicycle has only risen within the ring road (+36%). The bike is used most often in the town centre (41% versus an average of 28%) and the car least often (10% versus an average of 28%). This can be attributed to the restrictive parking policies enacted here since the 1990s.

‘Dienst Infrastructuur en Beheer’, the infrastructure department of the city registered approximately 235,000 car movements in both directions at the city centre in 1990; by 2006 this had fallen to 172,000, a decrease of over a quarter. Over the same period the number of daily movements by bicycle rose from 86,000 to over 140,000 (+60%).

Published @ 23-06-2009
See the whole web page:
http://www.bike-eu.com/

Mini electronic bike horn

Who knows how good this is?

But it might be worth a try:
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Mini-Electronic-Bicycle-Bike-Cycling-Loud-Horn-NEW_W0QQitemZ400055490911QQcmdZViewItemQQptZAU_Sport_Cycling_Accessories?hash=item5d252a595f&_trksid=p3286.m20.l1116