Kenneth C. Martin Blogs: The Monday Roundup: E-bike criticism, peak bike, cheat the wind, and more

Monday, July 16, 2018

The Monday Roundup: E-bike criticism, peak bike, cheat the wind, and more

Welcome to the week! Here are the best links we came across in the past seven days…

Sponsored by Efficient Velo Tools: Don’t trust traffic – scan your surroundings with the Safe Zone Helmet Mirror.

Stay in the pack: A study on wind resistance in a large cycling peloton demonstrates that a rider in the middle of the pack gets a minuscule 6 percent of the wind resistance they’d face riding on their own.

Two ways to kill dockless bike share: The City of Chicago said bikes from dockless giant Ofo must be locked to something (not just themselves). So Ofo picked up their ball and went home. In Australia, it was the mandatory helmet requirement that scared Ofo off.

Copenhagenize, the e-bike critic: Famed urbanist and media producer Mikael Colville-Andersen got into hot water for a tweet that denounced e-bikes and the people who use them.

Peak bike: Bike industry insider Rick Vosper says the baby boomers who fueled biking in the past half-century will leave the market and are not likely to be replaced.

Counterpoint: In response to Colville-Andersen’s tweet, Modacity made the case that e-bikes portend a much more inclusive future for cycling.

Uber and Lime team up: The latest turn in the very windy dockless scooter and bike road is a major partnership between Uber and Lime.

Cars are bad, reason #1,358: A major new study finds that particulates from cars are worse than thought and can lead to diabetes for people who live close to busy roads. (Another reason why it’s unconscionable for ODOT to expand I-5 adjacent to Tubman school in north Portland).

A jacket. Seriously: Ford — the company that makes and sells some of the most unsafe, unnecessary SUVs ever to hit the market — made a bike safety jacket.

Interested but concerned cops: In Denver, bike-mounted police officers admit that they ride on sidewalks because they are afraid of sharing the roadway with drivers.

Vancouver coming to grips: Not a surprise what’s causing a rise in collisions in Vancouver — but at least the City seems to have identified the problem and some solutions.

E-scooter must-read: Michael Andersen writes that Portland’s 25-cent per ride charge to e-scooter operators should be a boon for bikeways.

Lazy Danes: It’s amazing how behaviors shift when you make biking more convenient than driving.

Denver advocates get loud: Advocates in the mile-high city have started to use a “public health crisis” framing as a way to create urgency around improving access for bikers and walkers.

Car companies are evil: U.S. car companies don’t care about anything but profit and their attempt to stave off safety regulations for driverless cars is just the latest example.

“Shared active transportation”: NACTO has released a very useful guide to managing dockless bike and scooter programs.

— Jonathan Maus: (503) 706-8804, @jonathan_maus on Twitter and jonathan@bikeportland.org

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