Author: Ken Steinhoff

Posted on

Jack the Bike Man Attacked by Thugs

levitra priceitle=”Jack the Bike Man’s Bicycle Shop at 4401 Broadway, West Palm Beach, FL” src=”http://www.palmbeachbiketours.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/Jack-the-Bike-Man_8930-500×332.jpg” alt=”” width=”500″ height=”332″ />The anonymous tip came in close to midnight Tuesday night: someone was stealing bikes from Jack the Bike Man’s used bicycle business at 4401 Broadway in West Palm Beach. Police caught two juveniles near the scene and asked Jack to come see if he could identify the bikes. Indeed, he recognized one as being brought in the day before.

Jack found nothing amiss in his shop; he went outside to check a storage lot where there are hundreds of bicycles and parts waiting to be recycled. Robin Taylor-Greif, a volunteer in the store, said that Jack saw two more teens hiding under a stack of bicycles.

“He pulled out his cell phone and dialed 9-1-1,” she said. “He heard someone yell, ‘Don’t make that call!’ and they attacked. They took his cell phone and beat him, possibly with a tire pump. He thinks he popped one of them in the nose pretty good.”

Police have a good idea who the thugs are who attacked him. They potentially face charges of strong arm robbery.

He suffered a broken nose and wrist in the attack. He’s away from the office until after the first of the month, Robin said. Not because of the robbery and beating, but because he had a trip planned in advance.

Jack the Bike Man gives away hundreds of bikes

Jack is a well-know local character who has been recycling bicycles and giving them away to youngsters since the late 1990s. His charity, assisted by the Freakbike Militia and other volunteers gave away about 300 bikes to needy children at Christmas. “It would have been more – one year it was about 600 bikes ,” Robin said, “except that he didn’t have the funds this year.”

Community is responding

Tommy Horner, 14, showed up to volunteer after hearing about the attack, “That’s just not right.” Tommy, who lives in the neighborhood, said he’s been taking bikes apart and putting them together since he was five. He, also, has had his bike stolen, so he has little sympathy for the boys who were caught.

Posted on

Facebook Fan Page Promotes Cycle Violence

The first lesson I learned way back in the days of computer bulletin boards, way before anyone thought of the Internet, was Don’t Feed the Trolls.

Trolls are folks who post inflammatory or extraneous topics with the intention of provoking outrage and / or disrupting normal orderly discussions. Drop a helmet comment in just about any bike group, and you’ll soon have the group snapping at each other like a school of sharks going after chum thrown from a fishing boat, for example.

Bike groups have been gnashing their collective teeth at a new hate group Facebook fan page with the name, “There’s a perfectly good path right next to the road you stupid cyclist.” The page leads off with a picture of a cyclist being doored and a warning “My car is hard and I’m not slowing down.”

Bike Hate Fan Page

I did a pretty good job of ignoring it

I’ve just about given up on reading comments to news media stories involving bicycles. They quickly devolve into shouting matches between jerks on two wheels and jerks on four wheels and accomplish nothing. Media outlets, that used to require signed letters to the editor with IDs that were verified before printin, now care more about hits and traffic count than reasoned dialog, so they rarely step in.

Here an example from Iowa and North Carolina.

The road rage page is every bit as bad as described

Yep, it was as odious as everyone said. Some cyclists joined to provide a counterpoint, but they only raised the volume. Another group set up fan page to petition that the first one be shut down.

Many of us asked Facebook to remove the page for for violating the terms of service, specifically:

  • 6. You will not bully, intimidate, or harass any user.
  • 7. You will not post content that is hateful, threatening, pornographic, or that contains nudity or graphic or gratuitous violence.

The hate site is still up and has 34,907 members (up 300 from last night).

The pro-biker page has 27,699 members, up 1,829 from last night.

Hit the advertisers

Someone on one of the bike forums had a good suggestion: if Facebook won’t take the page down because of user protests, maybe they’d listen to the advertisers who show up in the sidebar of the page.

It’s not a really practical idea because the ads rotate, so it’s not like an advertiser KNOWS where his or her ad is going to show up, but I tried an experiment.

See the car ad at the top right of the screen shot?

I sent the following email:

To: custsvc@einsure.com
subject: Is this a site you want your ad next to?
From: Ken Steinhoff <ken@steinhoff.net>
Date: Sat, 09 Jan 2010 18:38:33 -0500

Facebook has a Fan Group that encourages violence to bicyclists. I noticed that your ad was displayed on it.

I encourage you to visit the page, read some of the comments, including the originator’s, “My car is hard, and I’m not slowing down!” accompanied by a photo of a cyclist being doored, and see if you think you want your company’s name associated with such content.

As an advertiser, you might have more influence than the cycling community in getting the page taken down.

After all, you are an auto insurance company. Wonder what the payout would be if one of your customers was a commenter on this site and ran over a cyclist?

Here’s an example of some of the content


Read the comments that follow the picture.

[Note: the link I had to the photo and comments has expired or it has been removed. The comments were more disturbing than the picture, if you can believe that. The photo is small because of offensive language.]

Thanks.

I’ll let you know if I hear anything from them.

Monday morning update

A Phred posted this update to the group:

It should be noted that while the group itself has not been removed, all the vicious postings by individuals that break the FB rules, have indeed disappeared. The group has now been overrun by cyclists and those who  stand by us. It has been reduced to mostly civil discussions, albeit, still  with some of the silly cursing and name calling, but just about all of the threatening content has been removed.

The name of the group is not in violation of FB rules, but some of the content is (was). That is why the group was not shut  down, and that is  why we must target specific posts in our reports to FB. What needs to be worked on now are the few  photos posted to the group that depict violence  toward bicyclists. We’ve almost got it licked!

Posted on

Adventure Cycling Will Be in W Palm Beach Jan. 14

The Adventure Cycling Association has been promoting bicycle touring since the Bicentennial Year. They produce a network of maps that will let you find your way across this country from just about any direction. I’ve been a member for nine years and I give out memberships as Christmas presents.

In addition to the maps, the ACA also leads tours, sells well-tested merchandise, publishes a magazine that causes you to want to hop on your bike and serves as a strong advocate for cyclists.

The ACA Executive Director will be here January 14

Jim Sayer (pictured here with his daughter) will be speaking to the Palm Beach County Bicycle, Greenway, Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BGPAC) on Thursday morning, January 14, from 10:15 to 11:30. The meeting will be at the Vista Center, 2300 N. Jog Rd., West Palm Beach.

Jim will be sharing the latest news on bicycle travel and adventures in North America (and perhaps beyond).

He’ll be looking to the year ahead, with new routes, trips, and policy and outreach initiatives to improve bicycling and bike travel in the U.S. There will also be time to talk about the economic and community benefits of bicycling, and to share cycling thoughts, ideas and stories.

Bret Baronak of the Metropolitan Planning Authority has asked Jim to cover some specific topics:

  • The development of the USA Bicycling Network
  • ACA’s interaction with the federal or state governments regarding transportation legislation and policy-making
  • And since you sit on the City of Missoula, MT BGPAC — a brief summary of some of the objectives and actions of the Committee that stand out as unique.  Our BGPAC is always looking for new and creative ways that we can get involved in carrying out the mission of non-motorized transportation planning.  We have an interest into seeing what other BGPACs do, that may be unique, as that can help us formulate ideas and/or develop new initiatives.

Florida gatherings

Here’s a complete list of Florida gatherings.

Posted on

Matt Lovelace’s New Specialized Sirrus

Mike Lovelace on his new Specialized Sirrus

“I want a bike for about $350”

Son Adam said his buddy, Matt Lovelace, was looking for a new bike, but he didn’t have a lot of money to spend – about $350 – because he was a student working on his Master’s Degree in Biomedical Science.

I told Matt that my wife and I had started out with Trek Navigator 300 comfort bikes for about that price in 2001. “The most important thing is fit, not price. You’re 31, which is when you start losing the flexibility that let you ride an old yard sale bike you could pick up for $50 in your 20s.”

I suggested that he’d be better off going to a regular LBS, instead of a big box store, so he would be dealing with folks who understood bikes and riding.

Of course, he went to a big box store

He found a Diamondback Insight at a good price and was pleased with some of the reviews he found, but, fortunately, someone walked by who knew something about bikes and convinced him that it was the wrong size.

It was then that he “decided to spend my money on something that was the right fit,” and he ended up at Bicyclery on Military Trail south of Okeechobee Road in West Palm Beach.

“I had to have it”

There, he saw the Specialized Sirrus in a flat black color scheme. “It just felt right. I had to have it.”

The base bike cost him $520 plus tax, more than he had anticipated spending originally.

I told him before he started shopping that price was important, but to keep in mind the price of the bike spread out over its lifetime. If you think you’ll outgrow what the bike can do in about three to five years, divide the difference between what you planned to spend and what you want to spend and you’ll find out that it’s probably less than a cup of coffee a day.

Nice handlebar grips

I liked the feel of the Specialzed handle bar grips that are a little flatter than the normal round grip. I think they’ll be more more comfortable on a long ride.

A compromise on the front fork

This model bike has an aluminum front fork. To go to a carbon fork would have jumped him up a model and about another $100. He figured he could put up with a slightly stiffer ride for the dollar difference.

That was probably a good choice. He’s already talking about accessories: bib shorts, computer with cadance and, after today’s ride, a spare tube and some basic tools.

Florida sand spurs are nasty

He liked that the Sirrus comes with a wider tire so he could go on sand or gravel if he wanted to. He was demonstrating that on a ride with his friends this afternoon and scored his first flat when he picked up a sand spur.

The Specialize Sirrus meets his initial goals

Matt was looking for a bike that would let him ride in a more or less upright position while cruising parks and trails with his girlfriend. At the same time, he wanted one that would let him ride faster and longer if he wanted to go on longer rides with his friends.

He came back from his first group ride feeling like he had found a bike that would meet those requirements. The ride wasn’t that long, but he did manage to hit 26 mph for a stretch when they gave him a chance to see what it would do.

Posted on

Rear Video Camera Mount for Freakbike Ride

I’ve been slacking lately. I caught a nasty cold on Thanksgiving Day and have been fighting it ever since. I was only on the bike one day since the middle of November. I don’t even want to tell you my mileage for the year. Let’s just say it’s the lowest since I started riding in 2001.

The one ride I DID haul myself out of my sickbed to do was the Freakbike Militia’s Choppernite 26.

I want to see faces, not biker butts

This time I wanted to shoot video of more than biker butts, so I rigged a mount that would let my Canon FS100 video camera point behind me. It’s pretty ugly and I won’t leave it on the bike all the time, but it seems secure.

It’s made out of some 1/4″ aluminum stock I used to use for radio mounts. Two 1/4″ bolts through the aluminum and big washers underneath hold it to the Jandd Expedition rear rack.

I use a RAM mount with quick release to hold the video camera. Because I’m a belt-and-suspenders kind of guy, I drilled a hole in the mount for the lanyard attached to the camera. The RAM mount is solid enough to handle this bumpy ride, but it never hurts to be safe.

I wanted it mounted slightly ahead of the RealLite so it would be less likely to pick up flare from the flashing taillight. It needed to be off to the right enough that I could open the viewfinder.

So, how did the video camera mount work?

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to find out.

I pulled out of the driveway and noticed in the first 100 feet that a slight mist was in the air. I went back into the house to check the radar and saw a tight band of reds and yellows just off the coast and moving slowly to the southwest, in my direction.

I stuck a few Ziploc bags in my jersey pocket, took off the video camera and headed out. About two blocks from the house, the mist turned into rain, and I ducked under a building overhang to rig for bad weather. That’s when the skies REALLY opened up and the wind started howling.

I put the cameras in the plastic bags and pulled the waterproof covers over my Arkel small bar bag and Tail Rider trunk bag, dug out my Campmor rain cape and pulled on leg warmers because the winds were chilly. After about 20 minutes, the heavy rain and winds dropped off to a steady rain and I took off to the assembly point.

Stan of Wheels of Wellington shot this picture of me after the rain had slacked off and I had dropped the finger loops on the rain cape to be less like a sail. I resemble a big orange pumpkin going down the road, because I put the cape over the CamelBak M.U.L.E. I was wearing. What his photo doesn’t show is how the FlaskBak I was trying out caused the whole back of the cape to light up.

I’m one of those folks who actually likes riding in the rain. The brim of the rain cape extends out far enough that my glasses stay relatively dry and the fenders kept my legs dry except for a couple of flooded areas where I got a little water on my feet. THAT didn’t matter because I was wearing Shimano sandals.

How was Choppernite 26?

I’ve been holding off on writing this because I wasn’t sure what to say. I’ve really enjoyed the other Freakbike Militia events I’ve participated in. I went so far as saying the Summer of Love ride was the most fun group ride I’d ever been on. I said that even the motorists who were briefly inconvenienced seemed to pick up the good vibes of the ride.

I didn’t get that same good feeling on this one.

Let’s look at the good things first

  • Despite the rain, about 70 riders showed up.
  • Many of the bikes and riders were decorated and had ingenious lighting arrangements.
  • The “corkers” – riders wearing safety vests who blocked intersections for the group – were enthusiastic and effective. The vests are a nice safety touch.
  • The ride was raising money for a good cause.
  • The group had a lot of fun.

Things that made me uncomfortable

  • Despite earlier requests on the Freakbike Militia forum, some riders persisted in crossing the center line to ride in the lane with oncoming traffic. It’s inconsiderate, makes motorists cranky and is dangerous, particularly if the bike doesn’t have lights. Drivers are drawn to watch the spectacle going by and may not see the rider in their lane until it’s too late.
  • Too many bikes didn’t have lights. That’s not a big problem when they’re tucked in the middle of the group, but the group tends to fragment on the way back. It’s very dangerous on a rainy night when you have a mixture of lighted and unlighted bikes spread out on the roadway. If a driver is concentrating on watching the taillights, he or she can plow into an unlit bike.
  • Someone led the group to go westbound on eastbound Okeechobee from Flagler instead of a block north onto westbound Lakeview. I was set up to shoot the group going down the right street and was surprised to see everyone going the wrong way. THAT didn’t win any friends with the eastbound motorists.
  • The poor corkers caught a ration of honking when they blocked the intersection for a spread out group of riders who went the right way. It’s one thing to be stopped for 100 bikes, it’s another to be stopped for a handful.
  • To compound the problem, some of THOSE riders spilled over into the left-hand lane, igniting another chorus of honks.
  • Maybe it was because of the joyous Christmas season, but motorists seemed crankier and more impatient than usual.

Will I do another Freakbike Militia ride?

Yeah, probably. (If they’ll have me back after reading this review.)

I like the folks and this was the first bad experience I’ve had. Maybe I was just cranky because I was still half-sick; maybe the rain delay caused things to be even more disorganized than the usual a non-organized ride; maybe the motorists were in a rush to do Christmas shopping, who knows?

If I feel like the next ride is unsafe or that it’s pissing off people more than it’s promoting cycling, then I’ll have to re-evaluate.