Also! We have a new ride to Red Hook and Performa 11 this Saturday, Nov 12th. Come join!

Here’s my process when I lock my bike on New York City streets.

1. Look for a well lit, medium trafficked spot.

I often find a pole or rack in front of an establishment that has traffic going in and out such as a cafe, deli, restaurant. It also helps if the place has glass windows or outdoor seating. It give the impression that someone could be inside watching their bike.

I say medium traffic here because with so many people running around in a high traffic area, your bike is more likely to get scuffed or damaged. It is also easier for thieves to steal your bike when it is so busy. If you have basket on your bicycle, you will surely become a victim of trash basket!

2. Find a sturdy pole or bike rack.

I’m on the fence about locking to street signs. Often times there is no other choice so if you must, look for a strong pole. I always shake any fixture to see if it’s securely placed in the ground. If you lock to a regular street sign, look at the top to see that the sign is large and still secured to the pole. If not, a thief could throw your bike over the sign or worse, snap the sign in half. Bike racks are always your best bet.

3. Use a proper, heavy duty lock.

A buddy of mine whose bike was stolen on the Upper East Side was using a hardware chain and lock. The links were too easy to break and off went her bike.

In NYC I recommend using no less than a 1/2 in thick u-lock like the Kryptonite Evolution. This is the bare minimum. At $39.98 it’s a bargin for protecting your bike.

If you really want to the best lock, I recommend the Kryptonite New York Standard u-lock (pictured) at $58.11. U-locks are my favorite because I find them easier to carry around than chains. But many of my friends swear by their chain locks – just be sure it’s also a heavy duty one.

 4. Use your lock right!

Always lock your frame and back wheel to your location if possible. Locking your bike through this triangle is the most secure.

If you have wheels, make sure they are not quick release! A thief can make off with these in minutes. You can remove your wheels and lock as pitcured if they are quick release. But for city riding and easy I recommend changing to bolted skeweres or locking your wheels. I have my wheels locked with Pinhead skewers and have had no problems in three years.

5. Take everything extra off your bike.

Remove all your lights, panniers and bags from your bike. If your seat isn’t locked and is nice, consider locking it down. Make sure it isn’t quick release! My seat is locked with an old chain covered in a tube. Your lock bike shop can do this for you for about $10. Bike seat locks are also available.

Hal explains locking better than I ever could. Check out this oldie but goodie from Streetsblog, “Hal Grades Your Bike Locking 3: The Final Warning!”

Anything tips you want to add? Please do so in the comments!

TRAIF
Wednesday, May 25 · 7:00pm – 10:00pm

Tishman Auditorium
66 West 12th Street
New York, NY

By Julia Reagan (jreaganfilm@gmail.com)
Below the Williamsburg Bridge, on the borders of the Hasidic and hipster communities, Baruch Herzfeld sits in his bicycle repair shop and admires his 2,000+ friends on Facebook. This portrait examines a lovable antihero and his obsession with people and attention.

For more info: http://www.newschool.edu/eventdetail.aspx?id=58364

Featuring the work of:
Original Score: Jules Hollander
Sound Design: Scott Ferrara
Title Sequences: Edwin Santacruz (ilovemisery.co)
Poster: Jose Prieto (ilovemisery.co)

Facebook event is here.

Great artwork from Aaron Kuehn! [via ManMadeCreation]

Meet at Union Square south side (across from Whole Foods) at 7pm.

Dec 19th: Hosted by Times Up and joined by the DOB-C, a ride to check out the Christmas lights of  Dyker Heights.

Meet in Manhattan at 4:30 pm, across from the bicycle entrance to the Manhattan Bridge

Join us for a fun and leisurely ride to see the “miracle mile” of Christmas Lights and decorations in Dyker Heights, Brooklyn. The spectacular displays draw 150,000 visitors a year who come from as far away as Japan. So come prepared with bicycle bells ringing to the tune of Jingle Bells. Approx. 25 miles round trip.

I should start with a disclaimer. I am in love with Barcelona. It was by far and away my favorite of the cities I visited and cycled in on my trip. I arrived with some dreamy stereotypes in my head (ahem Vicky Cristina Barcelona – yeah I said it) and what I came away with was even more lovely than one Woody Allen film could depict! Ok so now that is out of the way, cycling culture!

I started my trip by meeting up with Txell from Barcelona Cycle Chic and Steven, a friend of hers from Pedal Messengers. They took me to rent a bicycle from My Beautiful Parking, a very cool bike shop in Barri Gotic (C/ Cervantes 5) where I got a lovely Fuji single speed for the next three days (15-35 Euros per day).

My new cycling friends and I went out for a night tour of the city where we mostly drank and ate for the next few hours…just my type of ride! We got to discussing the growing bike culture in Barcelona. The city installed Bicing, a bike share system in 2007 which helped launch bike culture in the city. Now Barcelona accounts for 10% of all Brompton sales!

You can see bike lanes and increasing numbers of cyclists around the city. Not to mention, Barcelona is the perfect size for commuting and has year round cycling weather. Because the culture is so new and fairly small, cyclists seem to unite together. I was hanging out with a a cycle chic blogger and a messenger and it wasn’t really a big deal. This is something you don’t find in NYC very often. It’a shame that we have our own pockets of bike groups here – commuters, messengers, racers, etc and very rarely do they intersect. One of the goals of my rides has been to bridge this divide!

I spent the next few days on my bicycle getting lost, cycling from one mountain to another and eventually to the beach. Everything in Barcelona is easily accessible and within 20-30min on a bicycle. Along the way I noticed that cars generally pay a little more attention to cyclists in BCN than in NYC and that cyclists here pretty much ride where they want. Bike theft is a problem just like any other city but people generally get away with using cable locks. To give you an example Steven locked his Cinelli frame to my Fuji and leaned it against a tree and we had no problems.

Overall Thoughts:

Barcelona is at a very exciting crossroads when it comes to bike culture! The newish bike culture makes for friendly cyclists and they ability to cycle in the narrowest of the old city roads…one of the coolest ways to get lost and see the city! But because the culture is new, look out for motorists who aren’t used to sharing the road.

I’m always going to recommend you spend a day on a bike in any city, but you should REALLY spend a day on a bike in Barcelona. It’s a smaller city with the perfect weather and great for cycling.

For more photos from the trip check out BrooklynbyBike on Flickr.

London is a city that reminds me a lot of New York. Our population and climates are similar but London rather than being built up feels more spread out. You would think this would lead to less congested cycling through the city, but the roads in London are quite narrow. Londoners warned me and said I wouldn’t enjoy the crazy drivers and traffic of the city but I laughed thinking NYC has to be much worse.

I rented a bike from On Your Bike mostly because of price (12 pounds/day can’t be beat). They had a cool, secure bicycle parking facility for commuters.  I was on a hybrid bike of which I saw many on the roads. London roads are mostly filled with road bikes, fixies and mountain bikes. There were very few dutch and cargo bikes.

London is in the midst of building out new cycling lanes just like New York. I found that even though the roads were narrow, drivers gave me more respect on the road. Taxis, well they were pretty much the same! I rode on poorly designed infrastructure similar to lanes on 6th Ave in Manhattan Midtown but I also road on segregated lanes next to sidewalks.

Riding across the Tower bridge is not for the faint of heart but highly recommended if you are comfortable with cycling in the city! The prevalence of high visibility vests and spandex on the roads was much higher in my opinion…less cycle chic! London is ahead of us though with their recently implemented Barclay’s bike share system (not open to visitors yet).

One of the highlights of my trip was meeting Andreas from London Cyclist. We meet up at a very cool, cycling store/coffee shop called Look Mum No Hands thanks to the London rain. Even though we didn’t have a chance to ride together, we got to discussing the exciting art of bike blogging! Check him out. He’s also got some cool iPhone apps.

Overall Thoughts:

London is dense and similar to cycling in NYC. Be prepared for the pollution, narrow roads and drivers that come along with it but get out there and ride. London is in the middle of a cycling infrastructure boom! Get your hands on a Barclays bike if you can.

Similar to NYC, if you take some time to research, you can find less crowed routes outside of the central area.

For my photos from the trip, check out Brooklyn by Bike on Flickr.

I could spend hours on this thing.

First up, we rode 3 miles on relatively safe and moderately hilly Orrs Mills Road to Storm King Arts Center. Storm King is a 500 acre sculptural garden that has a strange bike policy. You are allowed to park your bike inside the center but cannot ride it around. However, at $10/hr you can rent beach cruisers and ride around the garden. Needless to say we skipped that park and hiked about for a few hours until our legs gave out and then jumped on the tram. The park is beautiful and highly recommended.

Afterward we biked 4 miles south to Palaia Vineyard. The route was pretty hilly this time, but not painfully so. There were a whole group of cyclists on a vineyard tour when we arrived which was fun to see. The server there was stuck in the 50′s with his jokes but they had free wine tastings and lots of good bottles for sale…2006 Merlot FTW! They also have live music every night. Too bad we missed Meatloaf’s band this particular night to get back for the last train.

After the vineyard we decided to bike to Harriman Station 7.5 miles away. I expected this leg to take about an hour but since it was mostly downhill, we made it in around 30min. This route was along a highspeed road, through the outlet mall intersection and down a 4 lane curving high speed road. It isn’t the safest route, but it is the fastest and most direct way. If you are looking for something safer, head back to Salisbury Mills rather than Harriman.

Price of Trip = $34.50 also know as a cheap and fast getaway from New York City!

$22.50 – 2 way train ticket

$8 (student)-12 (regular) admission to Storm King

free wine tasting

Map Route - Click for directions

Thanks to Dan for the photos!

Laura and Russ sold everything about 14 months ago to travel by bicycle. Russ was a photographer in Los Angeles and Laura was a metalsmith (maker of the Bike Mustache and custom headbadges). They’ve been visiting bike cities like Portland, Tucson, Austin, etc. and meeting with advocates to get a feel of what cycling is like in the US. We want to show them how great the cycling community in NYC so come join! All are welcome.

The details are below. Click here for the Facebook Event Page. See you there!