Brooklyn by Bike

[Hey did you see we have a new ride to Queens Aug 15th to eat our way through the street food carts? Join us!]

“Summer Streets takes place on consecutive Saturdays August 7, 14 and 21 from 7:00 am – 1:00 pm. The 2010 route connects the Brooklyn Bridge with Central Park with recommended connections along low-traffic streets to the Hudson River Greenway, Harlem and Governors Island allowing participants to plan a route as long or short as they wish. This event takes a valuable public space – our City’s streets – and opens them up to people to play, walk, bike, and breathe. ” via NYC DOT

Don’t forget this year there will be dumpster pools on the streets! Three Dumpster pools will be located on the east side of Park Avenue between 40th and 41st Streets. The pools will be open 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. via NYT

Brush and Spoke is a simple art portal which features cycling art. There are “no critiques, no reviews, no opinions, just one post after the other of bicycle related art.” Ed, the creator of the site goes by, the less obtrusive the better. On the site you’ll find large examples of art, with a link to the source, along with those involved, and some tags to help better sort the content.

I was immediately drawn to the visual aesthetic of Brush and Spoke much like Hufnagel Cycles and found quite a few items I’d like to purchase. Check it out for yourself and find the rest of my interview with Ed below.

Why cycling art?

My reasoning behind Brush & Spoke was pretty simple. I love art, bicycles and the internet. I own many genres of bicycles, and have been riding since I was a little kid. I was recently looking to decorate my office with some wall art, so I looked online and ran across a bicycle print by Anthony Cozzi titled Drop Sequence. I immediately purchased it, and continued searching online to see if there was a resource that feature that type of art elsewhere. Since I was unable to find one, I decided to build my own.

How do you find the art work you feature on your site and do you get a commission?

The process involved in finding the art that is featured on Brush & Spoke, is pretty hit or miss at the moment. I have a growing list of sites that I scour, looking for the latest bicycle related updates. From art blogs, to personal portfolios, to flickr groups, to twitter updates, I find myself looking anywhere and everywhere. There is also a submission form on the site, which I encourage my viewers to use as much as possible. It’s with their help that I have found out about some amazing art, and without them, I wouldn’t have had nearly as much content on the site, as I do now. There is currently no commission, or advertising system on the site.

Anything else to add?

If I could thank some of the sites/people that have made Brush & Spoke possible that would be great! UPSO @ http://upso.org ,Chris @ http://chrisforrette.com, Mikey K, and everyone @ http://yayhooray.com.

You can also find Brush and Spoke on Twitter @brushspoke.

Out in the heart of Queens there is a little known velodrome buzzing with track racers from the area. We rode out there this past Sunday to watch the New York state elite finals. Though most us of didn’t know the first thing about track racing (no brakes, no gears), a racer from MIT was kind enough to explain the matches and the rules.

[More photos are on Flickr. Were you on the ride? Add photos to our group pool! Our map of the ride is on Ride the City.]

That's MIT Mike on the right.

We learned a little something, got to watch the 20 lap races and meet some fantastic people on our way. Post ride we even had our second #bikenyc tweetup at Berry Park. As one of our riders put it, “cycling must really be marginalized if this is the big state event and you can’t even get a sandwich.” It’s true. We could all stand to support our local cycling community a bit more and I definitely recommend you check out the Kissena velodrome. They have some upcoming labor day events. It’s unlike anything you’ve seen.

A few years back you couldn’t get me to wear a helmet. I thought they looked stupid and didn’t really believe they’d do much good in the event of an accident. Then I had this friend who kept nagging me, like really nagged me every time we saw each other. I respected this friend and thought fine, I’ll wear one and I’ve been wearing one ever since. I guess you could say I’m easily swayed by my peers.

Now days I’ve been rethinking my stance on helmets. Now this isn’t to say I’m about to stop wearing one. I ride on heavily trafficked NYC streets and figure if I hit something I’d rather it be helmet before  my head but I don’t think helmets should be mandated. Rather I think they should be a matter of personal choice and this is coming from someone who has a sticker that reads “You’d look hotter in a helmet” or her helmet. If folks are educated on the issue and choose not to wear a helmet, who cares. Sometimes I ride my bike really slow in the park without a helmet. It might be time to take my sticker off.

Oh yeah and then there is this graph that’s been making the internet rounds about how as more people ride bikes, the less dead cyclists we have on the road.

Ah, the old helmet debate. If you read Copenhagenize you know they are all anti-helmet law and I’m going to agree with them here – though we still don’t agree on that wear your work clothes to commute thing

Your two cents?

Women’s Specific Design, you know flowers and pastels plastered all over equipment designed for us. You’re into it right? Didn’t think so.

Yesterday I decided to spend my lunch break at the local bike shop testing a few different road models. I’ve been in the market for a new bike a decided to ask the shop what they would recommend for long commuting/short touring. They pointed me in the direction of the female specific frames. It’s not the first time I’ve seen these things with their unique geometry. I’m glad companies have started to take note on the differences in our size, but it’s the design that makes me vomit. Yesterday I rocked the Specialized Dolce around midtown, a purple bike with flowers. I’m 25 years old. Take a look.

Specialized Dolce: In case your lady spirit wasn't already satisfied by the pastel color scheme, check out the flowers on the tubes and fork.

Trek 7200 WSD: Purple flowers are a go.

Alright I admit my tastes are unique (I do enjoy Men’s Pocky after all) but the ladies and gentlemen on twitter had much to say regarding the female design issue with 17+ replies in one day!

@JohnFriedrich It’s often embarrassing to show a pink bike laden with flowers to an educated woman who earns 3x what I do.

@ihateangellamke girly bikes are why I’ve always owned men’s bikes. That and being tall/long-limbed.

That’s right manufacturers, we don’t appreciate the flowers. Please take note. I’d actually like to know how a female specific design comes to fruition. Is there a focus group? Are there female designers? Who is designing this ugly crap? Misaligned cycling designs for women speak a thousand words about a woman’s place in the cycling industry. Don’t even get me started on the apparel industry…

Team Estrogen: Because I rock all pink too