Photo credit : Steve of Cool Breeze Cyclery

Last week was the National Bike Summit in Washington D.C. .  Due to being in rainy Florida, I couldn’t attend.  I’ve tried to list the best round up from across the web that I could find for all of you that may not have been keeping up with minute by minute happenings.

Round up across the blogosphere

Bike Portland had one of the most comprehensive list of articles, they were there in sponsorship by Planet Bike. Make sure to check out both sites.

Voices from the National Bike Summit on Streetfilms

WashCycle didn’t attend but has a good review for all

As a bike commuter it has really cut down our family cost on every day things.  This morning while reading Treehugger.com they have a $$ saved article, and it got me thinking. How much as cyclist do we really save.  After all the the money spent on the gear, bikes, and extra food.  Do we break even?

My example (Prices guesstimated):

Biking :

Salsa Casseroll – $900
Rear Rack – $45
Panniers/backpack – $100
Helmet – $50-100
Lights – $40-100
Misc clothes per month – $40

Car :

Monthly payment – $250-350
Insurance – $75
Gas per month – $100

Now, we aren’t talking about carbon footprint, extra health, less health expenses and such.  In the end, the fact my family can have one car instead of two (family of two adults, two children and two dogs) and get around okay works very well.  We live in suburbia, and I have a 4 mile bike commute to work every day

What’s your story?

Google Maps, my go to website for directions and maps, has now added “biking” for directions. Prior to this update you could only select car, public transit and walking for mode of travel.  Google would then calculate the best route, distance and time dependent on your mode of transportation.

Quickly looking at my home town of Charlotte, NC, this morning, you can see a few different colored lines.  The dark lines seem to be the bike paths or greenways in the area and the dotted lines are what I think to be bike friendly roads.

Anyone who has ever tried to bike across San Francisco knows the value of a good bike map in helping to avoid 200-foot hills and city streets that behave more like freeways. Google Maps users have created their own bike maps for cities like New York and Minneapolis, but Google itself hadn’t taken that step until now.

Google obtained much of its data from the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy in putting together the maps, and will have detailed information on bike routes in 150 U.S. cities as of Tuesday night’s launch, said Shannon Guymon, Google Maps product manager.

Bikers will be able to find bike-only paths, bike lanes on city streets, and bike-friendly streets when searching for directions using the tool. Google will also include an estimated travel time alongside the results that factor in hills and fatigue.

Source : CNet.com

Learn more at http://maps.google.com/biking and Google Maps “Bike There.”

A little preview of the Raleigh Clubman that we recently took in for review. In this 6 minute clip we go through the basics of unboxing a bicycle.

A colorful duck Cotton Canvas bag with an minimalistic approach to a messenger bag.

Details from the company

Tucker & Bloom Simple Messenger Bag
MSRP : $99

Made from 100% Duck Cotton Canvas, with optional water resistant backing.
Adjustable strap inside of flap for fastening a bike lock, newspaper, or umbrella.
Removable cross-strap for biking
Heavy duty cam buckle or metal slide adjuster on shoulder strap
Rugged metal alloy quick release buckles on flap.
Exterior pocket on flap for easy access to cell phone, mp3 player, or keys.
Front organizer panel with pockets for pens, business cards, wallet etc.
Roomy main chamber.
16″ Long X 11.5″ High X 3.5″ Deep.

*Prior to releasing this article, Tucker & Bloom contacted us to tell us that the bag will now be available in ballistic nylon

Some Finer Details

To Be Continued

This bag is still under testing, especially as we move into spring.  We feel this bag may not be for everyone, especially the die hard commuter looking for a ton of function.  This will be more suited for those looking for style and a basic ability to carry.

If you have questions, size concerns or anything else you would like to be added to our testing please let me know!  Girly@BikeShopGirl.com

This product was given to me at no charge for reviewing.  I was not paid or bribed to give this review and it will have my honest opinion or thoughts through out. Read more on our review disclaimer.

The bicycle shop I manage, Cool Breeze Cyclery, and sister store, Trek Bikes of Charlotte, have brought in a fleet of the new electric assist bikes, Trek Ride+.  One of these, the FX+ is a demo bike that our co-owner with an engineering background took for this past weekend.  Below is his original experience.  We will be trying out this bike ourselves, as well as possibly building up our own with the Bionx or E-Bike Kit.

Trek FX+

The new Trek E Ride bikes arrived last week so I took the demo bike home for the weekend. This FX+ model is very normal looking at first glance with all the great Trek features built into the 7.5FX, including the carbon front fork. Taking a closer look, you’ll find a high torque pancake electric motor laced into the rear wheel, a battery pack slid into the rear rack and a controller / dash board mounted like a cycling computer to the handle bar. The concept is very much like the hybrid electric cars, difference being that the rider still provides the base engine, meaning that you still must pedal this bike. Just like the hybrid cars, the electric motor provides a power boost. In the case of the E Ride bike, you can choose to boost your pedaling power by 10, 20, 30 or 40%. The bike senses your pedaling effort just like the crank mounted high end power meters, but does it with sensors built into the rear axle. Again, just like the hybrid cars, the bike employs regenerative braking going downhill to recharge the batteries.

How did it ride?

I live in a really hilly neighborhood so I let my wife ride the bike while I road my high end road bike. Her personal bike is the same 7.5 FX used as a platform for the e-Ride bike and she always walks it up the first hill which is about an 8% grade. Knowing this we set the boost to 40% and she road up this same hill with very little effort and a huge smile…the result of a feeling of accomplishment for having finally conquered that hill. After waiting for me at the top of the hill….Ummm…not sure I’m liking this feeling….we continued for the next hour to attack every hill in the neighborhood. After an hour we had used about 15% of the battery charge. To put the bike away, I rode it up my drive way which is a 10% grade and again the feeling of the power boost is simply amazing…it is smooth and predictable and simply flattens the hills for the rider. Bottom line… this bike absolutely leveled the climbing ability between us and in the case of our neighborhood made the family ride even a possibility. Now we’re thinking about a Blue Ridge Parkway ride… By the way, the bike can also be set add up to 40% to your pedaling effort for the same feeling and effect of riding a bike in a trainer, but that’s another story.

- Steve Doolittle, Co-owner of Cool Breeze Cyclery and Trek Bikes of Charlotte.

While at NAHBS one of the busier booths all three days was that of Brompton.  Brompton is a folding bicycle company out of West London, England.  They are actually built in England and take great pride of their English background.  Their bikes span a wide spectrum and meet many peoples needs for the folding bike market.

Brompton also holds a bicycle race in England, they call it a World Championship.  I will call it amazing entertainment.  Guys and gals in tweed or full suits, with racing shoes and helmets going full speed on these mini wheeled Bromptons.  This year they will be holding a U.S. Championship in Philadelphia, PA on March 20th.

Brompton US Championship 2010

The Philly Phlyer Collegiate and USA Cycling Race Weekend are pleased to host the first annual Brompton US Championship. Registration is now open; there are only 100 places available,      these will be administered on a first come first served basis.

The race is to be held on Saturday 20th March, 2010, at the Memorial Hall, West Fairmount Park, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.

The event is inspired by the British based Brompton World Championship, currently in its fifth year; the US event is a qualifier of sorts, the fastest male and female riders will win flights and entry to the UK event in October.

Read more over at Brompton.co.uk

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Thanks to covering the North American Handmade Bicycle Show for Versus.com I was able to get a few really good one on one interviews with builders that may never of happened. Here is the first with Sacha White of Vanilla Workshop.

Thanks to Brad from UrbanVelo.org for the use of his photo for official business.

Amazing coverage of the North American Handmade Bicycle Show February 26-28, 2010.  Make sure to add us on Twitter for the latest show news.

You’ll be able to find more photos over at my Flickr set for 2010 NAHBS.

Amazing coverage of the North American Handmade Bicycle Show February 26-28, 2010. Make sure to add us on Twitter for the latest show news.