Monday, July 13, 2009
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Friday, July 10, 2009
Fixed-gear bikes spark police crackdown in Berlin
They’re sleek, fast and illegal in Germany: fixed-gear bicycles. Marc Young reports on how trendy fixie riders have sparked a police crackdown in Berlin.
In a country where cyclists are expected to have a working bell on their bikes, it was probably only a matter of time before fixies fell afoul of the law in Germany.
Evolved from indoor track bikes with no gears and brakes, fixies have long been favoured by couriers and other cycling enthusiasts in big cities around the world. But a surge in popularity in Germany has prompted an unprecedented backlash by traffic cops in Berlin in recent months.
“Interest in fixies has exploded in the past two years,” said Dustin Nordhus, owner of the Cicli Berlinetta bike shop in central Berlin. “Everyone sitting in an office all day thinks they’re cool these days.”
Nordhus has filled his shop with gorgeous high-end racing bikes that are street legal, but he also makes custom track bikes for a growing market of fixie riders.
Since there’s no freewheel on a fixie, the pedals continue to rotate as long as the bike is moving forward. This means the rider either has to slow the bike by fighting the momentum or brake by locking up the back wheel to skid to a stop.
Seeing what they considered a growing danger to traffic safety, Berlin police announced this spring they would begin cracking down on fixie riders. Since only April, they’ve confiscated 18 bicycles.
“Fixies have become a real problem,” Rainer Paetsch, a Berlin police official for traffic issues, told The Local. “It wasn’t a hunt, but we decided to do something to undercut this trend.”
To get their bikes back, cyclists have to pay a fine and convince the authorities they won’t ride them on the street anymore – or at least show an inclination to install brakes on them.
“For all I care they can ride them in their backyards,” Paetsch joked. “We just want people to realise it’s too risky to ride them around the city. Then we’ll be content that we’ve helped improve traffic safety.”
Excessive enforcement?
But one rider who lost his bicycle last month said the police were taking the issue too far.
“This criminalisation is completely overdone,” Stefan, a 30-year-old bike courier, said on the edges of European Cycle Messenger Championship in Berlin in early June. “I was stopped by eight or nine cops who looked totally bored. I tried to tell them they were taking away how I make my living, but they didn’t seem to care.”
As an experienced track cyclist, he said riding a fixie actually made him more aware while negotiating city traffic. But he admitted many people are now buying fixies just because they’ve become cool.
“It’s the trendiness that’s the real problem,” Stefan said, adding that he was slapped with an €80 fine and three points on his driver’s licence for traffic violations.
But Benno Koch, Berlin’s official ombudsman for bicycle issues, said all the hype surrounding fixies had left the police with little choice but to crack down.
“I’ve been getting lots of calls from worried fixie riders,” he told The Local, explaining that he had been able to defuse the situation somewhat by hammering out the conditions cyclists can get their confiscated bikes back.
Koch admitted that most of the city’s hundreds of fixie riders were probably excellent cyclists, but warned others from joining the fixed-gear trend.
“The people that ride these bikes have to know what they’re doing,” he said. “And in my opinion fixies really ruin your knees. You’re not young forever, how far do you really want to follow the hype?”
But anyone still choosing to hop on their fixie in Berlin might want to consider getting a brake installed soon – the police will start their next round of citywide traffic checks in July.
In a country where cyclists are expected to have a working bell on their bikes, it was probably only a matter of time before fixies fell afoul of the law in Germany.
Evolved from indoor track bikes with no gears and brakes, fixies have long been favoured by couriers and other cycling enthusiasts in big cities around the world. But a surge in popularity in Germany has prompted an unprecedented backlash by traffic cops in Berlin in recent months.
“Interest in fixies has exploded in the past two years,” said Dustin Nordhus, owner of the Cicli Berlinetta bike shop in central Berlin. “Everyone sitting in an office all day thinks they’re cool these days.”
Nordhus has filled his shop with gorgeous high-end racing bikes that are street legal, but he also makes custom track bikes for a growing market of fixie riders.
Since there’s no freewheel on a fixie, the pedals continue to rotate as long as the bike is moving forward. This means the rider either has to slow the bike by fighting the momentum or brake by locking up the back wheel to skid to a stop.
Seeing what they considered a growing danger to traffic safety, Berlin police announced this spring they would begin cracking down on fixie riders. Since only April, they’ve confiscated 18 bicycles.
“Fixies have become a real problem,” Rainer Paetsch, a Berlin police official for traffic issues, told The Local. “It wasn’t a hunt, but we decided to do something to undercut this trend.”
To get their bikes back, cyclists have to pay a fine and convince the authorities they won’t ride them on the street anymore – or at least show an inclination to install brakes on them.
“For all I care they can ride them in their backyards,” Paetsch joked. “We just want people to realise it’s too risky to ride them around the city. Then we’ll be content that we’ve helped improve traffic safety.”
Excessive enforcement?
But one rider who lost his bicycle last month said the police were taking the issue too far.
“This criminalisation is completely overdone,” Stefan, a 30-year-old bike courier, said on the edges of European Cycle Messenger Championship in Berlin in early June. “I was stopped by eight or nine cops who looked totally bored. I tried to tell them they were taking away how I make my living, but they didn’t seem to care.”
As an experienced track cyclist, he said riding a fixie actually made him more aware while negotiating city traffic. But he admitted many people are now buying fixies just because they’ve become cool.
“It’s the trendiness that’s the real problem,” Stefan said, adding that he was slapped with an €80 fine and three points on his driver’s licence for traffic violations.
But Benno Koch, Berlin’s official ombudsman for bicycle issues, said all the hype surrounding fixies had left the police with little choice but to crack down.
“I’ve been getting lots of calls from worried fixie riders,” he told The Local, explaining that he had been able to defuse the situation somewhat by hammering out the conditions cyclists can get their confiscated bikes back.
Koch admitted that most of the city’s hundreds of fixie riders were probably excellent cyclists, but warned others from joining the fixed-gear trend.
“The people that ride these bikes have to know what they’re doing,” he said. “And in my opinion fixies really ruin your knees. You’re not young forever, how far do you really want to follow the hype?”
But anyone still choosing to hop on their fixie in Berlin might want to consider getting a brake installed soon – the police will start their next round of citywide traffic checks in July.
Marc Young (marc.young@thelocal.de)
Thursday, July 09, 2009
Specialized 29" Carbon Singlespeed
"What the? We're guessing this must be the personal bike of someone at Specialized. A carbon 29er frame with custom graphics, Spesh carbon cranks and a singlespeed setup."
Everti Eagle
"Weighing in at only 5.17kg (11.4lbs) the Eagle is the lightest production bike we have ever offered. In fact, it is the lightest road worthy bike we know of..."Link:
Everti Titanium Bicycles
2010 Mongoose Maurice Fixed Gear
"Not sure if this one’s coming to the states, but Mongoose is set to ship this 2010 fixie bicycle called Maurice to UK dealers in August, with an MSRP around £349.
Specs include:
- 4130 Double butted cro-mo frame with cro-mo fork with investment cast crown and dropouts.
- Sealed cartridge bearing BB set and half link chain.
- Weinmann deep section Thunderbird rims laced to Formula sealed bearing hubs with flip flop rear."
Wednesday, July 08, 2009
MDE Player Prototype
Frame: MDE Bikes Player prototype (140mm rear travel).Shock: Fox DHX5 air.
Fork: Marzocchi 66 VF with Protone kit (from spring to air shock, with possibility to set the travel by changing the negative air chamber pression).
Stem: Spank tweet.
Bar: Mutant tall.
Brakes: Formula k24 200mm.
Cranks: Protone (34t sprocket + bash), chain device coming...
Pedals: Atomlab custom paint.
Derailleur: SRAM X-7.
Hubs: Veltec 110x20 ant, 135x12 post.
Rims: Sun Singletrack.
Tires: Geax Neuron 2.5 (soon 2.3).
Seat: Combo pivotal Shadow slim (soon mid size).
Friday, July 03, 2009
In bici, ma senza patente
PRIMO PIANO
Di Marino Longoni
Ciclisti sanzionabili con la sospensione e la decurtazione dei punti
Chi guiderà la bicicletta ubriaco verrà sanzionato come se stesse guidando una Ferrari. E tra le sanzioni accessorie si applicherà anche la decurtazione dei punti patente. Se il ciclista ha la patente. Se no, amen. Niente sanzione accessoria. Sembra un po' folle il contenuto di una delle disposizioni contenute nella legge sulla sicurezza approvata ieri in via definitiva. Si tratta dell'articolo 3, comma 48 che contiene una importante modifica al Codice della strada. Introdoce infatti il comma 219-bis che, nel primo comma, dispone l'attivazione del patentino a punti per i motorini (e passi). Il secondo comma invece merita di essere riportato per esteso. Eccolo: «2. Se il conducente è persona munita...(...) di patente di guida, nell'ipotesi in cui, ai sensi del presente codice, sono stabilite le sanzioni amministrative accessorie del ritiro, della sospensione o della revoca della patente di guida, le stesse sanzioni amministrative accessorie si applicano anche quando le violazioni sono commesse alla guida di un veicolo per il quale non è richiesta la patente di guida. In tali casi si applicano, altresì, le disposizioni dell'articolo 126-bis». Tradotto: se sto guidando una bici, un triciclo, un carro agricolo trainato da buoi e commetto un'infrazione di una certa gravità dovrei essere sanzionato con la sospensione, il ritiro o la revoca della patente. Se invece sono un minorenne, oppure per qualsiasi motivo non ho la patente, la sanzione non si applica. Da notare che la norma parla solo di sanzione accessoria (sospensione patente e decurtazione punti), non si cita mai la sanzione principale (quella pecuniaria). Chi scrive è un appassionato ciclista e di fronte a una norma così truce non può fare a meno di notare che: le infrazioni che renderebbero applicabile l'articolo 219-bis sono numerose (per esempio la circolazione contromano); si crea una evidente discriminazione tra chi la patente ce l'ha e può subire la sanzione e chi non ce l'ha; un ciclista agonista, che per allenamento fa decine di migliaia di chilometri l'anno si trova un'ipoteca non di poco conto sulla patente dell'auto; la norma parla solo di sanzioni accessorie, ma è difficile pensare che queste non seguano una sanzione principale (quindi oltre la decurtazione dei punti anche la sanzione pecuniaria); non si può nemmeno sperare che si tratti di una norma che non sarà mai applicata perché, in caso di incidente, le forze di polizia saranno obbligate a dar corso alle sanzioni; non è contraddittorio tutto ciò con gli incentivi all'acquisto delle biciclette, l'enfasi sulla mobilità sostenibile e l'ecologia? A volte i ciclisti danno fastidio, è vero. Ma non è una buona ragione per sparargli.
Link:
Italia Oggi
Italia Oggi
Infrazioni in bicicletta, ora si perdono anche i punti della patente
La legge sulla sicurezza equipara le sanzioni accessorie del codice anche per chi usa le due ruote a pedali
MILANO - Ciclisti attenti. Il decreto sicurezza, recentemente diventato legge, comporta, in caso di infrazioni del codice della strada sulle due ruote a pedali, la possibilità di perdere punti della patente automobilistica se il ciclista ne è in possesso. Lo rileva il quotidiano economico «Italia Oggi».
LA NUOVA NORMA - L'articolo 3 comma 48- 1 e 2 della legge recentemente approvata prevede alcune importanti modifiche del codice della strada. Dice testualmente la legge: «Nell’ipotesi in cui, ai sensi del presente codice, è disposta la sanzione amministrativa accessoria del ritiro, della sospensione o della revoca della patente di guida e la violazione da cui discende è commessa da un conducente munito di certificato di idoneità alla guida di cui all’articolo 116, commi 1-bis e 1-ter, le sanzioni amministrative accessorie si applicano al certificato di idoneità alla guida secondo le procedure degli articoli 216, 218 e 219. In caso di circolazione durante il periodo di applicazione delle sanzioni accessorie si applicano le sanzioni amministrative di cui agli stessi articoli. Si applicano, altresì, le disposizioni dell’articolo 126-bis. 2. Se il conducente è persona munita di patente di guida, nell’ipotesi in cui, ai sensi del presente codice, sono stabilite le sanzioni amministrative accessorie del ritiro, della sospensione o della revoca della patente di guida, le stesse sanzioni amministrative accessorie si applicano anche quando le violazioni sono commesse alla guida di un veicolo per il quale non è richiesta la patente di guida. In tali casi si applicano, altresì, le disposizioni dell’articolo 126-bis». In pratica da un lato si introduce nel codice della strada una norma la 219-bis che introduce il patentino a punti anche per i motocicli. Dall'altro si estende la punibilità con la conseguente sottrazione di punti se si è in possesso di una qualsiasi patente di guida, anche a tutti quelli che guidano una bicicletta o magari un carro trainato da cavalli o dai buoi e commettono un'infrazione. Questo naturalmente crea una disparità tra chi ciclista, possiede una patente di guida (ed è sanzionabile) e chi invece non la possiede (e quindi non è sanzionabile). Inoltre è logico pensare che se ai ciclisti è applicabile una sanzione accessoria qual è la perdita dei punti della patente, non sia applicabile anche la sanzione principale, vale a dire la multa nella maggior parte dei casi.
Link:
Wednesday, July 01, 2009
Vouilloz Lapierre Downhill Bike
"The most successful downhill racer ever, Nicholas Vouilloz was at last week’s Lapierre press camp in Morzine getting some runs in preparation for the forthcoming Megavalanche. As well as riding his race prepared super-quick sub 12kg carbon Zesty he was hitting the Pleney side of town on his Bos equipped downhill bike."
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