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I now have a Twitter account just for the topic of bikes-as-transportation. You can find me on Twitter as @BikesAsTrans. My hope for the account is to share related content from myself and others around the internet, as well as to provide short timely updates about my experiences with family cycling, cargo bikes, and electric bikes.

I also continue to post photos more regularly to my flickr stream than I do here. If you use a feed reader, you may wish to follow the feed of my latest bike photos, which usually include some short posts with them as well.

I look forward to posting more content here as well. This spring we added a second child to the family, and also added a Surly Big Dummy as my personal bike, complementing our existing bakfiets and my wife’s electric Yuba Mundo. There’s plenty to say about how these three distinct cargo bike options compare, contrast and combine. If you have a question about how any of them compare, leave a comment here and I’ll try to answer your question.

For now, here’s a couple recent photos from Flickr. Click through either for more explanation.

Smile and enjoy this catchy music video starring some students who readily trade in Halloween candy for purple pedal powered bicycle-blended berry smoothies.

If you’d like to buy your own bike-powered blender and maybe a bike to go with it, Rock the Bike has you covered.

Recently Dave Deming put his Yuba Mundo cargo bike to the test by attempting to haul about 1,000 bananas on it— about 400 lbs of them.

The tagline for the Yuba Mundo bike is “affordable mobility”, which translates to a cargo bike that starts at $1100 and is built to haul 440 lbs of cargo.

For less than $1,000, Oak Cliff performed a make-over of a city block, making it more walkable, bikable, enjoyable and prosperous. Here’s a “before” shot:

See the video for the result of the final transformation, complete with temporary businesses like a cafe, flower market, kid’s art studio and live music.

Visit the Streetsblog.net post for more information on this DIY street makeover.

Is this an event that could work in your town?

Here’s what’s new in the bike world as I see it from here in Richmond, Indiana.

Upcoming Local Events

Reid Hospital is having their first Reid Ride this year. It’s a 24 mile ride from the eastern border of Wayne County to the Eastern side. It’s $10 per peddler, and they ask that peddlers be at least 12 years old. Passengers under 12 years old are welcome in trailers, box bikes, etc. The ride starts at 7:30 AM on July 25th and mostly follows Route 40 across the county, after taking Main St through Richmond. There are checkpoints at 6 mile intervals if you don’t want do the whole thing.

The ride is billed as “Family Friendly” and the logo curiously shows a family on European commuting bikes, including light kits and fully enclosed chainguards.

Seen Around Town

Kurt Ritchie got his back-to-back tandem recumbent back on the road:

Although, the last time I saw the bike it was back in the shop to repair a weak weld in the steering column. I wish the Beast a speedy recovery and hope it see it more around town this summer.

Becky and Matt McKimmy bringing a little vélocouture to Richmond with their inspiring bike style:

For more inspirational bike culture, see these videos of Copenhagen as a Cycling City and Charleston Cycle Chic.

Around the State

Earlier this year, we are discussing and help to shape updated bike laws for Indiana. The final bill, Senate Bill 553, did not pass. Bike Michiana has the details. Paul Taylor is already leading a renewed efforts for an updated proposal for 2010. Contact him if you’d like to collaborate directly on this.

Volunteering Opportunties

You may recall our announcement of a Bicycle Safety class back in January. The project is currently in need of one or more volunteer instructors to move forward. I believe the Townsend Center is still interested to offer this, and we will have an excellent, easy-to-use curriculum to teach from.

If you are looking for a one-time volunteering opportunity, considering organizing a themed ride around town. This can involve as little as picking a time and place to start the ride from, and promoting the ride through Bike Richmond. I’d like to see a “Cycle Chic” ride like the Charleston Cycle Chic ride mentioned earlier. Or perhaps a dapper and dashing tweed ride would more your cup of tea, modelled after Tweed rides in San Francisco.

Bike Touring Hospitality

Every year a number of transcontinental cyclists come through Richmond. If you’d like to meet some of these adventurous souls, you can join Warm Showers, a mutual hospitality network for bicycle tourists. I recently met Evan Heidtmann (below) this way while Chris hosted a traveling band of bike polo players.