one less car news

Trek Bicycle Partners with People for Bikes to Create Army of Cycling Advocates

Support People for Bikes this fall and win a Trek District signed by marquee Trek athletes

In an effort to create a greater, and more connected, network of cycling advocates in the US, Trek Bicycle has partnered with People for Bikes to increase and reach and potential impact of those who will rally support for local and federal spending on bicycle infrastructure. Through its network of retailers, marketing avenues, partners, and athletes, Trek will provide exposure to People For Bikes’ mission along with uniting cyclists across the country.

To help spark pledges on Peopleforbikes.org, Trek will be giving away a Trek District autographed by cycling superstars Fränk and Andy Schleck, Fabian Cancellara, and Jens Voigt of the LEOPARD TREK cycling team, as well as triathlon heroes Chris Lieto, and Julie Dibens of the Trek/K•Swiss triathlon team. Supporters can enter the drawing by signing the People for Bikes pledge and will help PFB get closer to reaching their goal of collecting one million signatures in support of federal funding of bicycle infrastructure.

“With funding for bicycle transportation initiatives in jeopardy, People for Bikes’ mission is more important today than ever before,” said Krista Rettig, Director of Advocacy at Trek. “At Trek, we believe that the bicycle is a simple solution to many of our society’s biggest problems, like congestion, obesity, and environmental damage, and People for Bikes helps rally support of that cause. ”

The central goal of People For Bikes is to create a network one-million strong to voice support for cycling advocacy in the United States. With the 300,000-plus signatures it has gathered thus far, People For Bikes has already shown it can effectively create positive change in a challenging political environment. This summer, People For Bikes asked 28,000 California residents who had signed the pledge to contact their local senate representative about their stance on dedicated bicycle funding in the next transportation bill. After 2,000 letters flowed into the senator’s mailbox in a few short days, she publicly announced her support of dedicated bicycle funding.

Hands down, this is the raddest coffee mug I've EVER seen in my life! I'm not just hyping up the product either. Trust me, if you love coffee like you love bikes, I guarantee that you'll want this mug, and that it's for you.

These guys know their stuff too. The mug was first made in 2001 by a bike mechanic named Ben, in Minneapolis, MN. Ben is a year 'round commuter, and he liked to drink a gulp at red lights in the winter- who wouldn't? READ MORE...

Jan Gunneweg is very much ‘into wood’. And not just in a tree hugging sort of way. The Dutch industrial designer creates all sort of implausible things from timber. His latest (and greatest) is an all wooden bike.

While wooden bike frames have been around for as long as dinosaurs, Jan has really stepped things up with his new effort. Pretty much everything you see in the promo photos is made from timber – and that includes the asymmetrical wooden wheels. And the handle bars. And the pedals. And the… well you get the idea. Tyres aside, this thing is 95% wood. And the rest is space age technology.

Whether a bike crafted from wood makes for a more enjoyable / safe trip down to the park is debatable, but you can be pretty sure no one else is going to be riding anything quite as ridiculous as this. Unless of course someone has picked up one of his earlier wooden bike efforts…

There’s no price on Jan’s website, but given the 200 man-hours he spent carving this out of tree trunks it’s not going to be cheap.

More at jangunneweg.nl

Illinoisans and other interested parties, mark your calendars for
November 5th. That's when the "Bridges & Blues" benefit to build the
32-mile Calumet-Sag Trail takes place at Gaelic Park in Oak Forest
(about 20 miles southwest of Chicago). There'll be plenty of beer on
tap, along with fabulous items for sale and live music provided by
Lil' Ed & the Blues Imperials (the Boston Globe called them "The
world's #1 houserocking blues band"). The bash is presented by Friends
of the Calumet-Sag Trail, which hopes to see their pet project come
to fruition by 2014. According to the group's website, the trail will
connect cyclists and pedestrians "to regional trails, transit systems,
retail areas, parks, forest preserves, marinas, nature centers, as
well as the legacies of Big Steel, immigrant communities, and the
Underground Railroad. Trail users will see barges. They will see
bridges. They will see factories, and dams, and purple cone flowers
and deer. They will see each other." Learn more about the fundraiser
here:
http://bridgesandblues.calsagtrail.org/BridgesandBlues/Information.html

Trek Bicycle and international poster phenomenon ARTCRANK have unveiled a new aesthetic for Trek’s popular District line. The Trek District ARTCRANK Edition combines Trek’s top commuter bike with graphics created by ARTCRANK Lead Designer Rob Angermuller. Hand painted and assembled by hand at Trek’s Waterloo, WI manufacturing facility, the limited production project, was an opportunity for both Trek and ARTCRANK to take their love for bikes and art in a new direction.

“Trek is a family full of people that love and appreciate art and how that affects our bikes and design and we’ve done these sorts of collaborations with everybody from Shepard Fairey to Damien Hirst for our riders who compete in events like the Tour de France or Crankworx,” said Travis Ott, Trek Town Bike Brand Manager. “Our project with ARTCRANK is all about elevating the design appeal of an everyday bike that will appeal to a fresh audience.”

ARTCRANK founder and director Charles Youel adds, “The artists in our shows are people who are inspired by riding bicycles, and they tap into that energy and excitement to create amazing posters. This was an opportunity to take that idea back to the source.”

As it turns out, making a bike about art is a lot different than making art about bikes. “Designing this bike was one of the toughest creative challenges I’ve ever had,” says Angermuller, who goes by the handle Lifter Baron. “I didn’t want to create just a nice-looking traditional bike. I was after something that showed how riding a bike feels: energy, motion, excitement and just pure joy .”

Coming up with the look was just the beginning, according to Ott. “The bicycle is a challenging canvas. It’s all skinny round tubes, curves and angles. And when we apply custom graphics to a bike, the process isn’t automated. From painting the frame to fitting the design to the form of the tubes to applying the finished decals, the work’s all done by hand. With complex graphics like these, it’s the dictionary definition of ‘painstaking.’”

The end result is a sleek, stripped-down single-speed bike, with graphics dominated by bold colors and shapes that echo traditional screen-printing techniques and textures as well as pop art and Japanese animé. The District ARTCRANK Edition also features the Gates Carbon Drive — a maintenance-free belt drive system similar to those used on motorcycles — instead of a traditional chain and sprocket, which accentuates the bike’s singular appearance. And it does more than just look good. “As soon as I got it put together, I took it out for a spin in the middle of the night,” says Youel. “It’s super-fast and eerily quiet. I felt like a Stealth Bomber.”

The Trek District ARTCRANK Edition will be on display at upcoming ARTCRANK events in Denver, CO, Portland, OR, San Francisco, CA and Bend, OR. The bike will also be at Trek dealerships in those cities before and after each ARTCRANK event. Cyclists who are ready to design their own Trek bikes can get started at trekbikes.com/projectone.