one less car news

so as usual, i waited until the last minute to pack for this excursion... i figured i'd spend the night at my grandma's- it's been awhile since i've stopped by, and while here (i'm there now), i'd usurp her interweebs and get some work done.

no such luck. no usurping is happening. she's got some crazy dual modem crap for her phone & pc that i've never seen, has problems with her connection half the time (charter!), and it figures that i can't even plug in.

so unfortunately, reviews will have to wait until tomorrow...

follow my trip on twitter ( @greezus )- i'm bringing the Dahon, and it's gonna be a great time!

and i left my desktop on one night only to return the next day with my google page translated...thanks kitty cats!!! i changed it back to english from spanish, but half the time when i'm posting- no matter where from, after i type it turns to arabic- hence the cramped title...gotta switch from this blogger mess soon!

Yes it is- so at least I've got my days straight!

Stoked I'm going to Chicago to hang with Cole Thursday & get some business done!

I'm also stoked that a Dahon Mu XL Sport showed up at my doorstep monday! I'll tell you all about that tomorrow when Cole and I will be back with more reviews! But I will say I'm pretty excited to be taking a Dahon on the train, getting off at Union Station, and being able to ride to where I need to go without having to deal with boxes and other pains of bringing a bike along on a trip!

Our friends at Cyclelogical (banner to the right) just had one of their shirts picked up by Urban Outfitters and they're pretty stoked on that. I would be too! Congrats! Check them out if you haven't recently.

And I know you've already been checking out Stevil @ allhailtheblackmarket.com since it came out, right?

So stop back tomorrow for some reviews & we'll all get down with that!

Manana!

so with 2 1/2 weeks left in chicago, i walk out to find both gold rims missing from my bike. the scene of the crime was milwaukee, north and damen right in front of the salon i've been working at and parking my bike in front of for the last 4 1/2 years. it is quite a bustling neighborhood between the hours of 5 and 9, so i was pretty taken aback that someone would actually have the balls to pull this off.

the next day i received an email response from the ad i placed on craigslist about a guy who sells deep vs, seems super shady and happened to place a set of gold velocity's the same night mine were stolen and gave me his name and number if i wanted to try to nab him. of course i couldn't find the ad and he denied ever posting it so i pretty much gave up hope that i would ever see them again.

next day i get another email from a kid who believes he bought my wheelset the day before for 100 bux. turns out he bought them from the same guy and we set up a time to pick them up from him. yay! (he didn't even bother to remove the blue tires. idiot.) i didn't think it was a good idea but we gave the kid 100 bux anyway since they are worth more than that not only monetarily but sentimentally as well.

i sent the kid a quick email the next day letting him know that i've decided to file a police report but later decided it isn't worth it. in the meantime, he calls and claims that justice was served, i got my rims back and that i should just drop it. that the thief ended up reimbursing him, so of course the only conclusion i can come to is that i've been totally duped by a couple of 20 year old punks and demand my money back or i am turning them both in.

they immediately offered my money back and i am assuming it's for me not go to the police because they know they fucked up. i have no idea if they are in on it together or not, i'm just glad it's worked out to my advantage. lessons learned..i guess..don't ride gold rims, don't put it past the fact that people are willing to make bold moves in very public places, always try to handle situations yourself first with investigative work because most likely a cop isn't going to get your property or your money back for you and watch out for a kid named luke s. selling bike parts on craigslist!

-kim k.

Please pull your head out of your ass and take control of what's going on in the pedicab world.

Last night I tried to work the U2 concert in Solider Field. We were chased out, threatened with arrest, and generally treated like total shit by a police officer who is so obviously drunk on the job its ridiculous.

We also have been fighting a war that the city needs to be fighting. They won't listen to us. Someone is going to get hurt and they will have no one to blame but themselves.

There are companies and independent riders pouring into this city and into the public to offer rides on bikes in that are in terrible shape, with no insurance, permits, or business licenses, not paying ground transportation tax...the list just keeps going on.

Oh- but wait! The city does want to regulate us. They want to take away our ad space and require us to carry workman's comp on each rider. Basically they want to cut our income in half and double our cost. Mayor Daley says he wants this to be the most bike friendly city in the United States, yet they won't even help those of us trying to provide alternative transportation to the fine citizens of Chicago.

-Cole

Come back tomorrow for a peek at a sweet bike collaboration between SE Bikes & L.A's The Hundreds!!! looks like so much fun!!!

-Brandon

A few years back, I decided to make a living riding my bike. The first
thing I did was to start riding a pedicab. I called my business One
Less Car because at the time, I really was one less car. The logo I
made became the Classic sticker, and 1lesscar Clothing was born.

I still ride a pedicab. I do it for two reasons- the clothing line
alone is not enough to sustain the high class of life I'm used to, and
because I really like pedicabing. This year I'm lucky enough to be
part of the Roger Rickshaw team in Chicago. The owner asked me to come
aboard as manger and I'm really excited about it.

Roger Rickshaw is Chicago's biggest and oldest company. We have a
fleet of about 30 bikes. It's crazy to think that I started riding in
a small town in Michigan and now I'm managing Chicago's largest fleet!

So the quest to live on my bike continues, and thanks to my promotion
I can buy that Hummer I've been looking at


www.chicagorickshaw.com

What a week. Living in Chicago I hear of a lot of bike events
happening- there really is a huge bike culture here. I’m usually too
busy or just don’t want to go to a lot of them, but this week, in an
effort to help the company grow, I've changed my tune. The first event
I attended was the Momentum Magazine gathering. Apparently they are
going to start having a regular section about Chicago, so they wanted
to meet some bicycle people in Chicago and we got an invite. It was a
fun event. I got to meet a lot of people, passed out some business
cards, and ate some really good food. Thanks Momentum!

The next event was the closing party for the 12th annual Chicago Bike
Winter Art Show. My trusty crew drove 6 hours to help out. We set up
something of a merchandise table- space was limited, but we made it
work. It was a good time- all the money raised went to West Town
Bikes, a local bike co-op. there was a lot of great art, and some
really good bands too! one of our reviewers was in one band that
totally kicked ass. I was proud. All in all a good time. I met some
more great people, laughed at all the ridiculously large messenger
bags that everyone was wearing (all night). We sold some stuff- not
enough to pay my rent, but enough to help us out and contribute to the
event. We also donated a handful of various things for the raffle. You
could look at some pictures of this party, but somehow between two
digital cameras and three cell phone cameras we didn’t take a single
picture…hey- we're new to this- we're still working out all the kinks!
I would like to thank Steven, Alexis, Stewert, Leslie and of course my
best friends and support crew Brandon and Bronwen for driving all the
way down here and helping me get every thing together.

I really wanted to go the North American Hand Made Bike Show, but with
all that I just didn’t have it in me... maybe next year. Right now
we're still trying to figure out how we're gonna get to Interbike!

i just rode home one mile and thought my face was going to freeze off.



my roommate just rode home...and i thought i was cold