bike culture

No, Holland is no land of unicorns and candy cane trees, despite being below sea level, and filled with tulips, bicycles, and people who don't stop cycling for any kind of weather (except maybe if the polders fill up with water). This is why their expertise is particularly useful as an export, as the following videos demonstrate well.

Then (1950s):

Bicycle Rush hour now:

Rain doesn't stop them:

Nor winter:

What's so special about the Dutch? Not much. They just happen to have lots of cycling infrastructure and have built up lots of cycling expertise over the last 100 hundred years. And I've been informed by folks at the City that they'll soon be coming to Toronto to share their experiences with planners here with the inaugural "Toronto ThinkBike Workshops":

The City of Toronto will be working with the Consulate of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, to host Dutch bicycle planners on September 20th and 21st.

The Dutch have established themselves as world leaders, in the area of bicycle infrastructure design. Toronto and Dutch bicycle professionals will form two teams for this event. Each team will be given a Toronto problem to solve, with results unveiled at a free public event Tuesday September 21st, 6-8 pm. Which team will develop the most exciting design solution? Come watch the presentations and vote.

El Mocambo - 2nd floor, 464 Spadina Ave. Tuesday September 21, 2010, 6:00 -8:00 pm
Free admission. Cash bar

I've been informed that the two "Toronto problems to solve" will include the Sherbourne corridor in a conversion to separated bike facilities and the other will be in finding a preferred east-west corridor downtown - likely Richmond or Adelaide.

The Toronto Star has discovered that one can be fashionable on a bike (which is not the same as saying a particular bike is fashionable), thanks in part to the Curbside employees and thecommonelite.org bloggers, Gillian Goerz and Mikey Bennington.

“The city lends itself to cycling because it’s predominantly flat and there is a great street culture with lots of people outdoors,” says Goerz, who also works as an illustrator. “It’s also spread out with different cultural centres (that are) easy to get to on bikes.”

Another reason style and spokes are suddenly in sync could be bike-sharing programs such as Vélib’ in Paris and Bixi in Montreal (and Toronto next spring), which offer spontaneity to bike riding. That means you’re not dressing to go for a ride; rather, you’re dressing for your destination, whether that’s a gallery opening, dinner with friends and, yes, even a night out at the clubs or a bar. The bike just a cab as the mode of transport.

That’s why it’s not unusual to see girls wearing miniskirts and platforms while pedalling.

“Just because you’re riding a bike, you don’t have to lose your femininity,” says April Wozny, a Toronto publicist who will ride to her meetings on a bike she bought for $100 and calls Big Blue Buttercup.

Photo frrom lodoe-laura.

Pedestrian and blogTO writer, Annia, took the BIXI bikes for a spin last night at the BIXI Bash at Gladstone Hotel. As a person who doesn't cycle her perspective is interesting, because she is a representative user in the demographic that BIXI is targeting: those who don't bike but will start biking more regularly when it is dead simple.

My BIXI bike and I got off to a shaky start, which is a testament to how long it's been since I've mounted one of these things and not to the build quality of the bike itself, which I admit is rather sturdy. I bungee-strapped my bag onto the front rack, adjusted the seat to my desired (and very short) height and once I pushed off the curb, it all came back to me - just like... riding a bicycle. For someone who isn't familiar with the ins and outs of cycling, I can attest to how well the bike handled on the flooded potholes of Gladstone Avenue.

The word is that a lot of people feel the same about BIXI; over 100 people signed up for the membership just on the launch day. We're 1/10th of the way to meeting City Council's target.

“(City) council gave us the citizens a challenge: can we have 1,000 people subscribe by November?” said Sean Wheldrake, bicycle promotions coordinator at the City of Toronto.

Come see what all this BIXI Toronto talk has been about!!

July 28 · 7:00pm - 10:00pm
Gladstone Hotel @ 1214 Queen St. West (near Dufferin)
Complimentary food and entertainment!

• Be one of the first to subscribe to BIXI Toronto and help make public bikes a reality in our City!
• Take a BIXI bike for a test spin and feel what a great ride they are.

Public Bikes have been dramatically improving cities around the world in recent years - and now it's our turn in Toronto!! But we need your participation to help make this happen.

Help us insure that this amazing program gets the support we need to roll out 1000 public bikes across downtown in Spring 2011 - without 1000 subscriptions sold by November, we lose the public bikes program altogether...

More information and a Q&A doc can be found here - http://bikeunion.to/bixi-toronto

• Community Facebook group I Will BIXI Toronto
• Official Facebook page BIXI Toronto
• Official Facebook event page BIXI Bash!

For more information about the event, and to indicate your interest in subscribing for year-round access to BIXI Toronto's public bikes, email bixitoronto@toronto.ca

If you cannot attend the event you may also subscribe online after the July 28th website launch at: www.toronto.bixi.com

Streetfilms interviewed North American attendees at the Velo-City 2010 conference in Copenhagen to capture their view of Copenhagen and the differences with North American cities. Yvonne Bambrick of the Toronto Cyclists Union was also interviewed.

(Photo: Janet Bike Girl)

There's a short alley at the end of Baldwin on Augusta, behind Segovia Meats, in the heart of Kensington Market. At the end of this alley is George, the proprietor of the ramshackle bike shop aptly named Parts Unknown. Countless numbers of cyclists, both rich and poor, have gone down this alley to have George fix their bike or get a refurbished bike at a decent price. George is an icon.

Come end of July, however, people will no longer find George there. The landlord of this private alley has given George until then to vacate his large collection of bikes and bike parts.

I had noticed the landlord had begun tightening the screws a few years ago by putting up a gate and limiting the public's access to the shop to certain hours. Now longer did it seem quite as inviting to go down the alley (as inviting as alleys are).

According to Janet Bike Girl, Parts Unknown has been dislocated to make way for a condo development. Janet enjoyed visiting George's shop:

I used to hang out at bicycle shops, and Parts Unknown was always my favorite bicycle hangouts. It is a pretty funky bicycle shop, with lots of great buried bicycle treasures...so worth a visit.

I hear George is weighing his options of finding a new spot for his shop, or moving on to other things. Either way, this is the end of an era.

We wish you the best, George. Thanks for all your wrenching.

Join a group of cyclists for a fun, friendly, and casual ride from traditional car-centric suburbia (Don Mills Centre) to Downtown City Hall.

Date: Monday May 31st 2010
Departure Time: 7am (be there before 7am for a brief intro and speeches)
Meeting Location: Don Mills Road and Lawrence Avenue East Southwest Corner

City of Toronto Councillor and Budget Chief Shelley Carroll has confirmed her attendance, and has been warming up for the ride recently. So get ready for a beautiful cycling week in the sun!

Toronto Annual Group Commute from Don Mills

Live on the east side of the Don Valley near Lawrence Avenue? Riding across the Lawrence Avenue bridge can be challenging for some. There will be a pre-ride westbound across the Lawrence Avenue bridge departing from Lawrence Avenue East and Underhill (Northeast corner) at 6:30am.

See more photos.