Bike Items that Have Little to Nothing to Do With DC

Hilter youth on bikes

"The general image of fit young Germans with blond hair and leather shorts cycling through parts of England, where nothing much had happened for years, created quite a stir," said Christopher Andrew, author of the official history of MI5, Britain's domestic espionage service.

A bike courier rates various bike lights on the New York Times. The blackburn flea was his favorite.

Mercedes has an ad in which a cyclist races a guy in a Mercedes across New York City. The cyclist "gets to ride like a bat out of hell' but the driver has "to follow the traffic rules", the driver laments.

About it Copenhagenize says:

This is brilliant "Car Empire Strikes Back" marketing from Mercedes. After watching it if I had to choose between sitting in a Mercedes or riding all sub-cultural like that -- give me the Mercedes any day.…

It reinforces the misconception of urban cycling as being a lawless, adrenaline-based and sub-cultural pursuit. The smug tone is brilliantly devised and executed.…

And BikeSnobNY

In the end, the advertisement makes its point effectively: If you're in a big hurry, ride a bike; If you're very wealthy, slightly "douchey," and you value comfort and ass warmth over efficiency, drive a Mercedes. It's basically "The Tortoise and the Hare," but with the twist that the tortoise actually loses yet is totally fine with it, and it's an outcome with which neither cyclists or Mercedes-coveting douche-aspirants are likely to have much of a problem.

New York City's experiment with banning automobiles on seven blocks of Broadway has been a success and so they're going to make it permanent.

using global-positioning data from more than 1.1 million taxi trips, showed the 7 percent overall improvement in taxi speeds

Safety at Times and Herald Squares improved dramatically, with a 63 percent reduction in injuries to motorists and passengers and a 35 percent reduction in pedestrian injuries.

Public support for the project has been overwhelmingly positive – a Times Square Alliance survey this fall found 76 percent of all New Yorkers and 68 percent of retail managers in Times and Herald Squares said the project should be made permanent.

Comments

[O2]

'slightly "douchey"' is an understatement...

[guez]

What I found striking about Copenhagenize's reaction was his *admiration* for the smugness of the ad. If I read him correctly, he thinks that cycling advocates should *emulate* the obnoxious self-satisfied, "douchey" tone of automobile advertising. If his own blog is any measure, he has taken that lesson to heart...

[washcycle]

Well, he does run a business helping cities market cycling. So, it's not surprising that he thinks we need to do more to market cycling (I don't mean that as cynically as it sounds. Just, why would you start a business that you think isn't needed). His point that cycling has to go up against this huge, well-funded advertising machine is true.

[dyna]

A note about the Blackburn Fleas;they are very small and silly bright,but the front has poor battery life and doesn't give any warning when it dies. I've gotten caught out twice with mine. I also just sent it in under warranty after it stopped taking a charge after only a few months.

[dcj]

It's ironic that in the first segment of the "New York Challenge," they emphasize the cool, urban aspect of the city and the Mercedes agent by showing him on the street in Times Square -- which looks so great because automobiles have been banned from it.

(And in the second segment, it's unrealistic that a bike messenger who has just crossed Manhattan at full tilt is going to need or want a heated leather seat!)