The person reputed to be the first mountain bike enthusiast in the US has been missing for seven months and is believed to be a victim of murder.

John Finley Scott, 73, is considered one of the earliest mountain bike pioneers by the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame, located in Crested Butte, Colorado.

All the way back in 1953, Scott used a Schwinn World diamond frame, balloon tires, flat handlebars, derailleur and cantilever brakes to build his "Woodsie Bike." That was 20 years before ...   more »

Something from the insider shop-talk department:  Two bicycling blogs have been nominated for this year's seventh annual Weblog Awards.

Up in Alaska has been chosen in the Best Sports Blog category. Jill mentioned it in her ride post on Thursday, then let the matter drop.

Fat Cyclist has been nominated in the Best Kept Secret category for the best underrepresented weblogs. Fatty's gone to the opposite extreme and is begging people to vote for his blog. A flashing advertisement on his site shouts, "I need validation." ...   more »

We're not talking entry level bike mechanics here, although that job is demanding enough. A Washington state bicycle advocacy group and the nation's leading bicycle racing publication are looking for new bosses.

VeloNews is looking for an editor-in-chief. The position oversees the biweekly bike racing magazine and website. The editor is in charge of pretty much everything and everybody on the news side of the publication. The successful candidate must be deadline and detail-oriented.

The position is based in Boulder and some travel to worldwide cycling events is anticipated. ...   more »

Maybe you have your own bicycling frustrations. Breaking off valve stems has been mine.

The first time occurred after I patched a flat during Cycle Across Maryland, pumped up the tire, and the innertube started leaking at its connection with the valve stem. It happened twice on that trip.

I chalked it up to "bad innertubes," but this has continued to plague me year after year, regardless of brand. Ever since I became a firm believer in Mr. Tuffies and graduated up to Armadillo-style tires ...   more »

Last week I wrote about some of the advantages of shelling out the extra money to buy a custom bicycle instead of a model off the shelf.

Here's the opposite idea: buy nothing new. Instead of plopping down money for a spanking new bike, search around and get one that someone is giving away. You might not get the exact selection you're after with your unique specifications, but the price is right -- $00.00.

Over the new year, a story circulated about a group of folks in San Francisco who started a "buy nothing new" movement, called The Compact. Except for food, toiletries and other health and safety items, the group pledged to stick to finding free or used items.

There are a few websites that deal in free stuff, and of course there's Craigslist ...   more »

Chalk up 85 straight hours of bicycling on a stationary cycle for 49-year-old Aurora, Illinois, resident George Hood.

As he broke the previous Guinness World Record of 82 hours Saturday evening, he passed the equivalent of 1,000 miles.

Hood was riding the solo endurance event to raise $25,000 for the Illinois COPS (Concerns of Police Officers), a group dedicated to raising money for survivors of police killed in the line of duty. You might remember two policemen on bikes died in a COPS fund-raising bike ride in neighboring Indiana last year. ...   more »

"I have a high threshold for pain."

That's George Hood of Chicago explaining how he can ride a stationary bike hour after hour in his attempt to achieve a place in the Guinness Book of World Records by bicycling for 83 consecutive hours -- nearly 3 1/2 days.

Hood must also have a high threshold for boredom. ...   more »

I'd say this is definitely a bicycle used as a decoration.

Motorola CEO Ed Zander rode this yellow comfort bike onto the stage for his keynote address at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas on Monday.

Was it left over from Interbike in September? Maybe. The boss of the $35 billion electronics giant (2005) wanted to make the point that digital content is portable, even in countries that rely mostly on bicycle transportation.

(Update: Motorola plans to sell a bicycle-mounted cellphone charger that will broaden its cellphone markets to developing countries.)...   more »

Today marks the second-year anniversary for the Biking Bis blog.

This thing got started when I filed a short piece about my birthday bike ride. The website was called Bikin' Bis then; I changed the name because most of my hits came from google searches for "bikini."

I quickly figured out that people probably didn't want to read about my bike rides, so I thought about other themes for a bicycling blog. I finally hit on the idea of focusing on general bicycling news in the blog, so that readers taking a break during a recreational ride could say ...   more »

What would you do if you were out of money, you had a family to support, your job required a bicycle, and someone steals it your first day at work?

How far would you go to get it back?

That's what Vittorio de Sici sets out to answer in The Bicycle Thief, filmed in Rome in 1948.

Our "hero", Lamberto, searches all over Rome for his bike -- following leads into missions and brothels -- until he puts aside his conscience ...   more »

Here's to everyone having a safe and enjoyable year on two wheels ...

-- Biking Bis