2010 archive

Seattle Bike Supply recalls Redline cyclocross bikes

Seattle Bike Supply is recalling 350 Redline Conquest Pro bicycles and frames because of a defective fork.

The Kent, Washington-based distributor is urging consumers to stop riding the bikes immediately as the fork legs can separate from the fork crown.

The recall involves all year 2010 Redline Conquest Pro Cyclocross bicycles and framesets. They were sold in pearl white/blue and have aluminum frames with carbon fiber forks and aluminum steerer tubes …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2010/01/12/seattle-bike-supply-recalls-redline-cyclocross-bikes/

Redline recall

2010 Redline Conquest Pro bicycles and frames recalled. See Consumer Product Safety Commission for more information.

Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2010/01/12/redline-recall/

Bicyclists not strangers to road rage, how to avoid it

While last week's 5-year sentence of a Los Angeles doctor for a road rage attack that injured two cyclists got big headlines, rage on the road involving bicyclists isn't uncommon.

Sometimes bicycle riders are the target, sometimes they're the aggressors, and sometimes they're in the wrong place at the wrong time. It makes me wonder if there's a way to avoid road rage.

In Naperville, Illinois, a 67-year-old woman is charged with four felony counts of aggravated battery. Last July, witnesses told police she rammed a 17-year-old bicyclist on a BMX bike from behind ….

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2010/01/12/bicyclists-not-strangers-to-road-rage-how-to-avoid-it/

Vancouver “bike rescue” project was fencing operation

The slogan on Vancouver, BC's BikeRescue.org website must have sounded almost too good to be true to someone trying to recover a stolen bicycle:

“Ripped. Rescued. Returned. Putting bikes back where they belong.”

The website claimed the project had returned 256 stolen bikes by finding obviously stolen bicycles for sale at low prices, buying them, then reuniting them with their owners.

Well, it was too good to be true.

The head of the organization, Gordon Sinclair Blackwell, 41, was sentenced to two years in prison after pleading guilty to 36 counts of possession of stolen property (bicycles). …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2010/01/12/vancouver-bike-rescue-project-was-fencing-operation/

Bike Rescue operation

Bike Rescue, based in North Vancouver, Canada, turns out to be a bike fencing operation. Owner pleads guilty to three dozen counts of possession of stolen property.

Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2010/01/11/bike-rescue-operation/

Armstrong returns, but many contend for Tour Down Under

Lance Armstrong returns to Australia for the Tour Down Under next week in better shape than in last year's comeback season and with his own cycling team — Team Radio Shack.

Still, he told the Sydney Morning Herald that he doesn't expect to be in contention to win the bike race that rolls out Jan. 17-24. Team Shack instead will be looking to take stage wins at TDU with sprinter Gert Steegmans of Belgium.

Which is just as well, because the rosters for this year's race reveals a host of cyclists that can take the overall honors.

First there's 29-year-old Aussie Allan Davis, above right, who wore the QuickStep jersey last year when he won three stages on his way to the Tour Down Under championship. He's returning this year as a member of the decimated Astana team, who lost many riders to Radio Shack. Oscar Pereiro also is appearing with the Astana team. …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2010/01/11/armstrong-returns-but-many-contend-for-tour-down-under/

Bike tour across Asia leads to school project in Nepal

Sometimes a chance encounter made while traveling by bicycle can lead to a life-long undertaking.

Such is the case of Mike Church, 27, whose 10,000-mile bike tour across Europe and Asia with a small group of bicyclists has led to the founding and maintenance of a school in a part of Nepal that is far off the tourist track.

The Mikey Medium English School, named for Church, opened in 2008 with funds provided in lieu of wedding gifts to Church's marriage to Ali Sharp. Since then, Church's parents have helped their son raise funds for the project. Church grew up in Davidsonville, Maryland, and is now a graduate student in Montana.

Interviewed in the Annapolis Capital, Church said:

“It just goes to show you how surprisingly easy it is to make a difference. It's a wonderful thing. My parents and I have supplied the school, but it's not a heroic deed. In the grand scheme of things, it's a minor and painless exercise ……

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2010/01/10/bike-tour-across-asia-leads-to-school-project-in-nepal/

Mikey Medium School in Nepal

A chance encounter between traveling bicyclists in Nepal led to the founding a school. More at Grassroots Education Nepal.

Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2010/01/10/mikey-medium-school-in-nepal/

LA “road rage” doctor sentenced to 5 years for assaulting bicyclists

A Los Angeles judge sentenced an emergency room doctor to 5 years in prison on Friday for assaulting a group of cyclists with his car on a winding road near his home in 2008.

It's good to see justice handed down in this case against Christopher Thompson, 60. The incident caught the attention of bicycle riders worldwide; more than 270 e-mailed or wrote the Los Angeles court in support of a stiff sentence.

In November, a jury convicted Thompson of mayhem, assault with a deadly weapon, battery with serious injury and reckless driving causing injury.

According to the Los Angeles Times, Superior Court Judge Scott T. Millington said he did not take the correspondence from bicyclists into account in making his sentence. The Times said the judge:

“…called the case a “wake-up call” to motorists and cyclists and urged local government to provide riders with more bike lanes. He said he believed that Thompson had shown a lack of remorse ….

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2010/01/08/la-road-rage-doctor-sentenced-to-5-years-for-assaulting-bicyclists/

TransAmerica bike tour in 6 minutes 18 seconds

If the winter weather is getting to you, this video should remind you that good bicycle traveling days are ahead.

This 6:18-minute video is a compilation of photos taken on the Bike the US for MS 2009 cross-country bike tour from Virginia to Oregon that raised $25,000 for the charity.

According to Adventure Cycling Association's Bike Bits newsletter, MS biker Bret Taylor attached a digital camera to his bicycle and set it to shoot an image every 5 miles. He strung the images together ….

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2010/01/07/transamerica-bike-tour-in-6-minutes-18-seconds/