BAMBOO is one of the world’s fastest-growing plants, adding as much as three feet in a single day. That growth rate, along with the giant grass’s sturdy hollow stalks (with a strength-to-weight ratio similar to that of steel) may explain why bamboo is being heralded by bikers, environmentalists and social entrepreneurs as a material with no carbon footprint and the potential to provide cheap wheels in poor countries. Serious spandex-clad cyclists like bamboo bicycles, as do tattooed bike messengers and thrifty Ghanaian shopkeepers. “There is something going on with bamboo bicycles,” said Jay Townley, a partner in the market research firm Gluskin Townley Group. “They’re catching on with urban and commuting cyclists.” Though bicycles with bamboo frames account for only a fraction of the bicycle market, the number of bamboo bicycle start-ups is expanding. They include Boo Bicycles, with bamboo bikes available in shops like Signature Cycles in Manhattan and the Pony Shop in Chicago; Renovo Design out of Portland, Ore.; Panda Bicycles, in Fort Collins, Colo.; Organic Bikes in Wisconsin; and Calfee Design, of Santa Cruz, Calif., a pioneer in bamboo frames whose cycles sell in shops like Eco, a London store owned partly by the actor Colin Firth. Read on in the New York Times.
While Streetfilms was in Copenhagen for the Velo-City 2010 conference, of course they wanted to showcase its biking greatness. But they were also looking to take a different perspective then all the myriad other videos out there. Since there was an abundance of advocates, planners, and city transportation officials attending from the U.S. and Canada, they thought it'd be awesome to get their reactions to the city's built environment and compare to bicycling conditions in their own cities. If you've never seen footage of the Copenhagen people riding bikes during rush hour - get ready - it's quite a site, as nearly 38% of commutingtrips in Copenhagen are done by bike. With plenty of safe, bicycle infrastructure (including hundreds of miles of physically separated cycletracks) its no wonder that you see all kinds of people on bikes everywhere. 55% of all riders are female, and you see kids as young as 3 or 4 riding with packs of adults. The truth about Copenhagen , also on this blog, puts this nice portrait of cycling in Copenhagen in perspective.
Last week, on July 15, 2010 the 34.5% anti-dumping duty on Vietnam made bikes imported into the European Union was dropped. This prompted A&J Worldwide Group to announce the re-opening of its Vietnam facility based near Ho Chi Minh City. A&J Worldwide Group opened its High Ride Vietnam factory in 2003. At that time the 150,000 sq feet facility had 2 production lines capable of producing 800,000 to 1 million bikes as well as automatic and semi-automatic wet and dry painting lines. The factory produced close to 700,000 bicycles a year in 2004 and 2005, mostly destined for the European market. After the anti-dumping duties on Vietnam made bikes came into force in July 2005, Vietnam’s export numbers dropped heavily. They declined from about 1.5 million bikes in 2004 to less than 7,000 in 2009. It forced A&J to shift their production to Cambodia. In 2006 A&J Worldwide Group opened Atlantic Cycle Co. Ltd. in the Cambodian Svay Rieng province for the export of bicycles to Europe, Canada, Japan, Norway and the USA. The Cambodian plant is the biggest of all the A&J factories at some 200,000 sq feet with 3 production lines providing capacity for around 1 million bikes per year. Next to complete bicycles, Atlantic Cycle also produces alloy frames. Read more in Bike Europe.
“Greendex 2010: Consumer Choice and the Environment — A Worldwide Tracking Survey” is a comprehensive measure of consumer behavior in 65 areas relating to housing, transportation, food and consumer goods. Greendex 2010 ranks average consumers in 17 countries according to the environmental impact of their consumption patterns and is the only survey of its kind. As in 2008, the top-scoring consumers of 2010 are in the developing economies of India, Brazil, China, in descending order. American consumers’ behavior still ranks as the least sustainable of all countries surveyed since the inception of the survey three years ago, followed by Canadian, French and British consumers. In the annual survey , India came second in housing behind Brazil. But it topped in other sectors like transportation, food and goods to finish overall first in environmental sustainability behaviour. The year before, Brazil had claimed the first spot. Despite the rosy picture, according to the Greendex 2010 survey, Indians were also the most likely to say that seriousness of environmental problems was exaggerated. Read more in the Times of India. Also visit Safer BraIn on the position of vulnerable road users in emerging economies like India and Brazil.
In 2000 Velo Mondial spoke with the European Commission and suggested that cycling could be a crucial mode of transport for the European Commission. We were more or less laughed away. This was for us the argument to adopt the slogan: 'Velo Mondial is going to make cycling glamorous'. Now, after ten years, the transport and Tourism committee of the European Parliament recognised the role of cycling as a crucial mode of transport for urban areas. The Transport and Tourism committee reacted to the Communication by the European Commission entitled “A Sustainable Future for Transport”. Next to recognizing the role of cycling as a crucial mode of transport for urban areas, the final report, drafted by Mathieu Grosch also calls for an increase in funding for transport concepts promoting cycling. Many groups contributed to Velo Mondial's call to make cycling glamorous and some even emerged from a lethargy they had been in for quite some time. Many cities, companies and universities were and still are partners with Velo Mondial in projects like Velo.InfoSpicycles, Safer BraIn and CIVITAS MIMOSA that laid the base for this development. Velo Mondial is very pleased and congratulates its partners and the European Commission. Next station will be reached when cycling is integrated in local sustainable mobility plans. Read more in Bike Europe.
'A view from the cycle path' is a blog on cycling from a cyclist's perspective. David Hembrow has been filling his blog for some years and now has analyzed cycling in Copenhagen and comes to some remarkable conclusions: Copenhagen's marketing as "the world's cycling capital" has been very successful so far. Nice branding too. However, real growth in cycling comes not from marketing and branding, nor from taking photos of pretty girls on bikes, but from investment in infrastructure. Unfortunately, the effects of the hype now go beyond the residents of just that one city. London, for instance, seems to think that merely painting its cycle paths "copenhagen blue" will lead to success. It won't. To get a really high rate of cycling you need the proper infrastructure. There is one country in the world which has it. His solution is to Groningenize! Groningen in the North of the Netherlands, has the highest rate of cycling in the world. Nearly 60% of all journeys are made by bicycle in the city. His advise: Other countries wanting to achieve a significant modal share for bicycles really do have to look beyond Copenhagen. Velo Mondial's hart is obviously also with Amsterdam(ize).
During the World CarFree Conference in York, that Velo Mondial attended a video was created asking some experts to comment on the plans of Guadelajara Jalisco Mexico to build a highway. The plans resembled those that Amsterdam had back in the sixties of building a highway through the city; Amsterdammers blocked those plans and now we have the pretty city that Amsterdam is. The video was put on Youtube but the government of Jalisco was not pleased and asked YouTube to bring it down (after around 15,000 hits) claiming misuse of Copyright! That proved to be an action on the same level in communication as the plans are for building the road in the field of mobility. It became a much larger issue, calling even more attention on people worried about censorship and accountability. Two days later another 11,000 saw the video on YouTube. A better quality video is below:
SPINNING, the trademarked indoor cycling program created 18 years ago, has obviously surpassed trend status. A staple at many gyms, the music-and-mantra-driven cardio cocktail is particularly appealing to New York cyclists because it provides a safe way to burn calories and ride with abandon without crashing into a U.P.S. truck. Entrepreneurs have taken note: sleek, user-friendly boutique cycling studios, featuring top-of-the-line equipment and instructors, are sprouting up to compete with larger gyms, where cycling classes are often pushed into the corner. All of them offer clip-in shoes, a wipe-down staff (with the job of clearing the area of sweat after each session) and online reservations. And in an effort to stand out from the pack, these chic studios are emphasizing hybrid classes, special technologies or unusual atmospheres. The cycling classes are traditional at the Studio, for instance, but as it’s on the second floor of a brownstone, the setting is an intimate, light-filled room with a chandelier. With a yoga space connected to its bike room, it is no longer strictly about cycling. Read on in the New York Times. Picture Chester Higgins, New York Times.
