Treehugger founder Graham Hill shares his thoughts on riding around San Francisco on an electric assist bike.

His experience matches my own when Pacific let me try the Schwinn Tailwind for an extended period. It’s heavy, but you usually don’t really notice the weight even with the motor off. These are not ‘go fast’ bikes but purely utilitarian bikes. Most people don’t notice the motor or battery at all — in fact, most of the attention I got on the Tailwind was from the looks of the bike itself.

I think Graham is right in noting that not everybody likes to bike for the sheer enjoyment of it, so a little push might be helpful for them.

Sun Microsystems (my employer) actively encourages non-car transportation to the annual JavaOne conference by offering shuttle service to hotels not within walking distance and to the 4th & King Caltrain station. Most conference websites give driving directions and parking information, while JavaOne only gave information on public transportation options to the Moscone, with an interactive map showing nearby Muni and BART station locations and transit schedule help.

Although JavaOne didn’t push the bike valet option as aggressively as in years past (when they gave away goodies), the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition once again provided bike valet parking during the Java One conference last week at the Moscone Center.

I really like this post from 2006 in Asa Fenton wrote that JavaOne’s bike promotion changed his life:

I realized the other night on a brisk bike ride across the city that Sun Microsystems’ Bike Valet initiative at JavaOne in May has had a lasting, positive impact on my life and health. I had a really nice hybrid mountain/street bicycle that I’d only ridden a handful of times. Like me, it was growing lazy and unaccustomed to exercise. I don’t think it had been outside my garage for more than four years until I rescued it from inertia to participate in Bike to Work Week.

Since Bike to Work Week coincided with JavaOne and Sun is a big proponent of finding ways to reduce carbon monoxide in the atmosphere, Sun partnered with the San Francisco Bike Coalition to offer free valet parking for JavaOne attendees. During the event, I rode my bike frequently to and from the Bite office to Moscone Center. On the actual Bike to Work Day, my colleague Ken Shuman and I rode our bikes to City Hall for Mayor Newsom’s press event in order to lure media to our Bike Valet. It was an exhilarating way to get around the city and I decided that day that I would leave my bike in the city at the office. Since then, I use it all the time for running errands, dentist’s appointments, shopping and meeting friends.

While the Apple Developers Conference this week at the Moscone gives public transportation option, they also give driving directions and parking info. I don’t believe I’ve ever heard of Apple encouraging bicycling at WWDC (though I’d be interested in hearing differently).

Oracle OpenWorld 2009 is coming up this September at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. In Oracle’s invitation last year for participants to “Think Green,” Oracle provided exercise bike powered generators for people to charge their cellphones.

Photo: Nathan Frankel SFBC.

What do you all think of SRAM’s Torpedo SS/fixed hub? This is like a flip flop hub, except there’s not flipping or flopping. To convert from singlespeed to fixed mode, you give seven full twists of a screw on the hub.

Brad @ Urban Velo has a unit on test, but I’m curious if anybody else has given this hub a try. Is it easier to turn a screw around seven times? Flopping a wheel around hasn’t ever seemed like too big a deal to me.

While the U.S. Federal Government contemplates supplementing the Highway Trust Fund from the general fund, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger proposes raiding the state gas tax to pay into the general state budget. This move would take $750 million from local transportation budgets statewide each year.

For cities that rely heavily on state funds to repair their roads, the possibility is jarring.

“Devastating,” said Carole Dawson, a civil engineer with the city of Seaside.

“This is crazy,” said Mark Dettle, director of Santa Cruz’s Department of Public Works.

“Catastrophic,” said Chris Augenstein, a road planner with the Valley Transportation Authority.

California roads already rate as the most dilapidated in the nation, with more than two-thirds in poor to mediocre condition, according to a recent national report. The San Jose area has the second-worst roads in the nation, with 90 percent of its pavement rated poor to mediocre. Potholes in 11 California cities cost drivers more than $700 annually in car repairs, about $150 higher than the national average.

Transportation leaders almost all agree that it’s time to raise the state’s 18-cent-a-gallon gasoline tax, which hasn’t increased since 1994.

Read more.

Long ago, I suggested a bicycle honeymoon to Husband, covering a route from central New York, where we then lived, to the Capital Region, where I had relatives.

More in “Bicyclists bring business“.

Bike Commute Tips: Pregnancy and bicycling?

Constitutional…

Citizen Rider: Cycling is a civil right.

Bob Mionske: Is cycling a right or a privilege ?

The Prisoner’s Tour of France began this week. Their kit looks pretty sharp.

Money & business…

Federal stimulus funds for Boulder Colorado bike share?

New Belgium Brewery’s pro-bike policies makeit to CNN.

Unemployed and out of money? Don’t expect to get a date: “Being too cheap can be a turnoff for women like Virginia Wall, 40, who works in retail sales in Philadelphia. She doesn’t believe in coffee or drinks as a first date and expects the man to pay.” More…

Prolly: A new paint scheme for the 2010 Bianchi Pista.