From the Shameless Commerce department…

I’ve gotten a lot of comments on this Zero Per Gallon “$0.00 9/10” patch on my bag.

Most people “get it” except for a few uptight engineer types that are a little too literal minded. Actually, I think they get it too, they just like being dweebish pinheads.

These iron-on patches are $5 each. You can also get stickers for $2 each (cheaper in quantity). The stickers are also available denominated in Euros and burritos.

Zero Per Gallon now also takes bicycle tires and recycles them into belts that you can buy via his site.

I don’t get a penny for promoting Johnny’s patches and stickers; it’s just cool stuff that I want to mention. Buy it at Zero Per Gallon.

He’s an articulated companion for the tandem bicycle. Read the story of how to make a friend. Via Sue in Chambana.

LighterFootstep.com has a good article on how to buy a used bicycle. Chris Baskind tells us how to find a used bicycle, how to evaluate it, and how to figure its value. I’d add some advice on bike fit, but perhaps he’ll address that in a later article.

How to buy a used bicycle.

Secretary of Transportation Mary Peters commented last month that bicyclists are at fault for the I-35 bridge collapse in Minneapolis. Salon provides some good perspective on this story.

Peters’ comments set off an eruption of blogging, e-mailing and letter-writing among bike riders and activists, incensed that no matter how many times they burn calories instead of fossil fuels with the words “One Less Car” or “We’re Not Holding Up the Traffic, We Are the Traffic” plastered on their helmets, their pedal pushing is not taken seriously as a form of transportation by the honchos in Washington, D.C.

A sampling of reactions online:

• Bikes are good.
• Prevaricator Extraordinaire.
• Bikes ar efor show, not go.
• Blame the cyclist.
• Bike path to hell: “The guy in his Humvee taking his videos back to the video store isn’t any more legitimate a trip than the guy on the Raleigh taking his videos back.”

I took this photo during my bike commute this morning:

That’s a “KidzTandem” bicycle hand built by Brown Cycles of Grand Junction, Colorado.

The adult controls – steering, braking and gearing – are in the back, allowing the child to pedal and enjoy viewing everything that’s coming up.

The front of bike can take a toddler seat for the very young. This toddler seat can be easily replaced with a saddle for older children.

Frank pointed out a similar child-in-front tandem, the Love Bike. While the KidzTandem has a linkage connecting the steering handlebar to the front fork, the Love Bike uses a big curvy cruiser handlebar that swoops back past the child to the adult sitting in the rear seat.

Photo taken in Palo Alto, California.