Author: Richard Masoner

The wheels on the bike go round and round

Richard MasonerAugust 22, 20076 Comments on The wheels on the bike go round and round

I searched on Google for “The wheels on the bike go round and round.” The very first hit is the Big Purple Dinosaur himself singing the song and riding a bike!

The wheels on the bike go round and round,
Round and round. Round and round,
The wheels on the bike go round and round,
All through the town.

The pedals on the bike make it go, go, go,
Go, go, go. Go, go, go.
The pedals on the bike make it go, go, go,
All through the town.

The horn on the bike goes honk, honk, honk,
Honk, honk, honk. Honk, honk, honk.
The horn on the bike goes honk, honk, honk,
All through the town.

The bars on the bike steer side to side,
Side to side. Side to side.
The bars on the bike steer side to side,
All through the town.

The wheels on the bike go round and round,
Round and round. Round and round,
The wheels on the bike go round and round,
All through the town.

Tags: barney, purple, dinosaur, bicycle, song, music,
Posted In Uncategorized

The wheels on the bike go round and round

Richard MasonerAugust 21, 2007Leave a Comment

RocBike posts his Bicycle Haiku, and nice little love poem about his Motobecane. Don’t forget also about Honku, the Zen Antidote to Road Rage.

Ouch! Maybe some road-raging motorists need the Zen Antidote: Motorist bites cyclist’s ear off! A motorist in Germany passed two cyclists very closely, although the entire roadway was clear. One of the cyclists waved his arm in protest (*ahem*), so Mr. Uptight Motorist stopped, jumped out, assaulted the cyclist and bit his ear off.

This photo is so not Zen. By Bike Portland dude Jonathan.

Posted In Uncategorized

Overland Park transportation and bicycling

Richard MasonerAugust 19, 20078 Comments on Overland Park transportation and bicycling

Overland Park, Kansas is a suburb of Kansas City, Missouri, and is the second most populous city in the state of Kansas with a population of 167,500. Money Magazine ranked Overland Park number six on it’s list of the Best Cities to Live in the United States in 2006.

Over the past decade, residents and business owners have indicated that Metcalf Avenue — the north-south corridor that bisects the city — has become an undesirable place to live and do business, with 45% of those surveyed saying traffic is a “major” problem along Metcalf Avenue.

Brent at the the Missouri Bicycle Federation calls Metcalf “one of its very biggest, baddest, most bicycle, transit, and pedestrian UNfriendly streets … eight lanes of heavy, fast-moving traffic that at times closely resembles what you might see at a demolition derby.”

The city is responding with a $1.1 million study to improve the corridor and make it friendlier to pedestrians, cyclists, and bus riders.

“The challenge here, of course, is moving from a paradigm that’s 100 percent auto-oriented to a paradigm where it’s 50 percent pedestrian-oriented,” said consulting team leader Tony Nelessen.

As Brent from Missouri notes:

It may seem impossible to make such a busy street more conducive to walking and bicycling, but in fact it has been done in many other places, it has worked, and what’s more–people like it.

Of course pedestrians and bicyclists like it.

Safety advocates like it.

But yes, motorists like it, too.

Some friends who blog from the Kansas City area:

Posted In kansas | missouri

Cyclist jacket with brake light and turn signals

Richard MasonerAugust 18, 20072 Comments on Cyclist jacket with brake light and turn signals

Raise your arm before a turn, and a tilt switch activates big amber LEDs to signal your turn at night. An accelerometer detects when you slow down to illuminate a big patch of red LEDs on your back. This clever cyclist jacket is the invention of Michael Chen in London, who won a design competition with this jacket. He hopes a manufacturer will pick up his idea in time to make the jacket available in time for Christmas for UK£100 (about US$200). This cyclist jacket is demonstrated in the video below.

Hat tip to Cycle Dog, who wonders how the wiring and electronics will hold up under constant use and wet weather riding.

Posted In light | safety