Author: Richard Masoner

Ride the Guadalupe River Trail with the San Jose Conservation Corps

Richard MasonerApril 13, 2023Leave a Comment

Have you seen the San Jose Conservation Corp Trail Safety Team along area trails and wondered what they’re about?

They’re a team of volunteers students who patrol trails around San Jose to provide a visible security presence, fix trail hazards, and assist the public when they have questions.

You can ride with members of the team and learn about their work at a trail maintenance ridealong on Saturday, April 29, 2023 from 8:30 AM to 1 PM. To learn more, read the event information page.

Posted In san jose
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Is it time for N+1?

Richard MasonerApril 12, 20232 Comments on Is it time for N+1?

My daily rider is a sixteen year old road bike that still rides quite nicely. I can climb the hills where I live, I descend with confidence, it goes fast enough, it mostly brakes good enough as well, and I can spend all day in the saddle. What more could I want in a bike? I think it retailed for around $2000 new, with a little extra spent to upgrade the wheels.

Over the past few years, I’ve demoed some really nice bikes that retail for upwards of $10,000. These bikes ride like magic carpets. They float up hills, my hands don’t hurt after long braking on some technical descents, and the shifting feels as crisp as a Pringles chip. I feel like I can ride forever on these bikes.

That’s more than I’ll ever spend on a bike, but I’m looking at more reasonable options. Alchemy Bikes, for example, just announced a dramatic price drop for their Lycos gravel bikes. The base-model (non-Au) price for a Lycos is now just $4999 for the SRAM Rival GX AXS build, which is $2500 less than its initial iteration. Alchemy will be at the Sea Otter Classic 2023 next week so I’ll demo this and other models they have on hand while I’m there. I’ll also ask how they managed this dramatic price drop.

Alchemy Bikes Lycos gravel bike

My time is limited, so what else should I try while I’m there? You can find the full list of exhibitors here.

Posted In Bicycle Brands
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Blogs about everyday cycling?

Richard MasonerApril 9, 20233 Comments on Blogs about everyday cycling?

Arleigh AKA BikeShopGirl asks about blogs that cover family, utility, or everyday cycling.

I took a look at my feed, and I realize most of the blogs I follow that still publish anything focus on advocacy and news. 

So how about it, you all? What blogs can you point me to that celebrate and encourage everyday cycling by everyday people?

Posted In Uncategorized

Sea Otter Festival 2023 Exhibitor List

Richard MasonerApril 3, 20232 Comments on Sea Otter Festival 2023 Exhibitor List

Update: I added web links to the 2023 Sea Otter Exhibitor list for your convenience and mine. Let me know in the comments if I made any mistakes. I had to guess on a few of these with non-descriptive brand names.

I tweeted out a screenshot of the 2023 exhibitor list to my twitter, but the screenshot is almost impossible to read so I figured out how to generate that list to text, which resulted in 10,000 characters of text, which is too much to tweet. But hey, I have a blog! I can publish it here!

Which of these vendors should I visit when I go in a couple of weeks?

Sea Otter Festival 2023 Exhibitors with links<– click to view the poorly formatted exhibitor list.

You can learn more about the Sea Otter 2023 Festival here, and read the 2023 Festival Guide here.

Posted In Uncategorized

“Fixed gear” ebikes are apparently a thing

Richard MasonerDecember 20, 20228 Comments on “Fixed gear” ebikes are apparently a thing

Whilst reading my Mastodon feed, I ran across mention of a “fixed gear ebike.” This piqued my interest: can such a thing really exist?

The top results when I google “fixed gear ebike” include a blog post on the “Best Fixed Gear Electric Bikes,” which begins with a description of this weird, nonsensical chimera.

What is an “Electric Fixie”? Electric fixies are simply electric bikes without a freewheel on the rear hub. It might sound like a minor difference, but the freewheel allows the wheel to keep turning while the pedals are still (when you’re coasting, for example). This gives fixies a unique feel. Whenever the bike is moving, your legs will be moving too. It can take a bit of getting used to, but fixies build fitness, are generally faster and fun to ride. Contrary to what you might have heard, fixies are safe (although it’s advisable to get a bit of practice in before navigating traffic) and road legal as long as they have a front brake. Fixie E-Bikes vs Single Speed E-Bikes Single speed e-bikes are already extremely popular and it’s easy to see why. They’re the ultimate in accessibility; you simply hop on and pedal. Fixies are a little more complex. They take some getting used to but can help you to perfect your peddling technique and can give you a fitness boost.

While reading this gibberish, it occurred to me that people now use the ChatGPT artificial intelligence chatbot to generate links for search optimization. I asked the ChatGPT bot, “What is a fixed gear ebike?”

A fixed gear ebike, also known as a single speed ebike, is a type of electric bike that does not have a freewheel mechanism, meaning that the pedals are always turning whenever the bike is in motion. This means that the rider cannot coast on a fixed gear ebike, but must continuously pedal to move the bike. Fixed gear ebikes are similar to traditional fixed gear bikes, which are popular among urban commuters and track cyclists. The main difference is that fixed gear ebikes have an electric motor to assist the rider, making them easier to pedal and allowing the rider to go longer distances without getting tired. Fixed gear ebikes typically have a simple, minimalist design and are lightweight, making them easy to maneuver and handle. They are also known for their durability and low maintenance requirements, as they have fewer moving parts compared to traditional derailleur-equipped bikes. Some riders enjoy the simplicity and the unique riding experience of fixed gear ebikes, while others may prefer the versatility and ease of use of a bike with multiple gears. Ultimately, the choice between a fixed gear ebike and a traditional geared ebike comes down to personal preference and the specific needs of the rider.

Maybe you disagree, but to me this looks similar enough to be suspicious. In both examples, the writer (an AI? somebody from Fiverr?) obviously cribs boilerplate info about fixies, then replaces “bike” with “ebike” in the discussion.

Fixed gear ebikes?

And yet, I find real product pages for fixed gear ebikes. See, for example, this Luna “Fixed Stealth Ebike,” this “Fixie” from Rize, the “Fixie” from Valk, or the “New York Fixie” from Watt. The product names all imply they’re fixed gear bicycles, but are they?

Luna, to their, credit, includes this text in their description: “IT IS NOT a fixie bike… it does freewheel.” Weirdly enough, they put a 3-speed hub in their bike they call the “Fixed.” For the other bikes, you have to hunt through the product specs to verify these are normal singlespeeds with hub motors. These are not fixed gear bicycles.

The challenges of mating an electric motor to a fixed gear makes this seem unlikely as a product, but surely a modern day Prometheus somewhere has married their junk bin of electromagnetism to a 1985 Fuji fixie conversion to create this mad scientist mashup, but my google-fu fails me, and my Twitter inquiries resulted in a handful of “this is a horrible idea” responses.

How about it, you bike nerds: Has anyone built on an electric fixed gear bicycles?

Posted In ebike | seo
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Parking reform’s negative impacts bicycle parking? What?

Richard MasonerDecember 15, 2022Leave a Comment

We’re excited in California for AB 2097 to take effect with the new year. This law bans parking minimums for new developments within a half mile of transit. Cycling advocates and others who care about housing and the climate fought for this bill, and we celebrated when Governor Gavin Newsom signed 2097 into law last September.

But did you know this law might also eliminate bike parking requirements in some California cities and counties?

A bicycle leaned against a wave rack near a white wall, with "BICYCLE PARKING" stenciled above the rack.

I was reviewing plans for a new restaurant for the city of Campbell, California because planners there seem to overlook their town’s bike parking requirements. The developer application includes this paragraph:

Under the recently adopted AB-2097, the City “shall not impose or enforce any minimum automobile parking requirement on a residential, commercial, or other development project if the project is located within one-half mile of public transit.” As such, this project is no longer subject to a parking requirement as of January 1, 2023.

Cool, right? The application, though, makes no mention of bike parking, so I looked up Campbell’s bike parking rules. Campbell adopts by reference the California Green Building Standards Code (“CalGreen”), which in turn stipulates “permanently anchored bicycle racks within 200 feet of the visitors’ entrance, readily visible to passers-by, for 5 percent of new visitor motorized vehicle parking spaces being added.”

Do you see the problem? Five percent of zero is … zero bike parking.

Alarmed, I next looked at city code for cities in Santa Cruz County. Each of the cities of Santa Cruz, Capitola, and Watsonville have at least a portion of their bike parking requirements defined as a percentage of car parking. Update: The city of Santa Cruz already started work to amend their bike parking code in light of AB 2097; good job!

The County of Santa Cruz just yesterday finalized and approved an overhaul of the Parking and Circulation section of their planning code which significantly improves bicycle requirements for new developments. Guess how this brand new code specifies bike parking? Yep: as a percentage of car parking.

As a member of the Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission Bicycle Committee (whew, that’s a mouthful), I’ve already asked the committee chair for an agenda item and action in which we’ll send a letter to each of these cities and the county asking them to update their bike parking code to reflect the new reality of AB 2097.

While most cities I’ve looked at have this problem, I found three cities that define bike parking requirements with a formula based on building square footage or occupancy: San Jose, San Francisco, and Oakland. Well done to those cities.

I encourage you to look into your city and county zoning code. You can find this by Googling [ your city or county ] planning code bicycle parking. I’d love to know your findings so comment what you find here.

Posted In advocacy | bicycling advocacy | california
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