Urbana Bikes is a company in Montreal, Quebec. The website has a cute bike design configurator in which you select the type of terrain, weather, purpose and color of the bike.

Urbana Bike’s designer writes that he conceived of Urbana to be both utilitarian and fun. He’s an experienced ice biker, riding year round in Quebec City and Montreal. “I know what makes a bike work at 20 below after an evening at five,” writes Paul Harris. He’s carried drill presses and children on his bikes. “I think a bike can often replace a car. It is from these experiences that stems the Urbana, the real sport utility vélo!”

No USA Dealers. Urbana Bikes website.

Note: Cyclelicious will be at Interbike 2009 in Las Vegas posting daily from the show floor September 23 – 25

Interbike continues to be the place for gathering members of the bike industry at the 2009 Interbike International Expo and Outdoor Demo in Las Vegas the week of September 21-25. While at the five-day event, attendees and media will see the latest products and technologies from every major bicycle, component and accessory manufacturer in the cycling industry.

“This year’s Interbike is shaping up to be among our strongest shows,” said Andy Tompkins, Interbike’s show director. “Just as in years past, attendees will have the opportunity to meet with all their key suppliers along with enjoying the comradery and networking the show naturally provides. Regardless of individual sales and marketing strategies, manufacturers recognize the value of participating in the week-long industry event. We are looking forward to another successful show.”

Advanced Sports Inc. is one of the 1,100 brands preparing to participate in next month’s industry event.

“Interbike provides us the opportunity to tell our complete brand story and meet new and existing customers, especially with our Breezer, SE and Kestrel lines,” said Pat Cunnane, president of Advanced Sports, Inc., parent company of Breezer, Fuji, Kestrel and SE Bicycles. “Even with a tough economy, Interbike is the place to be. Last year at Interbike we successfully launched the Breezer line of commuter bikes, and this year we are looking forward to a successful relaunching of Breezer mountain bikes as well.”

Interbike will also host 65 new exhibitors including SANYO, a major electronics company that chose Interbike to launch one of its first electric bikes for the North America consumer bike market.

“While SANYO is exhibiting at Interbike for the first time, we are not newcomers to the cycling industry,” said David Cabanban, business development manager for SANYO North America Corporation. “Our first product was a bicycle lamp, and Interbike offers us the perfect stage to place our latest innovations in electric bike technology in front of top industry influencers and allow retailers and the media to ride the future.”

Kicking off with the only industry demo event of its kind, the Interbike Outdoor Demo gives attendees the chance to put the latest bikes and accessories through real-to-life testing. Amid the backdrop of Bootleg Canyon, home to one of International Mountain Bicycling Association’s (IMBA) “Epic Rides,” Outdoor Demo will provide an extensive groomed trail network, downhill-specific trails and dirt-jumping section. Returning features will also include a closed-cyclocross course set up and managed by CrossVegas LLC.

For road bike dealers and enthusiasts, Outdoor Demo will also include a closed road loop for demos and the annual Tour de Lake Mead. The 24-mile ride to Lake Mead and back continues to be a fun networking opportunity and a great way to give retailers and journalists an extended demo on vendor’s latest bikes and gear.

Once inside the expo at the Sands Convention Center, Interbike will host a number of product launches, business meetings and events tied to recent growth in the commuter and electric bike categories.

After positive feedback from attendees and exhibitors alike, the Urban Legend Fashion Show will highlight a range of stylish, smart, sexy and professional clothing that fit into everyday life and work great on a bike. Instead of a traditional catwalk, a road loop will be laid out in the main exhibit hall. Urban Legend attendees will gather in and around the loop, while models ride among the audience. The innovative layout, inspired by Momentum magazine, allows the models to display urban cycling apparel and bikes in action and allows each attendee a front row seat.

The Light Electric Vehicle Association (LEVA) will be hosting two seminars during the Interbike Expo aimed at helping retailers sell more electric bikes (e-bikes) and how to trouble shoot repairs for e-bikes.

BMX, a vibrant category that is also an important gateway for youth into many of the other cycling categories, will be prominently displayed at Interbike with a professionally built BMX track at Outdoor Demo, the BMX Zone, Rail Jam and a special BMX editorial section in the Interbike Event Guide produced by RideBMX magazine. For more information please see Interbike’s recent press release.

Once the tradeshow workday is done, Interbike participants are invited to attend the third annual CrossVegas and USA CRITS Finals on Wednesday and Thursday evenings, respectively.

CrossVegas competitors will include both Elite Women’s and Men’s races along with the Wheelers and Dealers race for industry members. Interbike will provide complimentary shuttle service for attendees from The Sands to the race location from 6:00 p.m. -11:00 p.m., shuttles leaving every 15 minutes.

The USA CRITS Finals are the grand finale to the 2009 USA CRITS National Series and will be held at Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino. The event will feature Pro Men, Pro Women and Amateur competitor categories along with an Industry Cup, all on a fast and technical 1-kilometer course.

For more information about the week-long Interbike Expo and Outdoor Demo event, please visit www.interbike.com.

Watch next week for another bike t-shirt giveaway, this time from Strange Cargo in Chicago. In the meantime, here’s some fun bikey news for you…

Instructables: Build your own bike dog walker. Via MAKE.

I suppose a swarm of bees is one method of secure bike parking.

Bike Hugger: Hot Weather riding tips.

It’s hard to believe people leave their bikes on the buses.

Bike racks looks like a toilet.

“For the romance of cycling”: Lovely Bicycle blog.

Collapsible bike folds into it’s own wheels. More here.

ART: New York’s Puerto Rican Bike Men paintings.

Intelligencer: Lance @ Leadville 100.

DIY iPhone 3GS water resistant handlebar mount.

Newsflash:

A 16-year-old Santa Rosa girl has been arrested in the hit-and-run crash that left a bicyclist and his young son injured on Valencia Street early last month. SFPD Lt. Douglas Groshong said he could not release any more details but believes there is strong evidence to prosecute the case. The girl was booked into juvenile hall this morning on a felony hit-and-run charge.

More at Streetsblog. H/T to Murph.

Thank you to Elden and Susan for making so many of us a part of their family as they struggled through their pain. *sigh*

Many cycling blogs, including mine, point out the truly dumb moves made by many people in their cars (and sometimes on bike). If we’re honest with ourselves, we’ll realize that all of us suffer from momentary inattention, even while driving. I know I’ve made the occasional bone headed move. I think it was Tom Vanderbilt in his book Traffic who wrote that he wished there’s a way he could signal to another driver an acknowledgment that he goofed, a kind of non verbal “Mea Culpa, my fault, I’m sorry!”

Michael in Capitola writes truthfully in this letter to the editor:

I felt the need to share a painful lesson so others might profit from it. I am proud to say that I pay attention to pedestrians and bicyclists, but it would seem only 99 percent of the time. Having a near miss on Wharf to Wharf day, and after an angry exchange with the bicycle riders, I realized that my anger was not at the riders but with myself. I was wrong, not paying attention and frankly engaged in life-threatening driving conduct. Were it not for the care and alert actions of the riders, it would have been disastrous. Bottom line? Being aware 99 percent of the time is just no enough. When my 1 percent meets with a rider’s 1 percent, the result is pain, injury and sadly sometimes death. Fatigue, distraction, dirty windshields, sun in my eyes are just feeble excuses. Let’s all go for the last 1 percent.

H/T to Jessi of Santa Cruz.