BRaIN gives a nice overview of “yellow bike” rental schemes (historical, proposed and real) in Paris, Chicago; San Francisco; New York; Washington, DC; Portland, OR; and even Lexington, Kentucky. The Bike Sharing Blog covers this trend in detail.

• A positive relationship exists between the built environment and levels of biking and walking.
• Where levels of biking and walking are higher, bicycle and pedestrian safety is greater.
• Cities with strong Thunderhead organizations generally have high levels of biking and walking.
• Higher levels of biking and walking coincide with lower levels of obesity, high blood pressure and diabetes and higher levels of adults meeting recommended levels of daily physical activity. This suggests that increased biking and walking would contribute to a healthier society.
• Data revealed that while some cities and states lead others as models for bicycle and pedestrian policies and provisions, all states and cities have a need for improvement.

Volunteers needed for bicycle and pedestrian counts in Minneapolis. Details at Velocipete.

Sister Julie is a Catholic nun who blogs about bicycling. It’s kind of fascinating. For one thing, I had never seen a nun in bike shorts before. Via Bicycle Champaign-Urbana.

Grist details the differences between the U.S. House and Senate versions of the 2007 Energy Bill. I’ve mentioned previously that the BIG difference of interest to cyclists is the House version contains a provision for a bike commuter tax benefit, while the Senate version does not. Contact your U.S. Senator and ask them to support inclusion of Bike Commuter benefits in Senate Bill 1419, the “Renewable Fuels, Consumer Protection, and Energy Efficiency Act of 2007.”

MAKE: a bike powered by a portable electric drill.

Utility Cyclism: Appropriate bicycles for utility cycling.

Iowa announces Safe Routes to School program.

Beverly Hills cops blame the victim. The way the cops treat cyclists there is infuriating. Beverly Hills holds the dubious distinction of being #1 in the State of California for pedestrian deaths for a city of its size. Via Industry Outsider. Oh, and LAist used a photo by Yours Truly.

People oriented cities are cycling friendly cities.

Watch this space for Interbike 2007 news in a couple of weeks.

Here’s a cute article in the New York Observer about bicycles as fashion accessories:

Vikki Eichmann was striding through the Union Square farmers’ market, one hand steering a sea-green, 1970’s Schwinn Breeze bicycle and the other tossing a curtain of silky brown hair over her bony shoulder. She was wearing a strapless plum-colored sundress and $400 Cole Haan knee-high boots. “They’re perfect because they’re sturdy and I don’t get scratches or bruises from the bike or anything,” Ms. Eichmann said, stopping to pick through a crate of peaches. “Plus they just plain look cute on a bike.”

BikeSnob NYC gripes about these “beautiful Godzillas” on 2 wheels — it reminds me of the 90s when anybody with a dialup account could get Internet access and all of the old timers (like me) griped and complained about the mass market availability of the Internet — but I like that urban trendsetters are using bicycles to get around.

Ms. Rose’s first adult trike was purchased on eBay; her second custom-built by one George Bliss, owner of the Hub Station on Morton Street, who specializes in pimping rides for the new set of beautiful bicycle girls. “Lela shows that you can carry a load on a bicycle and look glamorous,” Mr. Bliss said. “She’s really inspired me, and now I’m focusing on the tricycle child carrier as a product for upscale women in SoHo. … That’s the niche, professionals and models because, you know, if you go to a cocktail party, you’ve got to have something to talk about. ‘Green? What’s green? Oh, bicycling!’

“Women are our best customers,” Mr. Bliss continued. “They know what they want. That’s all that really matters.”

Read more in the New York Observer.

Tour de Transit
Originally uploaded by richardmasoner

Cyclist Gary Yamamoto owns Sacramento Tree Service in Sacramento. He heard today would be a Spare the Air free transit day in the San Francisco Bay Area so he got up at 3:30 this morning and drove to Stockton where he caught the Altamont Commuter Express (ACE) Train. He rode ACE for a free ride into San Jose, where he ran to catch Caltrain to San Francisco.

From Caltrain’s terminus at 4th & King in San Francisco, Gary planned to ride his bike to the Ferry Building to catch the Vallejo Ferry. After hanging out in Vallejo for a little while, he planned to return to San Francisco via the Ferry and then figure out his options. He didn’t know if he wanted to go down the East Bay using BART (and then using AC Transit to connect to VTA Light Rail for a ride back to Diridon Station) or just return to the South Bay using Caltrain.

Gary planned to complete this entire circuit before the 1p.m. deadline, when the ferries, BART, Caltrain and ACE would no longer be free.

Quick links before I run off to a meeting.

Runners face terrorism charges for sprinkling flour in a parking lot to mark a course. City of New Haven spokeswoman Jessica Mayorga said the city plans to seek restitution from the Salchows, who are due in court Sept. 14. “You see powder connected by arrows and chalk, you never know,” she said. “It could be a terrorist, it could be something more serious. We’re thankful it wasn’t, but there were a lot of resources that went into figuring that out.”

Grist on Industrial Agrodiesel: “We need a new bumper sticker: Biodiesel: feeding the planet to our cars.”

The Economist on higher fuel taxes: “It’s possible, maybe probable, that substitution away from driving might entirely counteract the rebound effect mentioned above. If an increase in fuel costs causes a commuter to switch from driving to telecommuting, for instance, his tailpipe emissions don’t just drop in proportion to the fuel cost increase, they disappear.”

50,000 bikes to rent in Beijing for the Olympics.

An Aussie company does a bike for a company car.

Eurobike is this week. I imagine Carlton will provide some excellent coverage, as usual.

Women who ride: Pregnant pro cyclist photo blog.

Steephill.TV: Vuelta a Espana coverage page.

By the time he got the call last month, Martin Moulton had given up on his stolen $3,000 bike.

The caller, a friend, had been browsing through bike ads on Craigslist when he spotted Moulton’s 2005 Cannondale with its unmistakable, custom-ordered Spiderflex saddle.

Moulton, who is by no means scrawny, enlisted the help of a friend and set out to confront the seller with evidence that the bike was his. Once they were face to face with the seller, he planned to call 911.

Read more in the Washington Post. Hat tip to VeloChimp.

Pink is a heavy burden is cute.

The first thing you see is a riot of pink. She rides a touring bike with front and rear pink panniers. She wears a pink jersey and pink gloves. She has a pink helmet on her head and a stuffed bear is tied on her rear rack with a pink ribbon.

What I want to know is where in the world do you find pink panniers? Read more at Team Alameda. Hat tip to Tommy who found it at Kent’s Bike.