October 17, 20131 Comment on Zero Waste SJBP & public bike repair stands for downtown San Jose
San Jose Bike Party will celebrate its 6th Anniversary Friday night with a Day of the Dead ride, October 18, 2013. The new Raven Bikes will be introduced at this ride along with an initiative to transform Bike Party into a Zero Waste event, funding for downtown bike repair stations, and a new strategy to reduce the impact the popular ride has on neighborhoods and traffic.
October 15, 2013Leave a Comment
San Jose Bike Party calls their volunteer helpers “BIRDs,” which stands for “Bicycle Information Resource Director.” ”
Ravens” are the elite BIRDs who try to clean up at the bike party meetup locations, but it’s an overwhelming and thankless job, and at many recent parties Bike Party have left behind huge piles of trash.
In an attempt to address this problem, Joe Tate imported eight of these trash pickup bikes from a Dutch bike builder. The hope is that riders will stow their trash in these mobile trash cans instead of just dumping everything on the roadside and parking lots.
Front loaded tadpole configuration gives super easy handling. Eight speed Shimano Nexus hubs provide more than enough gear range for the modest hills San Jose Bike Party might encounter. Dynamo front light and battery tail light ensure visibility. Because Bike Party happens every month of the year, fenders and chainguard help with all weather operation.
In addition to trash pickup, these bikes will also carry air pumps, basic tools, and first aid kits. You’ll see some of these Raven bikes debut at this Friday’s Bike Party. Watch for the route reveal at the bike party website Thursday evening.
September 19, 2013Leave a Comment
(This is a mirror of the September 2013 ride info page at SJBikeParty.org. The website seems to be seriously slammed all day, and I’m sure I’m not the only person looking for route information. You can also find ride info and cue sheet at UBSJ.org.
July 20, 20137 Comments on Bike Party = Unlawful Assembly
Please read my update that kinda sorta apologizes for this sensationalist blog post.
I was at my usual place near the Bike Party start Friday night with my camera shooting shady troublemakers like these.
Normally, one or two motorcycle police might accompany bike party. I shoulda figured something was going down when I saw a dozen motorcycle cops from three different agencies cruising down Stevens Creek Boulevard. Around midnight, the Santa Clara Sheriff Department declared an unlawful assembly at one of the regroup sites and dispatched a helicopter ordering the unruly mob to disperse.
You can view my entire set of nearly 400 photos over at Flickr over here, or you can view them as a slideshow here. I see now that it’s taking forever for Flickr to load that set of photos, so I’ll probably make the slideshow into a YouTube video later this weekend.
Thanks for looking!
May 20, 20131 Comment on The infamous Oreik Et bicycle
I spotted the famous “Oreik Et” bicycle at San Jose Bike Party last Friday night.
Oreik Et is Te Kiero backwards. Te quiero is one way to say “I love you” in Spanish.
The owner of this bike is known for building crazy machines like this in his secret workshop somewhere in San Jose. iMinusD has a little more about the builder and his crazy bikes over at their blog. You can view my slideshow of the Bike Party “Safety Ride” here.
May 15, 2013Leave a Comment
