a minimal Bicycle Purse Rack

When it comes to women and biking in the city, it's difficult to escape the issue of what to do when carrying a purse. I recently wrote about this very topic on Oregon Manifest's blog... and was very excited to come across this super simple spring loaded rack to keep your bag safe and secure! The Bicycle Purse Rack is an exclusive product of CycleChic in the UK and their sister site The Bicycle Muse in the USofA. It attaches to your handlebar stem with just 2 screws and bolts and is chrome plated steel to prevent rust. Pretty simple.

Now I haven't tested it out myself but I wouldn't go overboard and throw on my largest/heaviest bag (after all the rack itself is W: 22cm, H: 21cm, D: 13cm) but a medium sized one with the necessities should do fine. Plus, carrying an extra little bungee cord would not hurt!

Hiplok's US debut @ Mission Bicycles via London

Minimalism is essential for lots of urban cyclists who stick to bikes without baskets and racks -- but really who doesn't want to carry less, travel light, and streamline. The fantastic SanFran bike shop, Mission Bicycle, held a Bike to Work Fashion Show last Thursday at which they debuted their exclusive US product release of Hiplok: the world’s first bike lock designed to be worn on the body by London-based designers John Abrahams and Benjamin Smith.

Hiplok is the first bicycle lock developed specifically to be worn around the waist.  Hiplok's integrated and fully adjustable belt fixing allows the rider to tighten the lock around the waist without actually locking the device, offering a level of portability, comfort and versatility never seen before. Due to it’s unique design, Hiplok is never locked into a loop while it is attached to your body, and it remains fully adjustable and quickly removable at all times when being worn.

and my favorite colour combo (love that white buckle detail) but comes it lots of options...

Available for US purchase [here] on Mission's site + watch the Hiplok video [here]

Thanks, Jefferson!

wearable cam love

My friend - and brewmaster - Nathan Zeender sent over this link from BBC News this week... 'Helmet Cameras Capture Bad Driving' about a London commuter who recorded getting run off the road by a truck with a mini video camera he was wearing at the time and was used as evidence in a court case against the driver. (The cyclist won.) In the article the UK "cycling organization CTC says the more people cycle, the safer it becomes, as drivers become used to watching out for bicycles. The organization says there has been a 91% increase in cycling in London alone since 2000, while casualties have dropped by a third." Transportation Alternatives in NYC has similar findings. Clearly a huge drivers are just unaccustomed to watching out for cyclists - and they need to. It definitely can't do any harm to share a cyclists point of view.

... while on the topic of wearable cams, I do love watching helmet camera videos and the technology just keeps getting more and more amazing! GoPro’s HD HERO is one amazing video and still photo camera which you can attach to your sport helmet or body. Just watch the video above - highlights from the world's best freestyle bike athletes in Northern California at the 2010 Post Office Bike Jam! (Watch out, the soundtrack may get stuck in your head.)

Radley bags + Pashley bikes

Bright + cheerful British fashion accessory company, Radley, launch their S/S 2010 collection with the ever popular bicycle-as-marketing tool... this season's photoshoot (above) and a customized Pashley bike give away (sadly only open to UK residents)...
However, Radely has crossed the pond with a recently launched website for those living in the USofA.

Liberty love

My love for Liberty prints runs deep.

Needless to say the collaboration between the street wear label Trainspotter + Liberty of London is a dream come true. The Spring/Summer 2010 collection will include Trainerspotter x Liberty Jammers...

In 2003 Trainerspotter reinvented the iconic 1980’s Windjammer jacket with a literal interpretation of sport meets fashion. By taking the silhouette of a staple piece of sportswear and then (de) constructing it by juxtaposing the lightweight waterproof nylon against... Made in England from floral Liberty prints with British Millerain wax cotton, Nickel Swiss RiRi zippers, Worsted Wool rib cuffs and cotton cambric lining, each style of limited numbered editions and can be found exclusively at Liberty of London.

via Highsnobiety

Fortunately they also teamed with Nike a couple years back so you can go completely overboard with their beautiful floral prints...

disappearing parking meters/bike parking

As street parking meters become urban relics and get replaced with electronic 'pay and display' parking pay stations, bike parking spots are disappearing one by one. Cyclehoop from British designer, Anthony Lau, is great. The design starts with what exists on the streets (sustainable solution) - simply clamps onto lampposts and signposts (that are typically too large to fit a Ulock around). + the bright and cheerful colours help you spot one!

Images via

Cyclehoop

via the 1890's - via the NYTimes

Tintype photograph by David Solosh for the NYTimes, taken on Governors Island

This Thursday's NYTimes Styles Section was adorned with beautiful tintype plates of men in antiquarian (circa the 1890's) apparel from Marc Jacobs, Alexander McQueens, Burberry, Ralph Lauren, and Paul Stuart among others. The article makes mention of London's Tweed Run last January which helped sparked a trend of orderly and stylish gatherings on utilitarian bicycles...

This flamboyance is part of a curious new movement called Tweed Rides, informal gatherings of spiffily dressed ladies and gents cycling leisurely through town and disdaining finish lines. Tweed Rides began in London earlier this year and have spread this fall to Boston, San Francisco and Chicago. As the directions for this weekend’s Tweed Ride in Washington, D.C., put it: “Leave the fleece, Lycra and outer shell at home. This ride is for the dandy.”

via Flickr

Where are the women? Somehow the NYTimes, yet again, has focused on the the dandy culture - with no mention of the quaintrelle? Why would anyone want to exclude bloomers from the comeback.

via Wiki

Just found came across this one from the Tweed Run...

paying attention

Transport For London's campaign addressing drivers while demonstrating change blindness...

In visual perception, change blindness is the phenomenon that occurs when a person viewing a visual scene apparently fails to detect large changes in the scene. For change blindness to occur, the change in the scene typically has to coincide with some visual disruption such as a saccade (eye movement) or a brief obscuration of the observed scene or image. - via Wiki

Another tangentially related theory is Hans Monderman's Shared Space concept - that by removing street signs and mechanical traffic devices people are forced to pay attention to their surrounds...

Bohmte, Germany via Worldchanging

Drachten before and after via Streetsblog

Shared Space relies on environmental context--in this case, a landscape unlittered by signs--to influence human behavior. "Our behavior in a theatre or a church differs from a pub or in a football stadium as we understand the signs and signals through years of cultural immersion," Monderman told an interviewer in 2006. "Likewise if we see children playing in the street, we are more likely to slow down than if we saw a sign saying 'Danger, Children!'" - via Worldchanging

london calling

London's Cycle Chic will soon be carrying the 'ankle spats' above by London-based designer Karta Healey's new collection of cycling gear, TWO n FRO. Healey says his range is 'designed for the silent confidence of a city cyclists everywhere'.

His collection is part of a wider project, AgotoB, encouraging sustainable transportation. Here is a cute little excerpt from the site:

Everyone wants to be more mobile.
Seemingly, everybody needs to be somewhere else in a hurry.
The common side effect to our hypermobility is universal traffic and pollution.
What is being done to ease this global problem?

London 1909: average speed of horse and cart 7mph
London 1999: average speed of motorists 6mph

Progress? The common car does not serve our needs in the increasingly urban environment. Single occupancy of four-wheeled full-sized cars is an obvious waste. We all need options. A vehicle specific to our needs. It is time we encouraged the market place to provide better designs for modern commuters.

... I'm wondering where those white reflective lace-ups will be sold?

via London Cycle Chic

so nice - so bright

Fluorescence is magical + safe. FixedGearLondon makes these 'Flouro Bikes' which can be custom ordered.

P.S. Andy Spade owns one.

Photos via FixedGearLondon and WeHeartStuff