Archive for the ‘General bike news’ Category

Windsor has been and is a Cycling City

Monday, November 1st, 2021

From the Windsor Law Centre for Cities:

The Windsor Law Centre for Cities has released a new report, Windsor’s Cycling History, authored by Windsor Law Professor and former Dean, Dr. Christopher Waters.

Despite its Motor City label, Windsor has been and is a cycling city as well. In this report, Professor Waters recounts a century and a half of cycling history in Windsor.

From the bicycle craze of the 1890s, to the bicycle boom of the 1970s, to its resurgence during the pandemic, Windsor’s engagement with cycling has been significant and unbroken. 

The report argues that Windsor is a cycling city, even if we have never fully realized the potential of our flat topography, mild winters, the good bones of our urban core, and proximity to natural and built heritage.

Read more at the Windsor Law Centre for Cities

A web site migration

Monday, January 21st, 2019

We’ve moved… and hopefully you didn’t notice.

We migrated the web site from it’s old, tired hosting to this new location. As a result, we’re now running with upgraded backend software and a security certificate (i.e. HTTPS vs HTTP).

We do anticipate making some additional improvements and fixes as time allows.

Exciting 2018 bike updates from the city of Ferndale

Thursday, April 26th, 2018

From Ferndale Planning Manager Justin Lyons:

As fellow Ferndale bicycling supporters, I wanted to let you know about some upcoming events and projects happening this summer.

May has nearly arrived, which means Ferndale Bike Month is right around the corner! This year, we are hosting more group bike rides (including a parks tour), a Bicycling 101 class, and the annual Downtown Bike Rodeo. All the details can be found on the City’s Bike Month page with final locations, routes, and start times to come.

The biggest road construction project of the summer is taking place on Livernois (between 9 Mile and 8 Mile). Aside from a freshly paved road (sans potholes), protected bike lanes, bike boxes, safer pedestrian crossings, a new traffic signal at 9/Livernois, and a new public plaza at 9/Livernois will be part of the project. Informational meetings will be held at the Kulick Community Center (1201 Livernois) today, April 26th at 11am and 6pm and more details are posted at this link. If you’re free, we always appreciate bike lane supportive voices in the crowd.

Aside from those projects, Gainsboro/Paxton (between E. Nine Mile and Woodland) will be getting a bike lane this summer (July/August), which will better connect E. Nine Mile to Woodward Heights. Lastly, W. Nine Mile (between Pinecrest and Coolidge) will be restriped to 3 lanes and adding a buffered bike lane as part of a joint project with Oak Park (page on Ferndale Moves coming soon).

Looking forward to seeing you on the streets of Ferndale this summer.

Exciting January bike events in Detroit

Wednesday, January 9th, 2013

CAID Anti-Auto ShowAh, the old days when it was rare to find others to ride with in the winter in Detroit… If you were lucky you might find another couple diehards riding a Critical Mass.

Those days are over and now colder months are getting their share of bike-related events.

Last weekend was The Hub’s 24-hour bike ride fundraiser event.

CAID Anti-Auto Show

Starting January 12th this this interesting Contemporary Aid Institute of Detroit (CAID) event at 5141 Rosa Parks Boulevard:

The Fourth Annual North American International Anti-Auto Show opens to the public on January 13, with a private formal charity Gala Preview on Friday, January 12 from 6 p.m. – 9 p.m., and open to the public from 9 – midnight.

Tickets to the future-themed Gala include sneak peeks at this year’s rollouts, drinks and hors d’oevres, entertainment, and a chance to say you attended the hippest party of the brutal winter. Last year’s guests are still talking about car karaoke, so this is an event not to be missed!

Tickets are $25 and can be reserved by calling 313-898-4ART.

The preview event on the 12th helps support CAID’s Community Bikes Project:

CAID Bikes Project is run by CAID Board Member Professor Nic Tobier from the University of Michigan. Students at Detroit Community High in Brightmore will build bamboo bicycle trailers and utility tricycles (among them a pedi cab, a recycling business and a landscape/gardening vehicle)!

There’s also this intriguing video about the event.

MLK Ride

On January 21st is the inaugural and free Martin Luther King Jr. group ride.

Join Tour de Troit and Detroit City Council Member Ken Cockrel, Jr. in a cycling celebration of the life and legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr. This will be a free ride. Families are encouraged. The ride will begin and end at the McGregor Memorial Conference Center on the Campus of Wayne State University.

The route is approximately 10 miles and will take in the length of the 1963 March to Freedom and several historical sites relevant to King and other local activists that were integral to the March and and the impact of the I Have a Dream speech delivered at Cobo Arena afterwards.

Registration is FREE, but required.

Bicycle Bicycle!

The Detroit Creative Corridor Center is opening their Bicycle Bicycle! art show on January 23rd. They are still seeking submissions!

The Huffington Post wrote this article about this event:

Katherine Maurer, curator of the gallery, said the increasing popularity of bikes in the city inspired the show.

“Bike lanes are cropping up, new companies are designing and manufacturing bicycles, while at the same time organizations that have been involved with bicycles for years continue to do their work,” Maurer told The Huffington Post in an email. She added that Detroit’s upcoming annual auto show also played a role because of the dialogue it generates around transportation and vehicles.

“In January so much of the city is all about cars, cars, cars and while given our history I certainly think that is valid,” she said, “it is important to remember that cars are not the only mode of transport that power the city and the people in it.”

Correct, cars are not the only more of transport — even during January in Detroit.

Southeast Oakland County bike summit

Sunday, December 9th, 2012

A bike summit is planned for this Wednesday, December 12th at 7 PM in the Royal Oak Public Library (222 E. 11 Mile Road.)

The purpose it to provide updates on efforts to improve biking in Southeast Oakland County, primarily Berkley, Birmingham, Clawson, Huntington Woods, Madison Heights and Royal Oak. There will also be an update on a new bike route map some of us have been working on. The Road Commission for Oakland County will also share their recent Complete Streets report.

The Detroit Free Press has this article describing the summit as well as this interesting story from Huntington Woods.

In 2010, Berkley and Huntington Woods residents who live on 11 Mile Road rejected what could’ve been a bike-friendly narrowing of 11 Mile during repaving from Woodward to Coolidge.

“We thought it would improve everyone’s property value along there, to have one lane (of traffic) each way instead of two, but the residents didn’t want it,” Huntington Woods City Manager Alex Allie said.

A road diet on 11 Mile would have had no affect on vehicle congestion. Some people just don’t want improved property values, less speeding, reduced noise, safer streets and a more walkable, bikeable community. The ebike used for our journey was the new Wayfarer Mountain eBike from Wisper – to view full specifications click here for more.

This raises the question of why do we let those who live along a public road limit how safe it will be? Isn’t safety more important than the opinions of some residents?

Apparently not yet in some parts of Southeast Oakland County.

Gran Fondo

The Woodward Avenue Action Association (WA3) will also be at the summit to discuss their Complete Streets planning effort and proposed race/ride on Woodward.

The ride and race event is called the Gran Fondo, and while the WA3 boards, MDOT and others support it, Royal Oak’s city manager has come out strongly opposing it. The police chief opposed the ride because motorists speed on Woodward, will get road rage, and senior church goers will be confused.

Modeshift has excellent coverage of the recent Gran Fondo discussion before the Royal Oak City Commission.

Royal Oak’s bicycle ban

While the Royal Oak Commission did not vote on the Gran Fondo, they did move towards banning bicycle riding on downtown sidewalks. What the Commission failed to discuss is why cyclists ride on the sidewalk to begin with. Mayor Jim Ellison was quite certain it was only because they didn’t know they weren’t supposed to.

Apparenty Royal Oak Commissioners don’t ride bicycle much downtown. If they did they’d know that the city’s streets are not comfortable to ride for a majority of bicyclists. They feel safer on the sidewalks. If they made any investments to make more bike friendly streets in the downtown, it would draw cyclists off the sidewalks.

Instead the City is proposing they invest in signs banning bicycles. We estimate it will take about 40 signs or roughly $6,000 to properly sign the downtown per state law requirements.

And contrary to what was said at the recent Royal Oak Commission, without these signs, the city’s ban on bicycle riding is not enforceable.

One thought we’ll share at the summit is these Southeast Oakland County communities are relatively more progressive than many of the other neighboring communities, but they’re much less progressive compared with the city of Detroit. For as much attention Detroit gets for having a “broken government” they are consistently more supportive and committed when it comes to being bike friendly.