Attention all Scorchers! Take Note! May 13th, 2008 we, at the Old Spoke Home, will be shredding the local Mountain Bike Trails!! meet us at the Shop (322 North Winooski Ave) around 6:30 P.M. with your bike, single speed, fixed gear, 3 speed are all encouraged!

YE BE WARNED!!

-H.J Oldesport

The Burlington Bicycle Council will be holding a public meeting to gather input and ideas about what changes should be made to those portions of the Burlington Code of Ordinances which regulate the operation of bicycles. This meeting is intended to gather public comments and suggestions to inform the Bicycle Council as it moves forward with crafting proposed revisions. We invite you to submit your comments and suggestions about what changes you would like to see made to the Code of Ordinances and the process outlined in this letter.

The meeting will be held on March 5, 2008 at 5:30pm in the Department of Public Works conference room, located at 645 Pine Street. Written comments will also be accepted until March 15, 2008. Comments may be directed to Nicole Losch, Bicycle, Pedestrian, and Environmental Planner, Department of Public Works, PO Box 849, Burlington, VT 05402 or via email to nlosch@ci.burlington.vt.us.

After compiling the public comments, a proposed outline of changes will be presented at the April 2, 2008 Bicycle Council meeting. Once complete, the proposed changes will be sent to the Public Works Commission, Police Commission and other interested city commissions for their consideration.

Code can be found here:
http://www.municode.com/resources/gateway.asp?pid=13987&sid=45

I have to admit some ignorance here. Even worse, my ignorance was born of smug indifference. There are many new words thrown around that are conjunctions of two real words. It can be frustrating to the point where you block them all out as background noise. Permaculture is a mash-up word you hear on a regular basis. I heard it repeated often by people I respect, and the concepts included in the conversation were the type I identify with. I decided it was time to take a second look. If you click the link, you can take a look yourself.

Rather than try to sum up the definition here, I’ll just say I was surprised to find how coherent and well developed an idea it really is. I found it hard to find the solid central pillar of the concept through the context of conversation or from the available educational offerings. After a little research, I think I finally get it. Not sure why it took me so long to simply look-it-up.

So back to my original question; are bikes part of the permaculture picture? Bicycles have been applied on a relatively large scale as part of international aid programs. Here’s a great example of application of appropriate technology to support a local economy. It’s cheap, you can fix it yourself, and you don’t need to import a polluting, highly refined, non-renewable fuel to make it work. Here’s a good list of projects I recently pulled from the January issue of Bicycle Retailer and Industry News-

World Bicycle Relief

Ecotruk

Extracycle

Worldbike

One of the most interesting quotes in this cluster of articles was from an organizer named Stephen Wolff who has projects in Zambia and Burkina Faso.

“I believe that the free bicycle model is not sustainable and that the long term interests of the recipients are met best through the mutual exchange of resources.”

If bike aid programs are dumping lots of bikes and failing to share the tools and information needed to set up bike shops cannot be considered a localized and mutual exchange of resources, perhaps they are not permaculture? Also, why would anyone assign value to a trades-person’s skills if they can get it replaced for free by an international aid organization? Reportedly, many of the donated used bikes delivered to developing nations end up unused and in rusty piles.
That brings me to why the bike industry is not supporting a sustainable culture. It’s cheaper to engineer, provide materials, manufacture, and transport a bike part from the other side of the planet than it is to fix or replace it locally. How can we more effectively integrate the bicycle into the permaculture model? Can we? Should we?

Jeremy, Rob, and I have been busy building some wheels lately, some 27 inch, some new old stock hubs on used rims, 26 inch and 700c. But the thing that I am really excited about are the powder coated wienmann deep dish, with powdered Origin8 track hubs. We got them in some rad colors, I am really fond of the Ronald Mcwheels. Check em’ out.

These beautiful hand built wheels will be selling for 229$ a pair, and yes we can do custom color combos if you would like. You could mate these rims with any spoke or hubs you. Like imagine a nice eight speed dyno hub wheel set with these babies. rims will be selling for about 30 bucks. Think of the style points awarded for these.

nancypants

Here’s an update from the Surly newsletter. Super Neato!

Big Dummy

As you may know, our cargo hauler collaboration with Xtracycle is nearly ready to sell. As I write this a couple of shipping containers filled with these beasts are lumbering their way eastward on rail cars from Tacoma. It’s been a long time coming and we’re happy there’s light at the end of this long tunnel. We’ve had a lot of interest from consumers on this one and demand is going to be high. We’ve got a bunch coming in, but they will likely go pretty quickly, so check Item Watch, call us, and watch the Surly blog if you’re needing to get some.

Most of the reasons for doing the frame are covered here, so I won’t go over them again. Suffice it to say that it’s a bike that carries a lot without feeling like you’re carrying a lot. Get one and see.

Early on we’d talked about a retail price of $820 for these. The MSRP has been bumped up to $895.

The framesets will ship without any Xtracycle goodies. For those, part number BT1002 is what you’ll need. It’s a kit containing 2 vertical racks, 2 side bags, and 1 top deck. It’s the basic kit and will get your customers rolling. Check out Xtracycle for more information on more accessories.

If you take a look at the guys from Riding the Spine, you’ll see a cool early custom version of this frame with Pugsley wheels.

In my free time, I usually have no idea what I should be doing. Thanks to snow and sleds, I now have a way to pass my time. Since I can’t ski or snowboard this is about as extreme as I am going to get in the winter.

So this is how Lindsay, Ezra, and I spent the last couple of days. Mix in a lot of uphill marching, some 50 cent hospital tea, and cold fingers, and that is what I have to show for myself. Now watching Jeremy on Tuesday morning explain his wild weekend with no words and only dance, makes me think some one needs to buy him a sled.

. I can not think of a single good reason for this sort of behavior. nancypants

These hats are wool, US made, have our logo and are available now at The Old Spokes Home!!! Check out Jason in his new lid!!!

They make even the roughest bunch look good! Also, have a look at our newest employee (he looks kinda like Jason to me…)

We just received the new IF catalog. Talk about works of art!

We’d love to guide you through the process of a custom IF fit. Each one is build specifically for the rider. The new catalog is available in PDF format, so take a gander.

The premiere hand builder’s showcase is coming up in Portland Oregon from February 8th to the tenth. It’s a droolfest. The NAHBS features the best the bike industry has to offer. Many bike enthusiasts feel like bikes are peices of sculpture as well as the most practical transportation ever created. If you agree, this is the scene for you. If you can’t make it, keep tabs on the show at their website.