An occasional update on items from the Velo-city.
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TEN-SPEEDS, NOT STICK SHIFTS
Cycling is safer than driving for young British males ages 17 to 20 – driving brings an almost five times greater risk per hour of an accident than cyclists of the same age. …
Active travel – defined as walking or cycling – is estimated to save £17 bn in healthcare costs alone, according to a recent Lancet paper.
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DO NOT USE WHILE CYCLING
To promote cycle friendly cities a new tool is in development which provides bicycle routes in the Netherlands in the form of maps and video clips.
Cyclodeo, which is a combination of cycle and video, provides a street view for bicycle tracks. … A google map on the left side of the screen shows the route with a moving point, and on the other side of the screen the same situation is displayed as video which has been filmed from a bicycle.
An example can be viewed: here.
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Check out that bridge at 4:30.
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PAINFULLY HIP
Levi’s finally gets into cycling as fashion and fashion for cycling:
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Very mixed feelings about the Levi’s ad. I want to like it, but am worried about the stereotypes it perpetuates, namely:
1. you have to carry your bike up and down stairs to commute
2. you have to ride a bike in which you put weight on the handlebars
3. you have to travel quickly on streets shared with cars
4. you sweat when riding a bike
5. you’re male
I do like the waterproofing and reflective touches on the jeans. I’m not convinced this niche is big enough for Levi’s to sell many: they’re targeting the doesn’t-buy-special-cycling-clothes market. If you’d wear waterproofed reflective jeans just to walk around – and, frankly, I quite like that idea, assuming they look, last and cost the same as regular jeans – then great. But I think only a very small number of people would pay up for that. (Probably technophilic men, actually, which mitigates my point #5 to some extent.)
But – and I know this is not Levi’s purpose – I don’t think this ad makes cycling look like walking, or like brushing your teeth: something dull and quotidian. Special clothes, speed and sweat all sound much more like a sport to me than an unremarkable daily commuting mode. And therefore I don’t like the stereotypes it perpetuates.
I agree.
CitiBike can’t come soon enough.