Mike’s been a member of our West Berkeley workshop community since 2001. His devotion to bicycle advocacy and mechanics, and high quality worksmanship has been a great example to the rest of us.

I don’t always agree with Mike on every subject. For example, he refuses to make eye contact with drivers at a 4-way stop, because he doesn’t want them to get in the habit of always letting cyclists go first. It’s not that he doesn’t want to give them the satisfaction of letting the bike through. It’s that he doesn’t want fellow cyclists to get accustomed to cars letting them through — the cyclist might get hit if the car driver doesn’t feel like waiting.

Like I said, Mike’s got some strong opinions, but you got to admire a guy who lives by his principles. He walks the walk and he bikes the bike. The picture you see above is Mike riding a little commuter he built up for an ex-girlfriend who is recovering from Carpal Tunnel syndrome. Hence the upright stem, and the basket mount welded to the head tube instead of attached to the handlebars (less load on the hands).

Within the Rock the Bike world, you might know Mike as the guy who invented and makes our ‘Second Wind Bicycle Cog Wind Chimes‘, which by the way, make a fabulous bike gift around Christmas time.

He’s also helped me build up bikes for custom jobs like the Soul Cycle Slim. I’m proud to be riding wheels Mike built on my Choprical Fish.

We wish Mike the best of luck as he brings his sewing machines, metalworking tools, and tremendous talent and spirit to Portland, to fulfill his long term wish of returning to the Pacific Northwest. If you’re in need of a caring, creative, affordable, and resourceful bicycle customizer in the Portland area, give Mike a shout.

When I picked up my dual tube ice blue Down Low Glow system, my intentions were mostly for safety and a small amount of style. I was in no way prepared for the kind of popularity I’d get because of the bicycle system.

My commute takes me through the center of Salem, MA, the Witch City of the world. This is where all the tourists come to see the place witches were burned and spend a lot of money on useless things. My commute would take me through the main pedestrian walkway where people would be, and it wasn’t until this October, and more specifically yesterday, that I figured out that my bike is something amazing here.

There’s plenty of bicycle-social groups here, but none of them go out cruising for the sake of showing how much fun socially riding can be. For one example, there’s a bicycle pedicab service that runs through downtown. When they saw my blue bicycle coming up, they were awestruck with its concept, and wanted to get their own to customize their tricycle rides even further than the pinstriping and other detailing work that they had done.

Riding through a walkway yesterday, some tourists stopped me to take photos. They loved the idea of it, and it was amazing seeing the smiles on children’s blue-lit faces as they walk by.

Salem, MA. is filled with culture and social diversity, but I think the one thing it has been lacking is a bicycle culture. Maybe its because of the winter weather that keeps people from trying to ride their bicycles dependently, I don’t really know. All I can say is that this tradition from the West Coast has started to make an impact here on the East Coast, and there’s plenty of people who want to be part of it!

Way to go Rock The Bike!

Dave gave me a chance to test the Bionx on his Jai Bike prototype. It has four assist settings. Even on the lowest one, “1”, I felt a very solid boost.

“4” just made me laugh. It was so different from regular bicycling, I didn’t know what to make of it. But Dave’s analysis (and Todd’s from Clever Cycles) is that the electric assist is more for carrying heavy loads up hills than ‘cheating’ on the flats.

The problem is that once you have the 18 pound Bionx system installed on your rig, it will feel, well, 18 pounds slower unless you use the boost. So you’ll probably end up boosting all the time. The battery is easy to remove, but not the hub motor, obviously.

I’ve now ridden the Bionx, the Stokemonkey, and my friend Sean’s home brewed electric rig. I’ve enjoyed each test ride, but they don’t stick with me. I don’t wake up, ever, saying to myself “I need one of those.” I’m glad it’s out there as a car-trip-replacer, though.

Robert, a marine stationed in Al-Anbar province in Iraq, will be sending out the bike vibe on his base with a new chopper bicycle and some Ice Blue DLG.

Apparently, even on the base, there’s a problem with drivers not seeing cyclists. Here’s his email:

Hey Paul, I was looking for a cool chopper bike and while surfing the internet I ran across a web site called www.aztlanbicycle.com and they sell your lights. So I decided to shop around and see where they come from. I found your web site and pretty much read the whole thing. I’m in Iraq and needed something to break the monotony.

I think everyone is going to get a kick out of my chopper bike with the neon lights. Here is the link to the bike that I am having sent out here, http://www.xyzbikes.com/news/lowrider-beach-cruiser/ .

Now if you can imagine the ice blue dual kit on this bike, you can see how excited I am about getting the kit. Thank you so much for selling such an awesome product. You can bet I will recommend your product to all of my fellow Marines. Maybe we can get a bundle deal out here since the people driving don’t see many of us riding bikes. Take care, and I look forward to receiving the kit.

One of my favorite tall bikes.

I’ve been thinking about the comparisons between Bike Culture and Hip Hop culture. One of the cool things about Hip Hop is that it has four clearly defined elements: Rap, Breakdance, Graffiti, and DJ’ing.

It seems like Bike Culture could have similar pillars: tall bikes, critical mass, night rides with music, riding in the rain, fixing a friend’s flat tire, etc. Perhaps human power might be one of these pillars also?

Here’s a video shot in Austin at their annual Moonlight Cruise. We were at one of the rest stops, and I popped the Choprical Fish onto it’s beefy center stand and pedal powered some dance music. You can get a sense of how well attended this ride is, especially considering it began at 2AM!

Above: Fossil Fool, the Bike Rapper, extols the bike lifestyle as ultra-long distance rider Paul McKensie pedal powers the Choprical Fish music bike.

Two bike-based music acts, Fossil Fool, the Bike Rapper, and the Ginger Ninja’s, are on tour with the Clif Bar 2-Mile Challenge.

On the 2-Mile Challenge tour, a specially customized schoolbus rolls into public locations — a college campus, a farmer’s market, or the 3rd Street Promenade in Santa Monica — and rolls out the red carpet. Spectators walk on to the bus and see video screens of bike culture around the world, including footage shot at the San Francisco Cruiser Ride, and footage of bicycle use in East Africa, provided by Worldbike.org. As spectators move through the bus, they can punch in their address at a computer to see cool locations (cafes, bike shops, etc.) located within 2 miles of their home. They then make a personal pledge to ride, and learn about different bicycle options that will work for them — folding bikes, Sport Utility Bicycles, etc.

Outside the bus, the musicians extoll the bike lifestyle with clever lyrics and catchy tunes. The Ginger Ninjas, led by frontman Kipchoge Spencer, have been performing in Northern California for the past 8 years, and are about to launch a major bicycle-based tour to Mexico. The Bike Rapper, Fossil Fool, (yours truly) has recently taken his street-performing styles to the next level, hosting impromptu human-powered dance parties in his hometown of San Francisco.

The musicians engage directly with the audience, and pull them into the interactive 2-Mile Challenge bus.

I was double-checking the address for a customer named John from Tokyo. I asked him how he heard about the Down Low Glow:

”
Hi Paul,

I’m a BMX street rider in Tokyo (from SF/ Bush St) and last night I was nearly run down (GTA style) by a Taxi. Same story different town, right? Well I knew that my lame head set light wasn’t cutting the job, so I had to find something that would really work and look cool too. After about an hour of searching the net, I found your photos on flickr.com. Man, once I saw your product and the cool photos I was 100 percent sold. And duuuuuuuuuuuuuuude, I can’t wait to hook up my lights and cruze the streets like Night Rider. I bet I’ll get lots of inquires about the lights too, so if you want some business coming from the East could you send in some stickers or something that I can pass out? You know if you have the time.

Thanks again man and all the best,
John”

Amanda pedals the Choprical Fish at one of the stops on last night’s sweet moonlight cruise, which began at 2AM on a local pedestrian bridge. This annual ride was up there with the best social rides I’ve experienced. More pictures to come. Thanks Austin!

I’ve been posting these to You Tube for the last few years. Here are a few of my favorites.

1. Three women sat at the top of the escalator. A roller blader took a hundred foot lead in, then cleared the women and took the escalator backwards.

2. I immediately went for my camera when I saw this woman. I had my friend Emily stand just outside the frame of this video so I could grab the action incognito.

3. I first met Austin at the Crissy Field pullup bar last year. He’s dope. What more can I say.

4. BMX pro Pete Brandt practicing at Embarcadero and Market in SF.

5. Bike Culture from San Francisco. Inventor Max Chen twists, chops, and distorts bikes to make a big visual impact. This pet squirrel is one of his simplest mods, but one of my favorites as well. (more)

6. Live Billboard Project. Dancers under the direction of Jo Kreiter transform a brick facade into a stage with beautiful acrobatics and great lighting and music.

DJ Manny and I are collaborating on the Ultimate Mobile DJ rig, a rickshaw-based 1000-watt DJ system with a typically ‘foolish’ combination of elegant wiring, neon regalia, and multi-person capacity.

Manny is a well-known DJ who has recently opened for Prince, Bob Dylan, Matisyahu, Thievery Corporation, and Sofa Surfers. He’s ready to take is act to the streets!

Now we’ve got 4 days to turn a pedicab into a party bike. It’ll be my fastest Soul Cycle effort to date. Fortunately, Manny’s welder Francisco is quite enthusiastic and capable.

I’ll leave from here on Tuesday morning to rejoin the Clif Bar 2-Mile challenge. It’s a bit Fossil Foolish to fly here. But I really wanted to take this gig. I loved Manny’s vision and I think he’s going to take the street party culture to new levels.

I brought my Choprical Fish with me to Austin. Last night in Vegas I had to hustle to pack into two boxes. (The airline only charged me for one.) I’ll be doing the Moonlight Ride tomorrow with Austin bike people.