Near Southside Bike Parking Improvement Plan Update

Things are progressing steadily on Phase One of the Near Southside Bike Parking Improvement Plan, a joint venture between us here at Fort Worthology, Fort Worth South, Inc., and Trinity Bicycles.  I thought I’d give everybody an update as to how things are going.

For those not familiar with the project, the Near Southside Bike Parking Improvement Plan was born from Fort Worth South’s desire to make the Near Southside a model of bike friendliness in Fort Worth.  This has already led to projects like the Magnolia Avenue bike lanes, and there are more bike lane projects in the pipeline.  Bike lanes are just one component of bike friendliness, though, and it’s also very important to have safe, secure, and easy-to-use parking for bikes at destinations across the district.  There were some racks already in place, but they were the city’s own “Texas Star” lollipop-style racks, which suffered from a couple of flaws:  one, there’s very few of them (something like ten or twelve in the entire district), and two, they don’t immediately look like bike racks, instead resembling some kind of old-timey Texas heritage street art.

Clearly, there was room for improvement, so Fort Worth South got with us at Fort Worthology and the guys at Trinity Bicycles to come up with a plan to make things better for bikes in the Near Southside.  Together, we identified numerous destinations across the district, concentrating for Phase One on Magnolia Avenue (a designated Urban Village and home of the district’s most celebrated collection of destinations), Jennings Avenue (a designated Bike Route, potential location of new bike lanes, and an important connector with Downtown Fort Worth) and South Main Street (another important connector, as well as a designated Urban Village in the beginnings of revitalization).  The plan was to use a simple, easy-to-use, and instantly identifiable rack design (the classic “staple” rack, seen in the photo above), and provide multiple racks at each location to give plenty of bike parking at popular stops and redeveloping sites, supporting the Near Southside’s existing bike culture as well as encouraging more people to get out on two wheels and explore the district.

With funding in place from the Near Southside TIF District, things have been progressing steadily.  We recently walked all the locations with our contractor, AUI Contractors, and marked out the final physical locations of all the racks, one of the last steps before installation can begin.  During the course of setting the locations of the racks, it was discovered that we actually had more room in several spots than expected, so we are happy to announce that we’ve picked up an additional ten rack installations, with the expected final count for Phase One now running just over 80 new racks.  These will be grouped to provide parking for multiple bikes at each location.  The lowest-demand locations will get two racks (parking for four bikes), most locations will get three racks (parking for six bikes), and a few high-demand locations will get at least five racks (parking for ten bikes) up to seven racks (parking for fourteen bikes).

Further, Saris Racks, the company we’re ordering the racks through, is so excited about the project that they’ve given us an upgrade from powder-coated to galvanized racks.  This will means that the Near Southside racks will be incredibly durable and weather-resistant.  (All the racks will be black.)

The first batch of racks should be in within a few weeks, so it won’t be much longer before you start to see some pretty dramatic bike parking improvements happening in the Near Southside.

Critical Mass Tonight

The third event of Fort Worth’s reborn Critical Mass group bike ride is tonight. As usual, participants will meet up at Burnett Park in Downtown Fort Worth at 7:00 PM for a laid-back, friendly group bike ride around the central city to spread good bike cheer and let Fort Worth see our burgeoning bike culture.  Tonight’s ride will go around Downtown before heading into the Near Southside, then onward to the TCU/Bluebonnet Circle area before returning back through the Near Southside to Downtown.

City Bike Review: Kona Africabike

Time for another city bike review.  Last time, I took a look at the upscale Civia Loring.  This time, I’m looking at a city bike that occupies the other end of the price spectrum – the Kona Africabike.

The Africabike is the city bicycle stripped to its essence.  It features a steel frame in one size (18″) with adjustable seat and handlebar heights, fat, rugged tires, three-speed Shimano Nexus internally geared rear hub, coaster brakes and front wheel brake, full fenders and mud guards, a bell, a chain guard, a front basket, and a rear rack that’s integrated with the frame.  And that’s about it.

It’s an extremely simple and straightforward bike, which I think is a lot of its appeal.  This is the pure essence of a classic European-style city bike, at a surprisingly low price.

The Africabike may only come in one frame size, but it’s adjustable enough to cover a decent range of rider sizes.  Even folks over six feet tall can be comfortable.  In Euro city bike tradition, the riding position is essentially bolt upright.  It’s pretty much the same experience you’d get from a Dutch or German city bike.  The frame is a step-through design allowing anybody in any sort of clothing comfortable access on or off the saddle.  The design is classically European.  It’s quite comfortable, and allows for a relaxed running-around-the-neighborhood ride.  The three-speed internal hub gives enough range to deal with the sort of hills one encounters around the urban core, and overall the ride is really nice.  It’s smooth and really fun to ride.

It’s also supremely practical.  Besides the essentials like fenders, a kickstand, a chainguard, a bell, and the like, the Africabike comes will full front and rear cargo carrying ability.  The front basket is deep and made of wire mesh, preventing small objects from falling out.  The rear rack is an integral part of the frame, and is tremendously strong – a person can pretty easily ride on it without fear.  The front and rear basket/rack setup gives great flexibility when going shopping or transporting items.  Add a set of panniers, a laptop bag, or just some simple netting or bungee cords to the rack and you’re all set.

The Africabike doesn’t have the meticulous bamboo detailing or other fancy touches of something like the Civia Loring, but it cuts an elegant and very Dutch sort of silhouette.  The all-black Model T sort of paint job really serves the bike well, and the Model T comparison comes into sharp focus once you come to price.

Kona designed and built the Africabike as extremely practical urban transportation in the grand tradition of the European city bike builders, and wanted the bike to be very affordable.  A lot of the decisions made with the Africabike, like the single-but-versatile frame size, are a result of this desire to keep the price down.  The result is that this is likely one of the least expensive authentically European-style well-made city bikes you can buy new in the United States.  Everything you see pictured here – the Africabike with three-speed hub, chainguard, fenders, front basket, rear rack, etc. – will cost you $399.  That is really, really awesome.  About the only things the Africabike needs to be a full transportation solution are front and rear lights, and for this price, it’s no biggie to buy some LED lights and clip them on.

And then, there’s the thing about the name.  It’s called the “Africabike” for a good reason:  for every two Africabikes sold, Kona donates one to a needy village in Africa.  How cool is that?

The Africabike (and other models of the Kona range, like the long-tail Ute cargo bike I reviewed before) can be found at Trinity Bicycles on South Main in the Near Southside, who graciously provided us with this example to review.  Also check out Kona’s Africabike web site.

Here’s our gallery of Africabike photos – click the thumbnails for a larger view:

Photos from July Critical Mass

July’s Critical Mass group ride went off incredibly well, and drew a record attendance:  over 100 riders took to the streets to promote cycling in Fort Worth.  Contrary to the experience of Critical Mass in some other cities, where it is a confrontational event, Fort Worth’s Critical Mass is a positive celebration of cycling and the good it can do, and it’s a much more friendly and fun sort of atmosphere.  Several riders carried signs thanking drivers for being patient and accommodating, and the group got a very positive response the whole way.

Here are some photos of the event from its starting point at Burnett Park in Downtown, and the initial departure by the group:

July Critical Mass This Friday

The newly relaunched Fort Worth Critical Mass is having its 2nd monthly ride this Friday, the 30th.  Riders will meet at Burnett Park in Downtown Fort Worth at 7:00 PM for a route that will take them to various neighborhoods of the central city (last month’s featured jaunts through Downtown, 7th Street, and the Near Southside).

Critical Mass is a group bike ride intended to showcase Fort Worth’s growing bike culture and get some bikes out on the streets to show they belong.  Fort Worth’s version of the event is a laid-back group ride that’s suitable for families, as there isn’t a focus on the more aggressive advocacy that has led a handful of other CM events into controversy.  Over 60 riders attended the June event, and hopefully CM organizers will have even more this month.

If you care about bicycles as transportation in Fort Worth, check out the ride on Friday.

Near Southside Bike Parking Improvement Plan Progress

You may recall that not long ago, we announced a major new bike parking improvement plan for the Near Southside.  This project is near and dear to our hearts, because we’re directly part of it – the Near Southside Bike Parking Improvement Plan is a joint venture of Fort Worth South, Inc., Trinity Bicycles, and Fort Worthology.

We’ve selected numerous sites across the Near Southside for a dramatic increase in available bike parking.  Phase One is funded and the city’s already on-board, and now we’ve made some more progress.

We met recently with our contractor, Fort Construction, to do measurements for the installation.  Trinity Bicycles made a template of the rack mounts, and we chalked out the dimensions of the rack groupings, using the sidewalk in front of Spiral Diner as our test case.  As mentioned before, the racks that will be installed are simple “staple” racks, more cost-effective and more immediately recognizable as bike racks than the long-standing Texas-star “lollipop” racks previously installed by the city.

While we’re not completely ready to announce how many racks will be installed in Phase One total, it’s looking like our initial estimates are going to be pretty close, so there is going to be a huge increase in bike parking for the Near Southside.  The desire, subject to final figures and site-specific considerations, is to have a minimum of three racks at each location, and up to five racks in higher-demand spots.  That’ll mean parking for 6-10 bikes per location, at a wide range of popular Near Southside destinations.  We’re also going to save the lollipop racks and are looking into using them to fill out some lower-demand parts of the district later on.

With our contractor on-board, we’re also starting to order the racks themselves, and are in process of getting permits with the city.  We’re hoping that it won’t be much longer before you’ll start to see some great new bike parking infrastructure going up all over the Near Southside.

We’re really thrilled to be a part of this project, and can’t wait to show how things progress.

Fort Worth Cyclists Headed to Dallas for Group Ride Tonight

Here’s a fun bit of bike news for you:  local bike shop Trinity Bicycles is organizing a group ride that will use the Trinity Railway Express to head to Dallas tonight to meet up with a group ride there.

The Fort Worthians will meet at Trinity’s shop (207 South Main, in the ground floor of the historic Sawyer building in the Near Southside’s South Main Village area) at 5:30 tonight and ride over to the station to hop on the TRE.  Upon arriving at Union Station in Dallas, they’ll be meeting up with the “Tits Tuesday” group ride, described thusly by organizer Alicia Pol:

Started by myself and 2 other local fixed gear girls, Tits Tuesday is meant to not only promote bicycle advocacy, but to get women out on their bikes. According to some article I stumbled across a few months back, a thriving bicycle community is measured by how many women and children ride their bikes. Better yet on a regular basis. And if we’re lucky, off of the sidewalk. So let me ask you – how many women do you see off of the White Rock or Katy Trails? How many do you see commuting?

Again, the Fort Worth contingent meets tonight at 5:30 PM to head onto the TRE.  After the ride in Dallas, they’re hoping to have some time to grab a beer with their Dallasite friends before catching the TRE at Union Station to head back to Fort Worth at 10:20 PM.

You can find out more about this ride by visiting its Facebook event page.

Streetfilms – Cycling Copenhagen through North American Eyes

Streetfilms presents a look at the cycling world of Copenhagen, as seen through North American eyes.  This is an extra-long Streetfilm, but it’s well worth your time.  Big thanks to Clarence Eckerson, Jr. for his work on this one.  Clarence’s description follows:

“While Streetfilms was in Copenhagen for the Velo-City 2010 conference, of course we wanted to showcase its biking greatness.  But we were also looking to take a different perspective then all the myriad other videos out there.  Since there were an abundance of advocates, planners, and city transportation officials attending from the U.S. and Canada, we thought it’d be awesome to get their reactions to the city’s built environment and compare to bicycling conditions in their own cities.

If you’ve never seen footage of the Copenhagen people riding bikes during rush hour – get ready – it’s quite a site, as nearly 38% of all transportation trips in Copenhagen are done by bike.  With plenty of safe, bicycle infrastructure (including hundreds of miles of physically separated cycletracks) its no wonder that you see all kinds of people on bikes everywhere.  55% of all riders are female, and you see kids as young as 3 or 4 riding with packs of adults.

Much thanks to the nearly two dozen folks who talked to us for this piece.  You’ll hear astute reflections from folks like Jeff Mapes (author of “Pedaling Revolution“), Martha Roskowski (Program Manager, GO Boulder), Andy Clarke (President, League of American Bicyclists), Andy Thornley (Program Director, San Francisco Bike Coalition) and Tim Blumenthal (President, Bikes Belong) and Yvonne Bambrick (Executive Director, Toronto’s Cyclists Union) just to name drop a few of the megastars.”

City Bike Review: Civia Loring

Time for another city bike review!  Last time, I looked at the Kona Ute, a long-tail cargo bike.  I liked it a lot.  This time out, and once again thanks to Trinity Bicycles, I’ll be showing you a new city bike from Minnesota – the Loring, from Civia Cycles.

The Loring is, according to Civia, for “tooling around town, cruising campus, or pedaling to the grocer.”  I have to say that, while all that is true, the Loring is no mere cruiser.  It’s a very practical, and incredibly beautiful, piece of bicycle design.

Basics first:  the Loring is a steel-frame city bike, available with either a 3-speed or 9-speed drivetrain.  In either case, it’s using an internally geared hub.  I like internal gearing a lot from a city use perspective – they’re incredibly easy to shift and use in general, and can be shifted either in motion or at a stop.  What’s more, the Loring comes with full front-and-rear disc brakes for impressive stopping power.

The Loring comes with a very impressive bit of kit.  It features front-and-rear cargo racks lined with bamboo, full fenders (also made of bamboo), a sprung Brooks saddle, classic city bike handlebars, a twist shifter, a chain guard, and a fantastic double-leg kickstand to keep the bike stable as you load cargo.

All of this is well and good, but when considering the Loring, one must also talk about it from a less objective point of view, because this thing is simply stunning to look at.  The Loring is bite-the-back-of-your-hand beautiful.  Available in black or green, the Loring’s elegant lines, bamboo trim, subtle shiny bits, and level of detailing make this one of the flat-out prettiest bicycles you’re going to find, especially in the United States.  It is one of a small number of American bikes I’d put on par with the simple elegance of classic European city bikes.  It’s really that good-looking.

There are so many tiny little details on this bike that add up to make it so unique – everything from the barely-perceptible branding (a lovely brushed metal head badge, small logos in the bamboo, and ghostly, just-barely-visible writing on the frame) to that beautiful bamboo to the little spring that connects the front wheel to the frame to keep it from turning while loading cargo.  It’s pure class, from stem to stern.

The better news is that the Loring rides every bit as good as it looks.  Here at Fort Worthology, we’re not of the speed-loving racer/touring sort of bike mindset – we like our bikes comfortable, practical, and utilitarian, and they don’t have to be quick.  The Loring can move when it needs to, but it’s at home smoothly and elegantly bombing around central city neighborhoods.  The steel frame makes it soak up bumps with ease, and it has a great, nearly-completely-upright riding position for comfort and visibility.  It handles well and even the three-speed drivetrain helps with hills.  (Yes, it’s steel.  Yes, it’s heavy.  Yes, it can still go up hills.  Just go slow!)

In fact, I’d say it rides fairly close to a classic European city bike, like a Dutch bike.  Not quite as smooth, but not too far off, either.  I’d genuinely put it in that league, though.  This is a lovely-riding bicycle.

My quibbles are few and far between.  The single biggest omission is the lack of a built-in lighting system – the Loring ships with no lights.  Of course, lights can be added – it’s easy to clip on some LED lights, and one could conceivably have a generator hub built up for the front end for battery-less lights – but I still really wish it came with a built-in integrated lighting system.

Also, if I’m being greedy, I’d say I’d like the chain guard to become a fully-enclosed chain case to reduce maintenance needs by keeping the chain fully protected and giving that much more of a barrier between your clothes and the chain  Just the fact that the Loring comes with a nice chain guard is a big bonus, though.  You can easily ride the Loring in regular street clothes, even a suit or a skirt, and not have to roll up a pant leg or do anything else of the sort.  That’s important in a classical city transportation bike.

Even better – the Loring is available in plenty of sizes, from Small to X-Large to fit most any size of rider.

All-in-all, the Loring is an outstanding city bike.  It’s full of small details that show a lot of thought and care was put into its design to help its intended use.  I’d never heard of Civia before reviewing the Loring, but they have created a gorgeous, practical example of central city transportation.  The Loring starts at $1095 for a three-speed model.  Many thanks again to Trinity Bicycles on South Main in the Near Southside for the chance to review the Loring – they’re selling them now, and have at least one on hand in the shop.

What’s more, my friend Dottie up in Chicago, one of the pair of ladies who runs the fantastic Let’s Go Ride a Bike blog, has coincidentally put up her very own review of the Loring today.  Go check it out, too!

Now, the photo gallery.  Click on a thumbnail to embiggen:

David Byrne on Bicycling

Legendary musician and artist David Byrne has been spending a lot of time the last few years talking up bicycles and advocating for better bike infrastructure, both in his home of New York City and across the country.  He has a book, Bicycle Diaries, where he collects thoughts and musings on bikes, and what he’s thinking while riding them through cities across the world – topics from bike infrastructure to music to art.

In this video from the New York Times, Byrne shares some of his thoughts on bicycling.

Critical Mass Returns to Fort Worth

Critical Mass, the group bike ride intended to raise awareness of local bike culture, has returned to Fort Worth in a big way.  Last Friday, June 25th, over 60 bike riders gathered at Burnett Park in Downtown Fort Worth at 7:00 PM for a mass group ride that took them to the 7th Street corridor, back through the heart of Downtown, and then on to the Near Southside.

This isn’t the kind of Critical Mass you might have heard of in rare cases in a few other cities – there’s no angry confrontational mindset here, just a laid-back family-friendly group ride to show Fort Worth that bike culture is here in a big way.  With the sheer amount of riders in this one, the event took on an almost parade-like quality with people gathering on the sidewalks to watch and wave as the group rode by.

Here’s some shots of the group meeting at Burnett Park, heading down 7th back into Downtown, and cruising down Magnolia in the Near Southside.  Click the photos to embiggen.

Three Bits of Bike News and Events – Trinity Trail Chicanes, Critical Mass, Group Ride to Burger’s Lake

Three pieces of bike related news & events to share:

  1. Rejoice, Trinity Trails users – the metal chicane gates blocking access to the Trinity Trails from the University bridge trail in the University/Rogers Road area have, apparently, been removed, according to word from the Trinity River Vision folks.  The gates were installed after the large trail reconstruction that removed a blind spot under the bridge wound up creating two new blind spots at the linkage between the trails, but the TRV tells us those new blind spots have been fixed as well, so the chicane gates (designed to slow bikes entering from the bridge) are gone.  Anybody able to confirm?
  2. A new, improved version of Critical Mass has returned to Fort Worth.  This Friday, June 25th, meet up at Burnett Park in Downtown at 7:00 PM for a group ride to showcase Fort Worth’s burgeoning bike culture.  They’re hoping to have 100 bikes for the ride.  The organizers are stressing that this is not the sort of Critical Mass that has caused trouble in other cities – they’re wanting this to be a friendly and fun group ride to raise awareness of bicycle transportation in Fort Worth.
  3. Trinity Bicycles in the Near Southside is putting on a group ride to Burger’s Lake, this Saturday, June 26th.  They’re going to leave from the bike shop (207 South Main) around 10:00 AM on a 12-mile ride to everybody’s favorite local spring-fed lake.  Burger’s Lake admission is $12 per person, with a reduced rate for kids under 7.

Major New Near Southside Bike Parking Improvements on the Way

It’s not everyday that we get to report on something we actually had a hand in, but today is one of those days.  Fort Worth South, Inc. wanted to improve the bike parking situation in the Near Southside as part of their larger goal of huge bike infrastructure improvements across the district, and they decided they wanted some outside help.  So, they called us and Trinity Bicycles up and asked if we’d collaborate on a new bike parking improvement plan.  After a lot of discussion, many meetings, and several in-the-field work sessions identifying parking locations, ideal setups, and more, we put together a comprehensive bike parking plan.  Now, we’re happy to report, Phase One of the plan has been approved by the city and funded by the Near Southside TIF (Tax Increment Finance district), so we can give some details.

While we’re still finalizing the number of racks and such, we can say that this will be a pretty dramatic increase in bike parking, even in Phase One.  At the moment, there are approximately 12 of the city-installed Texas star “lollipop” racks across the entire district.  Most of them are on Magnolia Avenue, with two or three on 8th.  Even in the best of cases, the Texas star racks are less than ideal – they look more like street art than bike racks, making them not obvious to riders, and there are simply too few of them and in too few locations.  With the large increases in bike traffic in the Near Southside in the last year or so, thanks to the Magnolia Avenue bike lanes, groups like the Night Riders, and a continued increase in new urban residents, the existing bike parking infrastructure was becoming very inadequate to meet resident and visitor needs.

As mentioned above, we’re still finalizing all the numbers, so we can’t give a specific number yet, but we’re fairly confident that you can look forward to dozens of new racks in Phase One.  Phase One will see new racks installed on Magnolia, Jennings, and South Main at a wide range of popular destinations.  Each location will have multiple racks, with the number determined by current and projected future demand.  The plan calls for simple “staple” racks, such as these:

These are cost-effective, easy to use, and instantly identifiable as bike racks.  They’ll be installed right near the main entrances of destinations across the district.  We hope that this will not only better serve the Near Southside’s existing bike culture, but also encourage more people to ride their bikes in the district, as well as serve as a model for the city on effective bike parking infrastructure (something not very well understood in Fort Worth, for the most part).

As things progress, we’ll update everybody on how the plan is going, especially once we have a final rack count and all the locations finalized.  With city approval and TIF funding in place, we’re getting closer to seeing the new racks being installed across the district.

Streetfilms: Cycle Chic in Copenhagen and Beyond

Elizabeth Press, from Streetfilms:

You can trace the term “cycle chic” back to 2006, when Mikael Colville-Andersen launched his Copenhagen Cycle Chic blog. It means different things to different people, but basically, “cycle chic” is about riding in everyday clothes instead of specialized gear like spandex or cycling shoes.

When I was in Copenhagen last December I had the chance to meet up with Colville-Andersen. After touring the city’s first-rate bike infrastructure, I asked him about cycle chic. He said the number of collaborators and followers around the world is constantly growing, making cycle chic a movement-within-a-movement. So for this video, I crowdsourced video from a few other cycle chic bloggers to see what’s so hot about using fashion and style to promote bicycling. Enjoy!

Friday Bike Links

Some links for things happening in the bicycle world.

Social Cycling Week 2 Roundup – Let’s Go Ride A Bike

Hearing how much fun everyone is having simply by riding bikes makes us so happy. See for yourself by checking out the pictures below. We encourage you to click on the links to read the full stories, visit the participants’ blogs, deepen the dialogue and spread the bike love!

Life By Bike – Portlandize

During the Farmers Market season, we make it a weekend tradition to ride over to our local farmers market in Irvington neighborhood every Sunday, and get some breakfast along the way. This year we’ve also discovered the market in the Hollywood neighborhood, which is almost as close to us, is on Saturday, and has a notably different selection of vendors, so we’ve decided to start frequenting both. Farmers market weekends! Fresh, delicious food, supporting local community and economy, and often there’s good pre-made food to be eaten at the markets as well.

Cargo Bike Moments – Copenhagen Cycle Chic

A few shots from the rich cargo bike culture in Copenhagen.

And from our local shops:

Peterboro Baskets – Trinity Bicycles

As you might have guessed from our love of Brooks Saddles, we have a soft spot for quality, handmade products with a history. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that such products are often superior to their modern counterparts, simply because their makers haven’t succumbed to the cost-cutting pressures of an increasingly global society.

That’s why we were really excited to be visited by a representative of the Peterboro Basket Company this week. This wasn’t just any company representative, though… she was a member of the family who has been making these fine baskets by hand since 1854.

Chair Massage This Saturday – Panther City Bicycles

This Saturday 6-5-10 at Panther City Bicycles from 11:00-4:00pm we will have a very special guest:  Amanda Powers, licensed massage therapist.

Free Parking for Bikes at the Colonial

If you’d like to attend this year’s Crowne Plaza Invitational at the Colonial, but would like to do it in a healthy, environmentally friendly, congestion-reducing manner, the good folks at Streams and Valleys, Inc. have got you covered.  Streams and Valleys is providing free, secure, covered parking for bicycles at the Colonial on Saturday and Sunday, whether you use the Trinity Trails or city streets to ride there.

The Streams and Valleys Go Green! tent is just off the trails, at Rogers Road & Colonial Parkway.  Check in at that tent, and your bike will be securely locked up while you can enjoy a beverage.  For each person registered at the tent, the Crowne Plaza Invitational will donate $10 to Streams and Valleys for their work on improving the Trinity River and the Trinity Trails.

This is a great service from Streams and Valleys, and it’s wonderful to see even more traditional Fort Worth institutions like the Colonial embracing alternate transportation.  For more info, check out the page at the Streams and Valleys site.

Bicycle Review – Kona Ute

Thanks to the Near Southside’s Trinity Bicycles, we recently took out for review Kona’s new longtail utility bike, the Ute.  The Ute features an extended back fitted with a wood cargo deck and space to attach some truly massive cargo bags.  So, how does the Ute fair in city usage?  Read on.

It’s fair to say that the Ute attracts attention.  Every time we rode it, it tended to draw at least a few passers-by to ask questions or simply to take a closer look.  The Ute has a pretty striking presence – not that of some carbon-fiber spandex racer, but more of an appreciation of clean, straightforward utility.  One gets an appreciation of its sturdy elegance immediately.

To ride, the Ute doesn’t feel radically different from your average city bike.  It’s a bit less nimble, for obvious reasons, but it didn’t take much riding to adjust to its characteristics.  The frame is aluminum.  The riding position is fairly relaxed, not as upright as we like our city bikes to be but hardly uncomfortable.  Disc brakes help haul heavy loads to a stop with a minimum of drama.

It’s not a speed demon, but if you’re of that mindset, you probably aren’t carrying cargo on your bike to begin with.  For those who do, the appeal of the Ute is immense:  this bike will carry an incredible amount of stuff.  The cavernous waterproof bags will accommodate almost anything you can throw at them – the Ute laughs at multiple full-size grocery bags.  Using it in a trip to First Friday on the Green, it carried two full folding chairs (lashed to the wooden deck), a bag full of camera equipment, and every other assorted odd & end we could think of to take.  It is really easy to get hooked on having that much cargo space for handling around-the-neighborhood duties.  Anything too large to go in the bags can be easily strapped to the rear deck.

Kona’s obviously put some thought into the practical applications of the Ute.  A Euro-style double kickstand keeps the bike level and stable during cargo loading and unloading.  Mount points for the bags do double duty as convenient tie-down holes for the deck.  The front & rear gearing enables easy riding at most any speed, even with a load of cargo, and the Shimano shifters work nicely.

What’s perhaps even more impressive is that Kona’s crammed all this functionality and down-to-Earth coolness into a remarkably affordable package:  the Ute retails for around $900.  While other longtails like Surly’s legendary Big Dummy can haul more/heavier loads, they’re also significantly more expensive.

The price point is likely the source of some of our downsides with the Ute.  To be a real, practical city bike, we’d like to see a full lighting system from the factory (as seen in the photos, we attached battery-powered lights for our test).  The Ute uses a derailleur, while we prefer internally geared hubs for city bikes (the pleasure and simple operation of Breezer’s internally geared city bikes and experiences with European city bikes spoils us, we admit).  We would also really like to see some form of chain guard, to make riding the Ute more practical in normal clothing for men or women (never having to roll up your pants leg or worrying about getting a skirt caught are wonderful things).  In addition, the Ute is available only in 18″ and 20″ frame sizes – people shorter than, say, 5′ 4″ or much taller than 6′ will definitely want to test-ride the Ute to make sure it’ll work for them.  Being over 6′ ourselves, we found the Ute a little small, but with some adjusting it wasn’t unpleasant.

Many of these negatives can be fixed by the shop (especially the lighting), so while it’s not perfect, we are impressed with the Ute’s price and practicality.  For urban dwellers looking for impressive longtail utility and a good ride at an attractive price, the Ute should definitely be on the short list.

Click the photos for a larger view.  Check out Kona’s web site, and to take a look at Kona bikes in person, the Near Southside’s Trinity Bicycles in South Main Village is your go-to.

Trinity Bicycles
207 South Main
(Ground floor, Sawyer Building)
M-F, 7:00 AM – 7:00 PM
Sat, 9:00 AM – 6:00 PM
Sun, 10:00 AM – 3:00 PM
817-484-6825
http://trinitybicycles.com

National Bike To Work Day Tomorrow

May is National Bike Month, thanks to the League of American Bicyclists, and tomorrow (that’d be Friday the 21st, natch) is National Bike to Work Day, a way to encourage people to start thinking differently about their transportation setups and consider replacing their cars with bike for some trips.

With bicycle culture and real bike transportation starting to take hold in Fort Worth at long last, there are a few events taking place tomorrow to celebrate National Bike to Work Day. For starters, The T is holding an event at the Intermodal Transportation Center in Downtown from 7:00 AM to 9:00 AM:

Bikers are invited to gather at the ITC (Intermodal Transportation Center) at Jones and 9th Streets in downtown Fort Worth for a special bus, train, and bike-rack presentation from The T’s President and avid cyclist Dick Ruddell. Learn how the bus or train can help make cycling a viable alternative even for commuters that travel long distances. And to further power your bike ride, The T will provide free snacks!

Meanwhile, in the Near Southside, Trinity Bicycles in the South Main Village neighborhood is holding its own set of festivities:

If you’re headed downtown to work or to the T’s Bike to Work Day event… or heck, even if you’re not headed downtown, but just want to go out of your way to stop by the shop on your bike, we will make you a breakfast taco and/or give you a cup of fresh, locally roasted coffee.

Free taco, coffee, and conversation before work? It’ll be the best Friday you’ve had in a long time.

And don’t forget, if you have a longer, perspiration-inducing ride, you can shower here before work, too.

Those are a couple of Bike to Work Day events happening – if you’re aware of more, let us know.

Photos From Path Less Pedaled At Trinity Bicycles

Russ and Laura from PathLessPedaled.com stopped in Fort Worth on their cross-country bike ride, and set up shop at Trinity Bicycles in South Main Village in the Near Southside for a presentation of lessons they’ve learned, stories they’ve found, and photos they’ve taken on the meandering journey they’ve been on from Portland, OR through the United States.  The presentation was a lot of fun, talking about how they’ve adjusted to a new life on the road and about all the interesting people they’ve met along the way.  There was even a video with a song by a man they met somewhere during the trip, set to photos and video taken while on the move.  After the presentation, Russ and Laura did a Q&A with the audience, taking all sorts of questions from “what’s your staple food?” to “how do you maintain the web site while out in the wilderness?”

And what  an audience it was.  If there was any doubt that Fort Worth is at last developing a real bike culture of its own, seeing the crowd gathered at Trinity Bicycles should put that to rest.  The shop was packed with bike fans of all ages and backgrounds (including families).  In fact, we’ve learned that this was the largest presentation that Russ and Laura have done thus far – 103 attendees!  After the presentation had concluded, before they moved into the Q&A, the audience gave Russ and Laura a wild, loud round of cheers and applause, which got even more excited when Russ compared the Fort Worth crowd to the Austin crowd they’d spoken to before:

Wow, you guys kicked Austin’s ass!

All in all, it was a very informative and entertaining show, and we wish Russ and Laura continued good luck on their incredible cross-country bike expedition.  Make sure to check out their site, PathLessPedaled.com.

Also a treat to see last night: the sheer number of bicycles in attendance, which were lashed to signs and light posts.  It shows nicely the need for more, better bicycle parking in Fort Worth under the Bike Fort Worth plan:

Many thanks to our friends at Trinity Bicycles for getting Russ & Laura to give Fort Worth a chance to see their presentation.  To view more images, click the thumbnails below.

Reminder: Path Less Pedaled In Fort Worth Tonight

Don’t forget – tonight is the night when Laura and Russ from PathLessPedaled.com are stopping in Fort Worth for a chat about their cross-country bike journey.  They’ll be at Trinity Bicycles in the Near Southside from 7:30 PM to 9:30 PM – that’s at 207 South Main, not far from the T&P train station.

The Path Less Pedaled Coming To Fort Worth

Laura and Russ are riding their bikes across America, looking for interesting sights and people and chronicling them at PathLessPedaled.com.  Tomorrow night, their journey will bring them to the Near Southside, where they’ll set up shop at Trinity Bicycles in South Main Village to discuss lessons they’ve learned out on the road, share some incredible photos of the trip, and have a Q&A with the audience about the experience.

Stop by Trinity Bicycles at 207 South Main tomorrow, Wednesday April 27th, from 7:30 PM to 9:30 PM, for what should prove to be a very cool night of bike awesomeness.  They’ve set up a Facebook event so you can let them know if you’re coming.

View Larger Map

City Creates New Bike Fort Worth Site

The city has uploaded a brand-new Bike Fort Worth site, covering the recently adopted bicycle transportation plan.  Included in the goodies is this PDF map of the proposed new bike lanes, routes, and paths (3.4 MB PDF file).

Trinity Bicycles Sneak Preview Tonight

Tonight marks the not-quite-Grand-Opening-more-like-Sneak-Preview of the Near Southside’s newest bike shop, Trinity Bicycles.  To celebrate, they’re inviting everybody to come to the shop at 207 S. Main (ground floor of the Sawyer Building apartments, next door to Robert Kelly Architects) for a night of fun and beer, as well as the Lonestar Goldsprints.  What are the Goldsprints?  They’re a league of stationary bike racers.  The way it works is that there’s a setup of stationary bikes, and people ride in competition.  Large screens are set up behind them, showing how far each rider has gone on the stationary bike.  The audience shouts encouragement and other helpful/non-helpful participation, since the competitors can’t see the screens.

The best part is that you can compete – registration starts tonight at 6:00 PM and racing starts not long after.  So, stop by Trinity Bicycles tonight to get a sneak preview of our newest local bike shop and to watch/participate in the Goldsprints.  Hope to see a lot of folks turn out.

Local Business For The Streetcar

Our friends at Trinity Bicycles, the new bike shop in South Main Village in the Near Southside, have written their own letter of support for the modern streetcar project and have posted it on their site.  Here it is:

As you all know, one of our biggest missions here at Trinity Bicycles is increasing the viable transportation options for our neighbors here in Fort Worth. Obviously, we think bikes should play a big role in Fort Worth’s transportation future.

We’re not solely pro-bike, though. We’ve been around long enough to know that all alternative (read: non-car) transportation options tend to fare better when they are interconnected, plentiful, and even somewhat redundant.

That’s why we want to ask everyone who believes that our city needs more and varied transportation alternatives to show up at tomorrow’s (ed. – That would be tonight’s meeting now) Fort Worth City Council meeting at 7 p.m. to show your support for the City’s modern streetcar plan.

The vote to hire transportation super-planners HDR (they worked on Portland’s system) was supposed to happen 2 weeks ago, but it was postponed until tomorrow evening, and there was some rumbling that the political winds may have been shifting and the plan might not get funded.

Word today is that the vote is likely to be successful after all, but it is not something we as citizens should leave to chance. We need to make it clear to our elected officials that their constituents want real choices on how they move about their city. Please come help us fill the council chambers with streetcar supporters, and thereby help the Mayor and City Council feel good about their decision to vote to fund the planning phase of the streetcar project. And of course, having a crowd visibly supportive of a Streetcar system might come in handy just in case any votes are wavering tomorrow night.

We know it must seem scary for a city council member to vote to spend a large amount of money on a project that will take years to come to fruition. But the truth is, as a city, we just can’t afford not to take this step. We are being left behind every day we do not move forward with bringing our transportation system into the 21st century.

How many young, creative, active people do you know who have moved to a “cooler” city (Austin and Portland come to mind) to pursue careers? I know too many, all of whom said they “loved Fort Worth, but….”

Even our neighbors to the East in Dallas have seen how transit options can revitalize neighborhoods. Just look at what’s happening in Oak Cliff, Knox Henderson, or just about anywhere along the light rail lines they have built.

And right here in Fort Worth, I can tell you from personal experience, just the very promise of a Streetcar system has improved the economy. Trinity Bicycles chose to relocate from Irving, TX, to its location at 207 S. Main in part because it was on a proposed streetcar line. Now the final space in a long-empty historic building is filled, and not just with any business– a retail business that will be putting sales tax into the City coffers.

If we chose a location based on a system that hasn’t even been started yet, imagine how many more businesses will move into town if the system actually gets built…

New Feature Series: City Bike Reviews

We’re excited to announce that, thanks to our friends at Trinity Bicycles in the Near Southside, we’re going to be launching a new ongoing feature series:  city bike reviews.  (We’ve done brief impressions of bikes before, such as the Breezer Finesse, but these will be quite a bit more in-depth.)

We’ve taken delivery of our first review subject, and should have a review up in a week or so.  Here’s a sneak peek:  it’s a Kona Ute utility bike.

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