“Gee what a suprise, ALL the bicycle lycra louts and senior citizens on 2wheels are mobilised in a military fashion by bicycle tasmania again. Great media saturation. BUT what about the real ratepayers and majority of voters in Hobart who are sick of Slobart and agressive bicycle riders blocking our progress just getting to work ” when required ” how much work productivity is lost travelling at kids bicycle speeds on the way to work. For those voters in Hobart who require paid employment to feed their families and pay their car/motorcycle registration fees etc. ( bicycles free and don’t need to obey traffic rules apparently ) this feel good utopia is on par with solar power for our homes ( more ” FREE” government money. Gee who really pays”

Feel free to join the discussion here http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=147200221975378&ref=mf

I know the weather may be against us but please come along to Franklin Sq at 5.15pm this afternoon as a show of support for the Sandy Bay Road Cycle Lanes.
Ald Damon Thomas submitted a petition to Council this week with approx 500 signatures against the proposal.
I have never seen the Hobart cycling community so unanimous in support of anything before. We have to show that support to overwhelm the relatively small minority who want to see Sandy Bay Road continue being a motor vehicle sewer.
Come along to Critical Mass today and ensure you and everyone you know makes a submission to Hobart City Council in support before Friday 3rd September. The online feedback form on the HCC website takes only a minute to complete.

“It has to start somewhere
It has to start sometime
What better place than here
What better time than now
All hell cant stop us now”

If you have never bothered, never had the time or just not heard of it before, well now you have so you have to be there.
This is important, lets show the naysayers that the whole of the Hobart bike community roadie, mtb, hipster, you know who you are support the Hobart City Council proposal. It’s not a show of hands it’s a show of wheels and lets make it impressive.

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=124376284276567&ref=mf

When: Tuesday 17th August, 2010
Time: 3.30pm
Cnr of Marieville Esplanade and Sandy Bay Rd

Calling all cyclists!

Come along to support the proposed cycling and walking facilities between Marieville Esplanade and Cartwright Reserve. These world class facilities are facing opposition from a small group of residents along Sandy Bay Road.

Currently only those fast and confident enough to deal with the other traffic cycle on Sandy Bay Road so large sections of our community who wish to cycle with their children to school, to work or the shops are excluded for riding bikes because the lack of suitable infrastructure.

The resident are set to lose kerbside parking if it goes ahead – the wider Hobart community will lose a fantastic opportunity to cycle the primary route for cyclists to and from Kingborough and the myriad of benefits that flow from this if it doesn’t.

It is important for you to support this proposal in every way you can so come along on Tuesday but most importantly register your support with Hobart City Council here

The road space we all pay for as tax payers is too valuable a resource for private car parking.

ODYSSEYBMX.COM » DAILY WORD

Object of desire? Check. Airbourne Hack? Check. Hard-on? Check. All I need now is a fucking Hack and a Tigersuit.

With the big lap of France just around the corner I find myself wondering who will capture the hearts of spectators in this year’s installment. We all have our favorites and it’s safe to say the most interesting riders are not always the best. Sure we’re keen for Cadel to fly the flag for Australia and all that but lets be honest, the dude is terminally boring. Contador is a right nonce, and Armstrong is so conceited I’m surprised no one has thrown a stick in his spokes. It’s the guys that have zero chance of winning but don’t mind a bit of fun that become the cult heroes of the race.

Thomas Voeckler loves a yellow jersey and doesn’t mind showing it off, a bit of a crowd favorite.

Robbie McEwen wins stages, pops wheelies and calls a spade a spade, a true Australian hero.

But here at Bottles and Chains we champion the riders that aren’t afraid to flaunt the rules and get loose. Thats why we can’t wait for someone to emulate our favorite rider of all time, a legend who didn’t mind quitting as soon as there was a hill, a guy who paid the fine for not riding in uniform every day so he could race around in stupid shorts…

(more…)

Ah, the soft lull of winter! Everything quietens a little, and apparently the BnC website is no different. Things are still ticking here, albeit slowly and softly. Sometimes it’s just hard to crawl out from under the couch doona and away from the world cup. Never mind that the TdF starts next month, which will lead to a few more weeks of hibernation and bleary eyed days. But it’s winter, right? That’s what we’re meant to do.

Not everyone’s dead quiet though. Jordy and the BnC crew up in Launceston have been tearing it up on the streets of the city. They’ve kicked off the Launceston Fixedwheel Club (LFC) and have been trashing wheels and tearing tyres fairly regularly by the seems of it. If you’re in the area you should get involved. Can’t go wrong with skids and beers as far as I’m concerned. Go check their FB page for details and snaps and good times.

On a more selfish note, I’ve got some more shit for sale. What’s the point of a blog if I can’t flog my unwanted shit on it, right? Most of this is pretty decent gear, so get involved.

Item #1
Wheelset – DT Swiss XR400 rims laced to a 15/20mm Chub front hub and a DT Swiss 340 135mm rear. Double butted black spokes and alloy nipples. Never ridden, never installed. Throwing in a set of new Kenda Small Block Eight tyres and some tubes. They’re $600 (or about $1,300 if you built them yourself). Came off a build kit last week.

Here’s a picture, click to make it big:

Item #2
Brakeset – Avid Elixir CRs with 6″ rotors. Alloy levers. Again, brand new and never installed. Awesome brakes, just not what I wanted. Grab ‘em for $420 (inc. postage within Australia). No photo, they look just like the ones on the website.

Item #3
Bicycle – This one’s a pearler! A vintage Michalo road bike in beautiful condition. Sized at 54cm square (c-c). Built by Ron Mitten in Tassie back in 1983, it’s barely been ridden since then. Tubing is Tange Championship #1, their top end tubeset. The componentry is a bit of a mix of Shimano, Sachs, Suntour, Dia-Compe, Tange, etc but all looks to be in great condition. Windowed lugs. Beautiful bike that needs little more than a clean up to become a prime road machine. Someone really needs to ride this thing, ’cause it doesn’t fit me and deserves better than my garage. Out the door at $600!

This is a kinda shitty picture, but you get the idea…

Item #4
Bicycle – Another old schooler. Columbus tubed vintage roadie decked out in a bit of a mix of Shimano and Campagnolo components and wheels. The frame’s super nice, but it has a couple of small dings and scratches, and the paint job kinda sucks (British racing green). Lots of nice bits on it though. This one’s a 56cm square (c-c). Selling it ’cause I never actually got around to riding it. No pictures, but hit me up if you might be interested and I’ll take some snaps. Chasin’ $350 for that sucker.

Just e-mail info[at]bottlesandchains.com if you’re interested in anything. Give me money and I will provide you with quality goods! Sweeeeet.

Anyway, enough of the selling shit. Continue on with your day!

Anyone want to buy a nice wheelset? I’m selling the wheels off my CX bike. They’re sexy as hell and haven’t been ridden much at all. Probably 300km at the most. Have we established that I’m lazy yet?

The details:

“The car’s high speed, particularly relative to walking, creates an aggressiveness that must be constrained. Certainly it has not been possible to rely on the self-restraint of the individual motorist, whose motoring decision-making is usually singularly self-centred.

“For a while it was thought that simply providing more and more street space was the solution. But this has rarely proved effective, and one of the major advances in recent times has been the use of a restricted street system to forcibly civilize the car.”

Strong stuff. Must have been written by a Bolshevik bicyclist? A sandal-chewing, lentil-wearing hippy? An Autogeddonist? A car-hating loon?

Nope.

It’s from a book by Maxwell Gordon Lay, author of Handbook of Road Technology and Ways of the World: A History of the World’s Roads and the vehicles that used them.

His car credentials include being Executive Director of the Australian Road Research Board and he was Chairman of the Royal Automobile Club of Victoria.



Thanks to Carlton Reid of Quickrelease TV for the heads up on this one.

(Notice the driver in the photo on the f*cking phone)