Bike Hugger 

Behind that wall once were shanty homes and a skyscraper will follow – read the related post about the Shanghai Flow.

from the Bike Hugger Photostream.

Dahon kindly arranged our rides for Shanghai–a pair of matching Mus. More photos to follow and I quickly noticed the new V-Clamp Hinge and other refinements including a bell built into the Tektro brakes and a Biologic Joule Dynamo hub.

from the Bike Hugger Photostream.

Folks who’ve spent a bit too much time on Sheldon Brown’s amazing websites will know of his fondness for April Fools jokes such as the tork-grip (yes, the DIY version is in my garage right now).

What better way to memorialize Sheldon “ineffable” Brown than an April Fools ride. They’re happening all over the place (the last link is a directory), including one in Seattle.

Details: 6:00 PM at the Seattle Bikestation, on April 1st of course. Hope to see you there!

I bought my first new car a few months back. The biggest issue of course was how I would be schlepping bikes in/on it. Byron tipped me to a brand carried by our friends down at Seattle Bike Supply. The Saris CycleOn turned out to be a sweet setup.

Velonews and Treehugger both noticed Slate’s video on the Stupidest bike lane in Westwood, Los Angeles. The stupidest bike lane I’ve ever seen was in San Antonio, all 34 seconds of it …

Our readers have seen the Bike Lane o Death, one that intersects a 4 lane highway, and the bike lane that gives way to a tree …

Dahon is supplying us Mu XLs during our stay in Shanghai. We just confirmed the bikes are being delivered and we’ll ride them daily.

As our readers know, we’ve ridden and posted on Dahon’s folding bikes, including our exclusive coverage of Novara’s Flyby (I’ve heard their sold out, btw). Last year we rode with Dahon staff in Taipei.

When offered to the most fashionable person we know, even more critical than Princess Puffy Sleeves, the response was "nice!"

from the Bike Hugger Photostream.

Just in time for our trip to Shanghai, custom Crumpler Bags arrived …

as our blog assistant said, “damn …crumpler in da hugga hizzouse!”

The Hugga Bag is a custom embroidered Fux Deluxe – we’re taking these with us, testing them out, considering further refinements, and possibly more Bike Hugger features.

Interested in purchasing? Please let us know in the comments. Pricing is at $140.00.

Uploaded by elsa_sung on 2 Mar 08

from the Bike Hugger Photostream.

Any mention of electric and drivetrains reminds me of the time I rode home from Seward Park with Joe Barrato. Joe’s a local racer, been around forever, and his Mavic Mektronic failed one night in the rain at Seward Park (the Seattle Thursday night crit). He was stuck in the 53 x 17, or maybe 19, all the way home and cursed it the entire time – every permutation of the various curse words was heard, including some entirely new ones. Out of sympathy, I climbed in the big ring with him and the Mavic Mektronic was never seen or heard from again. It became a don’t ask/don’t tell subject and he may have smashed it with a rock, buried it, or sold it on Ebay.