EDITOR’S NOTE: Thanks again to Brock Howell of Bike Happy for putting together this comprehensive weekly newsletter.
MOST IMPORTANT THINGS TO KNOW & DO
- Thanks to Washington Bikes advocacy, the State Legislature passed legislation that clarifies state law relating to e-bikes. Now, unless a local law specifically says otherwise, people can ride their e-bikes in bike lanes or trails just like any other bike so long as the bike isn’t powered to provide e-assist past 20mph. King County laws regarding its trails still need to be updated (SBB).
- The Seattle Bike Show is this Saturday and Sunday at CenturyLink Field Event Center.
- Attend community-led workshops on mobility in the U District (3/7) and Uptown (3/8).
SOCIAL, LIFESTYLE, & ADVENTURE
UPCOMING ACTIVITIES
- Saturday, Mar. 3
- 9am-6pm, Seattle Bike Show
- 10am-2pm, Trek Bike Store’s Gravel Grindin’ on Cedar River
- Sunday, Mar. 4
- 9am-5pm, Seattle Bike Show
- Thursday, Mar. 8
ARTICLES & POSTS
- This past Sunday, Cascade kicked off the recreational bicycling season with the Chilly Hilly on Bainbridge Island (Kitsap Sun, BI Review, KING5).
- “David Temple: My STP is for my family and community,” (Cascade).
- The new Port Townsend Cycle School aims to train 360 people year on the art & craftsmanship of building bikes, including wooden wheels (PT Leader).
- Kent-based Diamondback got its own top ten bike listicle by Bicycling Magazine.
POLICY & INFRASTRUCTURE
ACTION
- Ravenna/Wedgwood Neighbors: Tell Mayor Durkan you support a safe 35th Avenue NE.
- BSA: Tell the Seattle City Council you support better bicycle parking.
- BSA: Apply to have your building named best for bicycling parking in the Seattle region.
- Freedom: Tell the King County Public Health Board to repeal the bicycle helmet law.
- City of Auburn: Apply to join the city’s Transportation Advisory Board
UPCOMING EVENTS
- Saturday, Mar. 3
- Monday, Mar. 5
- Tuesday, Mar. 6
- Wednesday, Mar. 7
- Thursday, Mar. 8
NEWS
- Burke-Gilman Trail Missing Link
- After a lot of studying, community engagement, and a lawsuit, the City is ready to end the Missing Link (SDOT).
- Pioneer Square
- Two alleys and Post Ave are getting major upgrades in Pioneer Square. Back Alley Bike Repair is on one of them (Nord Alley), and now has new colorful bike racks. (Urbanist)
- Beacon Hill
- SDOT continues to engage with community members about a redesign of the intersection of S Columbia Way, 15th Ave S, and St Oregon St (South Seattle Emerald).
- YVYC
- The Department of Neighborhoods is hosting dozens of workshops for the project development of hundreds of community-submitted ideas for small improvements to streets and parks (CHS Blog)
- Transit
- You can comment on the environmental scoping documents for SDOT’s Madison Street RapidRide project until 5pm today. The project includes some new bikeway infrastructure. (CH Times)
- SDOT is adjusting the intersections along Broadway to significantly speed-up the First Hill Streetcar. New turn restrictions could have a co-benefit of people biking along the protected bike lane. (CHS Blog, SDOT)
- Rainier Valley community members are beginning to meet to discuss development around and walking/biking access to the future Graham Street light rail station (South Seattle Emerald).
- E-Bikes
- Legislature passes e-bike legislation, Gov. Inslee expected to sign it (Seattle Bike Blog, Bicycle Retailer).
- Bikeshare
- A UW is studying docked v dockless bikeshare systems. You can can take his public survey. (SBB)
- Lawsuit
- Man sues St. Demetrius Greek Orthodox church for not marking a cable across a parking lot that he rode into and caused him flip over his bike and sustain injuries (KIRO7).
- Bike Theft
- Man hit on head by pipe, bike stolen by three individuals. One arrested, two at large with stolen bike. (SPD, KOMO)
- Two bikes were reported as stolen on Mercer Island (MI Reporter).
- Kitsap County
- The first mile of the Sound to Olympics Trail on Bainbridge Island opens this weekend (Kitsap Sun).
- Eastside
- KG Investment Properties is proposing a 427,000 square-foot, 4-story mixed use development in the Wilburton neighborhood of Bellevue, with a direct connection to the future Eastside Greenway (formerly known as the “Eastside Rail Corridor Trail”), with a large amount of bike parking (PSBJ).
- Snohomish County
- Marysville is set to add 1.3 miles to the Ebey Waterfront Trail, and to construct a 1.3 mile trail to connect the Bayview and Centennial Trails this year (Everett Herald).
- Legislature
- “Olympia Update: Here’s where Washington Bikes’ priorities stand with nine days to go in the 2018 legislative session,” (WA Bikes).
SPORT
UPCOMING EVENTS
- Saturday, Mar. 3
- 9am, Taco Time Icebreaker Time Trial (Auburn)
- 6-9pm, Annual Auction Fundraiser for the Jerry Baker Memorial Velodrome (Mercer Island)
- Sunday, Mar. 4
- 10am-1pm, West Side MTB Series: “Cookin’ in the Kettles” (Fort Ebey State Park)
- Wednesday, Mar. 7
- 6pm, Seattle Bike Polo’s Beginner’s Night (Cal Anderson)
ARTICLE
- Kayak Point Golf Course in Snohomish County could be used for cyclocross races (Everett Herald).
- Monica Lloyd, of Thurston County, had her equipment profiled by Cyclocross Magazine.
SAVE THE DATES
- Segregated Seattle: Bike the Infamous Redline, Mar. 17
- 2018 Gorge Gravel Grinder, Apr. 8
- Washington Bike Summit, Apr. 29–30
- Bicycle Sundays: Twelve Sundays, May 20 – Sept. 16
RECENTLY STOLEN BIKES
In the past week, two friends of mine had their apartment bike rooms broken into, and bikes were stolen. And yesterday three assaulters hit a person across the head with a pipe and stole his bike. It’s tough out there. Help fight back by (1) registering your bike on Bike Index, and (2) always locking up your bike with a U lock, even inside a bike room. Bicycle Security Advisors provides additional information on how to keep your bike safe.
BIKE INDUSTRY JOBS
Bike Retail
Professional Bike Mechanic, Aaron’s Bicycle Repair
Mechanic-in-Training, Aaron’s Bicycle Repair
Mechanics & Retail Staff, Gregg’s Cycles
Nonprofit
Program Coordinator, Bike Works
Director of Development, Cascade
Sponsorship Manager, Cascade
Major Taylor Ride Leader/Instructor, Cascade
Business Relations, Policy & Operations Manager, Commute Seattle
Government
Associate Civil Engineer, SDOT
Public Space Management Inspector, SDOT
Traffic Records & Data Supervisor, SDOT
Supervising Project Manager, SDOT
Transportation Planner II, SDOT (3/7)
Senior Transportation Planner – Parking & Mobility, SDOT (3/11)
Transportation Engineering Intern, Bellevue (3/5)
City Center Program Manager, Lynnwood (3/18)
Senior Parks Planner, Kent (3/15)
Planning & Innovation Internships, Sound Transit (3/11)
Program Manager – Transportation Funding, PSRC (3/5)
Senior Transportation Analyst, PSRC (3/5)
Bike Happy Month + Pedaler’s Fair
Fundraising Deadline Extended to Sunday, March 11
I’m extending the fundraising deadline to March 11 to crowdsource enough funding to pay for the website upgrades, street permit fees, and other basic requirements to make Bike Happy Month and Pedaler’s Fair a reality this year.
We need more fun on bikes. And that’s what “Bike Happy Month” is all about. It’ll be a month of crowdsourced, DIY bike fun to close-out the 2018 summer in the vein of Portland’s Pedalpalooza — with a huge street party in Ballard to cap off the festivities.
The fundraising deadline is critical for securing additional funding through a city grant program. Plus, we need to make sure food trucks, musicians, artists, and local makers of bike goods makers set aside September 23 for Pedaler’s Fair.
With every dollar you donate, we can get $2 in grant funding from the city, if we’re successful in our grant application. And for every hour you commit to volunteering, we can get $40 in grant funding. So, please contribute and volunteer today.
Thank you to the following contributors: Wes Ducey, Tom Fucoloro, David Goldberg, Jennifer Gregerson, Zach Hale, David Keller, Paul McCollum, David McKay, Erik Peterson, Matthew Saunders, Thomas Sibley, Kate Silverman, Daigaro Toyama, Blake Trask, Nick van den Heuvel, Jim Walseth, and four anonymous donorsThank you to the following people for their volunteer commitments:
Kevin Carrabine, Colin Drake, Wes Ducey, Tristan Fields, Larry Huang, Tom Lang, Mika Matsuzaki, Aaron Piper, and Jackie Thiebe
Comments
5 responses to “Bike Happy: Roar-in March like a lion on an e-bike”
Be sure you get the right E Bike for your needs. Seattle is particularly hard on E Bikes because of the steep terrain. Of course this is why we get E Bikes. Hub drive E Bikes are not going to handle our terrain for the longer life expected and tend to break spokes. E Bikes with less than 500 watts are going to over work on any regular hill climb and wear out prematurely.
Some very expensive E Bikes are not designed for our Seattle terrain. Ironically one of the best priced systems comes with a 48 volt, 750 watt mid drive, crank motor and has proven to be Seattle Proof. Also consider you battery size, replacement cost and replacement adaptability for the battery to motor interface that can be discontinued and no longer available. A higher amp hour and watt hour battery might be 16ah or more and 750 watt hours. That would give you about a 75 mile range per charge. This is important because the life of the battery is based on recharge cycles, so the farther you go per charge the longer the battery will last. Rear wheel torque is also worth having information on as this will effect the early wear factor on hill climbs. Many very expensive E Bikes have no more than 45 newton meter torque. A system with 85 nm torque will last a very long time by comparison as it will not be overworked on our hills. Many E Bike are being bought and sold without a thorough understanding and analysis of your needs. I only offer this as a result of 12 years of working on E Bikes and seeing the mistakes of consumers.
Nice to see that BG missing link from SDOT. They posted that after the cutoff date to appeal the EIS ruling. Seems like the good news I’ve been hoping for.
The Bike Show has a whole page for parking passes for the garage but no mention of an attended bike corral parking area. I wrote them a letter…got no response.
I’ve been trying out the Lime-E bikes a few times on my commute from Seattle to Kirkland, and I like it enough that I’m considering buying an E-bike of my own. Besides the hills, I really like being able to sit upright in a comfortable posture, rather than needing to hunch forward the whole ride in order to conserve every ounce of energy.
The Lime E-bikes are nice for it out, but a bit slow, and at $6 each way, a bit pricey to commute that way, round trip, every single day (although driving would cost about that much, on gas and bridge tolls, alone).
I would love to share with you a dozen years of experience in E Bikes. We have seen so many E Bikes that are very expensive and will not last on the Seattle’s hills. We have our own models that have been developed based on our experiences good and bad.