Great article from The Grid TO about Sundays being women and trans-only at Bike Pirates, a small remedy to the male-dominated cycling scene:

For the last three years, Sunday access to this non-profit, do-it-yourself bike collective has been reserved for women and transgendered people. “Mechanics’ shops have not really been a welcoming environment for women and trans folks,” Gottfried said. The Pirates’ Sunday hours are intended to remedy that by offering a time and place where they can develop their mechanical skills in “an anti-oppressive environment,” Gottfried explained. “I think men are much more likely to take a tool out of the hands of women. But we want people to become their own experts.”

[Photo from The Grid TO]

Yes, all you need legally for your bike is a white light up front and a red rear light. I know when I’m biking at night I can hardly see other cyclists with just those lights, so I can’t be all that visible either.

There are a bunch of options out there to light up your bike a bit more. There’s Bike Glow (+$40 after shipping), LED by Lite ($100-$150) Fibre Flare (as yet unavailable in Canada) and the awe-inspiring Monkey Electric wheel lights ($70 and up).

Now I admit I didn’t start biking for the environment, and I didn’t do it for the exercise. Those are bonuses. I did it to save money. And I figured there must be a way to brighten up my bike on the cheap.

You will need:

• Submersible LEDs

I got mine at 100 Candles – a ten pack runs you about $12 and comes with extra batteries. Shipping to Toronto was $16. I’m sure any number of LEDs will work, but the on/off needs to be on the bottom of the fixture. The ones from 100 Candles twist on/off.

• Tubing

I bought Reinforced Braided Vinyl Tube in 5/8” from Canadian Tire – the diameter must be as close to the width of your LED as possible as the light has to fit tightly in there. The 5/8” tubing I got was pretty much perfect. At about $4 a yard, I managed to make three lights out of it.

• Utility knife
• Zip ties or metal clamps

Steps:

1. Cut the tubing to the length you want, making sure there is space at the each end when you attach it to your bike so you can fit your in there to turn the light on/off.
2. Carefully carve the inside edge of the end of the tube so that the LED fits tightly. You don’t want it falling out. Make sure you can still turn your LED on/off. Mine stick out enough from the tubing to allow for this.

Carving the inside edge. Go a little bit at a time. You don’t want it to be loose around your light.

The LED in the tube. The bottom half of the light is outside the tube because it needs to twist to turn on.

Testing the light

3. Repeat the process for the other end of the tube.

4. Strap your new light to your bike frame.

5. Bike!

Yayyy Emma.

It looks really cool.

About the inventor author

Emma started commuting by bike in February of this year and loves it. She always stops at red lights, and wears a helmet (apart from in these pictures). She works in communications at a national arts organization and adores Toronto.

You can learn more about this snazzy individual at about.me/emmajenkin or follow her on twitter at @indeedemma

Last week’s clock rewind is yet another dead giveaway that winter approaches. And it’s turned many bike commuters into night riders

The basic trick to night riding is to see and be seen. Even on well-lit streets, darkness not only makes it more difficult to see, but also judge distances and direction, which means slower reaction times – for both drivers and riders.

Read the full post at Cycling50+

To help get Toronto Cyclists ready for it (especially if you’re thinking of biking through winter for the first time)… we’ll start with this collection of links for you:

Winter Biking in Toronto

• tips from the City of Toronto – They’ve posted a handy-dandy brochure (PDF) to help those new to winter cycling get into it.

5 Ways to get You and Your Bike Ready for Winter

• Winter cycling may sound hard and/or crazy… but here in Toronto it’s surprisingly easy and enjoyable… helped by the fact that we have milder winters than most of Canada.Here are some tips to get you out on two wheels easier and safer:

Forum Topic: How To Bike in the Winter

Forum Topic: Winter Cyclists – how do you clean the salt and grunge off?

Illustration from the City of Toronto

While modern cyclists have traded in jaunty caps for high-tech helmets and Grand Canyon-sized potholes for smooth, paved streets, the dangers are still what they were in the good old days, which is to say significant.

With more and more cars on the road as well, it’s not always easy to know who has the right of way and who should (simply put) get out of the way. With this in mind, we put together a few quick tips for finding harmony with bikes on the increasingly crowded (and sometimes chaotic) streets.

Read the full post on Duncan’s City Ride

More people voted for noted anti-cyclist mayoral candidate Rob Ford than any other (but not the rest of them combined, it should be noted) yesterday, meaning that on Dec. 1st, he’ll become mayor.

Now that the campaign is over, it’ll be interesting how Toronto and the cycling community deal with the next 4 years.

Will the organized and political parts of the cycling community realize that, just like Ford has to build bridges with City Councillors, they have to build bridges with a Ford-run City Hall?

Or will they just devolve into the anarchistic behaviour of the more extreme factions of the cycling community?

What do you think is the best path?

These aren’t secrets of course, but they are things that new cyclists sometimes don’t know… so we thought we’d publish a series of them to help people new to riding their bikes around Toronto (and other big cities) learn a little more a little faster.

Here is the complete list of tips:

1. Drivers Don’t Want to Kill You
2. Ride in a Straight Line
3. Play by the Rules
4. Avoid the “Stoplight Squeeze”
5. Signal Sensibly
6. Take That Lane
7. Make Them THINK You’re Unpredictable
8. Ride With Others
9. Avoid the Right Hook
10. Practice Your Route

Do you know of other tips or “secrets” that we haven’t covered in these 10 that new people discovering the joys of transportation on 2 wheels would benefit from?  Let us know in the comments and we may add them to this series.

Even better… do you have an idea of a post series that BikingToronto should publish?  Let us know!

Image Credits:

• Title Photo from 416CycleStyle on Flickr

This is not meant to be a complete list… there are more secrets out there… but here are 10 that you’ll find very useful.

NOTE: These are geared towards downtown cycling, since that’s what I’m most familiar with. These all assume that you already know about proper lighting and safety (ie. helmets are useful, stopping at red lights is advised, etc.) precautions, and know that riding on sidewalks is one of the most unsafe things you can do, for both pedestrians and yourself.

Past tips are found at the bottom of this post.

10. Practice Your Route

The most important thing you can do to make yourself comfortable on the roads is to bike a lot. You’ll become more and more comfortable the more experience you have out there.  The more you can get out and get experience on roads with cars, the better.  Not only will you become more comfortable out there, but you’ll get to know the areas where cars/drivers behave in certain ways.

For example, I have a 10 km route to work, and I know through lots of repetition of this route where cars tend to slow down and speed up… where I have to be extra-vigilant and careful due to drivers thinking they can pass me safely when they can’t.   I didn’t know all of this right away… it’s only because I take this route often that I’ve become familiar with it.

Thanks for reading our 10 Secrets to Cycling with Traffic.  Feel free to comment on any of the posts (linked below) if you want to give feedback or have things to add to the tips (or even have entirely new tips that we should add to this series of posts).

Check out the full “10 Secrets to Cycling with Traffic” series:

1. Drivers Don’t Want to Kill You
2. Ride in a Straight Line
3. Play by the Rules
4. Avoid the “Stoplight Squeeze”
5. Signal Sensibly
6. Take That Lane
7. Make Them THINK You’re Unpredictable
8. Ride With Others
9. Avoid the Right Hook
10. Practice Your Route

Image Credits:

• Title Photo from 416CycleStyle on Flickr
• Bike Route Sign Photo from Airnos on Flickr

Today we continue a series of 10 posts about cycling with car traffic. These are things we have learned from years of riding in downtown Toronto. Some of these tips you may have seen before in other places, and some will be new.

This is not meant to be a complete list… there are more secrets out there… but here are 10 that you’ll find very useful.

NOTE: These are geared towards downtown cycling, since that’s what I’m most familiar with. These all assume that you already know about proper lighting and safety (ie. helmets are useful, stopping at red lights is advised, etc.) precautions, and know that riding on sidewalks is one of the most unsafe things you can do, for both pedestrians and yourself.

Past tips are found at the bottom of this post.

9. Avoid the Right Hook

One of the most common places that car-bike collisions happen is at intersections, and more commonly, when a car is turning right.

Being hit (or you riding into) a right-turning car is sometimes nicknamed the “Right Hook”, and the best way to avoid it is to not pass a car on the right hand side if it is turning right.

If you see a car waiting to turn right and you’re about to pass on the right hand side, the best thing for you to do is to slow down or stop and wait for the car to  complete the turn.  The rear-right blindspot to a driver is huge, and if a driver is not being especially vigilant, they will miss you approaching from behind on that side.  So, slow down or stop and wait for them to complete the turn.

If the road is not busy and you have the option, head around the car on the left side to continue through the intersection.

The only, ONLY, exception to this rule is if you are 100% sure that a driver knows you are there on their right and are being nice and waiting for you to pass before they complete their turn.  You’ll find nice drivers like this a lot downtown, as they are used to cyclists being everywhere.  You still need to be careful and pass them with caution, and be sure to thank them as you go by (with a handwave, or verbally if their windows are open).

Another way the Right Hook can happen is if a car turns right in front of you as you are approaching a cross street (a non-signalled one).  The best way to be prepared for something like this is to stay aware of what is around you.  When approaching a cross street, look around you to re-affirm where cars are so that none of them catch you unawares.

Check out the full “10 Secrets to Cycling with Traffic” series:

1. Drivers Don’t Want to Kill You
2. Ride in a Straight Line
3. Play by the Rules
4. Avoid the “Stoplight Squeeze”
5. Signal Sensibly
6. Take That Lane
7. Make Them THINK You’re Unpredictable
8. Ride With Others
9. Avoid the Right Hook
10. Practice Your Route

Image Credits:

• Title Photo from 416CycleStyle on Flickr