The Bike for Our Foreign Exchange Student

Update to this post: Chris is too tall for this machine. I will enjoy finding a suitable bike.

We have a Chinese foreign exchange student coming to live with us today for the whole school year. He'll attend the same high school as our son. His English name is Chris.

I've got a bike ready for Chris, but I don't know if it's the right size or whether he'll like it even if it fits. I think it's a pretty cool bike and I have a use for it in case it doesn't work out.

The photo below is not accurate. Since that photo was taken, I installed straight bars, a triple crank, and white Schwalbe tires. And a bit cushier saddle.

More "Not a Helmet Debate" Talk

Yesterday, I was forced to think about bike helmets again. Many times my wife and I attend an event together, but one of us needs to leave before the other. When this happens, I stuff a bike in the car and I get another chance to ride. This happened today, but I forgot my helmet. That's not a problem for me. I rode home anyway, but I had the recently flaring helmet debate going through my head and wondered if people who saw me were the types who want to yell, "Get a helmet!"

I have a friend or two in that category.Their first reaction upon seeing bicyclists without helmets is to comment about the lack of helmet. I rarely notice and instead notice the bike brand or some aspect of the rider's style.

I guess I'm more interested in bike gear. Anyway, in this situation would the strong helmet proponents chose to not ride home?

Not a Helmet Debate

I've been reading streets.mn blog lately. A recent post there was interesting in that the author made a guess that bike helmets will be mandatory sometime in our future. His most convincing point is that kids growing up now have lived their entire lives seeing cyclists wear helmets and they won't be too concerned when a future legistator proposes mandatory helmets.

Slump shouldered, I can't disagree.

Also, that was not the only point of his post. That was just one that I feel deserves my attention.

Seattle -- Elliott Bay Bicycles

We recently traveled to Seattle and I visited Elliott Bay Bicycles, the shop in which Davidson bikes are built. The owner, Mr. Davidson himself, gave me a tour of the framebuilding shop. It was really nice to see where my bike was built. It was also fun to see the bikes on display. Elliott Bay Bicycles has museum quality bikes all over the place.

It's just a few blocks from Pike Place Market. That's where they throw around fish. Maybe you corporate employees were subject to a team building program based on fish throwing.

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Dutch Cycling Infrastructure Boggles My Mind

I can barely comprehend the culture that would place such a high value on cycling to build this roundabout bridge.

Wow!