September 2008

Vol. 1, Issue 8

Contents:
1. Interbike Connections
2. Halloween at the One Street Office
3. Resources Highlights - Economics & Tourism
4. Hot Topics - Social Bike Design

Interbike Connections
by Sue Knaup

Leo Sobottka, One Street's intern from Berlin, and I enjoyed an inspiring week at the international Interbike Trade show in Las Vegas the last week of September. Here we are at the One Street booth which drew lots of traffic and interest in our work.

We were joined by two One Street Advisors - Jim Knaup, my husband and owner of Ironclad Bicycles, and James Moore, owner of Moore's Bicycle Shop in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. This was my seventeenth Interbike show since 1990. My early years at the show were as a bike shop owner, perusing the aisles for better products to fill my store and grilling the manufactures about the next year's bike models. More recently, I had attended only as a bike advocate - not at all as much fun!

This year, I once again enjoyed the explorer's thrill as I navigated the aisles for manufactures and suppliers who could take part in One Street's Social Bike Business. I began discussions with dropout designs and the pros and cons of rear racks integrated into the frame. (See more below under Hot Topics.) Even those I approached as potential funders engaged eagerly because One Street serves all organizations working to increase bicycling, including for-profit corporations - they recognized a direct benefit from supporting our work. I look forward to offering more details as these partnerships unfold.

Halloween at the One Street Office

If you are near Prescott Arizona (or you like to travel far for great parties), make sure to come by the One Street office at 309 East Gurley Street in Prescott on October 31st as darkness descends and the ghouls and goblins take to the streets. We'll have refreshments and would love to show you around the beautiful Victorian Era house where our office is located.

Resources Highlights - Economics & Tourism

We'll soon be adding some new pages to our Resources area of our web site at http://www.onestreet.org/resources_increase_bike.html including one called "Economics & Tourism." Here's a sneak preview of some of the resources we'll post there for our e-news readers:

One of the best papers we have found for quantifying the economic benefits of non-motorized travel, from the Victoria Transport Policy Institute:
http://www.vtpi.org/nmt-tdm.pdf.

ADFC's Bed & Bike program, a program we hope to bring to North America:
http://www.bettundbike.de/68_1

An interesting report on tourism's impact on climate change, from the UN's sustainable tourism site:
http://www.unep.fr/scp/tourism/

Hot Topics - Social Bike Design

As we move ahead with our two Social Bike Business pilot projects - Los Angeles and Prague, Czech Republic - one program element has become both challenging and fun to solve: bike design. When we began this program, we looked for existing affordable, high quality, transportation bikes. Unfortunately, we discovered the status quo is like one of those cheeky signs chiding us to pick just two of the three attributes because affordable, high quality, transportation bikes don't (yet!) exist.

We invite you to join us in this quest to design extraordinary bikes that serve the needs of people fighting to survive in the distressed neighborhoods of our world. Each bike will be designed with elements requested by the people in each particular city. For instance, the LA bike will differ from the Prague bike and the Prague bike will differ from the bike we design for the next city to participate. Some will want fenders, others won't. Some will want fat tires, others skinny. Also, each seat tube, bottom bracket shell and steerer tube will be designed to accommodate the most common new and used parts in each area. And the bike color and graphics will be developed by the local people.

But even before these important discussions with the local people, we can develop bike design elements that all of our bikes will likely incorporate. Here are some of the early design questions you can join us in pondering:

• Can we design a dropout that serves both geared and one speed bikes so that if the derailleur and hand brakes are broken beyond affordable repair, the owner could replace the rear wheel with a coaster brake wheel and keep riding?
• What is the ideal length of the rear triangle to create a stable ride that supports an extended rear rack without compromising the owner's ability to take the bike on transit and park it inside small spaces?
• What are the pros and cons of integrating the rear rack into the frame and the front rack into the fork i.e., cost vs. increased strength vs. cool factor vs. versatility?
• Can we design a low cost rear derailleur that can hold up to extreme use?
• Can we design pedals that offer better traction than rubber pedals and can also be repaired with common items or welding?

Please send your inspirations to Sue Knaup at sue{at}onestreet.org . We're also looking for seed funding to launch each of these pilots. If you can help in this way, please email Sue or go directly to our supporters form at http://www.onestreet.org/donate_gate.php.