Moving Fast -Multi Purpose, NYC Cycling!

What Is Bike Culture?

By J. DAVID GOODMAN

 With an increasingly permanent network of lanes and legal access to office buildings around the city, the bicycle is becoming more entrenched as a mode of transportation. An entity no less mainstream than the United States Department of Transportation is on board, recently describing bicycles and pedestrians as “equals” to trains, planes and automobiles and encouraging further development of cycling infrastructure at the state and federal level.

Read On.... 

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/30/what-is-bike-culture/

 

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New Product...

Burley Travoy  -  The next step in moving cargo!

And shopping Too!

 

Burley has agreed to let me test the Travoy.

The Urban Mobility Project will be giving this new product a real inner city workout! Can't wait to go shopping with it! 

It detaches from the bike to become a hand truck.The Travoy also has many different bag configurations to carry just about anything up to 60lbs! This should make Big City Life much more tolerable!

 

 

 

Billys Cargo Bike - NYC

I dabbled in the cargo bike business for a few years with Revolution Cargo/Rickshaws.We had lots of bakery's as clients and constructed some very creative ways of transporting cupcakes and other baked goods.

For NYC delivery via UMP Small Haul click here....

Urban Mobility Cargo Bike Delivery NYC

 Billys Bakery's new cargo Trike

Billy's Bakery finally bought their own cargo trike for local delivery's at the Tribeca location. They're very excited about going Green. You may see their new cargo trike rolling around lower Manhattan!
These vehicles get the job done with ease!

For on demand local delivery in NYC 

UMP Cargo Service

via "The Urban Brute"

http://smallhaulnyc.blogspot.com/

Cargo Bikes Make A Comeback

Cargo bikes are becoming much more common in NYC! Here are some that are new to the market! Industrial Bikes that Get the Job Done

Some cargo bikes are huge, like this Australian Trisled. This four-wheeled quadcycle is capable of moving huge loads on its massive two and half-meter long tray-top. The FlatBed Truck freight bike sells for a little over $4,000, so it’s for serious transporters only. Treehugger also showcased five cool cargo bikes and explored the future of cargo on bikes (and the present, too!)  

Kid-hauling Cargo Bikes

Another form of cargo: kids. In the Netherlands they have this figured out thanks to Bakfiets, and they have built a kid carrying, cargo hauling, folding trike called the Feetz Tribike. These tried and true designs are being put to work every day, from Boston to Portland.

Feetz Tribike: The Kid Carrying, Cargo Hauling, Folding Trike

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/11/feetz-tribike-kid-carrying-cargo-hauling-folding-trike.php

Spring Again

After riding on the insanely crowded bikeway on Saturday we decided to ride over the Brooklyn Bridge for a little peace and quiet!

When we got back to our block I noticed bikes stacked up at the local deli Cafe Express.As always I'm very curious where people rode from so I asked ....

They started at 181st Street and rode down the length of the Hudson River Greenway.I think they were going to be looping Manhattan.

Here they are having a great time resting up for the ride home ! I brought our Longbikes Tandem over and we took some photos. If you guys send me the photos you took I'd love to post them up here also!
shelly.urmo1@gmail.com

Bill Murray, Caddyshack on Wheels

Great cycling advise from one of my favorites of all time!
Carl the grounds keeper himself!  This is big....

Stressed - Hudson River Greenway

Help!!!
Didn't expect to run into critical mass!

All this great Premature spring weather seems to have caused the West Side Bikeway to become a cyclists nightmare. I went out for a short ride yesterday afternoon with a friend and was not having fun at all.
The bikeway was just one big mess!

Just to give you an idea here's a photo of the park my son refused to go into because it was just to crowed...

Not a lot of room for kids with all the strollers and parents

 Massive amounts of people walking ,running, sightseeing , riding with dogs, large groups riding and running, four 4 abreast,accidentS,electric scooters ,skateboarders ,bloodied riders on the side on the road.

A fight or two!

Why the city has no one monitoring the bikeway is just beyond me!

All these groups need to be split up! Skateborders,and people riding with dogs need to be ticketed People walking need to be asked to walk on the walking path right next to the bikeway!

There are alternate streets for downtown you can exit at 14th st and take the nice quiet bikeway on Washington St.
Greenwich street will take you uptown starting at canal!

I was so annoyed I didn't take any photos except when I hooked up with Joao.....

 Goldrush with carbon fiber faring!

Today my neighborhood has the pleasure of hosting the end of the NYC Half Marathon!!!
Can't they do this these gigantic events in some wide open space in Jersey?  

A special note.....for the family's that are teaching children to ride or skate ......A JAMMED PACKED BIKEWAY IS JUST NOT THE IDEAL PLACE FOR THIS!
Ill be very happy when the temp drops!

Martha's Vineyard , No, you're not on Long Island!

 Lots of people envision Martha's Vineyard to be just like The Hamptons or Jersey Shore.That's just not the case!

In Print : Feiffer on Feiffer

By Karla Araujo
Published: March 18, 2010

"Backing into Forward" includes a chapter devoted to Mr. Feiffer's introduction to summer on Martha's Vineyard. Finding it a welcome relief from Long Island, he purchased a home here and continues to treasure his seasonal respite from New York City. "The Vineyard is the place I've lived, vacationed, and worked most happily," he says. "When the weather is nice I write outside under a tree in an Adirondack chair. And when I stare into space, it's comforting to think 'I own it.'"As for retirement, Mr. Feiffer shrugs it off. "I've been retired all my life," he quips, adding, in a more serious tone: "I was fortunate enough to walk into doing work I love, the way I want to do it, over the years getting away with murder. It didn't make me rich but it made me famous. I'm happy to move from one area of endeavor to another."

"Backing into Forward, A Memoir," by Jules Feiffer

 

To read the whole article click this link...

http://www.mvtimes.com/marthas-vineyard/news/2010/03/18/in-print-jules-feiffer.php

Cycling to Austrialia - Last Stop NYC !

Here's something you don't see everyday at least in Manhattan! I was just thrilled to see a loaded cyclist going down Broadway in NYC traffic. Of course I stopped to chat.

WOW Three years on the ROAD!

This is John Harwood on the final days of his round the world trip.I gave him directions to the Brooklyn Bridge. He was very excited to see it and cycle over to a friend for an overnight.From there up Atlantic to Kennedy Airport and home.You can read all about his great adventure at his blog ....

 

http://cyclingtoaustralia.blogspot.com/

Hi Shelly,

Good to meet you the other day. You can send the photos to this address.

I have had a look at your blog, the are some interesting machines there. I will have a proper read of it when I get home. Today is the day, it seems strange to be heading for home!

All the best,

John

Nine Between The Tandems-Hudson River Greenway NYC

 Soulworks

Pic 1
A self-portrait in a fantasy mode. Shelly is still figuring out how to build a side-by-side bicycle to accommodate my altered self.

 

Pic 2
I spend considerable time on the Greenway. I commute on it six days a week and have photographed it often. This nine part series was done in 1997 and this series evolved into a project that I call A/SYMMETRICALS. Many images from this project depict scenes along the Hudson River, the self portrait among them, and I will send more to Shelly from time to time.

Pic 3
My wife and I were walking in the park last Sunday, Riverside Park along the Hudson, and I spied a wheeled contraption that in fact was a reclining bicycle for two on steroids. Standing nearby a figure I thought I recognized. As I approached I saw a face with the trademark smile and knew it was an old acquaintance Shelly the Recumbent guy who used to service my bike many years ago when he ran a bike shop in Chelsea. Over the years we occasionally pass each other and wave going in opposite directions along the Greenway.
To see more of my work come visit
http://www.thesoulworks.com/

Mark Berghash
PhotoProjects

Bicycle Tour to Martha's Vineyard!

 The Ride to Montauk
&
The Ride to Martha's Vineyard

http://theridetomarthasvineyard.blogspot.com/ 

Just a quick note!
I'm working on a week long Cycling Tour to Martha's Vineyard.It's custom made for all cycling The Ride to Montauk on June 19th 2010! I just want to see if you had any interest.So I posted a brief description as a stand alone page on the top of the sidebar...in addition I've set up official page go have a look.
Heres a link to;
The Ride To Martha's Vineyard

Welcome To Montauk
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Welcome to Martha's Vineyard

Vintage Quest Velomobile? 

Upright Trike

The Granery Gallery

County Road,Martha's Vineyard,Ma.

Thanks for the visit!
This link will bring you to the Ride To Martha's page for some more info
http://theridetomarthasvineyard.blogspot.com/

EMail
shelly@urmo1@gmail.com
Phone just click here to call me(just kidding)
917 295 1954

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Did Somebody Say Urban Mobility , Shweebing !

This has nothing to do with Waynes World

Could "Shweebing" Be the Next Hit in Urban Transportation?

 As a tourist attraction in New Zealand's north island, the Shweeb is proving to be a hit. It's a combination of monorail and recumbent bicycle technology and in its current form it's designed for fun.
This is amazing click this link.............................................

http://english.ntdtv.com/ntdtv_en/ns_life/2010-03-04/703199301931.html

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"Suburban" Urban Mobility?
Ride this mower like a Recumbent Bicycle!

Heres the link

http://news.bostonherald.com/business/general/view/20100307ride_this_mower_like_a_bicycle/srvc=home&position=also

Photo by Bob Milkowski (courtesy)

CLIP SPEED: Bike builder Ted Wojcik has come up with a great idea bor a bike lawnmower but getting it patented and into production is a costly endeavor.

Dog Day Afternoon

  We are so lucky to have your own

Organic Engines Pedicab
In NYC!

Here we are hangin in Wagner Park with some 
Wheel Momma's and BPC kids!

*Click collage for full size*

That's Ken From upstate (in the bottom Left corner) and his extremely beloved  

Scorpion Recumbent Trike

He came down because the trail he rides is covered in snow!

  WAGNER PARK

Battery Park City, N.Y.
Organic Engines

Bicycle Messengers and 9/11

I was a hotshot NYC bicycle messenger back in the 80's and managed to make a career out of it for the past 30 years. After years on the road I started my own company and have been working it from the inside out. With 75 riders on the streets of New York , I got the City's news on the spot as it happened or within minutes! It was like having my own team of newspaper reporters!  This story comes from my long time friend and great cyclist 

John Harris.

We've been working together since the 80's

 Born To Run Couriers

That's me in the middle and

 John Harris 

white pants and striped shirt way back in 1982?

Great stories - and now I can share them via my blog  
Urban Mobility Project.

An especially poignant one from September 11th, 2001:

            My life on a bike

            I remember that I could ride a bike by the time I was six years old and I haven’t stopped riding since.  I think I can say that I have probably spent years of my life sitting on bicycles.  I define myself as an urban nomad, kind of a Bedouin from Brooklyn.  I don’t expect anything to stop me from riding my bike except incapacity or death, but as long as I am breathing, I will ride bikes.

            I have worked as a bicycle messenger on and off over the years and one of the pivotal events of my life, as it was for all New Yorkers, was the tragedy of 9/11.  Along with many of my messenger friends, we volunteered at the trade center staging area over on 23^rd street and the Hudson river to pack up clothes and supplies for delivery down to the workers engaged in the rescue and recovery.   Dan Jarquio and John Yacobellis, two of my biking friends had somehow managed to elude military and police checkpoints and gotten down to the recovery site to lend a hand.  On September 13^th Jerry Faust, Sylvester Schneider (the owner of Zum Schneider bar), Jeff Smith and I decided to make a go of trying to get down to the trade center and participate in the recovery.  We rode down avenue C and then took the route along East River Park which was one of the few spots where there were no police or military check points.  The going was rather dark, especially when we were riding near the Fulton Fish Market and right near the South Street Seaport all the lights were off.  It was so dark that Jerry and I hit a curb and I managed to not land on my head but ended up breaking my left shoulder.  I ended up at Beekman downtown hospital where there were many fireman and cops being treated for injuries sustained while working at the site.  I remember one police officer’s Dante-esque description of the treacherous debris and how it kept shifting around and how they would discover body parts in the debris.

            Since then I ride up the Hudson bike path as often as I can and am grateful for this little piece of real estate.  Since I live all the way out in Mill Basin in Brooklyn I am afforded the chance, at least in the warmer months, to ride back to the Basin through Prospect Park, always a delight.  I am hoping to take my bike with me out to Montana and other points west this next summer on a kind of photographic Safari.

John Harris  

 John Harris Today

2010  

           

Weather in Cycles

Last Sunday spring like temps got us out of the neighborhood. Here we are arriving at Washington Sq. Park.I guess the press heard we were on the way! 

It was great to take the Organic Engines Pedicab out for a Spin!

The Arch

Spring is Here?

It was great to be out in a different part of the city.The scene at Washington sq Park  is always lots of fun.Here's a taste of a really delicious urban paradise tucked away in New York City's, West Village.

 

  

  

Oh Yea! so happy, great weather.

Ready for the next Weather Cycle and 

KaBOOM... 

Just four days later!

South End Av,

NYC

  

The rack@Whole Foods

I was very excited to take out one of the trikes and go shopping the day after the storm.

This is the bike rack at whole foods with buried bikes.I hope the owners weren't planning on riding!

Got all my groceries and some exercise!

Navel Oranges is that a good price?

The Zigo Child Carrier Trike 

is great for shopping and carrying heavy loads.

Its also lots of fun in the snow!

BTW,

Its always great to see some of the riders that I profiled for Happy Hour Bicycle Commuters.I see Schmitty, Anne, Ellen and Bill all the time!

And I'll tell ya another thing the Bikeway is always plowed right after the storm.

At least we got that goin for us!