— By Kevin Montgomery (@kevinmonty) |
San Francisco's beloved P.D. Bird is currently raising money to revamp his bird bike and bird blog, and after watching her promotional video, I'm sure you'll understand why we must promote the cause:
— By Kevin Montgomery (@kevinmonty) |
We all know better than to leave a bike unlocked while it's perched atop a Muni bus's bike rack—especially while the bus is creeping down Market Street—but allow Doug's experience serve as a cautionary tale in case anyone has been lulled into a false sense of security:
I was enjoying some after work drinks on Election Night when I decided I had one too many to safely ride my bike home. I put my bike on the front rack of an outbound #71 at Market and 2nd, and took a seat on the front of the bus. I was on the sixth seat back, and had a decent view of my bike. The next stop was Stockton and we pulled up to a red light. As people were boarding the bus I had my head down until the driver called out that someone was taking my bike. By the time I stood up my bike was gone. I ran off the bus and headed back down Market assuming the thief was riding off in that direction but I couldn’t see anything among the lights of Market Street rush hour traffic.
Bummer, Doug. And if anyone spots a red singlespeed rigged up with surfboard rack mounts, do let him know.
— By Kevin Montgomery (@kevinmonty) |
Election season is almost behind us, and this bummer cycle leaves us nostalgic for the fun and spirited enthusiasm of 2008. What happened to all the beautiful artwork? Horrible songs from the likes of will.i.am? A Barack Obama who seemed to give a shit about winning? Really, it's sad when the most exciting thing about a presidential campaign are the borderline racist blathering from a $3 Billion hairpiece on top of human garbage.
Thankfully, Mission Bicycle managed to find some of that 2008 fire late last week and built a rear wheel that lights up Valencia in support of Obama.
Behold:
Jefferson, the manager over at the shop, admits that taking a stand in official support of Obama “doesn't sound like much of a risk.” But as a shop that ships their bikes across the country, “we will for sure lose a few red fans over [it].”
(Besides, shouldn't we be happy that they're proudly flaunting their political positions, rather being sketchy and secretive over it?)
MonkeyLetric created the technology behind the lights (but, sadly, the Obama version is not for sale at this time) and the filming was done by local filmmaker Luis Peña. And should the video not be enough for you, the wheel is running up in their front window through election day.
(And don't forget to vote tomorrow!)
— By Kevin Montgomery (@kevinmonty) |
— By Kevin Montgomery (@kevinmonty) |
Kachusha “Chuey” Munkanta is one of the most beloved figures in the San Francisco cycling community. He's known internationally for his hand-made cycling caps, made and sold right here in the Mission. And everyone, from MASH to PD Bird, know him to be a “peaceful” and “non-violent” person. He even delivers coffee, by bike, for De La Paz Coffee Roasters—a company undeniably of peace.
So it's with great shock and disgust that we learn of his arrest and police beating while trying to monitor SFPD's treatment of Latinos. A close friend of his forwarded along his story:
Thursday night/ Friday morning Chuey stopped on the side of the street in the Mission when he saw the cops having 4 Latinos lined up against a gate. He stopped to make sure the youth were being fairly treated.
The cops then asked him to cross the street, when Chuey said he couldn't observe from across the street. They (2-3 cops) jumped him as he was hugging his bike. They wrestled him to the ground then continued to push him into the ground, twisting his arm, slamming his head into the ground. He was in jail for almost 24 hours and released after his family paid bail. They charged him with 3 felonies for assaulting 3 cops with enough force to cause grave bodily harm and 2 misdemeanors for resisting arrest.
Chuey was released on $150,000 bail and arraigned yesterday afternoon at the Superior Court of California, where he was issued a public defender. Chuey is also faced with steep medical costs after having to visit the ER for his injuries, where doctors advised him to have a cat scan.
Currently, there is no fundraiser planned to aid in his defense, but friends are encouraging people to purchase his caps, helping support him financially in any way possible. You can get his caps online at Mission Bicycle or MASH (who will donate all proceeds to his defense), or in person at Box Dog Bikes or Pushbike.
Update: Roaring Mouse Cycles are also donating their cut of Chuey caps to his legal aid. All Hail the Black Market is also donating proceeds from certain t-shirt sales.
Update II: Because people are questioning the accuracy and “bias” of this post, we feel we must remind readers that SFPD does not comment on “ongoing investigations.”
Update III: Stevil writes in letting us know that friends have begun raising money to aid in his defense on Indiegogo.
— By Kevin Montgomery (@kevinmonty) |
— By Kevin Montgomery (@kevinmonty) |
Artcrank is always been a favorite of ours, when 35+ of the Bay Area's best cycling print designers come together to sell off a limited batch of hand-made posters to benefit the SF Bike Coalition. And there's beer!
Unfortunately, this year's sale is scheduled during the heart of Critical Mass's annual Halloween ride—another not-to-be-missed bicycle-themed shitshow. But, fortunately, Artcrank is running until 11pm this year, so you can tail-end it and try to buy up whatever scraps are left behind.
111 Minna Gallery, This Friday from 6-11pm, the event is free, but the posters will set you back $40
— By Kevin Montgomery (@kevinmonty) |
The only thing worse than having to take Muni home from the bar because your bike was lifted is trying to recover it. There's constantly monitoring Craigslist and eBay, never mind canvassing used bike shops, flea markets, and 7th and Market.
Considering how much bike theft happens in our city and that it's a “risk-free crime“—only encouraging more and more of it—you'd think there would be a better way to recover your ride. I think tech blogs refer to this as a “market ripe for disruption.”
Well, the stats bloggers over at Priceonomics thought this situation needed some attention and created the Stolen Bike Finder. Rohin from Priceonomics explains:
The solution we built is based on the only effective solution to bike theft we’ve encountered - self-policing by victims. If your bike is stolen, try to find where the thief is selling it and stop them. In San Francisco, bike theft victims know to search for their bikes at 7th and Market, the Oakland flea market and on the local Craigslist. The result of this self-policing? Thieves have to put the bikes on a van and sell them in another market. That’s a major pain in the ass for them.
So that’s what we decided to build. A tool to help you track down your bike when it gets stolen and make it really hard for criminals to flip it for a profit by selling it online. A dragnet for stolen bikes.
A fuckin' dragnet for stolen bikes? How does it work?:
If your bike is stolen in San Francisco and the thief is selling it in Los Angeles, now you have a way to find it. If they’ve stripped the bike down to its frame and are trying to auction it off, you can find it too. You can search on the site or set an alert and we’ll notify when bikes matching the description pop up. Once you find it, you can contact local police to figure out how to get it back.
Basically, you'll still have to check-up on 7th and Market daily, but it'll keep an eye on the internet for you. (And we know how much you love checking out the sights and smells of mid-Market, so we'll call this a win.)
— By Kevin Montgomery (@kevinmonty) |
— By Kevin Montgomery (@kevinmonty) |
During Friday's contentious 20th Anniversary Critical Mass ride, two women dressed as half-and-half cookies were in a mighty hurry to get to a wine bar. So they did the logical thing and got out of their idling vehicle in the middle of the Tenderloin and began charging at cyclists with a lit road flare.
The entire scene is a complete spectacle, but it gets real good around 4:15, when a homeless TL denizen lectures the young ladies, concluding with “Damn, my nipples are bigger than yours.”
[via SF Citizen]
