Chainlinks
March 2022
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Chainlinks March 2022 |
Invest in biking as fuel prices rise
Cycling Action Network spokesman Patrick Morgan says councils, the Government and workplaces need to shift up a gear to soften the impacts of high fuel prices. “Let's double-down on biking to ease pain at the pump.” “People love the freedom and convenience of riding bikes, but they need safe and convenient bike lanes.” "With high petrol prices causing hardship, we urge councils to meet the demand for cycling by investing in bike lanes, low-traffic streets, bike parking, and cyclist training." He says that while not every trip can be made by bike, as 2/3 of urban trips are less than 6 km, many can be. “E-bikes and cargo bikes, which can carry children or a week's groceries, are a viable replacement for many trips.” “This is the perfect time for the Government to extend EV subsidies to e-bikes.” Mr Morgan says business can play a part too. "Many workplaces provide secure bike parking, fleet bikes, and changing facilities for staff. These are great ways to encourage people to bike, and to lower their travel bills.” “Every person on a bike means one less car, and eases household budgets. More biking is good for business." Cycling costs 7 cents a kilometre compared to more than 70 cents for a car. Cycling provides exercise that helps keeps people fit and happy, so it reduces costs to the health system. Cycling cuts pollution and congestion, both of which cost New Zealand over a billion dollars each per year. Mr Morgan says rising fuel prices are driving people out of their cars, and they are rediscovering the convenience and fun of cycling. "New Zealanders love cycling. Bikes outsell cars. There are 1.7 million people already riding for recreation, fitness and pleasure. Many would like to use their bikes to get to work, school or the shops, but are deterred by the lack of bike lanes." "With high fuel prices here to stay our councils, Government, and employers need to ensure cycling is a viable choice."
Beat bike thieves: love it, lock it, log it
It’s all too common to hear a story of having a bike stolen. Bike Auckland have chosen 529 Garage, which has shown success overseas, as our champion to tackle bike theft. Advocacy works - Wellington plans 166 km of bike lanes in next five years
Wellington City Council has approved a bike network plan that would see separated cycleways on more than 20 per cent of Wellington’s streets. It will be a huge upgrade from the current 23 kilometres of dedicated bike lanes in Wellington. The 166km Paneke Pōneke bike network plan for Wellington received the green light from councillors after several months of public consultation. “This represents a sea change for the future of Wellington’s transport,” cycling advocate Patrick Morgan said. “It’s the single biggest improvement to our transport network this century.” (Source: Stuff) Calling Taranaki bike advocates
We're looking for people to help to make Taranaki a better place to bike. Please get in touch with Jenn.O'Connell. Christchurch cycleways progress
Book review: The bikes we built: A journey through New Zealand made bicycles, by Jonathan Kennett
Published by the Kennett Brothers, 2021, Price $49.90, Hardback, 160 pages, printed in New Zealand. Reviewed by John Rhodes, Greytown Although I collect books about bikes and cycling, I could not have imagined this one. It never occurred to me that such a book could exist, or that we have in Aotearoa such rich material for it in such quantity. But it did occur to Jonathan Kennett, and the result is an extraordinarily fine contribution to the New Zealand cycling library that he and his brothers have published over recent decades. Kennett travelled the length of New Zealand to find the historic machines that grace these pages. He writes of engaging with the people who collect them: ‘We disappeared together into a world that no longer exists, of forges and lugs and pinstriping. A time when the humble bicycle was not so humble, and everyone knew the name of the craftsman that built the machine they rode.’ The book opens with a richly illustrated and thoroughly researched introduction tracing the historical development of the social, political and economic context in which the bikes were made—New Zealand history seen through the lens of bicycle manufacture. Then to the bikes themselves. To read and savour The bikes we built is like visiting a Kiwi cycling museum. Jonathan starts with the earliest bicycle known to have been made in Aotearoa, an 1869 Duke of Edinburgh velocipede, and ends with a high-tech gravel tandem built by Jeff Anderson of Rotorua in 2021. In between, in mainly chronological order, are 58 others. The bikes are in four themed sections: ‘Cycle Mania’, about the cycling boom of the late 19th century; ‘The Safety years’, about the first half of the 20th century; ‘The Industry Boom’, highlighting mass production by Healing and Morrison in the 1970s and ‘80s; and finally ‘Innovation and Art’, about small-scale manufacture since 1990. Aficionados of classic bikes will instantly be attracted by machines like the 1953 Comet on the cover, meticulously restored by Adrian Thornton. But this is not just a book for the dropped-handlebar / skinny-tyre fraternity. Kennett casts a wide, non-elitist net that includes all aspects of Kiwi cycling: the Akrad Flyer trike, the Chopper, the Raleigh Twenty and the Reiker postie bike. It intrigued me to learn that under the protection of import restrictions, the frames, forks, rims, mudguards, handlebars, seat posts and cranks of the thousands of ten-speed machines built here in the 1970s were made (in Morrison’s case under licence to Raleigh Industries), from New Zealand steel. Healing Industries alone produced 700 a day. Bicycle collectors up and down the country gave the author access to their machines. Some are lovingly restored to pristine condition, while others show the ravages of time. Exceptionally good photography, by the owners and by Kennett, shows each bike in its entirety and in detail: head badges, pedals, stems, gears, brakes, cranks and hubs. The photographs alone are a bike-lover’s delight. It seems petty to raise a couple of gripes; but Jonathan’s misuse of the term ‘cog’ for ‘sprocket’ is irritating. And I’d have liked more details about bottom brackets, chainsets and gear mechanisms. But these are minuscule defects in a triumph of research, writing and design that contributes significantly to Aotearoa’s history. When they put me in an old folks’ home, this is one of the dozen or so books (including The Dancing Chain, One More Kilometre and We’re in the Showers, Cycling’s Golden Age and the Kennett Brothers’ own Ride) that I‘ll take with me. It’s that good. BRAVO! CAN Annual General Meeting - 6 April 2022, 7:30 - 9pmWe need your help. There's never been a better time to get involved in bike advocacy. Save the date and join us at our AGM, online at: https://meet.google.com/ozq-hwqa-byw
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