BikeBiz Bicycle and cycling retail news

This is being hailed as the first serious obstacle put in the way of Dean Kamen's "pedestrian-friendly" lard-arse-making 'sidewalk interloper'. An article in San Francisco Weekly applauds the city elder's ban and reports that walking and cycling are the best ways to "man the dikes" against the "ocean of blubber" that the US Health and Human Services Department says costs the US $117 billion a year.

Trek Bicycle has formed Trek Travel, an upscale cycle holiday company, with destinations in Europe and North America. The upscale clients will ride Trek bikes, naturally. Some of the tours are performance-oriented and star riders will join the ride, but most are leisure tours, as popularised by America's luxury walking-and-cycling tours company, Backroads.

Motorists driving in British towns and cities during peak periods travel painfully slowly. Horse and cart speed, basically. Bumper to bumper traffic means many vehicles never get as high as third gear. To cut through the traffic, some motorists are resorting to bizarre tactics. The Guardian reports that one chubby male driver has taken to dressing as a nun in order to get courteous treatment from fellow motorists. Cyclists, of course, speed through the jams but until the government bites the bullet and heavily invests in public transport and makes road riding safe for 'average' cyclists, the traffic jams of Britain will keep on getting longer, and motorists will adapt to the increased journey times.

The shaft-drive hire bike featured on this site last week was officially launched today. Here, from the Millennium Bridge on Newcastle's Quayside, are the first photos of the bright yellow Tyne Bike.

Just like last year, Fisher Outdoor Leisure is eschewing corporate Christmas cards, donating the cash saved to Sustrans, the cycle route construction charity