by Michael Smith (Veshengro)
While those schemes do have their merits the bikes often are not the greatest to use and appear to me to be rather strange things to boot.
However, bicycles are, once again, becoming a popular mode of transportation and this is a good thing, and not just for bicycle manufacturers, bike shops, and cycle mechanics. It is the most environmentally friendly way to travel besides walking.
City bikes distributor and manufacturer Linus Bikes, an American bicycle manufacturer, based in California, became aware of Charlotte’s newest initiative in “going green” through the introduction of bike sharing stations, and believes to be a testament to the reemerging popularity of bicycling as a popular mode of travel.
According to an article from WCNC, bike sharing programs have become increasingly popular in the United States, taking after many countries across the Atlantic in Europe. It is because of this that Charlotte decided to get with the times and enact a bike sharing program of their own. Like in many other places, these bikes will be set up in stations around the city and will be available for those people to rent.
“New York City will launch a bike sharing program with 10,000 bikes later this month, which will make it by far the largest in the nation,” states WCNC.
Charlotte’s new bike sharing stations will provide 200 bikes available at 20 different kiosks. The will allow people to pay a fee at a self-service kiosk in order to rent a bike for short trips.
The reemerging popularity of bicycles as a mode of travel emphasizes the belief of Linus Bikes that cycling is essential for the environment as well as to promote healthy lifestyle amongst commuters within cities.
It is a belief that is very much shared also by myself, but then, as I keep saying, I am biased, as I do not drive and only cycle and also build my own bikes from old ones.
As to Linus Bikes; they are a California-based bicycle manufacturer that specializes in creating vintage style city bikes and commuter bikes. Not simply a bicycle company, Linus Bikes sells a complete line of accessories for the environmentally conscious and for those who have a fondness for European style bicycles and the great tradition of European cycling.
It is those kind of old style European bicycles, as well as the old style Cruiser bikes, that are, in fact, the best kind of bikes for communing and general cycling, such as to the shops, to visit friends, etc.
When choosing a bicycle for commuting, shopping and general, including for cycling long distances, ensure that the seat is not of the racer style, as this is considered now to be a factor, if not actually the factor, of the problems many male cyclists are encountering.
Look at what the bicycles and seats, bar those of racers, looked like in the 1930s and 1940s, and chose those styles as they are proven ones.
I have rebuilt my bikes (aside from converting them all to single speed freewheel) with the old-style handles and the bigger seats. Both the sitting position and the seat must be right so as to reduce, or alleviate altogether, the pressure on the genital region, and not just by men.
Looks like the old ways, even in cycling, were still the better ways.
© 2012
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