Some Thoughts on Riding in Sacramento

In many ways Sacramento has some of the best riding I've personally enjoyed. It's nice and flat, the weather is good, and the drivers are for the most part fairly polite.  Of course, there's the wind. (shakes fist at sky!) There also isn't the best bike infrastructure. While there's nothing we can do about the wind short of building a giant dome around the city, which does sound tempting now that I think about it, there is something we can do about getting better bike lanes and other bicycle amenities. Of course, what we're starting with is nothing to scoff at, but let's be honest here, we could do so much better.

To start with something easy; the city could have a map of bike lanes that was accurate. Right now there is at least one street that's shown as having a lane and instead has a magically appearing and disappearing lane. That's Florin, for those of you keeping track. Of course, 21st has a section that does that, as does 19th in the other direction. You wouldn't know it from the maps.

If you want me to get into the big things, well, let's just say I have dreams. I'd like to see a separated bicycle lane down Freeport Blvd. The right side is hardly used for parking most of the time, how much could it hurt to convert it to a fully protected bike lane. And what with two schools there it just seems like common sense.

A suggestion someone threw out on the facebook page was to have a car free event in midtown. There are a number of cities around the state that do this already, and we all know people love to ride their bikes in mid town. And if we really wanted to get crazy we could even have a street that's just for pedestrians and cyclists. We could at least start with getting cars of K Street again. Maybe extend it past the convention center. I know, I know, crazy talk! I gotta dream big though. Also, R Street.

The Moonlander has... um... Landed...

I may have flubbed that title a bit, but Surly most certainly did not flub the new Moonlander. We just got one into the shop and hoooo boy is it fun. We can't keep the customers, or the employees away from it. And it rides so cool!

When you look at it you'd think it might be a bit tough or clunky, but no way it rides like a dream. The extra height of the tires and the geometry necessary to fit those giant 4.7 inch tires gives you a whole different feeling when you're on it. And you just roll over anything. We didn't get a chance to take it over any tough terrain but popping a few curbs while riding around the block was great. At first you tend to lean back when you hit the curb, but with these fatties it isn't even necessary, you just roll on up.

If you head over to our facebook page you can find a photo of us unpacking it. A nice close up on one of the Big Fat Larry tires. It definitely looks big in the pic, but trust me when I tell you it looks bigger in person. We'll have more photos of it up soon.

Signing off for now. Have a good weekend and don't forget to go ride your bike!

Welcome to The Bicycle Business' New Blog

We're working on making a lot of changes to our web presence and we're starting with this blog. Currently you can like us on Facebook and follow us on Google+.

We'll be doing product reviews and posting videos and pics that we like on the blog here. We'll also have coverage of the North American Hand Made Bicycle Show which is taking place here in Sacramento in just a couple of weeks. We're all really excited about it. You should see pictures and maybe some videos that we are going to take at the show. We can't wait!