Archive for the ‘bicycle’ Category

In the current global economy, things are hard all over -- even in Berlin's red-light district. With fewer travelers coming to town for conferences and business meetings, sales at local bordellos have gone limp, but the owners of Maison d'Envie in trendy Prenzlauer Berg are hoping to give things a lift by offering a 5 € ($7.50) discount to any customer who arrives on a bike. Not only is that good for the environment, but all that cardio exercise guarantees healthy return customers. Sounds like a big score in our book. Somebody give those folks a hand. [NYTimes]

From an architectural competition for a new cycling bridge in Lisbon, Portugal, comes this eye-raising design. Is it straight out of Idiocracy—or more Blade Runner crossed with The Dukes of Hazzard and a little bit of Rad?

The entrants, Tiago Barros and Jorge Pereira, asked, "Why change the route of pedestrians and cyclists?" Instead, they proposed a high-speed car ramp that would launch cars airborne, over pedestrians and cyclists.

The "It's About Time" design competition, which was open to architects and architecture firms, was accepting submissions until September 7. The winner of the contest was announced earlier this week, with a top...

Amsterdam is a city of many and remarkably diverse joys and entertainments. But the Dutch are also an extremely practical people.

Enter: The Beer Bike, or bierfiets.

It's a way for 14 people, at least some of them presumably inebriated (and the video mentions "stoned" as well), to travel through the streets of the Dutch capital without getting behind the wheel of a motor vehicle.

Given that the Dutch now log more miles on their bikes than on their automobiles (being an almost entirely flat country helps), it was probably inevitable.

Now, two accidents involving Beer Bikes--one that caused an injury--have transportation councillor Hans...