Bike Talk

Bike Mechanic Jim Cadenhead consults with Taylor about fixing a flat on his Surly. Problems: there's a thru-axle and he thought it was tubeless (2:45). Charlie’s News: Virginia plans to get rid of parking minimums in September https://lis.virginia.gov/bill-details/20261/HB262. Zohran pleases some as he smooths a notorious bump at the end of Williamsburg Bridge https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/06/ny...

Bike Talk Listener Survey results (0:40). Notable bike-related laws of 2025 with bike lawyer Jim Pocrass (15:00). Mamdani’s transit-focused inauguration in a New York Minute with Streetsblog NYC Editor Gersh Kuntzman (21:45). Charlie’s News: Mamdani brings back de Blasio-era plan for McGuinness Boulevard. Leadville, CO will host Fat Bike Worlds later in January. Citi Bike prices are increasing for...

A sample of the interviews that made Bike Talk Bike Talk in 2025: Lucy Maloney, bike advocate turned council member in Vancouver from Episode 2533 https://biketalk.org/2025/08/2533-bikes-up/ (0:38). Zohran Mamdani interviewed by micro mobility organizer "miser" when Zohran ran for Mayor, from Episode 2525 https://biketalk.org/2025/06/2525-we-love-la-deliveristas-zohran-for-bikes-nyc-and-picture-ma...

Listener email: The AV debate: safer than humans (Waymo at least, but Teslas crash more often). On the other hand, AI is inhuman and AVs could increase car dependency (https://www.commondreams.org/news/tesla-robotaxi-crash-rate) (1:07). Charlie's News: Pride bike racks in response to pride crosswalk removal in Florida; University of Minnesota study shows biking before sunrise doesn't hold back ele...

Vehicular cycling and Aaron Swanson of League of American Bicyclists' League Certified Instructor's most recent graduating class in Los Angeles https://bikeleague.org/ridesmart/become-instructor/ (4:15). Charlie’s News- Streetsblog NYC article on everything wrong with anti Astoria bike lane ruling https://nyc.streetsblog.org/2025/12/09/heres-everything-wrong-with-the-judges-order-to-rip-up-the-31s...

Our Mission Statement, reviews, a listener email, and please take our survey! https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeVwttiNKX8APpEgM3lmvlUI9d8KqQl9uedQ8YmdiJ5rPf0ow/viewform (0:19) Charlie’s News New bike lanes in Boston increase bike trips and decrease car traffic https://mass.streetsblog.org/2025/12/05/boston-data-show-streets-with-new-bike-lanes-successfully-shift-traffic-from-cars-to-bikes...

Bike books for Christmas-with the editors of Microcosm’s “They Ride at Night” anthology of Queer, Feminist, Fantastical Bicycle Halloween Stories, Summer Jewel Keown and Elly Blue (3:36). Queens City Couriers delivers anything by bike in Buffalo, New York. Rebecca tells us about that, a bike messenger memorial, and how being a bike courier compares to being a Marine, which she also has been (13:15...

The most recent Los Angeles CicLAvia’s 11/23  “Stranger Things” open street event was made possible by Netflix (0:18). Katie Wilson’s election as Mayor of Seattle through a bike lens with Brie Gyncild, Gordon Padelford and Merlin Rainwater of Seattle Neighborhood Greenways and Tom Fucoloro, editor of Seattle Bike Blog (8:25). News: LYFT’s Citibike in NYC is the world’s most expensive bikeshare, Fa...

Taylor bikes in the rain to LA Bikefest to talk with LA Bicycle Advisory Committee’s car-free Jennifer Gil and to World Day of Remembrance for Traffic Victims with Rob Kadota and Streets Are For Everyone founder Damian Kevitt (2:08). News: LA City Controller makes an app where you can see the where LA budget goes https://budget.lacontroller.app, the USDOT declares it won’t fund biking, walking, or...

Email: Reese, a listener, says we shouldn’t assume conservatives don’t listen to Bike Talk, like Nick said in the previous episode. We all agree: biking embodies values everybody can and should get behind (3:11). Charlie’s News: The City of Malibu approves safety plans for deadly PCH, a Queens, NY City Council seat is kept by an anti-bike zealot, Doug Ford seeks to repress debate on his speed came...

Emails: the bike life of musical director Tim Dyet and Steve Weyland's counsel to not blame delivery apps for lawbreaking ebikers in NYC (congratulations NYC by the way) (1:58). Faulty bike infrastructure and a drunk driver blamed for deaths of cyclists Kerry Bonner, 25, and Egor Popov, 31 at Vigil and response by Patty Wiens, Bike Mayor of Winnipeg (7:25). Charlie’s news: Carbrained NYC Councilme...

Charlie’s News: NYC sets a 15mph limit on ebikes, a new Seattle bike lane also works for trucks, ultralight emergency response cargo bikes, and the impact of tariffs on the bike industry https://www.peopleforbikes.org/news/pfb-responds-to-tariff-announcement (3:00). No Drive Halloween campaign (4:26). Ontario, Canada Premier Doug Ford is trying to ban speed cameras and bike lanes in an all out war...

Bike Talk Listener Survey (0:23) People on bikes are “Nature’s Most Efficient Traveler,” reveals Scientific American https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/a-human-on-a-bicycle-is-among-the-most-efficient-forms-of-travel-in-the/ (1:42) Charlie’s News: League of American Bicyclists’ Advocacy Toolkit, Calbike’s Independent Electric Mobility Council, and Portland’s emergency World Naked Bike Ride...

Bike tech: Dynamo lights and pocket compressors (0:19). Charlie’s News (4:21). Two authors on what we’ve lost by making kids car dependent: author of A Love Letter to Suburbia Diane Alisa interviews co-author of Curbing Traffic Melissa Bruntlett on her chapter, Child-Friendly City https://bookshop.org/a/99134/9781642831658 (6:51). The delights of a Slovenian bike tour with Hour Away guide Nejc Pet...

Ride For Your Life is a Washington, D.C. memorial ride in honor of Sarah Langenkamp, whose husband, Dan, worked to pass a law protecting cyclists in her name after she was killed riding in a bike lane. Taylor talks to Dan Langenkamp https://waba.org/event/ride-for-your-life-2025/ (2:04). After Bike Talk thinker Stacey Randecker was hit while riding, we asked why personal injury lawsuits take so lo...

Bay Wheels bikeshare in the East Bay lends ebikes for $20/month to qualified residents and $120 for everyone else, reports Bike East Bay co-Executive Director Justin Hu-Nguyen (1:05). Former San Francisco Supervisor Joel Engardio on being recalled by drive-happy voters over his support for converting a portion of the Great Highway into the new Sunset Dunes Park (7:08). Biking, BARTing, and e-scoot...

A JAMA study finds biking is associated with lower dementia incidence: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2835115 (23:00) Should we tell people they ought to bike to COSTCO? A Bluesky user responds to episode #2535 (2:49). Bike East Bay Advocacy Director Robert Prinz explains why federal bike infrastructure doesn’t have to be “stupid,” in response to Charles Marohn’s comm...

Listener emails in response to last episode's bike lane hater from Eric Brightwell, host of the Nobody Drives in LA podcast https://ericbrightwell.com/nobody-drives-in-la/ and Ross, a West Hollywood vehicular cyclist who uses the street on which Bike Lane Hater does not want a lane (0:21). What are the legal implications for organizing a community bike ride, bike bus, or other non-sponsored event?...

Bike tours of Portland, Oregon by Cycle Portland, an interview of Charlotte by listener contributor Jonathan Weiss (1:26). A Love Letter to Suburbia is a new book on how car dependency, corporate control, and disintegrating community values have eroded the sense of connection and purpose that once defined American neighborhoods, and how to fix that with pedestrian first "villages." Author/Instagra...

Why, being flat and on Manhattan's "doorstep," is Long Island so resistant to all bike infrastructure? asks listener Sean Cirillo (0:53). West Hollywood bike lane opponent Kyle Brazil debates Taylor about installing a bike lane on Fountain Avenue (6:13). The author of A Love Letter to Suburbia, Diane Alisa, has empathy for conservatives and suburban people who might want to ease away from car depe...

Zohran Mamdami’s New York City transit scavenger hunt with participant Wilson Nichols, Taylor's nephew (2:38). San Francisco bike share user Kalise shares with Taylor what drives her to ride in SF (but not Los Angeles) (7:19). The high price of bike share, and what could be a better model: free, at first. With Dave Snyder, author of the Substack article, "Bike Share Booms Despite a Broken Business...

Vancouver bike activist Lucy Maloney won a seat on the anti- bike city council she fought for years. She gave Taylor a tour of the city and talks about her journey https://vancouver.ca/your-government/lucy-maloney.aspx (2:24). Speed cameras will go up this year in Los Angeles, San Jose, Oakland, Glendale, Long Beach, and the City and County of San Francisco, courtesy of California’s AB 645. Califo...

Listener feedback: Rebecca Reilly wants Nick to pronounce "Ontario" correctly, and Rick Bosacker says we should talk more about biking's mental and physical health benefits (0:50). Paris' bike revolution from the POV of Bike Talk intern Charlie Leightheiser - bike lanes, bike share, and bikelash (4:27). It's never too early to start planning for the week without driving, 9/29 - 10/5 https://weekwi...

Bike Lawyer Andrew Lewis on defending Cycle Toronto and saving Toronto's most popular bike lanes from the populist, tricky, anti-bike lane administration of Ontario Premier Doug Ford (0:29). Cities like Los Angeles lose hundreds of millions in lawsuits due to traffic injuries and fatalities on their streets. They could save lives and money by using their streets budgets to build protected bike net...

Taylor’s ride through the burned-down Pacific Palisades neighborhood, and architect Neale Payton's insight into rebuilding the area as a Transit Oriented Development in the April 2025 Bike Talk episode https://biketalk.org/2025/04/2513-state-of-the-union-rebuilding-a-bike-oriented-la-and-bike-storage/ (0:28). Two vigils, four car victims, one day for NYC: Transportation Alternatives Communications...