Update : Wow, that was fast. It’s a (2004) Selev Matrix. Congratulations FactionCycling!

In the spirt of the Joystiq Podcast‘s stump JC section, I present to you the first stump LQ. This helmet has completely stumped me. If you can name this helmet, I will send you a free patch kit. You need to name the brand, model, and year. The clip is from 2004, but that doesn’t mean the helmet is. Good luck! You can submit via comments, twitter @ratherbebiking, or email. I posted it over in the “official rules of the euro cyclist group” but the resident experts there (or so called experts) did not emerge to name that helmet.

Good luck!

The New York City cycling map, as early as the 2007 edition, has shown that a bike lane is “planned” for River Road and the 9W state bike route, which runs parallel to it. The connection between the entrance of the GWB and access to River Road was greatly improved last year with a dedicated path. Previously, cyclists had to deal with heavy traffic and a steep downhill with poor pavement and turning conditions.

The red dots indicate a "planned" or "proposed" route.

The 2009 NYC bike map also shows a bike lane still planned for River Road and 9W. River Road is not heavily trafficked. Do you think it needs a bike lane? Is the NYC DOT map just guessing there might be plans for a lane there?

Would money be better spent on boulder protection? Currently awaiting comment from Benepe’s Bike Blog.

AS PART OF A NEW AWESOME SERIES, I will review popular products that I TOTALLY own, or own’d.

I picked up the Race Blades (regular, non XL version) after reading the Competitive Cyclist review (by the way guys, if they take longer than a minute to put on, please list it in the product description page also!). So far, so good. Really good for how easy they are to adjust and switch between bikes. Their review pretty much had the main points covered so I’m going to get real with you on these fenders. They’re good, but not perfect. Downsides.

One of the biggest sources of annoying splash from your front wheel is the water kicked off and into the downtube, which then splashes onto your shoes. If you’re riding more than 5 minutes, and you’ve got regular Addidas on or something similar, you’ll be soaked quickly. The race blades half-solve this problem. There just isn’t enough curve and extension on the front fender to deal with water that hits the downtime. This could be solved by somehow attaching a mudguard or flap where the fender ends.

The other issue I’ve had is also with the front fender, specifically clearance. Even when ‘perfectly’ adjusted, if you’re in a sprint or climbing, or whatever you do with your bike that has you leaning, there’s definite fender rub going on.

These are minor complaints but something to consider if you have a choice between these and another model or the XL. I also just wanted to call out Competitive Cyclist again for their review/product description inconsistency. And also not offering the white version! So much for euro-ness.

I won’t be going anywhere more exotic than Staten Island for the Holidays, so you can expect plenty of TOTALLY AWESOME bike lane updates from me. As well as more photos.

Snow is still out there, but there’s plenty less of it then the start of the week. Obviously, if the East River crossings are your concern, you can check out the TransAlt run NYC Bridge Crossing Report. I haven’t heard anything of the Pulaski or other bridges, but most of the ER crossings are clear according to everyone I’ve talked to. A big improvement from that time last year when the WillyB was ice-coated for days at a time. Random spots still have this type of thing going on, probably from people digging out their cars. However these are pretty easy to ride through.Still haven’t seen Tribeca or some other spots, planning to.

UPS is still trying hard to get their drivers to stop parking in Bike Lanes when they don’t need to. No, really. (Avenue A, December 22nd)

As an early holiday gift, troll/rage blog commuteroutrage is not only down but apparently “exposed” by Streetsblog. They (CM) had some pretty nasty habits that bordered e-stalking, going as far as to look through my flickr stream to find old photos of me to download and post elsewhere, for no reason other than to show they could do it, I guess. Gotta love that Tal guy, from White Plains or some other shit, talking like he knows how things should happen in a city he doesn’t fucking live in. Do you hear me saying the Bedford Lane should have been removed or should be brought back? No. Because I don’t live there and I don’t commute there.

On a similar note : hating on the new Times Square. Still? Really? Would awesome things like this be able to happen with out it? Think it looks like rubbish? Not really. It’s still getting pretty damn heavy use every day I’ve ridden through it for the past week. And it’s pretty cold out. So let’s stop and think for a second before reposting a whiny article by Cuozzo. You’re damn right it’s not classic NYC grittiness – and it still sucks trying to ride through Herald Square – but people are out there enjoying themselves even when it’s cold out.

How could that be bad for business? Were deliveries ever made on Broadway in Herald Square? Nope. They are still made on the surrounding corners and in loading bays. I hope it stays but it also won’t be a disaster if it’s reverted – point is, it’s really NOT a make or break thing for businesses, and attempting to link these changes with business activity is about as hard as tracking anything else as complex in an area as active as Midtown.

New load of film to shoot courtesy a very helpful person. I need to hear some intel on the GWB for my upcoming riding. Anybody? 9W? … River Road?

Loads to shoot :

And some to develop.

Also, selling this :

Peace!

NYC Public School Students express their outrage over proposed MTA budget cuts that would end the student metrocard program.

All the cops were generally pretty friendly. Everyone around seemed pretty sympathetic to the protesters. Just a mess of a situation on the budget side of things, though.