Bike Talk

Do we need e-shifters? Is Taylor a luddite? (0:19) Listener Email: South Carolina’s Freeway for Bikes https://www.reddit.com/r/bikecommuting/comments/1qinw7z/south_carolinas_freeway_for_bikes_it_makes/ (2:43) Blind riding in tandem with Sonya Chapnick (3:44). Charlie’s News: New York Governor Kathy Hochul proposes a “stop super speeders” pilot program https://empire.streetsblog.org/state-of-the-state-exclusive-hochul-will-push-stop-super-speeders-bill-through-her-budget. Check out the best new bike lanes of 2025 https://www.peopleforbikes.org/news/best-new-bike-lanes-2025. A New Jersey ebike lumping law threatens low-income riders and immigrants https://hudsoncountyview.com/op-ed-murphy-must-veto-anti-safety-anti-affordability-anti-immigrant-e-bike-bill/. Ontario government spent hundreds of thousands in the legal fight to rip up bike lanes in Toronto https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/foi-shows-province-external-lawyer-cost-bike-lane-challenge-9.7042278 (14:33). NY Governor Kathy Hochul wants to ap

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/nyregion/mamdani-pothole-williamsburg-bridge-bump.html, but leaves others dissatisfied with the continuation of cyclists receiving criminal summonses https://nyc.streetsblog.org/2026/01/07/mamdani-says-he-opposes-tischs-criminal-bike-crackdown-but-its-apparently-still-in-place. Over 2,700 ebikes have been sold and subsidized in the Bay Area in the last 6 months https://oaklandside.org/2026/01/08/alameda-ava-energy-ebike-voucher-program-2000-purchased-east-bay/. As mountain biking gains popularity, bike parks are becoming the status quo instead of traditional trail development https://www.bikemag.com/mountain-bike-trai

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 the 5th consecutive year. A 93-kilometer bike highway is coming to Dubai (23:32). Los Angeles tactical urbanist Jonathan Hale charged with vandalism for installing a DIY-crosswalk where there should have been one https://la.streetsblog.org/2025/12/08/police-and-fire-departments-shut-down-volunteer-crosswalk-painting-event-in-westwood (28:31). All Bodies on Bikes founder Marley Blonsky hit by car in a Portland protected bike lane, unhurt; and the new ABOB movie, book (44:48).

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-main-street/ (13:56). Black Girls Do Bike/Anjoleah Daye on BGDB in Los Angeles from the 2/7/2025 Episode https://biketalk.org/2025/02/bikes-for-kids-in-la-and-florida-black-girls-do-bike-and-ebikes-over-60/ (24:37). Sophia Lebowitz on the problem of illegal ebikes, or emotos from Episode 2543 https://biketalk.org/2025/10/2543-ebikelash/ (37:23). Jonathan Hale on painting DIY crosswalks in Los Angeles from Episode 2534 https://biketalk.org/2025/08/2534-build-it/ (45:18).

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 elementary school cyclists; Bike LA and Lime Hero partner to round up for local programs; Cheeky vests win back funding for bike lane plowing in Ontario (5:30). Why don’t drivers lose their license for multiple DUIs and worse in California? (See License to Kill https://calmatters.org/investigation/2025/04/license-to-kill/). We ask our lawyer (and sponsor), Jim Pocrass (8:20). The Federal Reauthorization bill won’t include money for bikes, walking, or anything that would slow cars for the next 5 years unless we let congress know that Americans want to be safe on their streets. Caron Whitaker of League of American Bicy

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-31st-street-protected-bike-lane; are AVs like Waymo cyclists’ allies? https://www.wired.com/story/can-bike-riders-and-self-driving-cars-be-friends/ Indianapolis plows bike lanes for first time https://www.wrtv.com/news/local-news/indianapolis-dpw-plows-major-trails-and-protected-bike-lanes-for-first-time; NJ bill would require license and insurance for all ebikes https://www.nj.com/news/2025/12/nj-bill-would-require-licenses-registration-and-insurance-for-all-e-bikes.html; Comebacks to this year’s anti-bike arguments https://momentummag.com/your-comeback-guide-to-all-the-anti-cycling-arguments-youll-hear-this-year/ (7:

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; Astoria, Queens rips up a partially installed bike lane due to bikelash https://nyc.streetsblog.org/2025/12/05/queens-judge-orders-city-to-nix-half-installed-queens-bike-lane; Iowa City free bus ridership and service is up, emissions down https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/18/climate/iowa-city-free-buses.html; FSA/HSA pre-tax $ can be put towards a bike- with a doctor’s note https://usa.streetsblog.org/2025/12/04/this-holiday-season-buy-your-kid-a-bike-with-your-pre-tax-healthcare-money(4:57). Montreal plows snow from bike lanes and sidewalks. Why can't every snowy city? We ask Patrick Murphy of O The Urbanity https

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). Charlie’s News: NYC council candidates funded by Uber, women transportation leaders, bike lane sweepers, and last year’s Chicago and Philadelphia traffic casualty stats (25:55). Police bias, media bias, and bike law with Jim Pocrass (27:14). How to get in shape for a bike tour, the latest in our bike tour series with Josh Bowden of Adventure Cycling (36:29). And drop in to our December 16, 4pm Pacific Instagram event with Adventure Cycling at https://www.instagram.com/adventurecycling/

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, Families For Safe Streets in Portland seek to stop “superspeeders” with a bill to require speed limiting technology in their cars, People For Bikes invests in the St. Louis bike network, and the CPSC warns about Rad Power ebike batteries (28:19). “Dashcam” app and handlebar mount by Armin Samii create an affordable bike camera that helps gather crash data to keep riders safer (33:30). Disc brakes explained by Jim Cadenhead of Battle Road Bikes in Lexington, Massachusetts (47:12).

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 trains, the LA River bike path design and timeline is contested, there’s an aluminum velodrome in Tucson, and a Wyoming and Idaho bike/ski trail would complete the 180 mile Greater Yellowstone Trail network (10:50). Email: “Skirting the Negativity Pit;” Rick Bosacker, MD on the disconnect between the positivity of cycling and the negative responses from online trolls. Rick writes that bike advocates may fail to speak out because of “pluralistic ignorance” (15:48). Bike Touring and camping gear and bike recommendations from Josh Bowden of Adventure Cycling (17:48). The Hierarchy of Cycling Needs: Charlie intervie

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 camera ban, and California’s ebike incentives are swapped for a car trade-in program https://www.calbike.org/response-to-carb-on-ending-the-e-bike-incentive-project/ (6:32). A Dia De Los Muertos vigil “remembering fallen ridazz” at the Bike Oven in Los Angeles, with Joe Borfo https://www.instagram.com/p/DQZuZD6j6kp/?igsh=MWI2MDB1cWM3OHpkYQ%3D%3D (9:11). Los Angeles bicycle casualty statistics and what we are doing about it, with our LA bike lawyer James Pocrass (11:25). House Transportation Committee Chair S. Graves says “we’re not gonna be spending money on murals and train stations or bike paths or walking paths”

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 Councilmember Vicky Paladino (had) a challenger, FDNY urged to make safer streets, Malibu’s Pacific Coast Highway safety makeover TBD, Kilian Jornet rides to 72 US summits in 31 days (10:04). A children's book about Annie Cohen Kopchovsky, AKA Annie Londonderry, who rode her bike around the world in 1885, is banned by the Pentagon for violating Trump's DEI policy. With author Mary Boone (12:20).  Northampton's 34th annual Cyclocross event with Penny, Chloe, and JAM fund racers Tanya Boulanova and Ellen Noble (24:28).  Bike LA's Bikefest with Bike LA Director Eli Akira Kaufman (34:51). Planning Taylor’s Bike Tour, Part I

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 on safety and active transportation- but there's active resistance from Dr. Carrie Mitchell, an associate professor at the University of Waterloo who started a petition calling for the speed camera ban to be reversed https://www.change.org/p/reverse-the-decision-on-speed-cameras-in-ontario (5:08). The classifications of ebikes in New York City is confusing, and riders are paying the cost. Nick talks with Sophia Lebowitz about her article in Streetsblog NYC https://nyc.streetsblog.org/2025/10/21/the-problem-with-e-bikes-the-super-fast-illegal-ones (13:20). A brief on the legal implications of misleading ebike cat

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 (3:43). MAGA Speaker Mike Johnson calls the World Naked Bike Ride "the most threatening thing I've seen yet," inspiring a Kermit The Frog song on the Jimmy Kimmel show (5:30). Cycling Solidarity buys out vendors targeted by ICE in Chicago and distributes the food to hungry people by bike. We talk with Rick Rosales, AKA “Captain Jack Sharrow,” a Cycling Solidarity organizer and Critical Mass rider (7:44). Women Changing Cities is a book on women leaders shaping their cities “From Paris to Bogota, Manila to Montreal… reclaiming streets, reimagining mobility, and designing safer, more inclusive public spaces.” V

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 Peternelj and Taylor’s brother John & Sister in Law Alice, who took the tour by ebike https://www.hour-away.com/cycling-holidays/guided (22:34). Bike Ped Committee Chair Kristen Sykes interviews Holyoke, Massachusetts Mayor Joshua Garcia about countering car culture with complete streets on the 3rd annual Holyoke Mayoral ride (43:18).

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 long to pay out. Our lawyer, Jim Pocrass, tells all (18:35). Charlie’s Bike News (24:40). A report called “The Powerless Brokers” by Circulate San Diego finds "California can’t build transit." Lindsay talks to Circulate SD CEO Colin Parent https://www.circulatesd.org/powerlessbrokers (27:05). NYC bill Intro 1138 would ban parking within 20 feet of street corners, “daylighting” intersections so drivers and other road users can see what’s coming...but NYC’s DOT exaggerated the parking spaces that would be lost, Upper West Side Council Member Gale Brewer pulled her support for the bill, and now its passage is in

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-scooting at 14 in the Bay Area: Quin Binzak (24:50). The Federal Government has taken away approved funding for bike and safe streets infrastructure, or, as it says, anything "hostile to cars." Caron Whitaker, E.D. of League of American Bicyclists, on its work with lawmakers. Also, League Certified Instructor training (29:56). Avoid stoking fear in our messaging, writes Dave Snyder in his bike advocacy newsletter (39:39). Charlie's News (42:15) It's getting darker, dynamo lights are awesome, and other light stuff from Battle Road Bikes mechanic Jim Cadenhead (45:03)

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 Printz explains why federal bike infrastructure doesn’t have to be “stupid,” in response to Charles Marohn’s comments in episode #2537 (4:49). A West Hollywood resident defends the famous Fountain Ave bike lane pilot project from the perspective of both “entitled driver” AND “entitled cyclist” (7:13). Black Girls Do Bike founder Monica Garrison on the Kitty Knox Academy, a program to prepare “Sheroes” to become nationally certified League Cycling Instructors (LCIs) through the League of American Bicyclists https://www.blackgirlsdobike.org/lead (9:06). Dutch Cycling Embassy International Relations Manager Chris Bruntlett on how China is leapfrogging the Netherlands in bike infrastructure and bikeshare, the popularity of

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? asks listener Dr. Rick Bosacker. Our lawyer/sponsor Jim Pocrass lays down the law on liability for taco ride organizers (4:43). Strong Towns founder and Confessions of a Recovering Engineer author Chuck Marohn and the author of A Love Letter to Suburbia Diane Alisa on why we don't have better bike infrastructure, the right/left divide, and how we'll get things done (9:40). Boston's Bikeway Block Party is an inclusive, community-focused festival designed to showcase arts, activities, and culture and celebrate shared space. Jim Cadenhead, original Bike Talk host and BBP organizer, recaps the Party (34:06). Bay

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/Instagram influencer Diane Alisa talks (6:06). A longtime listener that happens to be a professional planner responds to some of the arguments raised by the West Hollywood bike hater from our last episode, in script form (28:45). Northampton, Massachusetts documentary maker Thomas Draudt uses his art to battle the bike haters and support the multimodal complete streets project "Picture Main Street" (48:00).