The blogs BikeSnobNYC and OneLesCar do a blogging exercize called “The Worst of Craigslist,” where they ridicule infuriatingly stupid or dishonest ads in the bike section of Craigslist. I ran across one this morning that I cannot allow to escape ridicule. Here’s a screengrab in case the ad comes down:

Here’s the text of the ad:

Mens 15 speed Glacier Point Magna. Put road/hybrid tires on it, but will include set of trail tires with the sale. In very good condition. Used it in my first triathlon - time to move up.

For readers unfamiliar with bikes, Magna bikes are almost exclusively sold at discount stores like Wal-Mart for less than $100. It’s absolutely ludicrous that our friend in Buda would ride a Magna in a triathlon. Shoot, riding a mountain-style bike in a triathlon would be torture, let alone a heavy, poorly-adjusted bike from Wal-Mart. I see a lot of folks dishonestly trying to sell poor-quality bikes on Craigslist, and they all seem to come from outlying suburbs like Buda, Round Rock, or Kyle. What do they put in the water out there? Do they think so little of people they think they can get away with lies like this?

Anyway, be skeptical of bikes sold on Craigslist and watch out for slimebags in the burbs.

Convivial City is a new cycling wiki from the guys behind The Practical Pedal magazine. Its purpose is to share information about cycling and cycling-oriented lifestyles in particular cities. Currently there is no information about Austin, but I suspect it was announced as soon as it came online.

The site uses the DokuWiki wiki platform, and I’ve got to say that I’m not a big fan of it. I know administrators like it because it does not require a database back-end like MediaWiki and other major wiki platforms, but it has some issues I do not care for. One issue is that its markup is different from MediaWiki, which is certainly the most widely used platform because of Wikipedia. Its markup requires more keystrokes and is somewhat less intuitive, which presents a barrier to entry for contribution, particularly when you consider MediaWiki’s user base. The other issue is that its URI structure makes it difficult to link to particular pages. In this case, I could not link directly to the list of cities. That said, I do hope this or another wiki becomes a useful source of practical cycling information online.

If you wish Austin had funky bike-racks like the David Byrne designs going up in New York, you may just get your wish. The Downtown Austin Alliance has a call out for “unique, durable artwork to serve as bike racks” along Congress Ave. downtown. It’s too bad there isn’t a permalink for that announcement, but if you’re a designer, you can download a .pdf of the call here.

Perhaps this is an opportunity for BikeSnobNYC’s dream of a pirate bike rack to become reality, although I imagine the winners will be more predictable Austin motifs like guitars, bats, or pot leaves.

Clear Channel Outdoor’s SmartBike program launched in Washington DC this week. For a forty-dollar annual fee, users can check out and ride bicycles around the city. Noticing giant fenders in a thumbnail image, I went to the SmartBike site to get a closer look. I was stunned to look at the large image on the homepage, which shows a woman riding on the wrong side of the road, facing traffic.  After closer inspection of the chainguard, I realized that the image must have been flipped in Photoshop. Perhaps these specially designed bikes put the drivetrain on the left side, unlike most bikes where the gears on the right side, but I’m still not sure she’s still not riding against traffic if the image is flipped.

I think it’s great that communities are looking to provide bikes for citizens as an alternative transportation, but I think it’s more important for cities to educate cyclists and motorists on safe roadway use. I can see how this might be an exceptional case, where a bike line is on a one-way street, for example, but the designer could have certainly found a better image to show proper bicycle use.