Use the checklist below to comparison shop at your local bike stores or identify the cost options for making your current bike a fully-equipped commuter bike.

too much stuff!

Bicycle

Rear light
Front light
Fenders
Rack
Panniers
Bell/horn
Lock
Rain gear – Top
Rain gear – Bottom
Boots/Booties
TOTAL

The Bike

Your best choice if buying a brand-new
commuter bike is a model with 700c size wheels.
These are the same size wheels road racing and
touring bikes use. They are faster and lighter
than 26 inch mountain bike wheels and better
suited to commuter riding. Converting a road
bike by swapping the racing style ‘drop’ bars for
riser, or cruiser style handlebars, is another fine
option. If you are going to use a mountain bike,
replace the off-road knobby tires with 1.5 inch
street tires. You’ll gain speed, control, and dayto-
day puncture-resistance.

Rear Light
By far the most important piece of safety
equipment you should have installed on your
bike. They are cheap and ubiquitous. Buy a
couple. Attach at least one to your bike and keep
the other to clip onto clothes or a dead-sexy
safety vest.

Front Light
If you’re commuting in the city, all you really
need is the small, cheap, white LED blinky. Add
candlepower depending on your financial
tolerance and urge to be seen. An easy-to-use
quick release can come in handy.

Fenders
Get the black plastic and steel kind that attach to
your frame at three or four points. Unlike the
ones that stick out from your seat post, or the
motocross style plastic fenders designed for use
with front suspension, they actually keep your
feet and butt relatively dry. Beware of potential
hassles with disc brakes when buying a brandnew
bike.

Rack
Look for a nice one? Make sure it will work with
your bike and doesn’t limit your choice of
panniers.

Panniers
Rubberized, roll-top super-waterproof panniers
are awesome. Regular panniers with your stuff
inside shopping bags will do as good a job unless
you regularly ride in typhoons. More
importantly, the easier they are to take on and
off, the more likely you’ll use them.

Bell/horn
You can tinkle, or toot, or yell in a pinch. The
bell is our first pick because it’s friendly. More
than a few commuters have a bell and a horn.
Room on the handlebars for both is sometimes
an issue.

Lock
Buy the best one you can afford and use it.
Always. If you don’t know how, get the bike
store or a knowledgeable friend to show you how
to lock the both the frame and front tire to a bike
rack for maximum security.

Rain Wear
If you want to go fast, get the sleek, form-fitting
stuff. Booties to go over your regular riding
shoes make a very big difference, keeping toes
both dryer and warmer. If you don’t plan on
breaking speed records or a sweat, just use your
most waterproof rain coat (or buy one) and rainpants
that you can put on over your regular work
clothes. Rubber boots, which are incidentally the
latest fashion, are also the best choice for
footwear. Take your regular shoes with you, or
leave a pair at work.

(This is a blog post version of my latest newsletter. Want to get this monthly burst of wit and wisdom sent straight to your inbox? Email me at info@chriskeam.com and I’ll put you on the distribution list)

Growing up, I used to love an old television show called Tomorrow Today. It’s stock in trade was seemingly outlandish predictions about the way we’d live in the far distant 21st century. Now, with your average iPhone making a mockery of Spock’s tricorder capabilities, it’s a daring endeavour to forecast what technologies will be game-changers in the next year, let alone the next decade. Nonetheless, I’m going to take a shot at it. Here’s three things I think we’ll being seeing more of:

• E-bikes – They’re already a huge seller in Europe and Asia. Once you ride one you understand why. Electric-assist bicycles deliver on the promise of a sweat-free, speedy commute, overcoming the objections many have against biking to work. With electronics manufacturer Bosch, bike parts giant Shimano, and bicycle manufacturers such as Cannondale, Giant, and even KTM onboard with the trend, expect prices to drop and consumer acceptance to rise. Forget what The Graduate told you. Lithium (for bike batteries), not plastics, is the material to watch.

• Clockwork and Compressed Air – Two easy, proven ways to store energy. Couple them with advances in electronics to reduce power requirements and pretty soon you’re looking at self-winding mobile phones and stereos that really let you ‘pump up the volume’. What could be more environmentally friendly than never having to buy another battery and storing energy with sprung steel or pressurized canisters?

• Nuclear Energy - Like many people, I grew up under the shadow of the mushroom cloud. We’ve been acculturated to consider nuclear a really bad idea,  thanks to Greenpeace, Three Mile Island, and Chernobyl. But, some prominent enviro-thinkers are pointing out that well-managed nuclear energy is way, way better for the planet than the cheap coal quickly becoming our only option for keeping the lights on. Author and activist Steward Brand, of ‘The Whole Earth Catalog’ fame is convinced there’s a future in fission and fusion. He makes a persausive argument for this prediction in his latest book.

There you go. Remember who told you first when you’re commuting to your job at the nuclear plant on your electric bike and you need to pull over to take a call on your wind-up cel phone. Want to convince the world your organization has a bright future? Let me help. Whether it’s a proposal, press release, newsletter, web or video content, I can help you showcase the reasons why your product or service has more staying power than a North Haverbrook monorail! Please contact me via email or give me a call (604.780.6125)

Thanks for reading,

Chris Keam

Recent Work

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Dedicated youth and donated soil combine to bring $60,000 project to fruition.

A year ago the Vancouver Park Board approved plans to create a dirt jump park in a piece of undeveloped land just east of the Vancouver Planetarium. On Saturday, Oct. 2, the new facility officially opened, with local BMX and dirt jump riders quick to take advantage of the sunny weather and brand new facility to show off their high-flying skills.

“Electric. Awesome.” Those were the words 11 year old Eddy Ryan of Kitsilano used to describe the park. He’s stoked to have it within cycling distance in his neighbourhood. “You can practice more because it’s close to your home. It’s not all the way out in Burnaby or Langley.”

Eddy Ryan will be spending plenty of time in Vanier Park's new dirt jump facility. photo: Chris Keam

For the uninitiated, dirt jumps are built from natural materials and feature jumps of various sizes and styles that allow riders to take off, gain enough altitude to perform tricks in mid-air, and then land smoothly. Some of the common features are known as ‘gap jumps’, ‘table tops’, and ‘saddle backs’. The Vanier Park facility consists of three tracks, for beginner, intermediate, and expert riders, with a fourth, smaller ‘pump’ track situated off to one side.

Expect to see plenty of pictures in biking magazines taking advantage of the scenic backdrop afforded by the park's location. Photo: Chris Keam

The Vanier Park jumps aren’t Vancouver’s first. For years there was an unofficial set of dirt jumps near Oak and 37^th Ave, but when that undeveloped piece of land was turned into playing fields, the jumps were taken out. With nowhere to go, riders approached the Park Board looking for help. Park Board Commissioner Sarah Blyth, who has also been instrumental in the creation of a number of local skateboard parks, helped spearhead the project.

“This is one of the biggest and best days of my life… and I’ve had a lot of good days,” said Blyth. “One of the coolest moments of my time on the Park Board was at the meeting to approve the plan. The room was packed with young people. One of the mothers came up to me afterward and commented on how important it was for young people to get involved in the process and be successful. So, to see them learn about the political process, to get involved, to be successful and get things done – it’s why I ran (for Park Board) and it’s what I care about.”

Chris Young of the Vancouver Dirt Jump Coalition and Park Board Commissioner Sarah Blyth speak at the opening of the Vanier Park Dirt Jumps. Photo: Chris Keam

Chris Young is a local BMX rider and a driving force behind the Vancouver Dirt Jump Coalition, which enlisted support from riders, parents, and local bike shops to make the project happen. He is unabashed in his praise for the finished product.

“These are the second best dirt jumps on the planet. The only ones that are better are in a place in New Zealand that’s about five times bigger, but in North America, this is it – the biggest, the best. I’ve been calling it the Hastings Skate Park of dirt jumps. People come from all over the world to ride that place and I think people are going to come from all over to ride this.”

Once they were approved, Young says the construction of the jumps hinged on one important factor.

“One of the things we were worried about was where were we going to find the dirt for this. You need dirt with a high clay content. But, someone came through for us. One of those friend of a friend of a friend situations, so all of this soil came from deep in the earth, from a hole that was being dug for the foundations of one of the downtown high rises. So we got exactly what we were looking for and we got it for free.”

In total, the new park cost $60,000 and took two months to build. Blyth considers it money well-spent.

“For the dollar value this is a wonderful facility.”

The jumps were built using clay-based soil reclaimed during excavation for a downtown high rise. Photo: Chris Keam

Construction of the jumps was handled by Earth Ramp Bike Parks, local riders who have been building unofficial dirt jumps for years in various private and public spaces around Metro Vancouver. Dylan King played a big role in the design and construction.

“We’re pretty stoked on it,” said King. “It’s really good for a public park.”

King is especially proud of the innovative features they’ve created, including an impressive gap to wall jump on the expert track, that sees riders take off from a regular jump and land on a steeply banked wall.

Dylan King shows how it's done with a picture perfect landing on the gap to wall section of the expert line. Photo: Chris Keam

Ted Uhrich, a landscape architect with the Vancouver Park Board who was involved in the project, was all smiles as he watched riders getting their first taste of the park.

“I think it looks fantastic, it looks kind of like a land sculpture,” said Uhrich.

The park’s design offers novices a number of options when tackling the jumps, to allow them to build their skills in a progressive fashion, tackling more challenging lines as they gain confidence.

Multiple lines allow for riders of all abilities to enjoy the park. Photo: Chris Keam

“There’s ride through and bail out options,” notes Uhrich, “so that riders can learn safely. The beginner loop in the middle has a lot of different options for how you go through it.”

This is the site after it had been cleared in preparation for building the jumps. Prior to be chosen for the dirt jump park, the area suffered from problems with unauthorized dumping of waste. Photo: Chris Keam

Lots more great pictures from opening day at the Georgia Straight and on Earth Ramp’s Flickr photostream.

In other news, the proposed Hornby St. separated bike lane proposal goes before Council on Tuesday, Oct. 5th. I’ll be sending regular updates during the meeting via Twitter. Be sure to follow along for up to the minute summaries of who’s saying what as Council contemplates this important potential link in the downtown cycling network.