Bike weather is here!

A few relatively warm days were all it took for the bicycles to come out in force. Road bikes and foldables and fixies and uprights are everywhere now. Even the Ottawa police were out on bikes today. Perhaps an errant snowflake is still to come but I think it's safe to say that spring is really here.
If there is a cycling trend in the last few years it's certainly with uprights and the retro-looking fixed-gear bikes. “Fixies” are the choice of bicycle messengers. For commuter cyclists, I spotted 2 British Pashleys today and a Jorge and Olif bike (Canadian-made upright) . Yesterday both a Monark and a Kronan from Sweden.

Foster’s Sports on Bank Street has some rather attractive American-made bikes called the Linus, a simple and elegant European-inspired upright. I noticed quite a few people admiring them through the store window today. A few hours after I took the picture through the window, the cream-coloured ladies bike was sold. I really like this small blurb taken from the Linus webpage "In most urban cultures bicycles are viewed as legitimate transportation and not merely recreation, but sadly this idea never really caught on in the US. We take numerous little journeys, under 5 miles, as part of our everyday life…. to the store, the pub, to work, etc. Besides the obvious joy of riding a bicycle, these small bicycle trips reduce carbon emissions, congestion, noise pollution, and make for a happier, city experience."

Whatever type of bike you favour…it’s time to get cycling!