One Street News

July-August 2013

Vol. 6, Issue 5

  1. Bike Shift Lever Ready for Primetime
  2. Resources – Neighbor.ly
  3. Hot Topics – The Dangers of Safety, Part 2

Bike Shift Lever Ready for Primetime

Our long-awaited Bike Shift Lever for Anybody, by Anybody is ready to primp and strut as we get set to launch our Kickstarter.com campaign in October.

This is our first bike part for One Street Components, which is responding to the rapid extinction of basic bicycle parts, especially for our Social Bike Business partners around the world. Most of these programs start by refurbishing used bikes as they move toward manufacturing their own bikes. But without simple, durable, affordable parts, even refurbishing comes to a standstill.

Our shift lever offers these advantages over the sport-only shift levers found these days:

  • Symmetrical – works on right and left sides.
  • Uses only six parts.
  • Easily repaired with common parts.
  • Primitive casting using scrap aluminum.
  • Designed for people who depend on their bike, also those with weak or injured hands.
  • Supports upside-down bike during repair.

We have completed the prototype stage. Now we need your help to fund the creation of the casting molds and full production process. 

We'll need help from all of you in October 2013 in order to ensure success. You'll find our campaign at Kickstarter.com – search “Bike Shift Lever.” Kickstarter works on an all-or-nothing basis. We will only have one month to raise the needed funds and will so appreciate any donation you can make as well as forwarding it on to people you think might like to help.

Resources – Neighbor.ly

Crowd fundraising has been a major focus for us as we prepare our bicycle shift lever to go live on Kickstarter.com in October. While Kickstarter is designed for specific projects like our shifter, we were so impressed to come across www.Neighbor.ly, a new crowd fundraising site specifically designed for what they call “civic projects.”

That seems to include all sorts of bicycle infrastructure projects, street redesigning and even funding for bicycle organizations. We’re happy to see one of our Social Bike Business partner organizations featured there: the 816 Bike Collective. Take a look. See if any of your bicycle projects fit their criteria. And, if you have a bit of extra change, test it out with a donation.

Hot Topics – The Dangers of Safety, Part 2

By: Sue Knaup, Executive Director

In our last e-newsletter Hot Topics section I attempted to capture my exasperation over the continued problem of bicycle helmet “safety” campaigns undermining efforts to increase bicycling. Though my aggravation has not yet eased, I have found lots of productive outlets for it thanks to all of you who jumped in and joined the discussion. You offered many new angles from which to view this concern along with resources I never would have found otherwise. Here are the best of the lot so far:

• Free Range Kids blog – This blog is led by a mom who seems just as enraged as I am over safety hysteria. Her outlet is her blog where she writes about and posts stories from people pushing back against it every day. Take a look, if only to realize we’re not alone in being fed up with all this paranoia.

• The Science of Fear: How the Culture of Fear Manipulates Your Brain (2009) by Daniel Gardner – I ordered a stack of books that claimed to tackle our culture of fear. This one stands out as the best of them. The author is a journalist who writes clearly and vividly as he presents the science behind our obsession with safety. Hint: it has a lot to do with our caveman brains. I highly recommend it for anyone truly fed up with this problem.

• “Culture of Fear” documentary, watch free – This documentary looks at the many ways governments and other agencies have manipulated the public and gained power by presenting fictitious dangers. Once we the masses are terrified we will succumb to anything, giving up our rights for the promise of safety.

• “The Power of Nightmares,” watch free (three hours or shorter summary) – This three part BBC documentary looks at similar concerns as the Culture of Fear documentary, focusing mainly on governments and politicians seeking power by creating fear.

• “The Invention of Jaywalking Was a Massive Shame Campaign” – This article looks at one such campaign that started by instilling fear then added shame in order to remove pedestrians from streets. This one hits many nerves for One Street!

• No Fear: Growing Up in a Risk-averse Society – This free pdf book looks at several disturbing examples of misleading safety campaigns that have done more harm than good.

• Culture of Fear Wikipedia page – A typical Wikipedia page, but a good overview of the problem for those just getting started.

The puzzle continues, but at least we have some great resources to consider as we wrestle the bicycle helmet hysteria back to reality. If you have others to offer or further ideas to consider, please email them to me at sue{at}onestreet.org.