Our Winter Workshop Series begins February 6^th! All workshops are free and open to the public. Workshops will be held at Mobo (1415 Knowlton) from 7-9pm. All are welcome!

Feb 6
Urban Riding 101

Have you ever heard of the “right hook” or the “door zone”? Do you know how to correctly lock up your bike? Urban Riding 101 is a great workshop for those who are new to riding on city streets! This informal group discussion will cover: how to dress for the cold (so you stay warm, but not sweaty!); basic street safety (right hooks, the door zone, metal plates, making turns, lights, bells); gear for commuting/running errands (weight distribution and securing of cargo for racks, panniers, baskets and messenger bags); recommended routes/roads; and how to correctly lock up your bike so it doesn’t get stolen!
https://www.facebook.com/events/209807015777596/
Feb 13
Roadside Repair 101

Learn about mini air pumps, how to patch or change tubes, how to make tire boots, and what to do when your chain falls off! https://www.facebook.com/events/281840588541299/

Feb 20
Maintenance 101

Learn basic maintenance skills, such as: how/when to lube the chain, change or adjust brake pads, air up tires, and check the trueness of your wheels. https://www.facebook.com/events/275617605836059/

Feb 27

Brakes

March 5

Shifters & Derailleuers

March 12

Wheel Basics

March 19

Hubs & Bottom Brackets

March 26

Headsets

What a year. We have kept ourselves busy. Mountains of work have been moved. Frustrations and worries expressed. Laughter, hugs, and love found. Sometimes we’ve been awkward. Sometimes we had trouble communicating. Sometimes we got angry. And we recognized that and its ok. Its a new day and a new moment even as these words appear. What will we accomplish next?

So many people have given so much. Time, energy, materials, advice, love, support, understanding, critiques, friendship, inspiration… the list goes on. All gifts. All blessings. All of it channels back out of MoBo. Its a smile, a helping hand, a presence, a reassurance, a support network that ripples out the doors of the shop to flow around our neighborhood and even the whole of Cincinnati itself. Amazing the things that have been accomplished through the existence of a tiny little community bicycle workshop. What will happen next? Will we we continue to as a tiny little workshop? Will we inspire a child? Bring understanding & peace to tensions and discomfort? Share jokes? See more and more people riding bicycles down the street? Will we continue to build a place that that vibrates with life and friendship each time we sign in?

There have been as many ideas shared within those walls, as seeds have been planted in the surrounding gardens, as the turns of the wrenches each week, as rotation of the wheels of your bike when its all said and done. Endless possibilities. Potential roadblocks. Only way to see what happens is to keep taking part part, isn’t it? It won’t be easy sometimes. Sometimes it will be epic. Other times humbling. And, hopefully, we all come out for the better.

How will we come to MoBo in the new year? What can we give to it? How can we help? And when its figured out, it feels good.

Happy New Year and Love

Reflectors!!  Lights!!  Visibility!!  In this city, it is not only the law, but a necessity to avoid being run down while out riding in the evening and night.  So here is a little food for thought…

Would you believe how important at dusk to have a blinking taillight?  The Lakota peoples speak of this as a magic time, and no in the oh-so-fun rabbit popping out of the hat.  Think more like, everything is a shade of gray.  So its all the more important to have that flashing bit of red or orange blowing up drivers’ retinas.

The next little bit to consider is WHERE to place your reflectors and/or lights.  Studies have been done showing how simply by viewing  lights placed on moving joints, the human mind can discern a multitude of information, and in our case, that we are on a bicycle in front of their half ton+ of steel.  Don’t believe me?  Check out this little demo… http://www.biomotionlab.ca/Demos/BMLwalker.html

What it boils down to, is to seriously consider wearing reflectors on your ankles and knees, and have a blinking light on either your back or on the back of the bike.  Whichever is more visible.  Bike stores sell a variety of lights, which they will readily mount for you (sometimes for a price), and most will  also have reflective bands for your joints for a very low cost.  And if you’re crafty, you can always think up new ways to sew reflective material onto your clothes and gear!

Stay tuned, we may even have an upcoming reflective workshop in the not too distant future!

After eight months of surveys, open houses, “rolling focus groups”, and lots of field work, the draft Bicycle Transportation Plan has been completed and is available online at www.cincinnati-oh.gov/bikeplan.

The plan will be presented to the public at an Open House this week:

Wednesday, May 5
6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
Clifton Cultural Arts Center
3711 Clifton Avenue

Please help spread the word about the Open House to any community members or groups that may be interested. I hope you will take the time to review the plan and send me your thoughts; Chapter One is the Executive Summary and provides a good overview of the plan’s goals, objectives, and action strategies.  We will be accepting comments until May 14, and then the plan will be revised and sent to City Council in early June.
Thank you for being a part of making Cincinnati a more bicycle friendly community!

Melissa McVay

City Planner

Department of Transportation & Engineering

City Hall, Room 450

801 Plum Street

Cincinnati, Ohio 45202

513.352.5269 office

513.352.5336 fax

To clear up the Cincinnati Bike Maps, the following are definitions of some designated spaces for bicycles which are a part of the plan.  Keep your eyes peeled for these applications in your neighborhood!  And use them!  And if you have more suggestions, leave a comment or send an email to PRforMobo[at]gmail.com.

- Bike Lane: A bike lane is a portion of the roadway which has been designated by striping and pavement markings for the exclusive use of bicyclists.

- Sharrows: Sharrows (shared lane markings) are pavement markings installed within shared travel lanes. The markings (a bike & chevron) remind motorists that they should expect to see and share the road with cyclists. In addition, the sharrows help cyclists position themselves within the lane so as to avoid being hit by suddenly opened car doors.

- Climbing Lane: A climbing lane is a bike lane on an uphill segment of the roadway. The climbing lane provides segregated space for cyclists who will be moving slowly up the hill.

- Cycletrack: A cycletrack is a bike lane that is separated from car traffic by a physical barrier such as bollards, parked cars, a curb, or a raised median.

- Bike Boulevard: Bike boulevards are low-volume and low-speed streets that have been optimized for bicycle travel through treatments such as traffic calming, traffic reduction, and signage and pavement markings. These treatments allow through movements for cyclists while discouraging or prohibiting similar through trips by nonlocal motorized traffic.

- Connecting Street: Connecting streets are low-volume and low-speed streets that can be used comfortably “as is” by cyclists in order to connect to other streets in the bicycle network.