Bixi Bike Boston

At the Mayor's Cup criterium race I got to try Bixi bikes, the bikes currently proposed for the Boston Bike Share program. Having just returned from France I can't help but compare them to the Velibs. They do compare favorably, holding their own, different but as good. Velib has less obvious branding on the bike itself, and more plastic, making it "cuter". Bixi has some qualities of its own which I will outline below.

The basket system is less obvious than Velib's, but perfectly functional. It's two bars with a set of pegs on which you strap an elastic band in myriad permutations depending on your needs. My purse did not shift at all on my test ride.

The distance from the handlebars to the seat was much greater than Velib. I'm 5'8" and I felt the Velib was somewhat compact for me, however I felt that I was stretching to reach for the Bixi handlebars. These bikes are North American-sized! My 6' dad will love it, my 5' mother-in-law will not.

The measured seatpost - what a brilliant idea! Once you know your Bixi seatpost height you can set it easily each time you pick up a bike.

The integrated tail lights are a nice design point, though they may be too low to the road. At least they appear robust. The front wheel has the same Shimano dynamo hub as is used in all the French bike shares, I don't know much about this rear hub.

Here is the access point for your bike. You insert your key and when you get the green light you pull your bike to remove it.


This is the key that you would insert into the access box to check out your bike. It's larger than Velib's proximity card, but not too large. Is it a more reliable system? I don't know. I don't think the Bixi agent knew that her manicure was going to end up on the internet!

Here's the bike station. They say they can set these up in 20 minutes, and could thus move more at a moment's notice to, say, Fenway if needed. Though I'd be pretty bummed if my favorite station suddenly disappeared. We will need an application for the iPhone like they have in Paris, giving real-time status updates for the nearby stations.

This triangle-shaped piece is what locks into the station. You roll the bike in between the upright bars in one fluid motion (3 points for your field goal!), and there are pins that then lock around the triangle. This is a *much* more robust system than Velib where a bent locking piece had us looking for a crowbar just to be able to return the bike. You can see in this photo that they don't use the Schwalbe Marathon tires used across France, it is some sort of generic.

My overall impression was of a true North American bike - less chic, more practical than her Parisian sister, and still something fun to ride. A subscription would cost $70-$80/year and I would happily pay that for access to these Bixi bikes, assuming I had access to stations where I need them.

It's time to start thinking about....

...your outfit for the Tweed Rides this weekend!

The Holliston Tweed Ride is Saturday at 11AM, the Boston-Cambridge Ride is Sunday at 2PM.


On Sunday's Tweed Ride the best dressed lady and best dressed gentleman, in addition to the natural bragging rights that come with that distinction, will also receive the hankies pictured above, embroidered for the occasion by Initial Impressions. I do so look forward to seeing you.

Tatuajes hindus

Indian nationalist leader Mohandas Gandhi

Mahatma Gandhi became one of the pivotal figures, if not the main figure, in India's history in the Twentieth Cetury. Along with Jinnah and Nehru, Gandhi shaped India's history up to its independence in 1947.

Mahatma Gandhi was born in 1869 and he died in 1948.

Gandhi was born in Porbander in western India. In 1888, he went to London to study law. He returned to Bombay to work as a barrister but went to South Africa to work in 1907. In South Africa, he took part in passive protests against the Transvaal government's treatment of Indian settlers who were in the minority in the region. In 1915, he returned to India and, after joining the Congress movement, he emerged as one of the party's leaders.

Gandhi encouraged Indians to boycott British goods and buy Indian goods instead. This helped to revitalise local economies in India and it also hit home at the British by undermining their economy in the country. Gandhi preached passive resistance, believing that acts of violence against the British only provoked a negative reaction whereas passive resistance provoked the British into doing something which invariably pushed more people into supporting the Indian National Congress movement.

Gandhi was imprisoned in 1922, 1930, 1933 and in 1942. While in prison, he went on hunger strike. His fame was such that his death in prison would make international headlines and greatly embarrass the British at a time when Britain was condemning dictators in Europe.

In 1931, Gandhi came to Britain for the Round Table conferences. Nothing was achieved except for the publicity that Gandhi received for dressing in the clothes of an Indian villager; Gandhi saw this type of dress as perfectly normal for a man who represented the Indian people. The British representatives at the conference were more soberly dressed in formal morning dress.

When in India, Gandhi took on the British where possible. He famous walk to the sea to produce salt was typical of his actions. Britain had a monopoly on salt production in India and Gandhi saw this as wrong. Hence his decision to produce salt by the sea.
He realised that the religious issues of India were too deep for any remedy to work. Hence he collaborated with Mountbatten and Wavell in the build up to independence in 1947. This association with the break-up of India was to cost him his life. There had been one assassination attempt on Gandhi on January 20th 1948 - it had failed. Just ten days later on the 30th January, he was assassinated by a Hindu fanatic who could not forgive Gandhi for his belief that Muslims had equal value to Hindus and no-one was better than anybody else.