Allston-Brighton bikes

August 27, 2008 – Allston, MA. Two Joseph M. Smith Community Health Center patients won free bicycle packages in a raffle sponsored by Neighborhood Health Plan and JMSCHC. The bikes were awarded to the two winners (five and eleven year old boys) at the JMSCHC clinic location in Allston, MA. A-Bbikes helped assemble the packages using funds from NHP and additional donations by International Bicycle Centers (IBC) in Boston and Newton, Allston-Brighton bikes, Boston Bikes and MassBike. Each winner received a Trek bicycle selected by IBC specifically for him together with a Bell helmet, a lock, a water bottle and cage, a T-shirt and bike safety accessories and educational materials. As you can see in the pics, the winners jumped right on to try out their new bikes! Photos by Galen M. Mook

FOR A-Bbikers ONLY:

REI’s currently offering A-Bbikers a coupon for 15% off one full-price item (limited supply of coupons, bikes and some other items are excluded)
(contact ABbikes@gmail.com to get a coupon!)

SkiMarket’s currently offering A-Bbikers a 10% discount on all bikes in their Boston store!
(contact ABbikes@gmail.com to get a coupon!)

Closeouts/promotions/sales offered to the public that may be of interest to A-Bbikers:

Bicycle Bill’s “specials” at www.bicyclebills.net

International Bicycle Centers closeout and sale items at http://internationalbike.com/itemlist.cfm?pageId=580

Landry’s closeout/sale items at www.landrys.com/bicycles/pages/SaleBikes/default.aspx

REI “Back to School Bike Commuting” sale… see www.rei.com/gearmail/gm0815_6/cm?cm_mmc=Email_com_gm-_-campus-_-081508-_-img_bike

SkiMarket is still having it’s “Mid Summer Bike Sale”… see www.skimarket.com/bikes.htm#Bike_Sale

and of course you can always find good deals on used bikes at Bikes not Bombs… see www.bikesnotbombs.org/bikeshop

With the help of our friend Andrew of Urban Adventours, we now have “I [cool bike graphic] Allston/Brighton” t-shirts. They are currently available to buy directly from us (send us an e-mail at ABbikes@gmail.com) and on consignment at some of the cooler A-Bbikes’ partners in our hood (Horror Business http://www.horrorbusiness.biz/ and Stingray http://www.stingraybodyart.com/). Get ‘em while they last!

International Bicycle Centers Boston is regularly providing funds to help support A-Bbikes’ community outreach… thanks to the management/owners and staff for their continued support!

can be found at: http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&oe=UTF8&msa=0&msid=106008521122548670202.00044f6549489fb2bee10

can be found at: http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&oe=UTF8&msa=0&msid=106008521122548670202.00044c6a10d9ddbf4518e

For A-B bikers who may be interested, according to Gerald Autler “both the Harvard IMP process and the Community-Wide Plan process for all of North Allston/North Brighton will be looking at bicycle lanes/paths and parking. There are no specific plans produced yet…but [Mr. Autler provided us with a copy of] the Scoping Determination recently issued that gives Harvard direction on its master plan, including bicycle accommodations.”

As Mr. Autler suggests, there’s not a lot of specific substantive content relating to bikes… but there is mention throughout. For those interested, we have uploaded the complete document to this website.

Of particular note is the following excerpt:

“• Existing Bicycle Network. In conjunction with the BRA and other public agencies,
Harvard shall identify the key deficiencies in the existing bicycle network that serves North
Allston/North Brighton for internal travel as well as for travel to surrounding areas. Of equal
interest to vehicular/bicycle and vehicular/pedestrian conflicts are those locations where
pedestrians and bicycles may not be compatible, or that may present challenges as more
comprehensive pedestrian and bicycle networks are constructed in the future.”

We urge A-B bikers to post your feedback here so it can be communicated to the BRA and to Harvard University to be included as part of the planning process.

A group of BU students plans to submit an application for a new BU student organization with a mission of working toward making Boston University a more friendly, safe and supportive campus and community for cyclists. BU requires that the officers be undergrad students, ideally ones who will be around for more than just one year. Many of the students in the current group are grad students, so they’re looking for some interested and qualified undergrads…

If you’re interested, please post here and we’ll get the message to BU bikes…

and if you’re not an undergrad who wants to be an officer, please just SPREAD THE WORD!

For A-B bikers interested, there’s a young and growing organization (just like us) called Suffolk bikes… check it out at: http://suffolkbikes.bostonbiker.org

We’ve created a “(friends of) BU bikes” Google group to provide an online forum for those in our community interested in working toward a more bicycle friendly, safe and supportive Boston University Campus. Whether you are a supporter of the concept of bike lanes or “not so much”… completion of the bike lanes on Commonwealth Avenue provides an opportunity for discussion and to promote further awareness, educate cyclists, pedestrians and motorist about etiquette, laws and safety, and to work toward making Boston University a better place for cyclists and all members of the community.

If you are interested in participating, please invite yourself to the Google group (link appears under Google groups at right) and START POSTING!