Vote BicycleSPACE

This being a political town, there's always a campaign going on. We humbly ask for your vote in two popular elections underway now.

Washington Area Bicyclists Choice Awards. The shop and our rides are on the ballot in several categories. Voting closes Feb. 15. 

City Paper Best of D.C. Readers' Poll. Please write us in for Best Bike Shop and Best Place to Get Your Bike Fixed in the Goods & Services category. Voting closes March 1.

Our platform is more, more, more. We pledge to give you more of what you know and love from BicycleSPACE.

• More social rides
• More bikes, products and service bays as we open new shops in Mt. Vernon Triangle and Ivy City this spring and summer
• More spaces, places and events to get together and celebrate our community
• More power to improve transportation infrastructure and create the sustainable, bicycle-friendly city we envision

Vote BicycleSPACE for Best Bike Shop and Best Place to Get Your Bike Fixed 

Vote Best Bike Shop, Hills of Anacostia for Best Shop Ride and 7th Street Social for Best Social Ride

The BicycleSPACE 7th Street Social is nominated for Best Social Ride in the Bicyclists Choice Awards

International Winter Bike to Work Day is Feb. 13

International Winter Bike to Work Day is Friday, February 13, 2015. Take two wheels to work and your bicycle commute will add to DC's worldwide stature. 

Now in its third year, this is a grassroots project centered around a friendly competition to count the number of bicycle commuters along a well-travelled street between 8 and 9 am local time. Participating cities and communities choose where to do the count, conduct it using a designated app and upload their numbers to the map. 

In 2014, the winning city was Oulu, Finland, with 387 cyclists. 

To the best of our knowledge, this is DC's first organized participation in the event. Let's roll to win internationally, Washingtonians!

Here's what we're planning.

We'll be positioned on 15th Street NW just south of Massachusetts Avenue. Roll past and be counted!

We'll reward our hearty winter bicycle commuters with coffee and bagels at our shop at 700 5th Street NW. (Reality check: we'll have limited quantities of refreshments.) Other places have lots of snow, so we have an advantage we can exploit to win the world championship. 

Please commit to ride by signing up at winterbiketoworkday.org so we can increase DC's numbers and send a global message about the strength of the DC bicycling community.

Share our Facebook event to encourage your friends to join Team DC in this "Winter Olympics" of bicycle commuting. See you Friday morning!

Handmade Valentines

Treat the ones you to love to handmade valentines by local Artist Annie Riker. Pick up a set of 3 for $10 at the shop. 

Does Valentine’s Day have you looking for love in all the wrong places? Let BicycleSPACE give you the clues you need on Saturday, February 14, with our delectable scavenger hunt! 

Discounted Postmates deliveries for BicycleSPACE friends

Problem: Wintry mix is forecast for Super Bowl Sunday. Maybe you'd rather stay warm and dry as you prepare to host your party crew.

Solution: Postmates.

Postmates are couriers who deliver goods to you with a tap of the app. The majority are bike couriers, but some also use scooters, motorcycles or cars. 

As a Postmates customer, you can order food from anywhere, even if the restaurant doesn't have its own delivery service. 

Postmates has solved your Super Bowl Sunday dilemma with a promotion for friends of BicycleSPACE.   

New and existing Postmates customers can use promo code BicycleSPACE for $10 off your order. 

This offer can be used anytime, not just Sunday. It's redeemable towards food, goods and delivery fees. Share the code with anyone and everyone you know.

To get started with Postmates, download the iTunes or Android app, input the BicycleSPACE code, place your order and let the games begin. 

Existing customers can add the code to their accounts. Postmates delivers to most of DC, Arlington and Bethesda. Web ordering is available, too, at Postmates.com. 

You'll see some featured stores on the Postmates home screen, but you're not limited to those. Type into the search box and your place should appear.

Postmates delivers not just food but any legal item. Keg on demand, anyone? 

A courier can pick up your drycleaning, prescription, groceries, new gadget from the electronics store or anything else from a shop or restaurant within the delivery area. 

You can even have BicycleSPACE products delivered! Do you need a spare tube or some lube? Did you lose a glove on the morning commute? If you can't come to us, Postmates can bring our products to your home or office.

Game on!

Fellow Creatures: Live from a Burger King turned Bike Shop walk-in freezer

Bikes and music go hand in hand here at BicycleSPACE. Check out our mechanic Will, and his band Fellow Creatures, latest music video filmed from the walk-in freezer of our current pop-up space. 

Winter Service Special

Winter riding can put the hurt on your components and so can months of inactivity. Get your ride back in great shape with our Winter Service Special. Take advantage of this deal and have your bike in perfect condition for the spring season. 

Level One: $50 (regularly $99) 

Our entry level service package including: Adjusting brakes, gears, hubs, headset, and bottom bracket, truing wheels, wiping off frame and wheels, and tightening every nut and bolt on the bike.  

Level Two: $75 (regularly $149)

Great for the everyday rider.  Everything included in the Level One, and additionally: removing drive-train and thoroughly cleaning in solvent tank, and replacing shift and brake cables as needed.

Checkin by February 28th. Cost of replacement parts such as cable, housing, chain, etc... not included. 

Made by Hand: Green Hat's John Uselton shows off his gin delivery vehicle

New Columbia Distillers founders John Uselton (left) and Michael Lowe (right) in their Ivy City Distillery

As the son of an airplane mechanic, John Uselton has always been interested in working with his hands. Shop class was his favorite subject in school. His first car was a VW bug that came with the engine in four cardboard boxes.

After doing everything from working on Navy submarines to wearing every hat in the restaurant business, John opened New Columbia Distillers with Michael Lowe in 2012. 

These German made tanks are constructed of copper and stainless steel. 

Grains are sourced from local Virginia farms. 

Kevin samples their winter gin: Green Hat Ginavit

Their signature product, Green Hat Gin, is named after George Cassiday, the green hat clad bootlegger that supplied booze to the House and Senate during prohibition. Today, John lives just across the street from the Cassiday’s residence in Capitol Hill, where he (Cassiday, that is) ran his bootlegging operation. In a nod to history, the first case of Green Hat Gin was given to Cassiday descendants who live in Virginia. 

During the third distillation, the gin is around 130 proof. It then rests for two weeks, where the flavors of the aromatic herbs and seeds mix together. 

John rode mountain bikes while living in Texas, but when he moved to Boston he didn’t find much time to ride and made the most of public transit to get around. Upon moving to Clarendon, he became frustrated with his long commute to Adams Morgan and inconsistent train schedules. While walking back from the July 4th fireworks with his wife, he spotted an old Raleigh in a dumpster. He brought it home and fixed it up himself and knew right away this was his favorite way of getting around town. 

A.N.T Boston Roadster featuring handmade frame and racks. John often delivers small orders to bars and restaurant by bike.  

A.N.T headbadge. Made of copper and steel, just like the distillery.

Today, John rides every day to work in Ivy City on his A.N.T. Boston Roadster, a steel city bike handmade in Massachusetts. His is set up with a internal 7-speed alfine hub and dynamo lights that allow him to safely arrive at work in wee hours of the morning. John was attracted to the craftsmanship of this iconic framemaker. Much like the bike industry, the micro-distillery business is a labor of love, fueled by a passionate people that take pride in making things themselves. 

Interested in cycling and spirits? Check out our Brewing History Tour with local historian Garret Peck. 

Have you ever tried Green Hat Gin? What did you think?

Mud butts and skunk stripes: An introduction to the wet world of fenders

When it rains, most people worry about the wet stuff coming from overhead, but cyclists have to consider the water that comes from below. Have you ever ridden right after a big rain? If you didn’t have fenders, you were probably surprised at how wet your feet and butt got, which is to say nothing of the ever-charming skunk stripe that your back tire sprays up at you.

While of course no one wants to get dirty road water all over their clothes, we also need to consider our bikes. All that water your tires spray up into your headset, bottom bracket and drivetrain can wear out your parts, leading to potentially expensive replacements. 

Fenders, also called mudguards overseas, are an affordable and practical way to protect expensive clothes and components from the grim of the road. At BicycleSPACE we have a wide variety to suit just about every bike—some of our bikes even include fenders stock! Below, we’ll talk about fender types and a few of our favorites. If you have any questions, you can always ask our capable staff which kind of fender would suit you and your bike best.

The Best: Full coverage fenders

The Handsome Mud butlers are great because as full coverage fenders they keep your butt happy and mud free, even in the worst wet. They extend far down the wheel, practically eliminating spray on to you, and even on to riders behind you. How courteous! To mount these, you will need eyelets on the frame of your bike: look for a metal tab with a hole in it near your dropouts. These fenders also will cover the underside of your fork, and go all the way to your chain stays on the rear, so they protect your headset and bottom bracket too.

Better: Medium coverage fenders

SKS race blades are a great option for performance-oriented road bikes without eyelets and clearance for large fenders.They mount onto the fork and seat stay non-permanently and without any nuts and bolts to lose. While they do a decent job of protecting you from getting too wet, they aren’t great for protecting more delicate parts of your bike from getting sprayed with nasty road water.

Better than nothing: Clip ons

If you want something that comes on and off in a minute, the SKS X-tra Dry Clip-On is a quick and lightweight option, especially for bikes with little clearance and no mounting options. While they are better than nothing at protecting you from the skunk stripe, they truly are a world apart from full coverage fenders: don’t expect them to keep you, or your bike, totally dry. That said, the ability to take them on and off is great if you have more than one bike and don’t want to bother with a more permanent fenders for each one.

Good Cold Fun

Here are some of our latest instagram favorites: 

Our mechanic Jake testing out his new handmade backpack while on courier duty. 

You never know what you'll run into on a ride up the towpath. Last week a series of subfreezing days made for perfect canal hockey conditions. 

Where do you like to ride in the winter months? Let us know in the comments. 

Celebrating MLK's legacy by bike

"Martin Luther King Seaview, Fire Island, NY. Sept. 2, 1967." Photo: Stan Wolfson, Newsday

“Bike the change you wish to see.” About 30 bicyclists answered this call and participated in our 2015 Ride on Washington on January 17. Visiting historic sites, we celebrated our community and our collective power to transform it for the better. 

Bicycles are the very definition of empowerment. They represent freedom and the power to make forward progress. Like the civil rights movement, they don’t advance on their own but rely on human strength and sense of direction to reach the destination.

Bikes are a social equalizer and community builder. They break down the barriers (both physical and socially constructed) that people tend to build up and inspire interaction and human connections.

Leaving from our shop in Chinatown, we made our way down Pennsylvania Avenue to Freedom Plaza. This public square is located blocks from the Willard Hotel, where Martin Luther King, Jr. put the finishing touches on his 1968 "I Have a Dream" speech. 

This square was renamed from Western Plaza to Freedom Plaza in honor of King. Today it remains a popular site of protests and assemblies. 

From Freedom Plaza, we headed to the site of the March on Washington, the National Mall, where some 250,000 people marched from the Washington Monument to the Lincoln Memorial. 

In 2011, the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial opened on 1964 Independence Avenue, the address in honor of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. 

We headed across the Anacostia River to explore the home of one of the 19th century's most influential African-American leaders. 

Cedar Hill - Frederick Douglass House in Anacostia.

Douglass' front porch offered expansive views of the whole city. 

As we coasted down from Cedar Hill, riders remarked on the unique opportunity that bicycling in DC provides, the chance to ride through history around every turn. 

We returned via Anacostia Riverwalk Trail, circling Kingman Island and RFK Stadium as we headed back downtown. 

Lunch was a time to feed mind, body and spirit all at once, building community as we quieted our growling stomachs at &pizza.

It was no accident that lunch was held at &pizza. This popular and rapidly growing DC small business has an admirable commitment to the community. They have an ongoing charitable initiative to donate food to social service organizations. They also invite customers to write in and tell them about the community causes they support. 

On short notice, &pizza not only opened their doors to our large group, but donated pizzas for our lunch. We express the deepest respect to a kindred small business that will really go the extra mile for a worthy cause. &pizza answered our call to serve honorably and deliciously. 

Leading a frank discussion, BicycleSPACE staffer Leah Fantle posed these questions to the group:

• How did it feel to be passing through these sites today?
• Which stood out to you the most?
• Have you ever participated personally/physically in a protest or march? Do you think you would have participated back in 1963?
• What kinds of actions can Americans take today to have an impact on causes that are important to us?
• Do you think these have as big of an impact as physical congregations?
• What are some of the biggest social movements that you have seen? What pushed them over the tipping point?
• In what ways has American culture towards civil rights changed or stayed the same since the time of MLK? In what ways has it legally changed and in what ways have cultural perceptions towards it changed or stayed the same?
• What can we learn from the nonviolent movement that we can apply to our everyday lives?
• In what ways can we support those still struggling and striving for equality? Is solidarity or clicktivism enough, or are there real actions we can or should take?
• Biggest takeaways or thing learned from today? Has your perspective shifted or changed? In what ways?

Interested in more events like this ? Sign up for our newsletter or share your feedback in the comments. BicycleSPACE regularly hosts free classes and rides that directly support local community groups.