Hot tipper Cienna fed us this story... Apparently several European cities are revising their laws to actually allow bicyclists to run red lights (yielding to oncoming traffic of course), and here's their reasoning:

In Paris, where bike share began and cycling is rampant, the municipal government decreed it legal for cyclists to flat out run red lights, according to The Telegraph. Several reasons were cited. According to officials and public documents about the law, the goal is to reduce bike backups clogging intersections. Cyclists are slower with less control as they accelerate from a stop, making them more likely to swerve or fall into a car lane.

Likewise, a crowded gaggle of them waiting for a green light means they will pack closer up against cars in more dangerous proximity once everyone starts moving at different speeds. Plus, drivers of cars densely packed together waiting for a light may have lower visibility of a cyclist up ahead in a lane over. In all, when there are too many cyclists waiting at a red it becomes a danger.

The rules are set to take effect on 1,700 Paris intersections, and this is an important note in this story:

Cyclists who grill red lights, as the previously-ticketable act is known in French, will have to yield to any oncoming traffic and, of course, pedestrians. They also must make room for entering traffic turning. Any accidents occurring while they are crossing will be deemed their fault.

I realize this is like dangling fresh meat over a lion's cage, but....

The city, facing an overall budget crisis, is already cutting its contributions to the program by two-thirds, officials said, hoping private donors will make up the difference and maybe even allow the event to expand to the Southwest hills for the first time. If donations can't make up the difference, the city would then consider cutting a few neighborhoods out of the event. The program is seen as a key way of spreading the bike/pedestrian gospel—and word about safety—to families and communities who may not have considered it.

At first that wasn't good enough for Saltzman, who said money ought to be spent not on enticements but on actual safety-improving infrastructure.

"I'm not prepared to commit that this is the highest and best use of transportation dollars," he said. "It might warrant a hiatus in the next fiscal year."

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Look, rag on Gresham on you want, but their skate park is pretty great: Opened in 2010, the Dreamland-designed skatepark is 5,700 square feet right downtown on Main Street.

The only problem? No bikes allowed. The city council banned BMX bikes from the park a few months after the opening. They reasoned that bikes would scratch up the skatepark surface and were also a safety hazard. Somewhat dubious reasoning quote from the city: "If two skaters collide, it's two people hitting each other," said Mike Abbate, the city's director of planning. "And if one has a bike, there can be serious injuries."

Well, Gresham BMX riders and friends are not too psyched on being kept out of the park—or on city resources going to ticketing riders. Lack of fun places to ride BMX bikes has been kind of a big issue around Portland.

"The police are under a mandate to confiscate all bikes seen in the park," says Kate Baker, who recently started a petition to allow bikes in the park. "Unfortunately Gresham has a small police force and as a tax payer I feel like their resources would be far better spent dealing with actual crimes."

The BMX fans are planning to swarm the park with bikes this Sunday at noon. Will Gresham budge on the no bikes rule?

Update 1/11: Gresham's city spokeswoman says that the police responded to 53 calls for service at the skate park last year and confiscated 10 bikes.

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I talked with Bike Walk Vote co-chair (and veteran political consultant) Evan Manvel about that PAC that aims to elect candidates best support bicyclists, walkers, and people who take transit.

MERCURY: Why did you guys decide to restart the Bike, Walk, Vote?
Evan Manvel: There are a lot of needs out there: A bike plan that's passed but generally unfunded, there's issues with lack of sidewalk construction and safety issues around that, there are a lot of issues with transit funding like increasing fares with decreasing service. Meanwhile, the region is looking at spending $4 billion on a mega-highway project. That motivates people.

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• Walnut's hand-stitched can cage

BUT there are are plenty of places to spend money that support creative local makers and the Portland economy. There's a million craft fairs from now until Christmas and the one I'm most excited about is Bike Craft this weekend.

Over 50 bikey individuals and small-scale businesses roll out their best stuff at Sandbox Studio (420 NE 9th Ave) this Saturday and Sunday from 11am-6pm. I've gone for the past three years and it's always been fun—I don't really need a knitted U-Lock cozie or a leather-crafted PBR holder, but there are lots of super-practical items and it's cool to meet a table after table of artistic people who come out of the woodwork for the event.

A string of burglaries with the same brazen modus operandi has hit six downtown bike stores in the last week. In each case, one person or pair of thieves spend about 30 minutes removing a pane of glass from the store windows, then make off with specific bikes, mostly high end. Whoever is doing this seems to know exactly what they're looking for.

West End Bikes was robbed at 8am last Saturday morning, says owner Mark Ontiveros. "Our security video shows a man methodically starting to remove the molding on our door, it took about half an hour," says Ontiveros. West End is in the busy neighborhood on SW Stark 11th Avenue so when people walked by on the sidewalk, Ontiveros says the video shows the thief sitting down in the doorway: "I think people walking by thought he was a bum just sitting in the doorway, unfortunately there's so many people in doorways, you walk by and don't think it's suspicious."

Once the window was out, the man and a partner headed to the back of the store with bolt cutters and stole a 2011 Specialized Roubaix Pro Size 56 Dura Ace bike worth $4700. "This bike stands out, they'll have to move it out of town," says Ontiveros.

Up at 21st Avenue Bikes on NW 21st, Kyle Von Hoetzendorff says a break-in last Wednesday night took about 45 minutes. The pair of thieves took a bunch of bikes accessories and two Specialized road bikes for a total haul costing the shop about $10,000. "It definitely wasn't a smash and grab, it looked like they kind of knew what bike they wanted," says Von Hoetzendorff.

Downtown shops Performance Bicycles, Rack Attack, Integrated Health, and the US Outdoor Store were the victims of similar thefts since November 1st—the thieves took knives and high-end bikes.

Two of the stolen bikes have turned up at Occupy Portland, according to a police statement. Rack Attack's Curtis Deegan says one of his two stolen bikes (a Fat Tire Farm constructed Specialized bike worth $2600) was spotted by an employee as he biked to work past the Occupy Camp on SW 4th and Madison. The second was spotted by a Portland police officer.

Overall, bike theft appears to have dropped in the city before these recent incidents. The police are offering a cash reward for info leading to a conviction in this case, so call 503-823-HELP (4357) if you've got a tip on the thefts. In the meantime, keep your eyes peeled for suspicious people hanging around outside bike shop windows at odd hours.

Helllllooooo charity! Local group PedalFresh is raising money for water filtration systems for a rural community in Thailand by pulling together a calendar of Bike Boys of Portland, featuring plenty of guys who are a tall glass of water. Philanthropy never looked so good.

• PEDALFRESH

Calendars start shipping November 18th! Get yours here or at the release party at Crank (2725 SE Ash) on November 17th November 16th from 7-9pm. [UPDATE: Day of the party changed to Wednesday, from Thursday!]

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There are plenty of reasons for people of all political stripes to support biking from a fiscal responsibility angle. Check out the results of a new study of biking in 11 Midwestern cities:

They found that if the Midwesterners ran half of their short-distance errands by bike rather than by car, 1,100 deaths would be avoided each year, and $7 billion would be saved in reduced health-care costs. The trips were 2.5 miles one way; less than a 25-minute bike ride, the researchers figure.

The benefits were based on a presumed reduction in air pollution particulates and ozone, which increase the risk of heart attack, strokes, and asthma. They also factored in the health benefits of increased exercise, and applied that to the 31 million people living in the Upper Midwest.

I believe now is the appropriate time for a Doug Merrit infographic we ran back in June:

Now that the forever rains have begun, we thought you could use this handy primer on winter biking essentials. YOU'RE WELCOME.

• Suzette Smith
• That marsupial joke was a bit much.

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As you may have heard, September was "Bike Commute Challenge" month across Portland, and once again the Mercury gleefully competed against a host of other like-minded companies... and lost, most notably because of the fat-assed laziness of Ezra Caraeff and Alison Hallett, who signed up and promptly didn't ride a single day. (Nice work, guys. My faith in your lack of ambition remains undisturbed.)

HOWEVER! It is with some pleasure to note that I once again won our inter-office bike challenge competition for the third year in a row. It is with even greater pleasure to note that our own Sarah Mirk incorrectly predicted I would lose—despite the fact that I had soundly defeated everyone in the office for the last two years. Here's what she predicted:

"My expectation is that Joe will bike the most of anyone in the office, followed by Noah and Steve and then Nami."—Sarah Mirk in an email addressed to the Mercury office, dated August 31, 11:49 am.

And here are the final results:

I would like to congratulate all of my competitors (except, of course, fat-ass Ezra and Alison, whose only talent seems to be ruining everything for everybody) and hope that Sarah has learned a valuable lesson that everyone else already seems to know: UNDERESTIMATE ME AT YOUR OWN FUCKING PERIL.

BOO-YAH!!

The City of Portland has a special permit process for art bike racks that has led to a lot of hilarious designs popping up recently. Here I've gathered together the 10 I think are the most surprising. There are dozens more around town, though, so feel free to disagree. Here we go!

1. WWJD? Ride a bicycle, of course, to the Lutheran church on NE 14th and Knott.

• Jim Waigand

2. This new whisk outside Saint Cupcake.

• Spoke

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Check out this map of the route and improvements (pdf), but the main change we'll see north of Burnside are green bike box painted at certain intersections and sharrows painted on the pavement along the route. South of Burnside, there's far more traffic (1,800-13,000 cars a day depending on the stretch) and therefore more serious changes to the road. Concrete diverters would block cars from turning onto 53rd Street from Burnside, for example, and the plan calls for the removal of 200 parking spots from 52nd Avenue between Division and Woodstock (there's currently 447 parking spots there and the city counts them as only 20 percent utilized) to make room for a bike lane.

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This week, City Council approved a $20,000 settlement to Portlander James Golleher, who broke his elbow after crashing his bike on a sewer cover (right) that had sunken below the street grade out on SE 78th and Henderson.

City Attorney David Landrum explains that these type of sewer caps settle down into the street surface over time. It had been decades since the city had repaved the outer Southeast street of the offending sewer cap, so it had sunk down several inches to become a dangerous pothole.

A study from OHSU last year found that poor roadways were responsible for 20 percent of crashes in Portland.

"We don't have a systematic street inspection program to look for potholes," says Landrum. Instead, the city relies on citizens calling in street problems. That's kind of sad, but if you see any kind of road problem, report it at 503-823-BUMP before someone else breaks an elbow.

You may or may not be aware that some jerk put tacks in the bike lanes on North Vancouver and North Williams a couple weeks ago, causing numerous commuters to get flat tires.

Well, one of my favorite Portlanders just emailed to say that he's offering a $500 reward for anyone who can provide information leading to the conviction of the at-tacker. This guy! Mark Allyn, who makes his own "artistic clothes" and wearable lighting, is offering up the five Benjamins.

• hey-o!

Anyone with information about the tacks is asked to call Allyn's lawyer, Ray Thomas, at (503) 228-5222.

Yesterday, the 34 teams unveiled their innovative designs, which ranged from wooden cargo bikes and doggie sidecars to straightforward gorgeous citybikes. Today, they were put to the test in a 50-mile bike ride that stretched from rural Buxton, Oregon, over some very steep hills, and down into Forest Park and Industrial NW Portland. It's arguable whether the ride is actually a good test of the best utility bike—if your commute climbs 2,000 feet and descends miles down a gravel trail, find a new commute—but it certainly tests whether the bikes will fall apart.

When Oregon Manifest first invited me to tag along for the ride, I said, "Hell no." I'm a bike commuter, but I never ride more than 10 to 15 miles a day and, besides, I have no penchant for athleticism. Plus, the company is intimidating—amazing bicycle artisans! With giant calves! Trying to keep up with those dudes on Skyline Drive? No way.

"There's a sag wagon," they said. "And free lunch!" Okay, I'm in.

Here's what happened.

7:30AM Halfway to the start point at PNCA, I realize I left my waterbottle at my house. I only have time to either run back and grab it, or stop for coffee. Coffee or water? Coffee or water? I stop for coffee. I did successfully pack honey, peanut butter, and an emergency Ibuprofen-NYTimes Magazine combination that I hope I don't have to bust out.

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This morning, 34 teams from around the country rolled their custom-built bikes into the main hall of Pacific Northwest College of Art (PNCA) for the official start of Oregon Manifest and... holy promised land of designer bike porn! The bikes are fabulous.

The last time Portland held the national bikes-as-transportation design competition, the results were mostly straight-forward (albeit gorgeous) city bikes. This year, the builders have really taken the innovation up a notch. Or, like, six notches. On what notch does "sidecar for dog named Raz" reside?

• Bike by Bellingham-based builder Donkelope

The big difference this year is the inclusion of student teams, including designers from University of Oregon, the Art Institute, and a team of sixth and seventh graders from a Newark charter school who teamed up with bike builder Folk Engineering. Their bike includes a wheel-powered USB cell phone charger, explains seventh grader Abdul Nafae Syed.

• 11-year-old Abdul intently explains the workings of his team's bike

"Once this spins, it creates kinetic energy," said the 11-year-old Syed, pointing to the generator that rubs along the back wheel's rim. "There's a switch so that you can either power the light every time you pedal, or plug in your cell phone."

"How did you get into bike building?" I asked the Smartest Kid in America^TM.

"I want to be an architect and it's basically architecture featured for practical use by humans. And it's eco-friendly," said Syed.

Watch out, world. Check out the bikes tonight at the Oregon Manifest opening night party from 7-10pm. Tomorrow, the builders have to ride the bikes on a secret 50-mile course. I'll be there, too, and if I don't die along the way, I'll blog the whole thing here so click back to Blogtown tomorrow. I may or may not die. I don't own bike shorts and I never ride more than, oh, 10 miles a day, so this'll be a bit absurd.

H'okay: Onto the dozens of photos of all the other beautiful bikes! We've got cargo bikes, longtails, a pizza bike, sweet racks, a sidecar for art students! They're all below the cut.

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Here's a quick public service announcement from the Portland Police about why it's actually more dangerous to bike on the sidewalk that to bike in the street.

Last night, a 22-year-old guy was biking on the sidewalk on the north side of Powell Blvd just near SE 50th Avenue. Meanwhile, a Portland Police officer was pulling his Chevy pick-up out of a parking lot on the northeast corner of 50th and Powell, aiming to turn west onto Powell. According to the police, the officer pulled forward to see oncoming traffic and, after believing the sidewalk was clear, pulled forward to enter the roadway. That's when the guy on the bike, who was traveling at 10-12 miles an hour (according to a witness) crashed into the side of the police truck and "suffered small abrasions."

The police determined that while the cyclist had a front light, he was responsible for the crash because he was biking at a "speed greater than an ordinary walk" when he approached the driveway. While it's legal in Portland to bike on the sidewalk everywhere except downtown, you have to bike at the speed of a pedestrian when crossing driveways or entering crosswalks. No citations were issued, but this means the cops don't have to pay for the cyclist's injuries.

Of course, the larger question is: Why was he biking on the sidewalk? Probably because SE 50th and Powell is a terrifying street to bike on. That's the clunky three-way intersection where Powell meets Foster and 50th Ave—there's four lanes of traffic on each side, no bike lane, and if you're not a rider who's super confident about saying your prayers and taking the lane, riding on the sidewalk seems to be the safer option. Fix that, please.

UPDATE 3:50PM— I just talked with the witness of this crash, who happens to be Joe Doebele, owner of local bike shop Joe Bike. Doebele was walking his dogs when he saw the crash and says while the cyclist was going faster than pedestrian speed, he thought the driver was "90 percent responsible" for the crash.

"If he had looked with relative care to the right and left, he would have seen the guy coming, he wasn't going that fast and he had lights," says Doebele. "The first thing I noticed is the driver immediately blamed the cyclist when he got out of the truck. 'I didn't see you, you were in my blind spot.' ... Then when a motorcycle cop showed up, the first thing out of the driver's mouth was, 'No damage to the rig!'"

Up in NW Portland is a factory that bike nerds internationally revere and basically no one else knows anything about. It's the Chris King Precision Components factory, where 92 people work creating top-of-the-line bike headsets, hubs, tools, and full bikes from parts that are all made in America.

No where is Portland's bike economy on classier display than during Oregon Manifest, a big deal national bike building competition that culminates this weekend in a series of parties and events downtown you should definitely check out if you're interested in bikes, design, beer, friendship, or a combination of these things.

During the last Oregon Manifest, I profiled three of Portland's over 30 custom bike builders, artisans who painstakingly hand build bikes for individuals, and this time around I wanted to learn about the other end of Portland's bike economy spectrum. I wanted to talk about the big bike business, versus the little guys in Portland who are scraping out a living one frame at a time. Chris King the largest bike business in Portland and its products are sold in 27 countries. Altogether, Portland does about $63 million in bike business every year and, hey, North Williams' bike businesses even made the NYTimes today.

Chris King spokesman Chris Distefano was happy to oblige. "I've grown tired of talking about bikes as an environmental issue, bikes as anti-car, but never bikes as business," he said, introducing me to the factory's soccer-ball-shaped cat, Pele, before pushing open the door to the manufacturing floor.

Look! A bike factory:

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