News

Big News! Now open at 11am on Sundays

Broadway will be expanding our regular hours starting this weekend!

Stop by Sundays – now at 11am!

Free coffee as always.

How are helmets made?

Helmets are no joke. In a crash – they cushion impact, preventing a great deal of personal injury when worn properly. They help reduce the risk inherent in riding a bicycle in an unpredictable environment. But really how do helmets get safety certified? I was forwarded this great article that covers a lot of ground in addressing the current state of …. the Bicycle Helmet.

“Senseless”  by Bruce Barcott from Bicycling.com

In Senseless, a lot of questions are brought up regarding the myriad options available to the consumer seeking to purchase a new helmet and what we are really getting with that price tag.

It’s so true. Someone comes into our shop looking to get a helmet. First thing I usually say is ” They all pass the same safety rating”. So what guides the consumer in their decision process and Really — Why aren’t there helmets that are designed above and beyond that baseline established by the government! Helmets are all different colors, styles, shapes and have variations in fit – but really they all do the same thing.

Here’s an interesting video explaining the basics of how helmets are constructed.

Helmet design and innovation focuses on performance during use – not safety. By being lighter weight, having increased ventilation and comfort in fit – helmets provide small advantages to the performance oriented cyclist while still passing the minimum safety ratings.  The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) was tasked by Congress with the development of a U.S. Government standard for bicycle helmets, and began to do so in 1994 with final draft approval in 1998. So all helmets sold in the United States after 1999 must meet this standard. The CPSC is not the only mandate in town.  The ASTM standard is still in active development. It is a voluntary standard and was never the law of the land in the US. It is self-certifying, so a manufacturer can put a sticker in their helmets stating that they meet the ASTM standard without independent certification. Otherwise the lab tests required are very similar. They primarily test for a catastrophic impact due to linear acceleration – which at the time meant a skull fracture or brain trauma resulting in serious disability if not death.

As the understanding of brain injury has developed over the past few decades – the damages from less severe impacts have been understood to have long and short term effects. Concussions are a result of rotational acceleration in the braincase with serious implications. Modern helmets are not designed to handle concussions – and it is debatable whether helmets are capable of mitigating rotational acceleration.

However there are engineers coming up with possible solutions. By 2008 one design, the MIPS (Multi-directional Impact ­Protection System) system was conceived. It contained a ­low-friction slip plate between the head and EPS (Expanded PolyStyrene) liner. On impact, the helmet rotates independent of the MIPS liner, absorbing some rotational acceleration. This is not the only design innovation addressing rotational acceleration in helmets. However the difficulty in implementing it in current helmet design is at an impasse because of the unchanging 1999 Safety Standards and a lack of consumer education and demand.

Change is slow – so far concussion-resistent designs are popping up in equestrian and snowboarding helmets with a few bike helmets on the market…

POC Trabec Race Helmet for $220

Scott Lin

We need to do so much better.

Redbones 17th Annual Bike Party

Ride by for the Party!
Monday, June 3
(rain date: June 10)

Time: 5 – 9 pm
drawing@ 7:30 pm

Place: 55 Chester St, Somerville (Davis Square)
in front of Redbones

Redbones knows how to party. Beer, BBQ and Bikes. What more could you want?

How about winning a new bike! This year Broadway Bicycle School will be donating a Civia Twin City  single speed bike to the raffle.

You could also learn to fix your bike with a free class at Broadway Bicycle School!

Other prizes include:

• ANT Bike will be generously donating the Grand Prize – a custom made cargo bike!
• 2 day passes to Highland Mountain Bike Park (includes bike rental, gear, lift pass and lesson)
• $400 gift certificate to Concinnity Cycle Works
• Gifts certificates to Wheelworks
• 4 $250 gift certificates to Ciclismo Classico
• 1 Mavic Wheel set from Back Bay Bikes
• 8 $25 gift cards for Landry’s
• 3 Apprentice Tool Kits from Pedro’s ($285 each)
• 3 Tulio Multi tool Quick Releases from Pedro’s ($50 each)
• 3 Chrome Trixie tools from Pedro’s ($35 each)

Proceeds from the Bike party and benefit will be graciously donated to NEMBA & MassBike. Awesome music will be provided by The Second Line Social Aid and Pleasure Society Brass Band .

Hope to see you there!

Civia Twin City made fabulous by Lovely Bicycle

A big shout out and thank you to Constance Winters – the writer/cyclist behind the fantastic blog “Lovely Bicycle” for her review of one of our bikes!

Here’s part of her review from  Bicycle.com :

Civia’s Twin City strikes a balance between good looks and high functionality.

“It’s an outright attractive bike, equipped with all the commuter basics, and is still affordable for many cyclists. …The Twin Cities impressed me as a well thought-through city bike. The stand-over of the twin “loop” frame was just the right height for hopping on and off. Thanks to the low bottom bracket and relaxed seat-tube angle, I could get full leg extension while pedaling and still put a toe down in traffic without dismounting—something many commuters find convenient.

The Twin City is available with several different drivetrain options. The model I tried was equipped with the new Shimano Nexus 5-speed internally geared hub. When choosing a hub instead of a derailleur, I find that with more than 5 speeds the bike starts to lose efficiency. So I am excited to see another option for this gearing enter the market (previously, only Sturmey Archer offered it). In the course of my test ride the Shimano Nexus performed excellently, with the same level of efficiency I’ve come to expect from a 5-speed hub. It provides an ideal range for a city bike, as far as I’m concerned, with the low-maintenance benefits of hub gearing.

All in all, the Twin City is a fine bike. I expect to see more of them pop up around town.”
–Constance Winters

We couldn’t agree more – the Civia Twin City step thru makes a great fit for the local city rider! If you like what you see and want to take it for a spin — come on by!

Boston Pride = Broadway Cookie Day!

This year Boston Pride Week is

May 31st- June 9th!

In conjunction with Boston Pride Week – every year Broadway Bicycle School celebrates the diversity and richness of our greater community by baking homemade cookies for everyone. We often have gluten free and vegan varieties as well as the humble chocolate chip.

In addition to a sweet treat,  a portion of any purchases you make will be donated to  NAGLY, the North Shore Alliance of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Youth. NAGLY is part of a statewide effort to assist our young people in being healthy and safe and to grow to their fullest potential. NAGLY can provide an escape from one’s daily life. It offers young people information, skills and community. It provides a new reality and images of a hopeful future.

Find out more events happening throughout the city on BostonPride.org

See you Saturday June 8th

Till the cookies crumble!

Raffle Winners and Post-pancake Pictures

Are you one of the lucky raffle winners?

Here’s a list of folks and their awesome prizes:

Thank you to all who participated in this mornings raffle!
All proceeds will help Bikes Not Bombs further their amazing work!

We are extremely grateful to MassBike, David Watson, and Kyle -  for setting up a remote repair stand in front of our shop to help with onsite mechanics while everyone was enjoying their pancakes!

We’d also like to thank the Harvest coop, Dwelltime and Izze sodas for their generous support that helped make this breakfast extra tasty!

As we digest our breakfasts and get on with being mechanics – here are some pictures from the morning event – one of our most successful pancake breakfasts yet!

1234►