Bike Talk - A radio show dedicated to the idea that for public and planetary health we need to prioritize public transportation by bikes

Nick and Taylor ride Joe Borfo’s Tandem in Griffith Park

Latest Episode

26/11 Biking is Political

March 20, 2026

The cost of cars is skyrocketing.

Listener emails: a request for Kevin Grishkot’s bike poem, and Stephen Bingham on House and senate bills mandating side underride guards on new trucks (3:44).

Charlie’s News: a protected bike lane for Prospect Park in Brooklyn. The Magnus White Safe Streets Act would require auto-braking to detect cyclists in new cars. Caltrans rips up already inadequate bike lanes in Oakland. Parisian bike friendly Mayor Anne Hidalgo will leave office, and the Mayoral election will decide whether safe streets are rolled back in Paris (6:37).

NY Minute: NY Governor Hochul’s bill will lower driver insurance cost and payouts to crash victims to make it cheaper to drive. With Streetsblog NYC Editor Gersh Kuntzman (8:38).

How new ebike laws will affect civil cases that arise from crashes. With James Pocrass (10:28).

The Adventure Cycling Association restructures (17:00).

Parked Bikes of New York, a photographic Instagram account by Rui Pereira (32:25).

Bike Friendly Universities MSU and University of Louisville. With Tim Potter and Justin Mog (39:10).

Mayoral contender City Councilmember Nithya Raman’s Great News for Los Angeles: A Griffith Park bike lane (55:41).

bikefriendly, cars, ebikes
26/10 Ride Across America: Guns, Dogs, Trucks, and Nice People

March 13, 2026

Taylor joins hundreds of Los Angeles bike people in the pre-dawn Marathon Crash Ride last Sunday to preview the 26 mile route of the 2026 LA Marathon. With Joe Borfo and Joni Yung (0:20).

New Jersey’s anti-ebike law from New York and California points of view. With Justin Hu-Nguyen, Bike East Bay and Anne Savage, New York Bicycle Coalition (7:15).

A bill to require Automatic Emergency Braking in all U.S. cars, with Caron Whitaker, League of American Bicyclists. Check to see if your member has cosponsored the bill (16:05).

Charlie’s News: The Bicycle Film Festival is taking submissions. Trump’s attempt to end congestion pricing is deemed illegal. Volunteers survey sidewalks in Pittsburgh. In SF, Caltrain is placing heavy restrictions on which bikes can ride (21:13).

Resistance, Solidarity and Bicycles-bikes as protest in fascist Europe during World War Two and a vehicle of female empowerment. By Michela Grasso of the Urban Cycling institute (23:57)

Part 2 of Simon Parker’s Ride Across America: guns, dogs, trucks, and nice people (38:43).

aeb, biketour, ebikelash, groupride, protestride
26/09 New Jersey Versus Ebikes

March 6, 2026

Cars are in the way in LA.

The last Los Angeles Critical Mass was also a memorial for Regan Cole‑Graham and her newborn child Ophelia. With Damian Kevitt, Founder of Streets Are For Everyone (2:15).

Thoughts on oil, geopolitics, and how we can rebuild the world with renewable energy and bikes (7:20).

Charlie’s news: Maryland’s Stop Super Speeders bill passes in the House. California could face an eBike registration law. Roughly 3 in 4 young people in Wales support street redesign. Australia is taking advantage of deactivated rail lines to create cycling infrastructure. (9:32)

A New Jersey law requires license and registration for all ebikes. It’s a Catch-22 because there’s no way to register ebikes in New Jersey. It’ll result in more mopeds and motorcycles, which can actually be registered, say Andrew Wilson, Executive Director of Bike Hoboken, and Tyler Newcomb, President of Bike Jersey City (11:48).

The California Bicycle Coalition is co-sponsoring SB 1167 to clarify e-bike definitions and stop deceptive marketing of e-motos, to keep what happened in NJ from spreading. With Kendra Ramsey, Executive Director of Calbike (27:51).

The ramifications of riding an ebike that may not be legal, with Jim Pocrass (33:07).

A Ride Across America: Small Towns, Big Issues and One Epic Adventure with author Simon Parker, Part 1 (39:25).
26/08 Bikes Versus Superspeeders

February 27, 2026

Taylor and Nick’s bike origins as told to Justin Mog, host of Sustainability Now! on Forward Radio in Louisville, Kentucky (1:11).

Taylor joins Walk ’n Rollers to fix up bikes for kids (4:02).

Charlie’s News: The Bayview Black History Ride is happening February 28th in San Francisco. A proposed New York law would create something of a tax-free transportation costs account. New York City’s garbage problem stands in the way of vacuum snow removal. A new bike path in Australia next to a metro line will make the city even more accessible(7:27).

Leave a review, get your bike talk sticker (9:15).

NY State Senate Bill 2025-S4045A, the “Superspeeders” bill, requires the installation of intelligent speed assistance devices in the cars of drivers who are repeatedly caught speeding. Families for Safe Streets sponsors the Superspeeder laws, which have passed in 3 jurisdictions and are pending in 15 states. With Families for Safe Streets Founder and President Amy Cohen and FSS member Julie Nicholson, who leads the “Stop Superspeeders” campaign in California (10:13).

NYC Mayor Mamdani “Revives Bus and Bike Lanes Killed by Adams in ‘Backroom Deals’-” with Danny Pearlstein, Riders Alliance Policy and Communications Director (23:35)

The history of how car dependency was sold to America, by author of Fighting traffic, Street rivals, and Autonorama, professor Peter Norton. Part 2 (31:35).

cardependency, isa, mamdani
26/07 Holding The Line

February 20, 2026

Get your Bike Talk Sticker for a positive review.

Listener email: Desmond on winter Riding and specifically mittens that attach to your handlebars, called pogies (1:41).

The City of Los Angeles is set to give back over $100 million of previously won money for active transportation projects because it can’t build them in time, reports Founder of LA Streets For All Michael Schneider (3:22).

Can Police Stop You on a Bike for No Reason? Our Lawyer says no, but your goal is to get home alive (7:30).

Boston cyclists cleared a bike lane themselves after weeks of neglect from the city. With Tiffany Cogell, ED of the Boston Cyclists’ Union (13:18).

Charlie’s News: a road diet in Newton, MA has decreased car traffic and increased cycling use. PennDot is set to invest $17 million in safety improvement projects. Little Rock, AZ plans to finish a river trail and implement a road diet. Atlanta, GA will have another round of eBike rebates. Zohran Mamdani revives projects shut down by the Adams administration in NYC (17:29).

Part 1 of an interview with Peter Norton, author of Fighting traffic, Street rivals, and Autonorama: The Illusory Promise of High-Tech Driving (18:39).

Luke Hoffman, the executive director of the Iowa Bicycle Coalition, on House Study Bill 637, AKA the “bicycle ban bill,” that proposed restrictive regulations on biking in Iowa (48:47).

AVs, bikelash, funding, rights, winterbike
26/06 Solidarity

February 13, 2026

St. Paul, Minnesota rider and cartoonist Andy Singer drops in virtually to talk about the recent Alex Pretti memorial ride (1:09).

A spec Super Bowl ad for kids biking and walking to school by Tom Flood (5:12).

1,200 riders rode 42 stationary bikes for four days to generate power for the first energy-neutral Super Bowl broadcast, the Fox pre-game show (6:51).

Chicago’s Cycling Solidarity organizer Rick Rosales drops in to Taylor’s LA garage in real life. Rick talks with Taylor about Cycling Solidarity’s focus on mutual aid and vendor buyout rides to support the community targeted by ICE (7:38).

Taylor talks to Los Angeles City Controller Kenneth Mejia, who asks why the city spends so much on lawsuits instead of making streets safer (15:50).

Femmes and Friends ride organizer Alison Stewart on the 2nd annual femme friendly bike fair in Toronto (30:18).

Rob Kadota on training “captains” of tandems to ride with disabled or visually impaired “stokers” (40:05).

Charlie’s news: NJ eBike insurance could cost hundreds. The National Bike Summit is coming up in March. A new study claims traffic calming leads to better quality of life. Boston cyclists cleared a bike lane themselves after weeks of neglect from the city (48:00).

Northeast Los Angeles rider Michael Rucker on a good ride that got big (50:05).

alexpretty, disability, safestreets, socialride, superbowl
2605 Our Streets

February 6, 2026

Taylor and Nick agree that scarves are for everyone.

Parker S rode in the Minneapolis Alex Pretti memorial ride 1/31 and shares what it was like (6:52).

Listener Rick Bosacker writes that bike rides shouldn’t be polarizing, or political (2:54).

Streeetsblog NYC and LA editors Gersh Kuntzman and Joe Linton share their top priorities for bike advocacy in 2026 (10:55).

Charlie’s News: NYC deliverista settlement delivers $5 million in backpay. The minimum hourly rate for deliveristas reaches $21.44 in NYC. A NH proposed bill would require $50/year registration for all bikes. A UK study claims cargo bike deliveries are 1.61 times faster than vans (22:10).

Mayor Adams’ NYC DOT awarded a contract for citywide secure bike parking to a different company than Oonee, the company synonymous with secure bike parking in NYC. Shabazz Stuart, Oonee Founder & CEO, on proving it works and being left behind medium.com/oonee/proving-it-wo…behind-81d3ef16d8d2(24:45).

Karen Lankeshofer’s quest to tell the world about the pioneering female athlete Elsa Von Blumen, a professional bike racer in the 1880s (42:08 ).

advocacy, bikeparking, history, safestreets
26/04 Riding With ICE and Snow

January 30, 2026

Alex Pretti, murdered by ICE in Minneapolis, was a bike rider. Laura Groenjes Mitchell of Our Streets Minneapolis and Brett Macgraw of the West Metro Active Transportation Alliance share a multi-city memorial ride for Alex Pretti started by his local bike shop, the Angry Catfish. Also, a fundraiser for people trapped by ICE in Minneapolis (0:46).

A Die-in on the steps of Los Angeles’ City Hall to protest the 290 traffic deaths in LA last year. With Damian Kevitt, E.D. of Streets Are For Everyone (8:10).

Charlie’s News: A damaging e-bike bill is signed in New Jersey, and Hoboken’s successful pilot program that got drivers out of bike and bus lanes hasn’t been renewed, but at least the state is getting $14 million for bike and pedestrian projects. Columbia, South Carolina won’t be getting its bike share program back. Atlanta is poised for another round of e-bike rebates (17:31).

Jim Pocrass addresses Scofflaw Cyclist myths (12:20).

Our all-weather bike panel addresses the “no one bikes x months of the year” trope. Sarah Bisbee in Edmonton, Patty Wiens in Winnipeg, Patrick Murphy in Montreal, Nicholas Laporte in Vancouver, Victor Koves in Chicago, Jim Cadenhead in Boston, and Ignacio “Nacho” Delgadillo in Tempe- for the hot perspective (21:40).

Stacey’s Bike Thought (54:18).

bikelash, bikeshare, ebike, trafficviolence, winterbike
26/03 Occupied By Biking

January 23, 2026

Do we need e-shifters? Is Taylor a luddite? (0:19)

Listener Email: South Carolina’s Freeway for Bikes (2:43)

Blind riding in tandem, with Sonya Chapnick (3:44).

Charlie’s News: New York Governor Kathy Hochul proposes a “stop super speeders” pilot program. Check out the best new bike lanes of 2025. A New Jersey ebike lumping law threatens low-income riders and immigrants. Ontario government spent hundreds of thousands in the legal fight to rip up bike lanes in Toronto (14:33).

NY Governor Kathy Hochul plans to appease our car oppressors with cheap insurance and low coverage in NY, StreetsblogNYC editor Gersh Kuntzman says in this NY Minute (17:19).

On “Everything That Has Changed Since Congestion Pricing Started in New York,” with NY Times writer Emily Badger (19:43).

Los Angeles Bikerowave Co-op Head Mechanic Shane Quentin on the co-op model. Interviewed by Liana at Bike! Bike! in Mexico City (39:50).

co-ops, congestionpricing, disability, Speed, tandem
26/02 Hopes

January 16, 2026

Bike Mechanic Jim Cadenhead consults with Taylor about fixing a flat on his Surly. Problems: there’s a thru-axle and he thought it was tubeless (2:45).

Charlie’s News: Virginia plans toget rid of parking minimums in September. Zohran pleases some as he smooths a notorious bump at the end of Williamsburg Bridge, but leaves others dissatisfied with the continuation of cyclists receiving criminal summonses. Over 2,700 ebikes have been sold and subsidized in the Bay Area in the last 6 months. As mountain biking gains popularity, bike parks are becoming the status quo instead of traditional trail development (11:13).

The NYPD targeted cyclists in the Williamsburg Bridge bike lane near the “zohramp,” where Mamdani personally fixed a bump. Meanwhile, drivers ran red lights with impunity https://www.reddit.com/r/MicromobilityNYC/s/Wi4hDxk6eA (42:22).

Zohran Mamdani’s transportation and bike focus in his first week as NYC Mayor with Carl Mahaney, Director of Streetopia Upper West Side; Sophia Lebowitz, reporter with Streetsblog NYC; Miser, who runs the Micromobility NYC subreddit; and Shabazz Stuart, founder and CEO of Oonee bike storage (16:20).

Los Angeles is ‘throwing good money after bad’ trying to solve the traffic problem at its airport, LAX, says Jacob Wasserman https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2025-12-16/lax-airport-traffic-olympics (46:06).

bikelash, diy, lax, mamdani, micromobility