Hundreds of motorcycles lined both sides of J Street in front of the Convention Center on Saturday while their owners attended the annual Sacramento stop of the Easyriders Bike Show Tour. Although the rain Sunday reduced the number of bikes parked on the streets, attendance at the two-day event was as good as or better than last year, said event manager Kari Roben. Inside the Convention Center, the main floor was full of exhibitors and vendors displaying custom motorcycles and related goods and services, including accessories, apparel and custom fabrication. Sacramento was the second stop on a five-city tour that started in Pomona on Jan. 9. “This is our second biggest show,” Roben said

 Below are images from photographer David Roberts, taken during his bike rides around Sacramento.                     Check back for more from his series of photographs

Thanksgiving normally brings family and friends together around the dinner table, but only a Sacramento Thanksgiving brings them together around the Capitol Mall roundabout, whooping and yelling on bicycles. Give thanks for the Appetite Enhancement Bike Ride. The annual underground bicycle parade attracted over 500 people to the California Stage early Thursday morning. R and 25th streets were littered with road bikes, penny-farthings, low-riders, vintage cruisers, every bike imaginable, plus a giant toaster mobile. DJ Larry Rodriguez' international beats and raffle ramblings rang out over the block. What started out as a casual ride with a dozen bikers 21 or 22 years ago — no one can rea

In a flurry of face paint, furry costumes and fixies, around 50 people raced through downtown Davis on bikes Saturday afternoon, a mad dash to the Death Star — a.k.a. the Social Sciences Building at UC Davis — to find a map that would lead them through the rest of the ride: the Day of the Dead-ly Davis Derby. The Halloween ride was the fifth installment of the Davis Deadly Derby, a DIY bike race that changes form with each occurrence. Usually it involves a scavenger hunt, once it involved music performances at each checkpoint, and always it ends in celebration and beer. The makeshift race was organized by members of the Davis Bike Collective, with donations benefitting their new location

I am still reeling from a theft of 2 bikes stolen at Onespeed last night.  My heart is in my throat as I write this account of horrible loss.  Some will say its just a few bikes but in my sphere of influence it brings great sorrow. 2  well loved commuter bikes  were stolen last night by 2 lost caucasian  teenage boys wearing black T shirts and short haircuts. They were short and thick around the ankles with heavy and slow shifty eyes which  earmarked them as up to no good. One said they were waiting for a ride and the other noted he had 4 bikes in the shop, one a Torker another a Cannondale  when they commented on my delivery bike outside of Onespeed Pizza. They waited what seemed a half

At about 9 a.m. Thursday, three-time Amgen Tour of California winner Levi Leipheimer announced via a "tweet" that he was going to defend his title in 2010. It was part of a high-profile Twitter conversation started by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger that went something like this: "@schwarzenegger: Great news for American cycling fans and CA. The 2010 Amgen Tour of California will be better than ever. @lancearmstrong will you join us? @lancearmstrong: Absolutely! @schwarzenegger, I've decided to ride the #Amgen Tour of California in 2010. Can't wait. What about you @levileipheimer? @levileipheimer: I'll definitely be racing the 2010 Amgen Tour of California, defending my title." Then at 4:30

Oktoberfest meets BikeCrawl Welcome to the 3rd "bicycle-themed" Grubcrawl. When: Thursday, October 15, promptly at 5:00 for the pre-party, we're off to the first spot at 6:00. Where: Bikes and Bites, 1013 12th street @ 12th & J, Downtown Sacramento. Starting off with the HOPPIEST Kick off party on the planet! HOPPY BREWING COMPANY has offered to help get thing hoppin’ before we even leave the starting line. HOPPY BREWING COMPANY will be bringing 4 of their nationally renowned brews for all the registered BikeCrawlers to sample. Not only that, HOPPY BREWING COMPANY has also offered to supply scrumptious snacks to compliment their excellent choices in brew. What a kick off! And all you

  Rollin' on the BikeCrawl II The 2nd "bicycle-themed" Grubcrawl is Wed. Aug. 26, promptly at 5:30 starting @ Bikes and Bites, 12th & J st, Downtown Sac..... Grubcrawlusa.com in partnership with Bikes & Bites presents the second of many Bikecrawls, rollin' spot to spot enjoying free appetizers and drink specials all night long! Soooo,....Bring your cycles, trikes, and appetites! Join us @ Brew It Up, Sofia's, Three Fires @ the downtown Marriott, Table 260,...and other Sacramento Hot Spots. See ya there! Rent-A-Bike or bring your own! Bring your tour cycle, beach cruizer, road or mountain bike, or tandem to the starting venue at 5:30 pm, with $25 and your appetite! Or for an additional

The viaduct that crosses I-5 from R Street to Front Street is largely completed. Though still not officially open, the lights are up and operating, and a new access to the Sacramento River is a reality.

The Tour de Sacramento kicked off today and will continue for three weeks of activities and ride-alongs around the Sacramento area. The event coincides with the Tour de France. The three-week event in Europe is a world-famous race, but tour organizer Dawn Dais says that the Tour de Sacramento has a different feel to it. "We don't really want to encourage a competition. Its going to be super laid back and fun." Dais has written a book called "The Noncyclist's Guide to the Century and Other Road Races," that details her training for a bicycle race and breaks down the process to encourage people of all backgrounds to participate in cycling. Today, a bike safety check and a Safe Cycling Cli

Jonathan Smalley, an employee at City Bicycle Works, said he has been stopped three times within the past five months for riding his fixed-gear bike without brakes, but has managed to evade a citation each time by playing the "ignorance card." Of the people in Sacramento who ride brakeless, knowing that it's illegal, Smalley suggests some do it as a "f--- the cops" gesture, while others do it because "they know what they are doing." Smalley said he rides without brakes because he, too, "knows what he is doing." "It's a purely cosmetic thing for me," he said. "I like the minimal look." Wayne Sigmund, service manager at Mikes Bikes, said that by subtracting brakes from fixed gears -- bike

The statistics are staggering. There are nearly 200,000 people currently living with HIV/AIDS in California. In the United States, 1.1 million people have HIV. Throughout the world, 33 million people live with the virus. These statistics, taken from a number of sources, including the Joint United Nations Program on AIDS and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention also say that the estimated cost of treatment for a person with HIV is $20,000 dollars per year. Funding -- for services and treatment for those who have HIV/AIDS, not to mention prevention for at-risk groups -- is much needed. A number of Sacramentans, including friends Danny Gutierrez and Douglas Vincent, will be doin

We have a position at SacPress called a "shucker" that is part of our marketing department. There seems to be lots of questions about what it is they do so I would like to answer a few questions. Does the biker ride their own bike? No we customize the bicycle and trailer. We work closely with Signs By Tomorrow building custom wraps and marketing panels for each specific bike.  Do they get paid to ride the bike? Yes, but riding is only part of the job. Shuckers also interact with the public while answering questions and introducing people to SacPress. They also communicate with our editorial staff and report breaking news. What kind of trailer is that? It is a B.O.B trailer  How many mi

 If you took a trip to, say, Phnom Penh, you would expect to be able to take a pedicab from your hotel to a restaurant and then afterwards around the city for a tour. The same would be true for most cities in Southeast Asia. But these days you might be surprised to do the same in Frankfurt or Delft … or even more recently in Boston or Sacramento. Pedicabs are being introduced in cities across Europe and America. The reasons are varied. Certainly they are a green alternative to cars or other forms of internal-combustion transport. There have been some technical innovations such as the electric assist that have made them more user-friendly. I like to think of their emergence in modern indus

Imagine, for a moment, our city without traffic: Families safe to walk through downtown, cross the street, take their time to look at historic buildings and storefront window displays. No cars in sight. Bikes, skaters, and runners in the middle of the street and people out to play and have a great time. This is how Sacramento could look thanks to a local bicycle advocacy group, Bikeramento, which wants to create a more bike-able Sacramento. They have already secured the first Sunday of every month for Sac Sunday Streets, an event which closes Capitol Avenue to traffic between 18th and 28th streets, to take place every month from May to September from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. The idea is this: ta

Eight professional mountain bike riders including world-renowned rider and course builder Randy Spangler, will be at College Cyclery this weekend selling their bikes and gear.  A nice thing about being a pro rider is that sponsors throw down big bucks to ensure that their riders have the best equipment.  This is your chance to find out what they ride, how they ride and get crazy deals on top-notch bikes and gear. College Cyclery has been around since 1936 making it the oldest shop in town.  Known as the kings-of-kustoms, this shop puts out some of the baddest looking bikes in town.  The public is also allowed to open "shop" temporarily at the "Customer Appreciation Sidewalk Sale" and sell

  A few days ago, while I was eating a gigantic hamburger at Nationwide Freezer Meats, I noticed a flier advertising for the second annual Sacramento Bike Games. This upcoming Saturday, March 28, was given as a date, but no location was revealed. My interest was piqued, so I checked the MySpace address listed on the flier, only to find the games’ location listed as "TBA." Viewers of the page were encouraged to check back regularly for information on where the games are to be held. However, other pertinent information was revealed. The games focus on fixed-gear bikes, with events like Bike Polo, Footdown (essentially chicken played on bikes), Jousting, and several other bike maneuvers. S

At a press conference held at the Public Safety Center on Freeport Boulevard, Sacramento Police confirmed that cyclist Lance Armstrong's bicycle, stolen on Sunday, February 15, has been returned by an anonymous citizen as of 10:30 this morning. The bike, which was identified by serial number, was described by the spokesman as being '"in good condition," despite being delivered with the wheels detached from the frame. Police do not believe that the bicycles were specifically targeted by thieves. A police spokesman said, "Our one concern was that the bike would be discarded," once the thieves realized the identity of the bike's owner. Police declined to comment on the identity of the citiz

This article will be about all kinds of things but, aside from the title, it won’t mention bicycles. Well, except for that first sentence where I had to write “bicycles” to establish the point. And again, just now, in sentence two – but the use of bicycles in that sentence was purely explanatory. Wait…damn. Hmmm…maybe the reason half the articles here are about bikes is that apparently it’s impossible to avoid writing about them, as I learned above. Why, I bet that we can’t even get through today, a perfectly average Saturday in Sacramento, without some further mention of bicycles. Anyway, on to non-bicycle related news. I was walking in midtown today, minding my own business, when a b

 It's always been a struggle for me when I bring my bike to Yosemite or any other national park.  Because of the difficulty of siting any kind of mountain bike trail, you're stuck on the paved roads with the Winnebagos and tour buses.  Frankly, that scares the snot out of me.  I wind up riding in places I shouldn't be, and that's bad too.  The International Mountain Bike Association has been working for years to improve off-pavement bicycle access in National Parks and many other places.  The Park Service has finally come up with a proposed new policy which will make it a little easier to site some trails in national parks.  There is one week left for you to get your comments in on the new