Austin’s fastest growing cycling site broadens to cover all aspects of Austin Bike Culture
You may notice some changes here at Austin Bike Blog, changes like we’re no longer called Austin Bike Blog. From this point forward, this site will have the new name Austin on Two Wheels to better reflect our new scope of promoting and covering all aspects of Austin’s cycling culture.
Why the name change?
This blog has changed a lot since our launch in August 2008. At the the time, we mainly talked about utility cycling, urban transportation planning, and whatever else interested us. Our writings really constituted a web diary of our musings so the name “blog” made sense. In the last two months, we’ve changed our focus covering Austin bike culture and advocacy events and becoming more of an informational resource for the cycling community.
What will change with Austin on Two Wheels
Austin on Two Wheels is our vision of covering all aspects of Austin’s cycling community. Currently, Austin has lots of sites that represent different segments of bike culture. Bicycle Austin is a transportation and advocacy site, ATXBS covers general urban bike culture, ATXFixed writes about fixed gear, Jack and Adam’s keep us up on triathlon, and Bike Noob and 331 Miles do the roadie scene. Plus I’m leaving out the pedicabbies and mountain bikers to only name a few. All of these sites are great, enrich our community and we support them, but no one is currently serving as a place where all these cycling cliques can interact, keep up with what’s going on, and share in the passion of all things with pedals on two wheels.
Enter Austin on Two Wheels. This is a place where roadie, knobby tire, tri-geek, fixie, BMXer, and bike commuter can all come for interesting article and resources. Quiet simply, if it occurs on two wheels in the Austin area, we want to cover it. We’ve already made a step in this direction with our comprehensive calendar of Austin cycling events.
Some of the new features coming to Austin on Two Wheels include:
- Full listing and profiles of all the bike shops in town
- How-to repair and maintenance guides
- Reviews of bike routes throughout the city
- Coverage of local rides and races
- Profiles of local riders, racers, and people in the bike industry
What won’t change at Austin on Two Wheels
Marcus and I will continue to cover the advocacy issues and transportation cycling that inspired us to create this blog. You can also count on us to keep writing informative reviews, hold fun contests, and write humorous pieces like Dumbest Product of the Week. You won’t lose anything that you loved about Austin Bike Blog. You’ll just get more other stuff we thing you’ll enjoy as well.
How you can be a part of Austin on Two Wheels
All of this is a large undertaking, and Marcus and I will not be able to do it alone. Just this coming week, there are over 60 cycling events happening in the Austin area. We can’t be in all places at all times.
We are giving our readers an opportunity to be heard by putting out the call for article submissions from anyone in the cycling community. If there is any event or aspect of Austin cycling we aren’t covering or you want to share, we welcome you to submit your story with pictures if you have them. There is no commitment; you can write one story or a dozen.
We are especially looking for articles about:
- Cycling as a family
- Women’s perspective on cycling
- Biking for transportation
- Accident reports or interactions with cars
- Race reports of local road, mountain, alleycat, BMX or triathlon races
- Reports from events and social rides
- Reports on your daily ride route
- Your experience on mountain bike trails or road rides
- How biking has changed your life or what makes you passionate about cycling
Got a story to share? Submissions may be edited for content and we can’t guarantee we will publish everything, but we want this to be a place where you can share your experiences with the rest of the cycling community. Let’s see what ya’ got!
Supporting Austin on Two Wheels
While we are asking you to help add to the coverage of this site, Marcus and I will still be working to ensure we cover the large and important events in the biking community as well as managing this site. To help us keep this project going, we are asking for sponsorships of our site. Starting at as little as $50/month, you can help sustain this resource for Austin cyclists while receiving recognition for your business or event with banner ads on our site.
We have resisted advertisements on our site until now, but we feel this new vision for the site is important in taking cycling in Austin to the next level and can’t be done without outside financial support.
Austin on Two Wheels will remain a news and information site and stand by journalistic ethics. If a business elects to be a sponsor, we will disclose that sponsorship of our site in any posting that mentions the business during its sponsorship. Businesses may submit products, services, or events for review by our site, but sponsorship will not effect the content of the review.
Click here for more info on sponsoring Austin on Two Wheels.
A new day for cycling in Austin
We believe Austin on Two Wheels is the next step in the evolution of Austin cycling. Having a news and information site that unites all aspects of our community will ensure bikes belong and continuing to have a growing, vibrant culture.
We’re happy to be along for this ride to help steer things in a positive direction. We hope to serve you well.
on Feb 5th, 2009 at 2:42 am
Ads, dollars, here it goes. Good luck y’all!
on Feb 6th, 2009 at 2:18 am
Does this imply that you will be writing rather more about motorcycles and rather less about recumbent bikes? Because of course, most motorcycles are two-wheeled, and most recumbent bikes are three or 4 wheeled. Or is it just a name change, without a corresponding editorial change?
on Feb 6th, 2009 at 8:03 am
While recumbents have probably not gotten their due on our site in the past, they are certainly part of our vision for covering Austin cycling. We certainly did not discriminate against three wheel cycles in our “What’s the biggest thing you’ve carried on your bike?” Contest.
As for motorcycles, I think if you re-read the post, it mentions covering “all things with pedals on two wheels.” Basically, we’re only covering vehicles that have the human body as their motor.
on Jan 7th, 2010 at 11:16 am
what is the asymmetrical design under the “A2W” on the logo supposed to represent? Looks like a Burger King hat to me. Wouldn’t a play on a bike frame or wheel and spokes or something bike related have been a better choice and instantly recognizable and understood without required explanation? Standing alone as a logo (on a sticker, perhaps) offers no indication to its representation.
on Jan 7th, 2010 at 11:24 am
brad,
It is a silhouette of part of the Austin skyline.
on Jan 7th, 2010 at 12:27 pm
I know I’m a bit late, but most recumbents still have two wheels. Certainly, there’s ‘bents with three or four wheels, but they’re relatively rare compared to the two wheel variety.
As for covering vehicles with the human body as their motor, this site has covered at least one electric bicycle, perhaps after that comment was made. Not that I have a problem with that — just pointing it out.
There’s a pretty big difference between an Xtracycle with an electric motor (especially one that still requires you to pedal all the time) and a moped where the rider may never pedal.