by John Zappa - bike advocate and chief rider Plastic litter on beachfront - Photo courtesy of Wikipedia commons Many people celebrated Earth Day last week, and it's essential to reflect on our impact on the planet and explore ways to minimize our carbon footprint. And this is not easy. Where I live in Chicago, the Alliance for Great Lakes just issued a report showing that over 86% of the litter on the beaches in the Great Lakes is composed of plastic, up from 80% since the last report. And in case you didn’t know, the floating garbage patch in the Pacific Ocean is estimated to contain 1.8 t ..read more

Divvy rider commuting to work on a fall day. Photo: ZappaWheels The Divvy bike sharing system in Chicago has been a phenomenal success supporting over 10 million rides since its launch in 2013. For those of us that have used Divvy the impact to our streets has been nothing sort of amazing. What you may not know however is the positive impact that Divvy has on the underserved and underemployed in our society. ​​ Divvy is a program of the Chicago Department of Transportation (CDOT), which owns the city’s bikes, stations and vehicles. CDOT’s vision is to ensure that Chicago conti ..read more

Pedaling in the pandemic. Studies show bike ridership is increasing. Over the past few months during the COVID-19 pandemic, I have read numerous articles about the surge in sales of bicycles within the US. With headlines such as What do Bikes and Toilet Paper Have in Common... or Thinking of Buying a Bike, Get Ready for a Very Long Wait, among others. All of it got me to thinking, why has biking become so popular?  It is a strange phenomenon when you consider the situation. Cars are suddenly not illegal to use. In the few times I have driven during this pandemic traffic is easier to nav ..read more

Ice on Lake Michigan in Belmont Harbor Writer's Update: It's been two years since I first wrote this article reviewing the heated gloves. I ended up buying the set. They continue to work great. Not sure why I waited so long to take the plunge. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- For 13 years, I've bike commuted through Chicago's winters. While some years are more challenging than others, one thing that remains is the need to keep my hands warm while biking on the coldest days. Over the years, I have devised various measures fo ..read more

by Paul Siebert Paul is an avid rider and guest contributor to ZappaWheels. Read more about his story.  Hello bike commuters, I wanted to inform you that I am now living in Lilongwe, Malawi and continuing my work with the Peace Corps. It is an exciting position and an exciting place to be in the world. I intend to write a series of posts about Lilongwe in regards to bicycle community and bike culture. My first article is meant to give you a sense of Lilongwe's layout and the bicycle community that has developed around it. Through this series, I hope to promote bicycle awareness in Lilongw ..read more

Photo by Clem Onojeghuo Improving the safety of bicycle commuting is a key concern for the team at ZappaWheels. In this posting, we take a look at LED technologies which are increasing the visibility of riders. The article is courtesy of freelance writer Jenny Holt, who is based in the UK.  Staying Safe when out on the Roads Safety while riding a bicycle is one of the concerns preventing more people from cycling. According to the survey of the European Commission, there are only 4% of UK respondents who cycle daily. This is one of the lowest percentages in the EU 28 although b ..read more

"Go" Campaign Project Manager, Maggie Melin shows off the Go Garfield Park shirt. Photo: ZappaWheels. Over the past four years, an experiment in changing transportation behavior within local neighborhoods has been playing out in Chicago. The purpose is to get people out of their cars and introduce them to new forms of transportation such as biking, walking and public transit. And ideally to make a small change in transportation behavior.  Dubbed the "Go" Campaigns, the effort has impacted five local Chicago communities over the past four summers including Pilsen, Br ..read more