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Each year Bicycle Retailer and Industry News, an industry magazine, identifies the “Top 100″ bike shops in the nation. What’s the criteria? Well, unfortiunately it has less to do with “buddy deals” and  brews in the fridge.

BRAIN’s three main criteria are “market share, community outreach and store appearance.”

So. What are your criteria for the best bike shop in the nation? Personally, I like dingy little mom & pops with dudes who’ll tell you where the secret singletrack is — once you’ve given them the secret handshake, of course. (Buy something. Don’t ask stupid questions.)

I’ve been known to make a lot of wisecracks about “clownbikes,” and the ineffable human compulsion to try to reinvent the wheels, over and over again — when there is no way, frankly, to improve upon the design of the simple safety bicycle, circa 1885.

But one type of clownbike is beyond reproach, and that is the adaptive bicycles of Hal Honeyman. Honeyman is a legend in making and adapting bicycles to allow people with all sorts of physical challenges be able to ride. In this awesome profile, you can learn about some of the estimated 3,000 children and adults for whom he has provided bike mobility — folks who otherwise would be limited pretty much the their wheelchairs.

Honeyman’s Creative Mobility operation has made everything from hand-cranked recumbants to roadbikes for racers with prosthetic arms. Always with a heavy emphasis on children.

“He opens up a whole new world for kids who’ve never biked before and gives them joy and a real sense of pride,” says Ellie Cummings, a spokeswoman for Easter Seals.

A big Dirt Rag cheer for Hal Honeyman.

Photo: FreedomConcepts.com 

Apropos of the news from Cuba today, I recalled an article last year that explained how that communist country adapted to the collapse of the Soviet Union and its subsidies for oil: It dramatically shifted to become a bike-centric culture.

I’m no fan of dictatorships of any kind, but if I could have one wish — other than all-encompassing power over every living being in the universe, of course — it would be for turtlebacks to be installed along every bike lane in the nation.

Photo (cc) by http://flickr.com/photos/rosino/

Ever wondered about “Bicycle” playing cards? They’ve been made by the U.S. Playing Card Company in Ohio since 1885, and they’re the world’s bestselling decks by a long shot.

You can read all about the history — including some very interesting WWII and Vietnam War cloak and dagger stuff — at USPC’s website here.

For whatever reason, bikes have always played a central role with these cards.

The Joker – an American invention dating from about 1865 – has made different appearances in the “Bicycle” line. The first type represented a man on a high-wheeled bike. [In other words, a Penny Farthing.–Pinchie] The bicycle later acquired two wheels of normal size. [Uh… in other words, a safety bike. — Pinchie] Then followed a series of playing card kings on bikes. These cyclists wheel past a milestone marked “808.” Contrary to some opinions, this number has no mystical meaning. It is merely a reference number distinguishing this brand from others (such as “606″) by the same company.

After the commercial break, we’ll give you the inside scoop on how the “bicycle kick” in soccer got its name!

A Scottish man has set a new world record for cycling around the planet. Mark Beaumont left Paris and returned in 195 days and 6 hours.

In spite of crossing through such lawless lands as Pakistan and Thailand on his 18,000 mile trek, it was the US that almost killed him: Beaumont was mugged in Louisiana, and hit by a car driven by a Florida bluehair.

In Austin, Texas, Lance Armstrong is getting ready to cut the ribbons on his very own bike shop, cafe, and “commuter center.”

For a long time, I thought “CyclePaths” and “Behind Bars” were the best names for a bike shop, but Lance has come up with a pretty good one: Mellow Johnny’s (an Americanization of “maillot jaune,” get it?)

Photo (cc) by http://flickr.com/photos/zesmerelda/