Is there a chainlink equivalent in San Francisco?

moving there shortly, in need of bike community.

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Permalink Reply by Kelly on October 4, 2011 at 12:12pm

Hey there!

 

So glad you love The Chainlink enough to want to "feel the love" elsewhere. I recently moved to Flagstaff, AZ and find myself in a similar situation. There's an amazing bike culture here as well as in San Fran. I found the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition's page and it seems very comparable to ATA. http://www.sfbike.org/ 

There's also a lot of Meetup groups that are in NoCal for cyclists. One I think that would help you adjust is http://www.meetup.com/sfurbantrail/.

 

Best of Luck with the move and your new community!

 

 

Permalink Reply by XV on October 4, 2011 at 12:30pm
Kelly, thanks for the info!
Permalink Reply by Megan S. on October 4, 2011 at 12:37pm

Hi XV! I just moved to sf a few months ago (and still find myself lurking on the chainlink). In terms of online presence and community-organized rides, the chainlink seems pretty unique. I haven't found anything like it out here yet. The meet-up group that Kelly suggested is good. I've gone on a bike party ride. It's like critical mass, only people tend to stop at red lights and it feels much more burning man/dub-step influenced than any ride I went on in Chicago. There are a few community rides listed, but I have yet to check them out.

 

I haven't done as much riding as I used to do in Chicago (working from home has made me kinda lazy) but if you'd like to go on a ride once you get out here, let me know!

Permalink Reply by Kevin C Dormant on October 4, 2011 at 12:44pm
Leah's out there. You might ask her to do it again.
Permalink Reply by XV on October 4, 2011 at 12:53pm

Megan, I can't quite picture a dub-step and burning-manesque ride but it sounds interesting.

I will definitely shoot you a message once I'm out there(November). Hopefully you're still lurking!


Megan S. said:

Hi XV! I just moved to sf a few months ago (and still find myself lurking on the chainlink). In terms of online presence and community-organized rides, the chainlink seems pretty unique. I haven't found anything like it out here yet. The meet-up group that Kelly suggested is good. I've gone on a bike party ride. It's like critical mass, only people tend to stop at red lights and it feels much more burning man/dub-step influenced than any ride I went on in Chicago. There are a few community rides listed, but I have yet to check them out.

 

I haven't done as much riding as I used to do in Chicago (working from home has made me kinda lazy) but if you'd like to go on a ride once you get out here, let me know!

Permalink Reply by Dubi Kaufmann on October 5, 2011 at 6:56am
Start it.
Permalink Reply by lauren sailor on October 10, 2011 at 11:45am

I've been in SF since the end of June, and I don't know of any Chainlinkian online communities. As in Chicago, there's an SF fixed gear forum, or for community IRL there are SFCMs and the Bike Parties that Megan mentioned. Also check out the Bike Kitchen, which may remind you of West Town Bikes. For food and drink, check out Zeitgeist and Mojo, and for just plain drink consider Bender's. A bartender at Bender's told me about a Wednesday night "butter lap" half-loop around the city, meeting at the Ferry Building and ending at the bar. 

 

I've been to Bike Party before, and it's my understanding that the group obeys traffic laws *on purpose*! Riders stay in a single lane on multi-lane streets, stop at red lights, and give up the right-of-way to other vehicles at 4-way stop signs. This results in major splintering of the group, but volunteers at every turn of the route point the way to the riders who follow. There are designated volunteer sweeps, and the riders stop at a few parks en-route to regroup, party, listen to live music, etc. 

 

According to the SFBC, 7 out of every 10 San Francisco residents ride a bike. I've discussed this with another former Chicago denizen, and I agree with her that the SF "bike community" is less cohesive than Chicago's because of this. In Chicago, if you ride a bike you're definitely in the minority. When you see another biker, there is often a feeling of camaraderie: this other cyclist understands your struggles on the hostile streets, so you automatically have something in common! This is not really the case in SF, and since almost everyone rides a bike, it's no big deal that you do too.

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