Even Greener Biking - A How-To Guide - Hexlox

Here at Hexlox green thinking is very much a reality. We spend a considerable amount of time and energy optimizing our processes and workflows to spend less energy and reducing unnecessary packaging and waste materials from our processes.

You can see evidence of that in our minimalistic packaging and shipping options and behind the scenes, we constantly are in dialogs with our manufacturing partners discussing ways to reduce waste and save energy.

Scrap single usage. Source better qualities. Minimize unsustainable packaging and processes. Reduce usage of harmful chemicals. Invest in cutting-edge equipment. Keep improving.

In this blog post, we wanted to give you some tips on how you, as a consumer, can further reduce your carbon footprint. Maybe you are already biking to work... Here are some more things you can do.

CREATE A BIKE-TO-WORK GROUP AT THE OFFICE

Getting a few colleagues together - biking to work - is a great way of leading by example. Maybe some live in your neighborhood and you could actually bike together for a portion of the ride? There are a number of ways to do this, here are a few resources...

How to Start a Bike to work program - Momentum Mag
Setting up a cycling group at work - Cycling UK
Get paid to bike to work - Fast Company

By the way, can you tell which city is shown in the image below? The first person to correctly identify this city gets an honorary call-out on our Instagram feed - so be sure to include your Instagram tag in your response email.

CREATE A GROUP-CHALLENGE ON STRAVA

Keep the motivation going with a friendly group challenge. Who will have the most rides in a month - or year? Set a goal for time, distance, elevation gain, or loss. The goal establishes a milestone for the group to reach in order to complete the challenge. The leaderboard ranks athletes by their overall activity.

Group Challenges are a way to find motivation and connection with your friends on Strava. Group Challenges allow you to set a goal and a timeframe to see who can reach the challenge goal and beyond. Within the Group Challenge experience, you can keep track of progress, see how other athletes are doing, and view a stream of photos from the challenge. Group Challenges are private and can only be viewed by athletes who are participating in the Group Challenge at that time.

USE GREEN PRODUCTS

A good example of this thinking is Muc-Off's Punk Powder that is the world's first plastic-free bike cleaning product. This is how Muc-Off themselves describes their product.

"It took our lab boffins over three years to create this high-tech powder cleaner wizardry. Why so long? Well, it’s really difficult to create something in a powdered form that offers phenomenal cleaning power, whilst also being plastic-free, readily biodegradable, and which contains as many plant-based ingredients as possible."

...and no - we do not earn any commission on any eventual sales of the Punk Powder. We simply like the concept so much and want to share the word.

EXTRA-CURRICULAR ACTIVITY - BUILD YOUR VERY OWN BAMBOO BIKE

Bamboo bike frames offer a strong, sustainable, and beautiful alternative to traditional metal or carbon fiber frames. In some cases, bamboo even outperforms traditional bike frame materials. Of course, there are also some drawbacks to consider. Here is a great article outlining the basics of building your own Bamboo bike

Most cyclists care deeply about the environment. For many of us, it’s the reason we ride a bike instead of drive a car or take the bus. One excellent feature of bamboo is that the material is completely natural, sustainable, and environmentally friendly. This makes it an excellent choice for cyclists who want to reduce their carbon footprint. One unique feature of bamboo is that it grows shockingly quickly. Some species can grow as much as 3 feet per day. As a result, bamboo plants can be harvested in just 1-5 years. For comparison, many trees need to grow for decades before they are ready to be harvested for their wood. After farmers harvest the bamboo, the plant regenerates from its own roots. It doesn’t need to be re-planted after every harvest. These features make bamboo a renewable and virtually unlimited resource.

Share Your Commute - Make The World A Better Place!

Help cities and communities all around the world plan for better bike infrastructure. Yes, you can easily do that by labeling all your commuter or non-leisure trips with the “Commute” label in Strava.

Strava Metro is an initiative from Strava to help cities and urban planners make cities better for anyone on foot or riding a bike. The Strava dataset is the largest collection of human-powered transport information in the world. Strava Metro aggregates, de-identifies, and contextualizes this dataset to help make cities better for anyone on foot or on a bike. Strava work with urban planners, city governments, and safe infrastructure advocates to understand mobility patterns, identify opportunities for investment, and evaluate the impact of infrastructure changes – all completely free of charge.