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Showing posts from April 29, 2012

Ridiculously Loud Bike Horn May Be Perfect for Causing Public Disturbances [Wired]

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Loud, expensive and difficult to ride.  Photo: Environmental Transport Association Anyone who rides a bicycle in any sort of urban environment knows the dangers of inattentive motorists. That tiny bell on your handlebars is great if you want to get the attention of a pedestrian or another bicyclist, but to grab the attention of that guy blasting Skrillex from his car, you may need something with a few more decibels. A few more decibels, yes, but probably not a system that’s so loud, it deafens everyone nearby and makes bike riding a chore. The Hornster  doesn’t just emit a few more decibels than the average bicycle bell — it explodes with 178 decibels. At 140db, even shorts bursts of noise can cause hearing damage. Louder than the Concorde superjet, this horn/bicycle combo isn’t only dangerous for anyone within earshot, it’s nearly worthless for real-world cycling. [keep reading at Wired]

Best e-bike ever? The IDEO/Rock Lobster Oregon Manifest entry [Bike Portland]

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What happens when you combine one of the most esteemed product design and "innovation consultant" firms in the world, a highly respected custom bike builder, and the latest battery technology and then tell them to build the ultimate utility bike? Introducing the Faraday, the  Oregon Manifest Constructor's Design Challenge  Entry from the San Francisco-based  IDEO  -  Rock Lobster  team... According to team member Adam Reineck (from IDEO) the idea behind the Faraday was to create an e-bike with as much integration of batteries as possible. They also wanted to make it powerful enough to not only give an extra boost, but to do so with a significant load as well. "It feels like you've always got a tailwind," remarked Reinick. An e-powered tailwind would sure come in handy in hilly San Francisco where this team is based. Electric motors power both the bike (via a front hub motor with internal routing of all cables of course) and some seriously br

Teva MTB Athlete: Paul Basagoitia First to Land MTB Double Backflip [Video]

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How to Fix Your Bike with Style :)

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The Bike. The Vaytanium. (Salsa Ti Vaya) [via ridingagainstthegrain]

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Hyperbole alert.  You’ve been warned. [see more at ridingagainstthegrain]

The Blink/Steady Bike Light

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Easy, Secure, Beautiful.  Machined from solid aluminum, the Blink/Steady bike light turns on automatically and shuts off when you’re not riding. There’s no need to remove it when you lock up because it’s secured by your seatpost. Our elegant, low-profile design is the bike light you’ve been waiting for – please help us make one for you! On and off – on its own.   The Blink / Steady bike light uses an accelerometer that knows when you’re moving, and a light sensor that knows when it’s dark enough to turn on. After you lock up your bike, it turns off after 30 seconds. No buttons, you’ll never have to think about your bike light again. Blinking or Steady.   No more clicking through blink patterns because Blink / Steady has two dead simple, but equally effective options. Blink / Steady operates in Blink Mode if installed one way; flip it over and it works in Steady Mode, holding a bright, but evenly distributed light. Using its accelerometer, it knows which way is down. Beaut

100 Copies

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100copies is the brainchild of Singapore Creative Director  Thomas Yang . An avid cyclist, he decided to combine two of his passions – bicycles and art – into 100copies. All of the products you see here are original designs created by him and are limited to, as the name suggests, 100 copies. Each piece of work will be watermarked, labeled with the title and edition number. As such, no two copies are ever completely identical.    If you would like to contact 100copies with suggestions, comments or anything else that might go through your mind, please drop us an  email .  Thank you for stopping by.  [100 copies]

Bike Curious: How to Ride on the Road [Momentum]

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Illustrator: Sam Bradd / sambradd.com By Benjamin van Loon Surveys show that about 60 percent of North Americans are curious about cycling, but are reluctant to take the next step. Our Bike Curious series is designed to teach you the basics, give you helpful tips and encourage you to share the message that biking is easy and fun! [finish reading at Momentum]

Pinchflat is tomorrow, May 5th! Affordable art, inspired by the bicycling culture of Columbus #letsride

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The organizers for the Pinchflat event. Left to right: Courtney Michard, Katie Dune, Bill Ferriot, Jessie Glover Boettcher, and Jeremy Slagle. Columbus, OHIO - May is Bike Month at Wild Goose Creative. For the full month, Wild Goose Creative will display posters by over 30 central Ohio artists who have been inspired by bicycles and the cycling culture of Columbus. These posters are meant to inspire bike riding, celebrate the art and craft of bikes, and invite thought about bikes as an important way to get around Columbus. Each limited-edition poster is $30, and is beautifully designed and printed especially for Pinchflat 2012. On Saturday, May 5, Wild Goose Creative will host the Pinchflat Bicycle Poster Blowout, which will be fun for the whole family. This event will feature two bike rides, live music, great food donated by local restaurants, vendors peddling their coffee and sweets, t-shirt printing, artist-designed coloring book pages, a printing workshop, a raffle for produ

Rail Bike Kit

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 have had some very fun excursions on  rail trails , disused railways turned into pedestrian/bike paths.  The trails typically go through very beautiful areas and rarely do you have to concern yourself with motorized traffic of any kind.  Reader Will appears to be interested in rails as well, but he wants to ride on them - literally.  Check it out - Will included the following text - A rail-bike is a bicycle that has been modified to be able to ride on the rails of a railroad. The front wheel has a device attached to it so that the bike won’t steer off the rail while an outrigger is used to support the bike using the other rail. I used conduit, cut up “razor” scooters parts, one bike fork two bits of steel and numerous nuts, bolts, washers and retaining pins.  Nothing is welded.  The hardest part is getting the spacing right so that friction and play are minimized. A lot of person hours certainly went in to this working model and the details are pretty amazing. [Keep re

H-Zontal Bike (english)

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The Next Big Thing: “Spoke and Wheels”

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What do you get when you combine the insight of TED Talks, the creativity of Pecha Kucha, and wrap it up in Bike Month? You get: The Next Big Thing: “Spoke and Wheels” Thursday, May 31st 6pm Columbus State Center for Teaching and Learning Innovation 339 Cleveland Avenue Have something to say about bicycling? Can you do it in five minutes with 20 slides lasting 15 seconds? Then submit a proposal to present your compelling message on the final night of bike month. Topics may include your unique take on bikes in history and culture, a vision for a bike-able community, a positive effect of cycling or just a darn good bike story. Some examples of topics s we have in the works are: "Can Bicycling Make You Smarter?;" "Bike Propaganda" and "The Fascinating History of the Bicycle." Submit a proposal:  Send a brief title and description of your presentation to  Rich James  (rjameso1@cscc.edu) by  May 15th  so we can plan the agenda. We may not be able

Bike vs. Bike - Separated Bike Lanes [Momentum]

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By Paul Krueger Protected / Separated bicycle lane on Dunsmuir Street, downtown Vancouver, Canada By Elly Blue & Lolly Walsh The question at hand: Separated bike lanes: do they improve our city riding experience or transform previously harmonious streets into splitting headaches? [Find out at Momentum Mag]

PDW: Come Ride With Us [video]

Cyclists Without Helmets Deserve to Die [Boston Magazine]

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Helmet, check.  (Photo by  Simply Bike  on Flickr.) Read about a bike wreck, especially a bloody one, and the first thing you want to know is whether the cyclist was wearing a helmet. Call it curiosity, call it a tool to reassure ourselves that the same thing won’t happen to us, but we should really call it what it is: victim blaming. Take the latest  study about helmet usage in Boston . According to the findings, which were published yesterday in the  Annals of Emergency Medicine , one in five users of bike sharing programs — like our  vastly popular Hubway  — don’t wear helmets! Add then there’s the commentary: “Head injury accounts for about a third of all bicycle injuries and about three-quarters of bicycle related deaths, so these are some pretty shocking numbers,” says lead author and emergency medicine physician Christopher Fischer, MD. Yes, doc, that  is  shocking. But what are we supposed to take away from this? Either 1) bicycling is so dangerous that we all ought

Tate Labs Barfly

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The Bar Fly has an incredible story: designed by Above Category's General Manager, Woody Tate, prototype machined by Woody's father-in-law, stress-testing blueprints for its production mold drawn up by a local boy-genius, exhaustively tested by the Above Category team and friends, and put into production with a United States manufacturer...it can't get more local, more American entrepreneurial spirit, than this! Here's Woody's story of how the Bar Fly Garmin Computer Mount came about: "Out of the box, using a stock mount, the Garmin 500 is mired with poor visibility, is unsafe, and leaves your bike with a tarnished aesthetic. After my first experience with the Garmin 500 I went to work designing The Bar Fly.   The Bar Fly’s first iteration was constructed out of a white plastic cutting board in my living room using simple tools. I consulted with my 76 year old Swiss father in law and we polished off a new design. Laboriously using a manual milling machine a

Brisbane Bitter commercial

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Burro PARTY BELT BEVERAGE TRANSPORTER

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Duuuuuuuuude! The PARTY BELT is the ultimate party companion. How many times have you rolled up to the spot with your personal stash of brews only to have them lifted out of the fridge by some freeloading scumbucket? Keep your little buddies safe, insulated and close at hand with this contraption of ours. Put it on one of our Webbing Belts  and where it around your waist or go all desperado and rock it bandolier-style, it's up to you homeboy! You can even combine it with a  Hip Bag  or another PARTY BELT for DOUBLE THE PARTY, BRO! [Burro]

Ford electric E-Bike Concept packs a Galaxy S II on the bars, motor in the wheel [Engadget]

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Ford already wowed us with the   Evos concept , but the slinkiest hybrid we've seen so far here in Frankfurt has not four wheels but two. It's a concept bicycle from Ford called -- wait for it -- the E-Bike Concept. It packs an electric motor built into the front wheel that can power it up to a maximum speed of 25 km/h, driven by a 9.2Ah battery. Or you can power it the conventional way by pedalling, torque conveyed to the rear wheel over a carbon belt. (Oily chains are   so   last century.) [Keep reading at Engadget]

Bicycle Pic of the Day

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True it is not a bicycle, but it is bicycle related! The boys over at Bike Jerks just made available these chuckle-tastic T's. When I first started riding I was made aware of Sheldon Brown almost instantly by the guy who was my bike guru. Since then I make frequent visits to his website for guidance and ideas. Prolly, being the new school and  unwarranted "bike expert". Leave it to Jeff Frane and company to keep it real and show respect to the real BIKE GURU!!

Pedal on Parliament

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Thousands pedalled on Holyrood! April 28th: Over 3,000 gathered at the Meadows for the biggest cycle protest ever seen in Scotland! Cyclists as far as the eye can see – just a ‘wee protest’ then?  Led out by Ian McNicoll and Mark Beaumont. (Credit: Photo ©  Richard Cross )  Pedal on Parliament took place on Saturday 28th April in a day that combined sombre moments with an air of celebration. After a minute’s silence, observed by the crowd of more than 2,500 strong according to Lothian and Borders Police, a mass ringing of bike bells, horns and cheers marked the start of the ride from the Meadows to Holyrood. The ride passed without incident, with the police closing a number of junctions temporarily to keep the ride together in a safe manner. The ride was notable for the large number of families and children among the throng, including kids on balance bikes, with stabilisers, in child seats, tagalongs and pedalling under their own steam. We think there may have been  a l

Bike helmets could save $41 per child in hospital costs [healthcarefinancenews.com]

COLUMBUS, OH – As a way to bring awareness to an inexpensive way to prevent injuries and death to children, the Ohio Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics (Ohio AAP) is sponsoring Bike Helmet Safety Awareness Week from May 7-11, 2012. The safety awareness week is part of the statewide public awareness campaign, Put a lid on it! Bike Helmet Safety Awareness, encouraging adults and children to wear helmets while riding bikes. According to Sarah Denny, assistant clinical professor of pediatrics at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, a $10 bike helmet saves a healthcare system $41 per child. “From 2002 to 2009 in Ohio, we looked at the total treatment charges for children ages 0-18 involving head injuries and bicycles. Emergency room visit charges alone were $14 million,” said Denny. “It was over $17 million for total hospitalization costs.” In 2010, the number of people injured by not wearing a bike helmet was 51,000, and apart from the automobile, bicycles a

Zyvex Technologies And ENVE Composites Introduce The World's First Nano-Enhanced Carbon Fiber Downhill Bike Rim [marketwatch.com]

COLUMBUS, Ohio, May 1, 2012 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- The world's first molecular nanotechnology company, Zyvex Technologies, and ENVE Composites announced an exclusive partnership to provide a bicycle rim specifically for downhill mountain biking that uses the latest advanced materials comprised of nano-enhanced carbon fiber. This new bicycle rim gives a significant competitive advantage to the downhill cycling market as proven during the last year in development and testing. The ENVE DH rim provides performance benefits to all downhill cyclists including those that compete at the highest levels of World Cup racing. ENVE used Zyvex Technologies' nano-enhanced carbon fiber technology called Arovex, which is a carbon nanotube and graphene engineered composite material that uses the proprietary Kentera technology to create chemical bonds on the carbon nanotubes. It provides an advantage in toughness without compromising strength. It also protects from fracture damage. ENVE