A velomobile on the Seattle-to-Portland run. Tres chic. I am fascinated by these. They’re like the future… today!
There’s one in town a local gentleman made. I have pictures, but I’d like to get an interview.
I originally saw this in the “Biking with dogs” group on Flickr. I wish there was more activity on that group… (hint hint).
Casey and Duncan, originally uploaded by Watson House.
I’m very excited about the announcement of the next Oregon Manifest Constructor’s Challenge. I covered the 2009 Manifest for Bicycle Times. Modeled on the French Technical Trials of the 30s, the Manifest seeks to encourage innovation, and then test it with a road trial.
Here’s what the Manifest organizers have to say:
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I was inspired by this gallery of a French Jacques Schulz porteur bicycle, to copy its rack with some changes to its mounting points. I also connected the swoopy bit at the back, so you could hook a bungee and carry a jacket or sleeping pad. Or maybe a can of coffee.
I think the attachment scheme has some potential, but probably needs refinement. The bottom and seat collar mounting points are slotted, and the collar would mount with the bolt at the front or back, giving a wide range of angle adjustment to mount the rack flat.
This isn’t tinkering – this is engineering. I saw these pedals on Flickr a while ago, and was quite taken with them. For about £300 (a million American monies), you can possibly have a pair of these produced.
Geoff Apps, the designer, has this to say (or just click the picture and read it for real on Flickr):
A re-design of these swing pedals is now complete and the drawings are with the engineer machinist. The bearings are slightly bigger and have full shields on both sides; the bearing is almost flush to the crank, so Q-factor is reduced. Additionally the platform is wider (fore/aft).
No, I didn’t invent this type of pedal; for possible patent purposes I carried out some research, and the earliest version I can find dates from 1904.
However, this particular design is my own work and came out of my head.
The design has a number of advantages:
The name Haworth is in honour of the engineer who made the first prototype pair; he hand-made the pedal threads in stainless steel!
I thought it may be possible to market these, but haven’t found anyone who is vaguely interested in them ~ too unconventional, I suppose.
Will need buckets of dosh to get them into any form of production.
If you know a machinist, I could send you drawings and you could get some made up (mine cost about £300, was quoted up to £1,200).
In return you could make a small donation to my Prototype Fund!
My RBW list (and etsy) friend TapeBubba modified his Rivendell/MKS Grip King pedals to have more lateral support. Watch the video and see how he does it.
I think it’s a great hack. I’ve had that ‘roll off the side of the pedal’ feeling myself, and my feet are fairly narrow.
He removes the cage pieces from the pedal, makes a U out of aluminum strap to go around the body of the pedal. The bottom of the U makes an outside edge for the pedal, and the cage pieces are screwed back on, sandwiching the strap in place.
Cold Iron says: “A leaning trike with three wheels on the ground. Not possible with other cargo trikes. Stable like a three-wheeler (because it is), maneuverable like a two-wheeler. Very cool.”
Cool? Or super-cool? How do they do it??
Onya Cycles in San Francisco… says they’re ramping up production of these leanable trikes. And they appear to be affiliated with these geniuses who can turn a 3D structure into a set of flat, stitchable (able to be sewn together) panels for hot air ballons and the like. OtherLab. Holy Cow these guys are cool: HowToons.
The machine itself was fabbed (bike lingo for ‘made’) by Joel Hirschfeld at Hirschfeld Fabrications.
Well color me impressed.
redline junior and dog, originally uploaded by BikeTinker.
Bike is sold, and soon will have a new home with a new kid!
The kid has had this bike since he was five, and the seatpost is about six inches past the min insertion mark. There’s still about four inches in the frame, and he’s not racing it, so I’m not worried.
It’s a big jump from a 20″ (ISO 451) tire to a 700c, but that’s what we’re doing.
Pictures to follow. I’d do it now, but it’s dark and cold. Plus I forgot to buy headset spacers and mountain brake cables when I bought the shorty stem for the new bike.
quickbeam and dog, originally uploaded by BikeTinker.
I sometimes I vary our walking routine with a fast ride around the neighborhood. She’s running further, and going faster overall, so I think she’s getting back in shape after the sedentary summer. We actually get out more in winter.
I’m only holding the leash this way for the picture.
The leash-end is usually in my right hand, tight around the back of the stem, and held again in my left hand against the bars. There’s not enough slack for her to get ahead of the bike, it’s pretty stable against jerks and lunges, and I can reel it in a bit to make passing drivers more comfortable.
It’s hard to get a picture of the bike-leash-hands setup without an assistant.
Spear Bike, originally uploaded by richardmasoner.
Fantastic-o apocalyptic recumbent chopper machine. My favorite part might be the two in-line rear wheels. As seen in Richard Masoner’s SF Bike Expo 2010 flickr set.
Here’s how to mount two dynamo-driven E6 halogen lights to a Nitto M-12 mini front rack. This older-style M12 has two mounting points, but they’re on the same side – one is for an m5 bolt, the other an m6. The newest version of the M12 has two light mounts, and they’re lower.
Mounted in the normal way, the lights stick up above the edge of the rack. To keep using the rack to carry things, you have to mount the lights upside-down, BUT 
when the lenses are upside-down, they have a bad beam pattern.
So, you need to turn the lenses over, but you have to modify them a little to do it. There is a large ‘ear’ and a small ‘ear’ on the lens that fit into notches in the light body. Use side-cutters and a nail file to trim the larger ear down so it fits in the smaller notch.
You need two 3″ m5 bolts, and about 6″ of aluminum tubing. The tubing at ACE wasn’t all the same, so I used a long m5 bolt to check the fit. Use the snuggest tube that doesn’t bind.
The right mount goes together easily, and looks legit. Measure and cut a piece of tubing long enough to stand the light off the rack, but engages all the bolt threads in the eyelet. Line up all the holes and tighten it up!
The left mount looks… quaint. Use a stainless P-clamp, an m5 Nylock nut, and about 8″ of cotton bar tape. Remove the rubber from the Adel clip, and put about five wraps of tape on the rack rail. It is a sturdier mount than just the clamp with its rubber sleeve.
The left mount is sketchier than the right, but the second light is very nice at speed. I understand that an LED light like the Cyo or Edelux puts out more light than both of these together, so if you’re setting up one of those, just use one bolt and spacer and keep it clean. I plan to replace these two with a single Cyo LED light in the future.
I hate cluttery cables, which is why I like multi-speed fixed gears.
Trim the wires to length, and tie them down. I used a plastic cable tie at the top, and copper wire on the fork leg. If you think you’ll ever want to mount your lights on the bar, or sell them to someone with a bigger bike… do something else.
From one of my Flickr and RBW group friends. I like his gear spread for a go-anywhere fixed gear bike. He’s using the Surly Dingle double-fixed cog and some larger rings than the stock Rivendell setup.
Rings: 39/45
Cog 1: 17/21 Surly Dingle cog
Cog 2: 23
Gears: 46, 50, 58, 62, 71.5
I’ve migrated toward larger rings on road cranks, too, but I like his 23t flip cog better than a 15t cog. That’s a beautiful spread. He can drop from 72″ to 50″ without taking the wheel out of the dropouts. Flipping the wheel, his biggest and smallest gears have the exact same axle position.
| 39 |
rings | 45 |
|
|---|---|---|---|
| 17 |
61.9″ |
71.5″ | |
| cogs | |||
| 21 |
50.1″ | 57.9″ | |
| 23 |
45.8″ | 52.8″ |
Running the numbers, we can see that he must be using 32mm tires. And, uh, plus we can see them. 38 or 40mm tires will give slightly taller gears.
That is insane.
It’s like a Yeti. Not the bicycle one, the Abominable one.
CreamsicleThis bike has haunted me, ever since OHBS.
The English Cycles bikes were beautiful, different, super-light and had extremely interesting engineering details.
A belt-driven singlespeed 29er, with internal hydraulic line routing, full-height seatmast, and integrated bar and stem that attach to the fork with a topcap under the fork crown. I saw several belt drives at the show; they’re starting to grow on me.
The seat stays look like bird bones. Rob English assured me they were plenty strong enough, but they’re the lightest-looking I’ve ever seen. The thin wishbone is an English trademark – his 10.5 lb roadbike is even more spare. I like wishbone seatstays – it’s the Bontrager fan in me.
The seat mast is dead sexy. The other ones I’ve seen (Gordon, Speedvagen, Tsunehiro) use top caps, I think. Rob English’s design uses an internal wedge seatpost, similar to a quill stem. He says you need to remove the seat to adjust saddle height, “but how often do you change your saddle height anyway?” Mm. Depends. Maybe I’d drill a 9/16″ hole in the seat for access.
The “one-piece” (two, I guess) bar/stem and fork setup was impressive. I love the fork style, and I’m a big fan of integrated stem-and-bar combos. Kind of like a seatmast, they preclude adjustment, but if you know your size and your setup they look really slick, and can save some weight. This 29er is 18.5 lbs.
The headset top cap is actually under the fork crown, and it’s the stem that has the steerer tube (if I have that correct). The fork has two bolts on the back to clamp it on.
I keep fantasizing about what an English Cycles snow bike would look like, and how light it would be. Perhaps a Schlumpf two-speed carbon Gates belt drive… *sigh* The breakthrough thought I had was that with the massive air cushion of a 4″ tire, you could build a very delicate machine on roadbike lines, instead of the overbuilt machines that snowbikes tend to be.
It was frosty cold this morning, and the backs and tips of my fingers and thumbs hurt like crazy on the bike.
Really painful, and my right thumb still feels burnt. So I’m going to make some reverse-o bike gloves with just the fingers and thumb. An elastic strip will connect the thumb and pinkie together, and each finger-end will have a short section of elastic connecting to the next one.
Yes, this is kind of a joke, but it’s a lot like short sleeve jerseys and arm warmers, right? Fingerless bike gloves… and finger warmers! Shorts and knee warmers. Those weird sock-shoes with the toes built in…
