Bicycle Design

A carbon commuter concept and assorted links

2009-11-05T20:10:00.003-05:00

I found Fredrik Rudenstam’s Nishiki urban commute concept bike while browsing though Coroflot portfolios this week. Rudenstam designed the carbon fiber commuter as part of his Master thesis project at the Jönköpings University in Sweden. The rendering doesn’t show any provision for cargo, but it is a good looking bike and the integrated LEDs are a nice touch. Fenders don’t seem to be an option either, which would be a dealbreaker for many commuters. I personally commute on a lightweight road bike with no fenders, so a bike like this would work for me if it had a small integrated rear rack for a light trunk pack.

ROBRADY design was recently awarded a Gold Spark award for the design of their db0 electric folding bike. You can read more about the bike and the award here and here.

Treehugger posted about the PUYL Tire Pump, which features an integrated LED light. The battery for the light recharges as the pump is used. Great design…but unfortunately only a prototype at this time.

Ecouterre posted about LFLECT, a line of reflective knit accessories that look like regular clothing by day but illuminate at night.

Cyclelicious points us to Cargo Bike Gallery, a great place to see various cargo bike deigns.

Finally I will mention LimitedHype’s visit to Trek’s headquarters. I linked to some of their pictures in an earlier post, but I don’t think I ever mentioned their post, which includes additional shots of the design department. It really is a great creative space.

Jruiter + Studio’s City Simplicity bike

2009-11-04T12:34:00.009-05:00

Last week, Joey from the design firm jruiter + studio sent me this concept bike that they recently developed to “simplify inner city personal transportation”. The stripped down 29” wheeled concept bike has very few parts overall. Joey explains:

“Our project, simplicity in inner city bicycling, was at first glance a fun aesthetic opportunity in new trends, color, and materials. Our target lived / worked in an inner city environment with minimal space. Bicycling at this level is more about fashion and culture than speed and performance.

After the first few brainstorm sessions we knew there where bigger opportunities. The project ended up rethinking what a “frame” meant, getting ride of basic key components, and creating a new type of compact bicycling.

The final design came down to a frame system and a really difficult rear hub. Everything else is rider preference.”

My first impression of this design was that it looked like an updated version of something out of Archibald Sharp’s 1896 book, “Bicycles and Tricycles”. The idea of adding cranks and pedals to a boneshaker, hobbyhorse, velocipede, or whatever you want to call it is certainly nothing new, but I think it is interesting to see a modern take on it.

In his email, Joey acknowledged that this design isn’t for everyone:

“Before all of the bike fanatics get all fired up, we know this bike doesn’t solve everyone’s personal transportation dreams. Performance wise, the bike is on the slow side, quirky, and fatiguing over longer distances. Consider it a cafe racer with the performance of a beach cruiser. The positives are easy quick turns, huge power to the rear wheel to go over curbs and other cityscape structures, and great start / stopping / sitting situations. “

One thing is for sure; this bike has been spreading around the design blogosphere the last couple of days. Read more about it here, here, and here, just to name a few places.

Background on the Batavus BuB

2009-10-30T20:19:00.006-04:00

I recently mentioned that the Batavus BuB was one of the new city/urban bikes that really caught my attention at Interbike. Soon, I will get a chance to try out a prototype BuB for a couple of weeks… in fact I will be picking the bike up at Renaissance Bicycles this Sunday (speaking of Renaissance, they have several additional pics of the BuB prototypes posted here). I will share my impressions of the bike after I have the chance to live with it a bit, but today I want to post a background story about the design from Eric Kamphof of Fourth Floor Distribution. Eric didn’t write this specifically for the blog, so it may be a bit longer than the average post. Still, I think it provides some great insight into the idea behind this design, so I want to share his story with you in its entirety:

“It may seem difficult to believe, but Dutch bicycle companies like Batavus have recently had a very difficult time penetrating the Dutch urban bicycle market. Companies like Batavus build high quality bikes that tend to last a long time, creating a strong used bike market in urban centers. What is truly impressive is that these bikes last a long time while receiving a massive amount of abuse. The average Amsterdammer leaves their bike outside year round, rarely tunes it, and rides it nearly 3000 miles a year. The average age of a bike in Amsterdam is nearly 35 years old.

The Dutch hardly romanticize their bikes like we do. They are born onto bikes and treat them like tools. They regard their bikes the same way they regard their washing machines. The urban demographic may be tough to reach because of their preference for used bikes, but an even tougher demographic to reach is the 18-35 age group. After riding in the rain from the age of four, many youngsters want nothing more than a car. Perhaps it’s strange, but as Americans fall in love with bikes again, the Dutch are falling in love with cars. To lure urbanites, and especially young urbanites back onto bikes, a new approach was needed. Enter the Batavus Utility Bike - BuB.

As a wholesaler of European city bikes, we knew the only way to get people riding bikes again is to sell the romance of cycling. We call this the 'lifestyle' approach. Everyone knows bikes are better than cars, but nonetheless, this knowledge does not create new cyclists. Consider the Velib system in Paris. The Velib system gave Parisians an iconic bike that provided solutions to a range of problems, and it was cute to boot. Velib is romantic, it fills Parisians with Parisian pride - it's motivational. The Dutch need to be motivated back onto city bikes, and that required a fresh approach.

The typical classic Dutch bike, affectionately called the omafiets (grandma bike) is one of the most memorable icons of Holland. Every bicycle manufacturer in Holland still makes an omafiets, and while the Dutch bike has certainly evolved far beyond the omafiets the omafiets has still been the enduring answer for urban markets. But, it has problems. When Batavus first released the Personal Bike they had an instant hit in urban markets. It had a different seating position than the omafiets, it could stabilize weight better (like children and groceries) – and it was versatile. The seating position of an omafiets is almost excessively upright. The Personal Bike relaxed the position without stretching the rider into a sportive position (which every North American bike company still insists on doing). It also introduced the concept of high pressure 26” tires to the market, allowing the bike to roll exceptionally well despite potholes and bumps. However, like the omafiets, the Personal Bike was a little on the heavy side. While neither bike rides heavy, anyone who wanted to bring their bike inside their apartment (a reality as Amsterdam builds higher) didn't enjoy lifting it. The Personal Bike was a bold invention, but it missed the mark in terms of reaching the widest possible demographic. What was needed was a lighter, more ergonomic bike with the same broad appeal as the classic omafiets.

Based on the same geometry as the popular Personal Bike, the BuB features a much lighter aluminum frame. It’s a very evolved city bike, but not a commuter bike either. The average city cyclist in Holland travels no more than 7km (~4.5 miles) in a single trip. In fact, the average cyclists in Manhattan or Amsterdam spend 80 - 90% of their time within a 10km (~6.25 miles) radius of home. The BuB, like the omafiets, was designed to multi-task this entire 'lifestyle radius.' Conversely, a commuter bike mimics the same patterns of North American car traffic. It takes one from the suburbs to the center, and back. Batavus makes bikes for those people too, but the BuB ain’t it.

Perhaps the greatest obstacle to creating an evolved omafiets was the iconic nature of the omafiets. Like wooden shoes or windmills, the classic omafiets is one of the most visible icons of Holland. To create a lighter version with a better seating position may have been necessary, but the real challenge was creating something as memorable. Like the Velib, Batavus needed to create an instant icon that would romance the Dutch (and others!) back to cycling. As one of the oldest companies in Holland Batavus certainly played a role in the development of the omafiets as we know it today. And Batavus also designed and implemented the entire Paris Velib system. They were also the first develop the Personal Bike design, which has been copied by numerous competitors. In Holland - which typically has a very conservative and insular bike industry - Batavus is that one company that thinks outside the dijk, so to speak.

The BuB was a difficult process to implement. Most companies order their bikes directly out of the large "Taiwan Bicycle Catalog" and slap their decal on it. Not Batavus. The BuB was designed from the ground up by Batavus, and the bent 'paperclip' design was painstaking in its implementation, requiring an entirely new tube bending technology. While the omafiets may be very 'Amsterdam', the BuB is very 'Rotterdam'. Rotterdam, which was completely bombed out during WWII, rebuilt its entire city center from the ground up with an architectural style that was fundamentally practical, yet playful. The BuB, in other words, is just as Dutch as the omafiets bike. It reflects modern Dutch design, and does so very well. It's austere, like Danish design but without being cold and aloof.

Planned obsolescence is hardly a Dutch trait. In fact, paranoia may be a more consistent Dutch trait. This, no doubt, has to do with living below sea level. If the Dutch built their products - including their dijks - poorly, they would be underwater. Yet, despite this extremely prescient practicality, the Dutch are also famous for building in delightful quirks into their products. This, no doubt, fulfills their idea of the gezellig life - a word that has to do with delightful sociability, the right atmosphere, and certain 'coziness'. So, the BuB isn't just practical, it’s a little bit fun. For instance, it has a 'mood indicator', which is hardly practical - but perhaps maybe keeping track of your mood is a gezellig idea? Imagine if a car had a mood indicator...how happy would you be?

The final challenge with the BuB, of course, was price. The average Dutch citizen is used to paying an average of 700 Euros for a city bike. That's nearly $1100 USD. The perception of a bicycle in Holland is quite different than North America. But then, the Dutch are well aware that their bike is used far more than their car, yet costs a fraction of their car. So they invest. This perception will take years to work itself into the North American consciousness, as people essentially learn what their riding habits are. Unlike the rest of the Batavus line, the BuB will not be made in Holland, but it will be made to the Dutch standards of quality. It's a simple, yet sophisticated bike. With a three speed coaster brake hub the focus is on a robust, rust free frame and parts that keeps the rider upright, safe, and comfortable. The BuB is not for everyone, but for anyone in a dense urban center that needs a simple bike that multi-tasks their entire lifestyle radius, the BuB is exactly what they're after.

As you can see, the BuB wasn't just some clever idea dreamed up in a vacuum. It is intensely tied to the axioms of Dutch product design, and at the same time, aligns itself with recent advancements in bike culture around the world. As city bikes increasingly woo’d North Americans, the BuB offers practicality and a long history of experience building and designing the world's best city bikes. For anyone who just wants comfort, low maintenance, complete clothing protection and, well, something pretty - the BuB hits the nail on the head!”

Photo credit: Renaissance Bicycles

Beyond Bicycles

2009-10-28T21:46:00.002-04:00

In May of 2010, Oakland, California’s Rock Paper Scissors Collective will be hosting Beyond Bicycles, a celebration of the art, science, and politics of harnessing human power. From now until March 15th, they will be accepting entries for the exhibition. They are looking for “human-powered machines, bicycle-based inventions, and interactive kinetic sculpture” from artists, designers, and creative people. If you have a concept that you wish to share, send it here. Questions can be directed to Mark at this address.

Here is more information about the exhibition from Rock Paper scissors:

"BEYOND BICYCLES will be an exhibition documenting the many ingenious uses of human power past and present. The Gallery space at Rock Paper Scissors Collective is limited so large works will only be displayed during opening night. Our month long exhibition will consist of a collection large color photographs of works, accompanied by a printed zine. There will also be a web zine which will be more extensive than the printed version."

I have a few unrelated links to pass along while I am at it:

The Core77 blog posted a bicycle carrying case design not long ago. The interesting thing about this design is that is can accommodate a frame with an integrated carbon seat mast.

Cojoy is a side-by-side tandem design that was apparently inspired by “a dual paddle boat and a wheelchair.”

Designboom posted about beer-cycle by Raphael Betillon. Basically, he recycles old steel forks into bottle openers.

Finally, I will mention this Lexus carbon fiber, 2 wheel drive electric assist “racing bike” that was spotted at the Tokyo motor show. My first thought, which I posted on Twitter,
was…where does one race an electric bike? Ross, who originally sent me the link, pointed out that “in Portland there runs a free-for-all race that includes a factory team from Ecospeed.” I would love to see some pictures from that race if anyone can point me toward a few.

A student-designed velomobile

2009-10-23T20:58:00.008-04:00

As you know, I like to share student designs from time to time. Joseph Campbell is a recent design graduate whose senior thesis project “dealt with bicycles and how they do not fit into Americas current grid”. As someone who has cycled for transportation for many years, I don’t completely agree with that statement, but I do see his point. There is much more that can be done both with infrastructure and with various types of pedal powered vehicle designs that can open human powered transportation options up to a larger segment of the population. I won’t discuss the inadequacies of our current transportation system in this post. Instead, I will share Joseph’s thoughts about the velomobile that he designed in his own words:

"As a frequent bicycle rider I quickly realized that bicycles don't work well with other vehicles. The problem that I found was that bicycles do not fit into Americas current transport grid. The roads were built for cars, trucks and buses but not bicycles. We try to fix this by adding bike lanes but in reality I feel this is only putting a bandage on the grid (unless they are separated lanes). This is where the concept of redesigning a velomobile came from. Currently most velomobiles are small, very aerodynamic, and European based. This concept sets to challenge that idea, questioning what if we make larger, more agile, have it mass-produced and blend into the Urban/Suburban environment.

The overall size is comparable to a small car at about 9' x 4-3/4' x 4'. This was done to improve visibility and blend in with other vehicles in the transportation grid. Its construction consists of a steel tubular frame with replaceable ABS panels. This was done to solve the issue of a damaged fiberglass monocoque. The suspension is a unique design with torsion springs inside pivot points of the control arms. This was intended to allow greater stability in turning by allowing the vehicle to lean into the corner. The rear drive system is also unique. Because it is such a long body shifting would become unresponsive using such a long stretch of chain. The derailleur was moved to the pivot of the rear swing arm and is set up much like a bottom bracket w/ suspension on a mountain bike. Instead of having pedals and a crank the cassette and belt drive pulley are attached.

This concept is the "standard" version based on a velomobile. Future planned improvements to this model include electric assist, all wheel drive, a removable "truck bed" body, internally geared swing arm w/ reverse, head/ tail lights and a solar film wrap.”

E-Hub

2009-10-21T20:38:00.004-04:00

I am still catching up from my vacation last week. It really was great to get away for a few days, play in the ocean with my kids, and totally relax, but I did come back to a LOT of email. I am catching up at work as well, so it might take a while for me to answer all the email I received pertaining to the blog.

Tonight though, I want to quickly point out a product that caught my attention today in the September issue of VeloVision magazine. On page 32 they reviewed the E-hub, a rear hub that was designed in Slovenia to even out a rider’s pedal stroke. The E-hub is certainly not the first component that promises to smooth the pedal stroke to order to increase performance, but they are taking a different approach. As the website explains:

“Human muscles are developed for walking and not for circular pedaling. As a result, cyclists experience a “dead spot” of about ±15 degrees around the top and bottom of the pedal path. Several products such as ovoid chain rings that were marketed in the 90s tried to address this problem with poor success or bad side-effects. E-HUB solves this problem once and for all with a unique patented spring mechanism in the hub that overcomes the dead spots while allowing the cyclist to keep her/his usual rhythm.”

While you are at the website, watch the video with pro and elite level riders talking about how the internal spring improves pedaling efficiency resulting in an overall speed increase. I admit to being intrigued by this design, but also a bit skeptical. The VeloVision reviewer did say the effect was noticeable, especially on steep uphills, but in the end he said, “There could be an actual biomechanical improvement, but I’m not 100% convinced it was significant.” That makes me even more skeptical, but I would still love to try the hub for myself.

Regardless of how well it works, I was initially intrigued by the fact that this hub, which basically redistributes pedaling energy to boost performance, is being marketed for racing. They even point out that it is approved by the UCI, which I have a have a hard time believing will remain the case if it really does offer time gains up to 10% as the website claims. So what do you think of a hub that uses an internal coil spring to even out the pedal stroke and better distribute a rider’s pedaling power to the rear wheel? If there is a true biomechanical advantage as claimed, should it be allowed for racing? I have my own opinion, but I am curious what you all think.

BFC designation for Greenville

2009-10-20T16:36:00.003-04:00

If you have been following this blog, you know that I have been involved in local bicycle advocacy issues here in Greenville, SC for a while. I was previously the advocacy chairperson for the Greenville Spinners bicycle club and during much of that period I had another blog, Bike Greenville, which covered local cycling issues. More recently, I have served as a member of Bikeville, a group of City employees and concerned citizens who were working toward League of American Bicyclists "Bicycle Friendly Community" designation for Greenville.

I am proud to say that Greenville is now one of the new Bronze level Bicycle Friendly Community Winners. Bronze is a great first step, but we are not going to stop there as we continue to make this area a better place to live and ride. If you are interested, read more about the new designation in the City's official press release below:

GREENVILLE NAMED BICYCLE FRIENDLY COMMUNITY

Prestigious award honors City’s efforts to promote bicycling

GREENVILLE (SC) The League of American Bicyclists has honored Greenville with its prestigious Bicycle Friendly Community award. Greenville joins Columbia and Spartanburg as South Carolina's only Bicycle Friendly Communities. The League of American Bicyclists' mission is to promote bicycling for fun, fitness and transportation and work through advocacy and education for a bicycle-friendly America. Greenville was granted the bronze-level Bicycle Friendly Community designation for four years and the League of American Bicyclists will provide the City with feedback on what it can do to make Greenville even more bicycle-friendly. Announcement of the Bicycle Friendly Community designation comes at an ideal time as the City plans to begin a comprehensive Bicycle Master Plan study in January 2010.

The City began its Bicycle Friendly Community initiative, named Bikeville in 2006 with a City Council resolution endorsing the League of American Bicyclists Action Plan for Bicycle Friendly Communities. Bikeville is a committee of volunteers comprised of City staff, engineers, planners, retailers and advocates who collaborate on efforts to encourage and educate bicyclists, and the plan established specific goals that ranged from installing bicycle racks on all Greenlink buses to celebrating National Bike Month every May.

Over the past five years, the City has installed eight miles of bicycle lanes and there are currently 10 miles of paved bicycle trails throughout the city. The City plans to install an additional five miles of bicycle lanes on the following streets within the next year: Spring Street, Falls Street and portions of Broad Street; Washington Street, from the Amtrak Station to the McBee Avenue intersection; Church Street, from Augusta Road to University Ridge and Fairforest Way, from Laurens Road to Mauldin Road. The City also has a Bicycle Parking Ordinance that requires most new developments which provide vehicular parking to also provide bicycle parking and in 2008, City Council passed a Complete Streets resolution which ensures that all roadway users are accommodated in new road construction projects.

The City submitted its Bicycle Friendly Community application in August 2009. The application was carefully reviewed and scored by a committee, which also consulted with local cyclists in the Greenville community. Communities are judged in five categories, which the League of American Bicyclists refers to as the Five Es: Engineering, Education, Encouragement, Enforcement and Evaluation & Planning. A community must demonstrate achievements in each of the five categories in order to be considered for an award.

According to Bill Nesper, director of the Bicycle Friendly Community Program for the League of American Bicyclists, the award is presented only to communities with remarkable commitments to bicycling and is a national recognition of the City's "tremendous efforts to create a truly Bicycle Friendly Community."

Spooklight and a few other links

2009-10-13T20:22:00.004-04:00

The Spooklight (pictured here) is a wireless turn indicator and brake light for bicycles. Using technology similar to the iPhone’s accelerometer, it automatically senses when the bike is slowing down and displays the brake lights. The turning signal function is operated manually via a touch sensitive pad that mounts to the bars. The Spooklight charges by USB and, when charged can work as a power bank to top off your phone or mp3 player on the go. Looks like a pretty interesting product. Read more about it at 50 Cycles and at Treehugger.

Also on Treehugger, see this recent post about bike trailers, which featured 20 different models.

Kara Ginther is a leather artisan who customizes Brooks saddles. She hand carves each one to create a one of a kind piece of functional art. Amazing work…check it out at To Be, Inspired.

Brompton had a good presence at 100% design in London this year. See their bikes and others that were on display at the London design festival at Designboom.

Also in London, Cycle Show 2009 wrapped up last week. London Cyclist had a good recap of the show. BikeBiz did a four-part show guide that you can see here, here, here, and here. Road.cc posted a good photo gallery from the show. Bike Radar shows us some of the new models at the show from British bike builders Enigma. Speaking of Enigma, check out the blinged out diamond studded custom Ti bike that they had on display in this quickrelease.tv post.

Exframebuilder Dave Moulton recently shared his thoughts on “The Evolution of Frame Design” in an interesting 3 part series on his blog- Part 1, Part 2, Part3.

Urban Velo posted about the Shorty Fatz frames that were on display at Interbike. They certainly were eyecathing. Check out a few of my shots of those bikes as well.

Commute by Bike is a blog that I used to check on a regular basis. The site was dormant for quite a while, but now it is back and being run by Bike Shop Girl. Both of her sites are worth a look, so check them out.

Finally, I will mention that Tom posted some of my wife’s paintings of Chinese bicycles on Bikejuju. As I said in the comments, I may be slightly biased, but I really like them.

Well, that’s all for me this week…I’m taking a little time off from the computer. I’ll be back next week though with that electric bike post that I have been promising since Interbike.

Photo credit: 50 Cycles

In defense of concept bikes

2009-10-12T06:23:00.007-04:00

In the four years that I have been writing this blog, I have run across a number of concept bikes that I have chosen not to post simply because they didn’t look like they would work. I guess it just depends on the timing though, because in that same four years I have chosen to go ahead and post a number of bike renderings that I thought had an element of interest, but that I knew were flawed in some aspect of their functionality. It is something that I consider on a case by case basis, but my general rule of thumb for design submissions or designs that I find on the web is that they are post worthy if some element in the design is interesting or might generate a meaningful discussion. That doesn’t mean I have to like every concept that I post, but I DO have to see some value in throwing it out there.

Why do I bring this up now you might ask? Well, last week I had a discussion (via twitter) with DL Byron of BikeHugger about some of the flashy concept bike renderings out there, which are seemingly created just to get exposure on blogs. He left a comment along those lines on a recent Treehugger post about Victor Aleman’s ECO 07 folding bike calling it, “yet another cad drawing concept making the blog rounds.” He went on to say, “ Should have an acronym for that: YACC or DBF for design blog fodder.”

No doubt some bike renderings that we see on the web are created just to get the designer a little exposure...and I don’t really have a problem with that. If a talented furniture designer like Mr. Aleman wants to design a bicycle for his portfolio, then I say more power to him. If that concept happens to spread all over the web by way of the design and lifestyle blogs, even better. I may personally have a few issues with the design of the ECO 07 bike, which breaks into many little pieces in order to fit in a case that is only slightly smaller than a folded Brompton, but I AM always glad to see conceptual bike designs getting exposure in non-bike circles. Many of the “designer bikes” that spread like wildfire around the blogosphere reach people who would probably not be looking at a bicycle otherwise. If those people have a positive reaction to a designer's “blue sky” concept bike, I think that is a good thing.

Another concept bike, which I saw last week on Yanko Design (an excellent design blog by the way), is the Hidemax by Servet Yuksel. According to the post, the bike was “born out of the notion to enhance speed, functionality, looks, comfort, resistance and durability.” Not everyone agrees with that though. The comments on that post range from “very cool” and “beautiful” to “hideous, ridiculous, unrealistic and useless.” Personally, I tend to agree with commenter zippyflounder who said ‘This is not impossible just very inefficient. The biggest goof is every time you push the pedals you are putting tension on the chain, causing the rear forks and the crank support to bend together.” Regardless of whether the design is efficient or not, the important thing is that it has people talking. In general, concept bike renderings like these on design blogs generate more heated comments than other types of product. From a design point of view, I don’t think those strong reactions are necessarily a bad thing either. I would much rather design an object that elicits a very strong emotional response, love or hate, than one that everyone just looks at and says, “yeah, it is OK.” Again, whether you like the design or not, the discussion is the good part.

I have ridden bikes all my life, but when I started racing in the mid 80s my interest in bicycles and cycling really started to deepen. At that point, I read as much as I could about bicycle history and framebuilding. I worked as a bike mechanic in high school and college and I experimented with my own bikes to see what minor tweaks might gain me a bit of speed. My interest in bikes has never waned and eventually expanded beyond just racing bikes, so today I feel like I know quite a bit about bicycles in general and how they work. I do , however, realize that intimate knowledge of a subject can sometimes make it more difficult to accept ideas that deviate from the status quo. That is why I like seeing fresh ideas from young designers with less cycling experience that I have. I may not always agree with them, but there is usually an element of interest that makes me glad to see the design. Based on some the comments about conceptual designs that I have posted in the past though, I don’t expect everyone to agree. If “blue sky” concept bikes bother you, I am interested to know why. They are just concepts after all...no need to feel threatened by them.

Coleoptera velomobile and assorted links

2009-10-07T20:56:00.007-04:00

Soon after I posted about the latest new speed records set by cyclists in streamlined recumbents, Christophe Sarrazin sent me this rendering of his most recent velomobile design. If you are interested in velomobiles, take a look at his Pixelman blog where you can see many more renderings of his creations.

In response to the picture of Gary Fisher and myself in front of an oversized penny-farthing at Interbike, I received an email from Jeff Tiedeken. Jeff is the guy who built that bike for Torelli, Avid, Cane Creek, and Velocity to use at the show this year. He does other bike projects too…check them out on his blog, Monkey Like Shiny.

The high-wheeler reference reminds me of a post I saw recently at Bakfiets en Meer. “What’s really new in bicycle world?” is the question posed by the post. Take a look at the 1890’s tall bike that was used to light streetlamps in New York City. As I said in a post a few years ago, what’s old is new again. On that note, take a look at some of the other penny-farthings that were shown at Interbike this year.

You may remember the LightLane concept, which started as an entry in the “Commuter Bike for the Masses” design competition. Today, I noticed that the concept was featured in the annual “Yearbook of Design Excellence” issue of Innovation, the quarterly journal of the IDSA. Congrats to the designers, Evan Gant and Alex Tee of Altitude Inc, on the achievement.

Not exactly a bicycle design, but the ‘SEEBIKESAW’ was recently created by Ben Wilson Design for Brooks England, the world’s oldest bicycle component manufacturer. The seesaw, which was featured at 100% design, uses two Brooks B33 sprung saddles and Brooks leather bar tape. Speaking of Brooks saddles, take a look at these Alpe d'Huez contour saddles by Brooklyn-based artist and designer Dan Funderburgh…pretty nice.

Dave pointed me toward the website for Woody Bicycles, yet another company that is making hand crafted wooden frames.

London Cyclist had a good post recently titled, “Here’s 10 cheap and easy DIY bike projects anyone can do”. Good tips… number 2 is one that I have been meaning to get around to.

Finally, I will mention that Cyclelicious recently posted pictures of a prototype electric version of the Bike Friday Tikit folding bike. As I have said before, I am glad to see a variety of e-bike designs hitting the market. That reminds me that I need to get around to writing a post about the electric bikes I tried in Vegas…just can’t seem to find the time.

Constructor’s Design Challenge winners

2009-10-05T19:58:00.006-04:00

Manifest Bike Front, originally uploaded by pereiracycles.

Oregon Manifest kicked off this past weekend in Portland with the Constructor’s Design Challenge and race. According to the website, framebuilders from around the country were challenged to build “an innovative, modern transportation bike in this technical trial of engineering dexterity and fabrication mettle.”

Bike Portland posted the 12 design winners. They also have an excellent photo gallery from the Constructor’s race that is worth a look. While you are at Bike Portland, check out the rest of their coverage of Oregon Manifest. Of particular interest is the “Design Challenge from the builder’s perspective” post. Of course, Bike Portland is not the only blog where you can read about the Constructor’s Challenge. Cycle Mumbreeze was the first place where I noticed pictures of the entries late Friday. Do a quick Google blog search and you will see that the bikes of the Constructor's Challenge have been getting quite a lot of exposure on the web the past few days. Tony Pereira’s winning entry, with its integrated U-lock, even showed up in a Wired Gadget Lab post today. It is great to see that much exposure for a custom bicycle design competition like this.

On the subject of framebuilding, I am curious if any of you have read Lugged Bicycle Frame Construction, A Manual for the First Time Builder by Marc-Andre R Chimonas and Raymond Wang? I have never seen it, but it recently popped up as a suggested book for me on Amazon. The subtitle, Build a bicycle frame with a $35 torch and other inexpensive tools, is what got my attention. I own an old copy of the now out of print Richard Talbot book Designing and Building Your Own Frameset: An Illustrated Guide for the Amateur Bicycle Builder, and I wonder if this new book is along the same lines. I might pick up a copy just out of curiosity, but if any of you read it in the mean time, let me know what you think.

Bicycle: People + Ideas in Motion

2009-10-05T06:37:00.006-04:00

I mentioned in June that Bicycle: People + Ideas in Motion was getting underway at The Galleries at Moore in Philadelphia. As a part of that exhibition, boards from the finalists in the Bicycle Design “Commuter Bike for the Masses” design competition have been on display in the Goldie Paley Gallery.

The exhibition closes on October 13th, so if you are in the Philadelphia area and have not yet seen the exhibit, you have just over a week left to do so. More pictures from the exhibition can be found on the Galleries of Moore website or on their Facebook page.

A partial Interbike recap

2009-10-01T22:02:00.006-04:00

In my last post, I discussed a couple of bikes from Interbike that got my attention. Today, I want to mention a few of the other bikes and products from the show that I considered to be standouts. I have been super busy this week catching up on projects at work, and also helping my wife get her new art studio set up. For those reasons, I really haven’t had time to stop and collect my thoughts from the show. This won’t be a comprehensive list…consider it more of an “off the top of my head” recap of some of the companies and products from the show that made me look twice.

The first company that I want to mention is Raleigh. I like what I have seen from them the past few years, so it is not like I walked into their booth with low expectations. Still, I didn’t expect to be AS impressed with their new bikes as I was. The Alfine equipped belt drive Alley Way (pictured above) was probably my favorite, but I really liked the direction they have taken with many of the “lifestyle” bikes. In addition to well designed details, Raleigh had great color schemes and graphics on all of the bikes. I won’t list them all, but you can see my shots of the Raleigh bikes that interested me on Flickr. In addition to the commuter/city bikes, I kept being drawn back to the SSCXWC singlespeed cyclocross frame that they had on display. Only 49 of those brown frames will be available (along with 1 random white one) on the Raleigh website starting October 19th. I guess it would be good to end up with the only white frame, but I don’t know…I really liked the brown one.

Next, I’ll mention the Globe bikes, which I like for many of the same reasons as the Raleighs. I was pretty excited when I first saw the Globe bikes on the web this summer, so it was great to get a chance to look at the bikes up close. The designs are clean and simple (with minimal graphics), so the well-designed details really stand out. Some of the new colors that debuted at the show looked really nice as well. I was lucky to get the chance to ride one of the Globe bikes, the French porteur inspired Live model which is pictured here, in the Bike Hugger Mobile Social. With its wide bars, front basket, and foot forward riding position, the bike felt very different than the road, track, cyclocross, and mountain bikes that I usually ride. That is exactly why I chose that particular model over the fixed gear Roll. I really enjoyed cruising down the strip on a relaxed geometry bike. The only thing that would have made it better would have been a 12 pack of Fat Tire in that big empty basket.

Along the same lines as the bikesI have already mentioned, Civia had some great transportation oriented products at the show. The bamboo fenders and rack platforms were nice accents on their display bikes. They also had a prototype bamboo chainguard in the booth that they plan to release at some point.

It was great to see traditional Dutch bike designs at the show from companies like Gazelle, Batavus, and others. In addition to the traditional Dutch omafiets and bakfeits, it was good to see updated designs like the BUB from Batavus. As they say on the bespoke blog:

“The Batavus BUB is the classic omafiets-meets-Rem Koolhaus. Expressively modern, the Batavus BUB (Batavus Utility Bike) deconstructs the classic Batavus omafiets while constructing a more cosmopolitan – yet equally iconic – iteration of the classic Batavus bike.”

I agree. The BUB was another bike with nice details that you really have to see in person to appreciate. I like the design direction and hope to see more of a presence from Batavus in the US market in the near future.

Not surprisingly, internally geared hubs were specified on quite a few new bikes. Several companies showed new commuter bikes with the Shimano Alfine, Nexus, or SRAM I-Motion groups and many of those used Gates carbon drive belts instead of chains. It seems like the issue of breaking the frame to allow belt installation is becoming more accepted as manufacturers come up with simple and straightforward ways to do so. One non-Shimano or SRAM internally geared hub bike that caught my attention was the Co-Motion Americano with a 14-speed Rohloff hub. The Rolloff is not cheap, but the simplicity the drivetrain and the 536% range of gears would make for a great commuting bike. Another internally geared hub that has interested me for a while is the NuVinci CVP. I have mentioned that system in the past, but this was my first time to actually try it out (on a trainer, not the open road). The shifting via twist grip was very smooth throughout the range. I like the interface on the shifter that shows you visually where you are in the gear range as well. After trying it out, I mentioned that the only objection I have heard about the system is the weight. The guy in the booth smiled and said that they had something new in the works to address that concern…looking forward to hearing more about it soon.

There were a few lighting products that got my attention (which is what they are supposed to do). One was the “SEE ME” LED sign, basically a circuit board and a battery pack that flashes those words across a rider’s back. The product looked a little crude, but the idea is interesting. It was certainly hard to miss. Of more interest to me was the Fiber Flare taillight, which recently won a Eurobike award for its design. The product is a flexible fiber optic light that uses high intensity LEDs. It is very bright and, unlike most LED taillights, can be seen from any angle. As someone who owns a number of bikes and switches taillights from one to another, I appreciated the simplicity of the mounting system, which uses silicone slings to attach to tubes of various shapes and sizes. It can clip to a belt or jersey pocket as well and is available in several different colors. Finally, I will mention that it was great to see Shimano’s Sport Hub Dynamos prominently displayed in their booth (on at least two different bikes). Dynamo lights are great for commuting because they are lightweight and there are no batteries to worry about replacing or recharging, so it was great to see Shimano really pushing those.

There were quite a few urban styled helmets at the show this year…the crazy graphic ones from Nutcase and the integrated light units from Lazer probably being the most notable. The coolest urban helmet that I saw though was the foldable Dahon Pango. Check it out in this Huggacast.

I could go on and on, but this post is already getting a bit long. I rode a couple of different electric bikes at the show, and I will share my thoughts on that category in a future post. Folding bikes are another broad category that probably deserve a post of their own. For that matter, I could probably do a separate post on cargo bikes and longtails that I saw at the show. It is no coincidence that the majority of bikes and products that I have discussed so far are commuter or transportation oriented. As I have said before, those are the bikes that excite me the most from a design standpoint because they have the potential to expand the market and introduce new groups of people to the joy of cycling. From a consumer standpoint though, I was interested in some of the high-end road, cross, and mountain bikes that I saw in Vegas (and time trail bikes too). I will share some of those with you in another post. Stay tuned.

Frames from Speedhound and Sylvan

2009-09-28T20:14:00.007-04:00

Since my last post, I have added quite a few new photos to my Interbike photoset on Flickr (up to nearly 600 shots total). I still have more photos and videos to go through on my wife’s camera, so I may be adding a few more to that set as the week goes on. As you can tell from the pictures, there was a lot at the show. It seemed like the majority of exhibitors that I talked to late Friday indicated that they had a better show than they had anticipated. That is great to hear...and it seemed especially true for the companies focused on transportation oriented or commuter oriented products. Attendance at Interbike this year had been projected to be down, but as BikeBiz reported that was not the case at all (and yes, in case you are wondering, I would have linked to that BikeBiz article even if it didn’t include a picture of me…but I do really like that pic).

I saw many interesting bicycles and cycling products at the show from companies big and small. I will talk about several of the products and categories that interested me in a series of posts, but today I want to mention bikes from a couple of small companies that got my attention in Vegas.

Speedhound Bikes is a small company from Minneapolis that had a 10’ x 10’ booth at the far end of the show hall. The frame they had on display, with a slot on the drive side rear dropout, immediately caught my eye as I walked by. Actually, I shouldn’t say slot in the dropout; the dropouts were not installed on the frame that I saw. The slot in the frame allows a belt (or unbroken chain) to be slipped through. Modular dropouts then bolt on, covering the slot and closing the rear triangle on the drive side. Both vertical road style and track fork end dropout are available. In each case, the dropout design allows for the user to vary the rear hub spacing depending on how the dropout pieces are installed. The track fork ends, for example, can provide 120mm, 125mm, 130mm, or 135mm spacings all from the same modular parts. The Speedhound website explains the dropout system much better than I am doing here, but suffice it to say that I thought it was a really nice solution and a clean, straightforward design. Given the fact that the frame can be built up as a geared road bike, a chain driven fixed gear, a belt driven integral geared hub bike, or really any other configuration, it really is one of the most versatile frame designs I have seen. Several frames that I like, including the Salsa Casseroll and the Ibis Tranny, allow for flexibility in build options, but the Speedhound “Only One” frameset is one of my new favorites. I am looking forward to seeing more from them.

I have posted a few different wooden bikes on the blog in the past. As I was walking outside of the show area, I saw a guy holding a nice lugged road frame with faceted wooden “tubes”. It turns out that the guy was Sam Kelly and the frame was one of his prototype Sylvan Cycles. See the Sylvan website for better pictures of the frame than this one that I took at the entrance of the Sands Expo. The “About” section of the site is worth checking out too. The guys behind the company have interesting backgrounds that led them to their current venture.

Nice Suit!

2009-09-25T12:49:00.003-04:00

I am just now getting some of yesterday's photos from Interbike uploaded to my Flickr account. Take a look at my Interbike 2009 set here. Be sure to check back later too because there are many more shots to come.

The show has been fun so far. In addition to seeing many cycling products and bikes (and riding a few), I have enjoyed meeting and talking to quite a few interesting people. Here is a shot of me with one of those people, Gary Fisher, in front of the giant custom penny farthing that Torelli has in the center of their booth. Thanks to Carlton Reid by the way for introducing me to Gary. Carlton was another person who it was really great to see at the show. Yesterday, I had the opportunity to meet quite a few other fellow bloggers who I previously only communicated with online-Rich Kelly, Tim Jackson, David Bernstein, Herbert Krabel, Brad Quartuccio, and Jeff Guerrero just to name a few.

Many more pictures and some thoughts from the show to come. For now though, it's time to get back in the show hall to see more.

Interbike and a few really fast velomobiles

2009-09-24T11:30:00.001-04:00

It has been a really busy week so far, but I am finally here at Interbike in Las Vegas. I am looking forward to wandering around the show floor today to see what catches my eye. Hopefully, I will get a chance to upload some of my pictures from the show before the Urban Legends fashion show starts today at 5:00. After that, I'll immediately be off to the Bike Hugger Mobile Social, which starts at 6:00 and ends at the USA Crits VIP tent at Mandalay Bay.

Before I start waliking the show, I want to mention the new speed records set at Battle Mountain last week by streamlined recumbents. Details can be found here. Thanks to Nick Hein for pointing that out to me.

Nick mentioned in his email that he is interested in those types of bikes:

“Not JUST because I like speed, but also because of the practical aspect that more of it gets you there quicker and/or with less effort. An enclosure keeps you warm and weatherproof to boot, extending the length of the cycling year.”

OK, that is enough for now...time to start checking out some of these bikes of all types here in Vegas.

Inside Trek design and a full-sized folding fixie

2009-09-19T07:42:00.005-04:00

Thinking about frames, originally uploaded by LimitedHype.

The people at Limited Hype have posted some great pictures from a recent visit to Trek's design department on their Flickr account. Many of the shots were taken in places that have very recently been labeled “Cameras Prohibited”, so it really is sort of an inside peek into the product and graphic design groups at Trek.

Speaking of Limited Hype, they were one of several blogs to mention the new Boston full-size folding fixie/singlespeed from Montague yesterday. You can also see it here, here, here or on Montague's website. I think it is a pretty nice bike. Looking forward to seeing it at Interbike next week.

Joules, the electric stoker

2009-09-16T19:44:00.002-04:00

I talked a bit about electric bikes in my last post, so today I will share a different take on that subject. Meet Joules, the stoker on Carl’s home built electric tandem. Carl challenged himself by asking, “Could I build an electric tandem based on actually pumping the pedals?” The result is a design that is indirectly driven by a PMG-132 electric motor through a linkage that simulates the motion of human legs pedaling. Carl points out on the Endless-sphere E- bike forum that:

“The fun part was coming up with a drive linkage that would use human-proportional legs to pedal in a circle matching the pedal cranks. The linkage delivers force tangent to the crank circle through the whole pedal revolution.”

I think this really is an interesting project and an impressive build by Carl. See the additional photos on his forum post and be sure to check out his video of Joules in action. Now if he could only get Joules to carry on a conversation, he would make a great robotic tandem partner.

Since this post is about an interesting and unusual creation, I will direct you to one other. The Hopworksfiets, as this Bike Portland post points out, is a “party bike complete with wood bar, kegs on tap, pizza rack, sound system, and mountains of mojo.” Looks like fun…and it is probably no surprise that it was made in Portland.

One last link while I am posting; BikeRadar has an interview with Specialized design director Robert Egger that is definitely worth checking out. It’s a great interview with a pretty interesting guy. For more about Egger, click through to to the Specialized podcast interviews with him from a few years ago.

Eurobike is over... time for Interbike

2009-09-14T20:39:00.006-04:00

As I mentioned in a recent post, show season for the bicycle industry is now underway. Eurobike 2009 has come and gone, and based on the pictures I have seen it appears to have been a pretty interesting show this year. Chris Matthews, a marketing guy at Specialized who blogs at creativextreme, posted a good photoset and also wrote one of the best Eurobike recap posts that I have seen (it’s not all about products from his employer by the way). Another interesting perspective from Eurobike can be found in the Core 77 blog post about the top 5 trends they noticed at the show. Core also posted a photo gallery from the show that is worth browsing through.

It is probably no surprise that both of the aforementioned posts mention the prevalence of electric bikes at Eurobike this year. Electric bike sales are on the rise in Europe and, as Michael Downes hinted in his 2007 guest post on Bicycle Design, electrobikes WILL be hitting the U.S market in a big way at some point. A recent Cyclelicious post pointed out that “Shimano announced their intentions to enter the growing eBike market.” That same Cyclelicious post also links to Carlton Reid’s Flickr gallery of electric bikes from Eurobike this year. We may not see quite as many electric bikes at Interbike next week as were shown in Germany earlier this month, but I do expect to see a significant increase from previous years. I believe the U.S. market is getting closer to accepting electric bikes, which could allow a greater segment of the population to cycle for transportation, but good design is going to be a key to make that happen. Stylish bikes like the GoCycle (pictured here) go a long way toward improving the image problem that electric bikes have suffered from in the US for the past 20 or so years.

Speaking of Interbike, I will be in Las Vegas next Thursday and Friday to wander around the show and see what is new. As much as I love high-end road and mountain bikes, I suspect that utility oriented designs will be the ones that really catch my attention this year. Bicycle companies have a great opportunity right now to expand their customer base and break into new markets with cargo bikes, city bikes, electric bikes, and many other types of transportation-focused bicycles. Of course, design is going to need to play a significant role if any of those categories are to gain widespread acceptance by the majority of American’s out there that currently don’t ride bikes at all. OK, I feel like I am about to start rambling again on a subject that I have touched on several times before. I will spare you that, but if you are interested take a look at this older post about bikes for the masses, which has some pretty good discussion in the comments.

Photo credit: Core77

Great deals at JensonUSA

2009-09-11T13:14:00.004-04:00

If you have been reading this blog for a while, you have seen the JensonUSA weekly deal ads in the top right corner. Watch that ad today, because Jenson has decided to move their annual "Parking Lot sale" from their back lot to their website this year. Normally, I don't point out ads in a post, but they really do have some incredible deals on overstock and "scratch and dent" returned items right now. In fact, I already ordered some brakes for myself this morning. The sale started at 9am PST, and their website is currently running VERY slow due to all the increased traffic. Click here and be patient to see the deals; it is definitely worth the wait if you need anything for your bike.

Here is the official scoop on the sale from Jenson:

For nearly a decade JensonUSA has held a once a year sale to help sell Items that were returned and not sellable as NEW, and also to sell inventory that had been mishandled by various shipping methods. These Items are NOT damaged beyond use. They typically have superficial scratches, a small dent that does not affect performance, are missing original packaging, or were simply returned under our 30 day return policy and are perfectly fine.

These Sales were typically held on the premises in our back lot. Giving us the ability to also select regular stocked Items and apply a single day discount below anything natural. Unfortunately we have become TOO popular, and our sales were drawing enormous crowds. So to handle that we are moving the sale online.

The Embira Bicycle Frame

2009-09-09T21:22:00.007-04:00

Thomas Pascoli Scott is a product design student at Centro Universitário da Cidade in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He recently built this wooden bike as school project and submitted it to me in hopes of getting some feedback. I’ll let Thomas explain his idea behind the design in his own words below... let him know what you think about it in the comments.

The point of this product (besides transporting one from a place to another) is to point out that we can reduce our dependence on metals and other non-renewable materials when we replace them with more sustainable ones. The design itself, is the result of an attempt to create a strong structure with an aesthetic form, enabling a greater appreciation of the incredible material that wood is, emphasizing its colors, grain patterns and texture.

In the native Brazilian language (tupi-guarani), Embira means wood fiber. The 3kg frame is structured like a box. The walls are made of 4mm plywood and are structured internally with a simple truss of plywood which is later filled with the *mamona p.u foam for extra strength. No screws or nails are used to assemble the frame, only wood joinery and glue.

Although the main target was the frame alone, other parts of the bike are composed of biodegradable products, such as the Brooks leather saddle and grips. The handlebars were picked up free of charge from a bicycle scrap yard and then refurbished.

Materials used for frame:

Freijó wood
Goiabão wood,
cedar plywood,
Mamona based polyurethane foam
Pva based glue
Old metal tubes (steel and brass)

*Mamona = Brazilian plant which produces oil similar to castor oil
*Embira = native brazilian language (tupi-guarani) word for wood fiber

Eurobike and nouveau penny-farthings

2009-09-03T19:51:00.004-04:00

Believe it or not, show season 2009 is already underway with Eurobike taking place this week in Friedrichshafen, Germany. CyclingNews already has several tech articles from the show online (here, here, and here). It is probably no surprise that super light bikes and components and smarter electronic gadgets will be big at the show this year. I suspect that we will see quite a few new commuter/shopper oriented designs as well…like the bike pictured here for instance. Cyclelicious has posted links to several different Eurobike galleries that I am just starting to browse though. I am looking forward to seeing many more images from the show, so if you spot any other good ones; please post a link in the comments section.

One bike that has been getting a lot of pre-show buzz is the YikeBike, an electric “mini-farthing” that was designed in Christchurch, New Zealand. The bike (not sure I should really call it that since it doesn’t have pedals) folds into a compact shape and features a hub-less front wheel that contains the battery and electric motor. It is an interesting concept, but a few people have already expressed some concerns with the design. DL Byron at BikeHugger speculated that the YikeBike would have a tendency to throw the rider forward when the front wheel hit a pothole or some other obstacle. Yokota Fritz addressed that same concern in a Cyclelicious post. “Headers” of that sort were pretty common in the late1800’s when high-wheelers, or penny-farthings, were the most common design. Safety bikes (the basic chain driven design that most bikes today are still based on) came about in the 1880s primarily as a reaction to the dangers of riding a tall high-wheeler. Granted this little YikeBike doesn’t look as dangerous as an antique ordinary with a 60-inch diameter front wheel, but it does look like it might have a tendency to endo fairly easily. I would still love to try one though…maybe I will get my chance if I make it out to Interbike in a few weeks.

On the subject of modern penny-farthings, Paul (who also happened to be the first to tell me about the YikeBike) pointed out this design, which uses more conventional bicycle components. I also remember this carbon fiber high-wheeler concept bike that Specialized industrial designer Robert Egger did many years ago (early 90s maybe?). Does anyone know of any others? I am pretty sure that I have seen a few other examples that I can’t remember at the moment.

While I am posting I want to mention the City of Copenhagen’s international Bike Share Design Competition. Copenhagen started a bike sharing program back in 1996, but now the Mayor wants an “attractive and modern bike share system (that) can contribute to strengthening Copenhagen’s bicycle culture.” The deadline to enter the competition is November 18th. You can download a Competition Program here if you are interested. Also, check out this Copenhagen Cycle Chic post for more information.

Top photo: Messe Friedrichshafen, http://www.messe-friedrichshafen.de/

Lower photo: http://www.yikebike.com/

US Pro 09 is history

2009-08-31T20:53:00.003-04:00

For the last four years, I have really enjoyed having the US Pro race weekend take place right here in Greenville, SC at the end of the summer. There had been some talk of a possible location change for next year, so I was very glad to hear for sure that the event will be coming back to Greenville for a fifth year in 2010. This year’s races were even better than I expected since local pro George Hincapie was able to pull off such an exciting win in the road race. Even more impressive is the fact that he did it with only one Columbia-HTC teammate, Craig Lewis, who had been diagnosed with swine flu earlier in the week. Craig is also a local Greenville pro, so I want to congratulate both he and George on an incredible performance yesterday in front of a very enthusiastic hometown crowd.

As I have in past years, I took quite a few photos during the races. I haven’t completely finished editing or labeling them, but I have uploaded some of my shots from each event to my Flickr account. You can see my road race shots here and time trial shots here. I also have a few pictures that I took at the pre-race press conference on Friday. One of my favorite photos from the weekend is one that I took of George and his dad right after he crossed the line yesterday to win the Stars and Stripes jersey for a third time. You can find that shot, and maybe a few of my others later, in the Pelopics section of Pez Cycling News.

Update 9/2: Pez now has a few new posts about the US Pro races, which feature a number of my photographs. See their road race coverage here, time trail coverage here, and an excellent interview with Craig Lewis here.

In addition to riding and photographing the races, I was able to spend a little time with fellow bloggers who were in town for the weekend (as well as a few who live here). Robb from Mountain Biking by 198, Josh from Pro Bike Wrench, Byron and Pam from Bike Hugger, Frank from the Tour de France blog, Olivier from the BrandBuilder, Jonathan from Low Cadence, and Kirk from Hincapie Sportswear all attended the meet-up on Saturday afternoon. We had a great time talking about cycling… and whatever else came up. It was great to see everyone and to meet a couple of people who I had previously only communicated with online.

Needless to say, I was doing more than watching the racing action over the weekend…I also was checking out all the bikes. I will save the bike talk for a future post though. For now, I need to get back to sorting through more photos from the weekend. Shooting is fun, but editing is always the hard part.

US Pro weekend is almost here

2009-08-27T19:01:00.001-04:00

The USA Pro Championship race weekend kicks off tomorrow with an afternoon press conference. So far, I have only seen a preliminary start list for the races, so it will be interesting to find out if there will be any surprise entries…probably no major ones at this point, but anything is possible I guess. My prediction is that the time trial will be a Zabriskie repeat, especially since VandeVelde is out and Leipheimer won’t be here to go for the TT title. Zirbel could possibly challenge on Saturday, but I still think Zabriskie is a pretty safe bet. If I had to predict a road race winner based on the current roster, I would probably go with one of the Garmin-Slipstream riders as well…maybe Danny Pate? I wouldn’t rule out Hincapie for a hometown road race win again, but it is going to be tough for him going it alone. Regardless of who wins, I am really looking forward to photographing the action again this year. You can see my road race and time trial shots from last year’s US Pro races if you are interested. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I recently put a few of my favorite race photos into a slideshow that you can see here. You can expect to see my shots from this year’s races on Flickr soon after the events.

I also want to remind everyone about the informal meet-up that will take place after the time trial Saturday 3:30pm at Barley’s Taproom in downtown Greenville. In addition to myself, other bike bloggers will be there including Byron from Bike Hugger, Robb from Mountain Biking by 198, Josh from Pro Bike Wrench, Briggs from Euro Peloton, and Frank from the Tour de France blog. I have also heard from a few others who might drop by…Brian from Renaissance Bicycles and Scott (@Fulspeed) just to name two. I am also hoping that a few local Greenville bloggers like Olivier from the BrandBuilder, Jonathan from Low Cadence, and Steve or any of the other bloggers from Hincapie Sportswear might show up as well. We will probably have a pretty good group, so if you plan to be in town for the races, stop by Barley’s and join us.

Since I am posting, I might as well throw in a little bike design content (which is not race related by the way).

Trek has released a short video titled “Welcome to Belleville: Building a Bicycle Better”. In the video, industrial designer Michael Leighton talks about the ideas behind the new eco-design bike that he designed for Trek. Michael talks about his efforts to reduce his environmental impact. Commuting16.5 miles everyday, along with his wife, to Trek headquarters is one way that he does just that. You hear a lot about new commuter/utility bike designs these days, but as you can see from watching this video, Michael is definitely one bicycle designer who practices what he preaches. Look for more about the design of the Trek Belleville in a future post.

One other new commuter oriented bike that I will mention is the Pasadena Crown City Commuter from Foes Racing. Read more about that bike, including the comments about fenders and racks, at this Cyclelicious post.

The Contortionist folds more than the average bike

2009-08-25T20:12:00.003-04:00

Since these Guardian and Sky News articles came out nearly a month ago, several of you have emailed me to mention the Contortionist folding bike by designer Dominic Hargreaves. I saw a link on Twitter around that time and retweeted it there, but for some reason I also thought that I had mentioned it on the blog. Looking back though, apparently I never did (I have confused myself in that way a few times since I started using Twitter… I guess I need to start organizing the links that I plan to post a little better). Oh well, no matter…the Contortionist is a pretty interesting design and is still worth a mention here on Bicycle Design.

The 24-year-old Hargreaves designed the bike as his final Master’s degree project at the Royal College of Art in London. The design that he came up with, which features an aluminum frame that can fold to fit within the circumference of the 26-inch wheels, is now a finalist for a James Dyson Award. Well, maybe “fold” is not the right word to use. As the Guardian article describes, the frame "rolls up rather than folds up using an ingenious set of pivots”. Watch the video to see what they mean. Hargreaves is currently talking to manufacturers about getting the design into production, so you may see it on the market sometime soon…whether it wins the Dyson award or not.

Take a look at the news section of Hargreaves’ website to see additional pictures of the bike, both folded and unfolded (or should I say rolled and unrolled). You can also see a few of his other bike related projects if you explore his site a bit. If you still want to find out more about the Contortionist, check out these posts from Wired, Inhabit, Core 77, and Treehugger. The Treehugger post in particular already has a discussion underway about the design in the comments section.