BikeHacks

Bike Light Hack

Andrew — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 01:18:49 +0000

All photo credits go to Will

Bikehacks reader Will sent us this great hack that can make any small flashlight a new headlight for your whip.

After spending $50.00 on a bike light, only to have the mount fail, I came up with this. Any flash light, two hose clamps & two bits of in tube. Seems bomb proof to me!

…looks bomb proof to us too!

Bike Light Hack

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Zoom Around Town: Bike Mapping Site

Matt — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 20:46:37 +0000

Reader See Wah recently reached out to us with a new bike mapping site. See Wah wrote the following:

I recently created ZoomAroundTown.com as a non-money making pet project. It is a purely user-contributed global route database, primarily for city cyclists commuting to work etc. It has the standard search, browse, create route, rate route, comment on route functionality. My site is only a couple of weeks old, and so far 80 routes have already been created by users from all over already.

I am writing because I came across your page, 55 Free Bike Route Mapping Tools, and thought it would be cool if you think it is worth including my site to the list (haha I did not realise there were all these existing sites when I first started my project) Anyway, have a play around. There is still plenty of room for improvement, but if you think it is decent enough to include in the list or just to mention on your site, that would be great!

Consider it mentioned. Thanks See Wah.

Zoom Around Town: Bike Mapping Site

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Bike Tragedy and Kindness

Matt — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 15:10:28 +0000

I ran into this story via www.newsnet5.com (an ABC affiliate in Cleveland) and it made me feel sad and happy at the same time. It is nice to see people step up with kindness after bad things happen. It would be a fitting end of those who committed the crime are brought to justice, however unlikely that may be.

CLEVELAND — A local teen who was beat up and had his bike stolen has a new ride thanks to the kindness of strangers.

Cleveland police said 18-year-old David Saranzak was riding his bike Monday night near West 85th Street and Detroit Avenue when a group of teens attacked him and took his bike. Saranzak suffered a broken jaw and his skull was fractured.

Scott Caso of the local charity organization Broken Spoke was shocked at what happened and wanted to help.

“I saw this man, he was brutalized and I realized I have a bike, he doesn’t have a bike, so I gave him a bike. No strings attached,” said Caso.

Saranzak and his family thanked Caso for his generosity. Authorities are still looking for the people who attacked Saranzak and anyone with information is asked to call police.

Bike Tragedy and Kindness

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Retail Bike Hacks

Matt — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 06:01:45 +0000

Every once in a while I will stumble upon some instances of corporations incorporating cycling to help sell or advertise their product. Greater acceptance of bikes as cool is encouraging to see. Two recent instances of this come from Starbucks and from Pylones.

Starbucks has recently made the plunge into the instant coffee game and although I have no idea what fresh brewed coffee has to with riding a bike, the following picture is a part of their campaign to pump people full of caffeine.

Pylones is a store that basically sells crap in my mind, but it is cute crap. Why have a staple remover that actually looks like a staple remover when you can have one that costs three times as much but looks like a cute crocodile or serpent?

On the same theme, why have a lock that actually works when you can have a cute snake lock (for $30) that will apparently cause a thief to get the warm fuzzies and back away from stealing your steed. The cute little snakes even come on a bike inspired rack. Even Adam Smith might grimace at this invisible hand at work.

Retail Bike Hacks

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Taipei Bike Trailer

Matt — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 14:10:29 +0000

Peter from beyond1200.com sent us the following:

Spotted this custom bike trailer on my way home from work the other evening (Nangang, Taipei). The push cart was just wrapped onto the rear rack. I’m not sure what the extra pole on the right on the rack is for though. Maybe a stabilizer.

I can imagine that with those small, hard wheels on the back, it must be a quite a symphony of sound to listen to as the rider pulls the trailer along.

Taipei Bike Trailer

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Earl Blumenauer In New York City

Andrew — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 01:34:12 +0000

Via Streetfilms comes this video of Earl Blumenauer discussing some of the changes being made in New York City and around the country that benefit cyclists. Blumenauer is a Congressman who represents Oregon, and is also a long-time bicycling advocate.

Rep. Earl Blumenauer dropped by Transportation Alternatives’ offices to take a quick excursion around mid-town with Executive Director, Paul Steely White, and Senior Policy Director, Noah Budnick. They checked out a few standard (painted) bike lanes and some of the newer (physically separated) facilities, of which the latter Mr. Blumenauer thought were superior. With a new, Congressional transportation bill due to percolate to the surface sometime in the near future, Mr. Blumenauer believes the next decade will be the one when we can finally achieve some balance for pedestrians, bikes, and livable streets.

Will there be enough money in the next transportation bill to fund cycling appropriately? The Bikehacks crew hopes the answer is yes…

Earl Blumenauer In New York City

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Around the Globe: Follow the Globe Experience Project

Matt — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 21:28:52 +0000

What do London, Hawaii, North Carolina, Los Angeles, Georgia, Portland, the Netherlands, Colorado, San Francisco, Ontario, Australia, Seattle, Texas, and New York City all have in common? All of these locations are a part of the Globe Experience Project.

Biker/Bloggers in each of these locations have been provided with a Globe Bike and will be blogging about their experience with their new whip over the next three months. Some bikes are still in transit or in re-transit as the case is with me, ends up that my bike was damaged in shipping and thus another one is on order, but some people are already up and rolling.

Globe has set up blogs for many of the recipients and some other bloggers, like me, will be utilizing their own blogs. We have specifically been told not to do technical product review type stuff which makes me happy because I would be no good at that anyway. Thus the blog entries should not be boring rants about technical specifications, but rather entries on how the bikes are used in daily life and what not. Of course mine will focus heavily on hacking the whip into a steed that is representative of my unique (some may use a word other than unique) taste.

I encourage everyone to check out all of the bike recipients and the associated blogs by visiting the Globe Culture Page.

Around the Globe: Follow the Globe Experience Project

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Bike Light Safety – German Style

Matt — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 14:07:43 +0000

Reader Dirk, from Germany, sent along the following. Dirk even offered to translate the video into English, which is quite nice, but I think the video speaks for itself. His email stated the following:

Some German bikers made up a nice video about a biker riding without lights on his steed. The biker crashes twice; both times some guys make fun of him. Some times later, the guys meet the biker again – with some full blown lights.

Thanks Dirk!

Bike Light Safety – German Style

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Reflector Me This

Matt — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 13:39:11 +0000

I have been traveling a bit over the past few weeks and have stumbled upon a few things that caught my eye on the streets. This first one was from Chicago.

Someone seems to have a reflector fetish. Although it’s a tad ironic to me as reflectors are primarily about safety . . . and as you can probably tell by the condition of the bike, it was basically the definition of an accident waiting to happen.

Reflector Me This

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My Little (Bicycle) Pony

Matt — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 14:32:26 +0000

I don’t have a daughter, but if I did I certainly hope she would enjoy my love of cycling. Little girls also seem to have a fascination with ponies and the following shop window I passed by provides a hack of sorts to satisfy a young girl’s dream of riding both a bike and pony. I only had my BlackBerry with me so I apologize for the graininess of the photos.

This first photo shows the rear fender that is shaped like the tail of a horse along with the modified saddle seat.

And here you have the head that has been attached to the front handlebars.

Ride’em cowgirl! Have you come up with creative bike hacks for your kids? We’d love to hear about them – feel free to comment or contact us.

My Little (Bicycle) Pony