Anyway, my girl spotted this the other day on Treehugger. Sussex enterprises are a company that builds shaft driven bikes, yes bikes with no chain. I like this idea it add to the complexity of the bike but the overall performance and efficiency is apparently increased. It seem like the type of assembly that would require very little maintenance and it looks solid enough to me. Some people a sticklers for doing things the old way and are not open to new concepts like this so I hope it takes off. I feel their folding city bike is the perfect thing for those commuters who would bring a bike on a train or bus for a portion of their journey and the shaft system should drastically reduce the possibility of getting oil on you work clothes while you carry it.
Well winter is here and you may have noticed that it gets dark a lot earlier now so you'll be needing a decent light on that bike or your so you don't cripple yourself by hitting a pothole or curb. I would always forget to take the little LED lights off me bike when I parked it in the city and so they were always being stolen. These little lights never really worked for me as I could be seen by other road users but on a dark road I couldn't really see what was in front of me. The construction was crap to, the little plastic mounts were weak and attaching them with cable ties made the vandals were more determined. One solution is to make your own bike lamp. The Make magazine blog has this little piece (Is well as other links) on how to build your own heavy duty, 18V (Looks like a drill battery), super duper bike light. The full instruction set is available here through instructables.
"When 73-year-old Sylvester Roper showed up at a local bicycle track in Boston aboard this machine—a steam-powered motorcycle he invented—the young bicycle racers just laughed. Here was this old man riding a strange contraption who wanted to race the local hotshots around the one-third-mile Charles River Park track. It wasn’t until the race was on that they realized the old man had come up with something truly amazing."
1894 Columbia
High Frame
racing bicycle
Engine
Coal-fired boiler
Top Speed
More than
40 mph
Wet Weight
150 lbs
Owner
Robert "Buck" Boudeman
Roper died while taking his bike out for a ride.
"The machine was cutting out a lively pace on the back stretch when the men seated near the training quarters noticed the bicycle was unsteady,” the paper said. “The forward wheel wobbled, and then suddenly, the cycle was deflected from its course and plunged off the track into the sand, throwing the rider and overturning."
For more, read the rest of the story here.
-RV's Girl Listening to KCRW Morning Becomes Eclectic
A breezy, cool Sunday morning and RV is fast asleep.
Hello everybody, another Wednesday. Ive been surfing quite a bit lately devoting lots of time to Curbly and Ive kinda gotten trapped in a reverse sleeping pattern again. My day typically starts at about six o'clock when I get up and have breakfast and read the news through my RSS feeds before having a shower and going to the local convenience store to buy enough booze and munchies to last the night. I return from the shop and typically my special girl rises from her slumber before we both become one with our laptops and surf the night away trading links and discussing topics we have encountered on our adventures in cyberspace. I haven't been out been out and about on my wire donkey as much as I would like due to my schedule apart from a brief trip to a factory occupied by a number of Lyon art collectives last week to discuss other projects I am currently working on. My parents are visiting my adopted city this weekend to see me and to experience the Fete du Lumieres, I hope they like the food and drink and the laid back lifestyle as much as I do.
My special girl saw this somewhere in the net and dropped it in my inbox yesterday. You gotta love these guys for their inventiveness and passion for the great outdoors and cycling. The camper bike rocks but does it have to be so wide? Actually I think its perfect without the bit he plans to add to the back theres plenty of room for your tent, cooler, tools and other bits and pieces back there. If you put a roof style thingy on it you could cycle in all weathers. The next two links are about a dude that has been spotted all up and down the west coast of the US riding a totally modified (pedal powered) compact living unit. He is the true modern nomad in my opinion. Of late he has been experiencing technical difficulties for which he is seeking assistance. We have been staying in of late mostly playing with the Curbly site and planning various other projects and trips and talking about the future. My girl has been expressing an interest lately in purchasing a tandem of some sort for next spring and summer, if she's serious I cant wait to hit the road and explore the Rhone Alps region by bike.
Well winter is here the wind last night was proof enough although its been unusually warm for this time of year these past few days. I think any sort of long distance journey by bike can be ruled out at this stage but that does not mean the determined cyclist with the proper equipment cannot brave the elements and venture out onto the highways and byways for a few hours every once in a while. Personally I have been slacking of late, I don't have a job right now and so you would think I would have lots of spare time on my hands to go for the odd cycle but alas I have not. I really miss it actually and Im starting to feel it would be beneficial for me to make that extra effort and get up a little earlier just to get out for a few hours to clear my head and be free of the confines of this apartment. I just wish mon petit ami could join me. Ill start by suggesting that we get two of those public bicycles in the park and spend an hour or two cruising on a crisp winters morning some time soon:-)
I have posted about N55 before but they have just added a new manual to their collection and I think this warrants mention on road vermin. Their new section is called Manual for Small Truck. Basically it is a very small truck built from polyethylene containers and power by a small electric motor. It should be borrowed by individuals who are not in possession of a car to transport small loads around their cities and afterwards returned to the collective. I love these guys...
Todays Roadvermin and his girl have joined the new design and DIY community known as Curbly. It is a site dedicated to design and innovation relating to the home and living and it aims to help connect people with similar interests in these fields in order to share ideas and solve problems. Heres the Wired Monkey Bites blurb on it. So far we have only posted a few pictures of some of our work and two short pieces regarding some designers I have recently discovered while surfing but it looks like an extremely promising community. One of the commenters included this link to a site that follows trend and ideas regarding alternative transport solutions. Goodnight good people of the net.
