BikeHacks

Hipster Bike Grips

I am not sure if there is a street name for the incorporation of grips like this, readers feel free to chime in and educate me, but I personally call them “hipster grips.”  When I see grips placed on drop bars like this, the drop bars are typically attached to a fix gear bicycle carrying a hipster.  These grips are pretty tame as far as color, most of the time they seem to be neon in color.   

NYC Photo Series: West Side Path Pier Gazing

Back in my entry on a great hack developed to carry a tennis racket on a bike, I mentioned a great pier located just off the bike path on the West side of Manhattan.  I’d say the pier in the 70’s to give you an idea of street location.  On another recent trip to the pier I came across a rider enjoying the pier to the maximum . . .

Pterosailing

Photo via Pterosail

Pterosail (pronounced terra-sail) is a company out of North Liberty, Iowa making these recumbant/sail cycles.  The company's mission is "...to give everyone the opportunity to experience the pleasure of using the wind to rediscover the Great Outdoors".  The front wheels provide stability for the sail...capable of speeds up to 35mph depending on wind speed.  

Pterosails are available direct for around $5499usd.  On July 1, Pterosail co-creator and CEO John MacTaggart started riding his machine across the southern portion of the US from San Diego CA to Saint Augustine FL.  The route he's traveling will take him over 3000 miles...with lots of open roads and good winds for pterosailing.  For more information on John's cross-country adventure click here.  

Don’t Let this Happen to You

While in D.C. recently I noticed a horrifying site.  Check it out . . .

Friends don’t let friends ride Segway’s.  Go by bike. I guess I should not knock it if I have not tried it, but just looking at people on these things make me crack up.  Anyone have any experience these things?  If so feel free to comment and set me straight.

Bike Sweater

I think I have owned one item in my life that someone knitted for me.  I’m not sure exactly how the tradition started, but in my high school I ran cross country (yeah I was one of those dorks – but it earned me a scholarship so being a dork sometimes pays) and the mother of one of my teammates knit hats for the varsity runners.  It was a badge of honor to have a hand knit hat because it meant you were in the top 10 or so on the team.  I think that hat is probably in a box somewhere in my parent’s attic. 

Based on a recent bike sighting, it appears that a rider knit a small sweater for his/her bike to keep the top tube from being scratched by a U-lock.  It's not really sweater weather in NYC right now, temps have been pushing triple digits.  Then again, I've not seen a bike sweat, so check it out. 

This kind of reminded me of a hack I posted a while back where someone took a pair of corduroy pants and fashioned a sleeve for their bike chain.  Does your bike or any bike accessories wear clothing?  Perhaps a bike tank top, wife beater, or kilt?  G-string perhaps? Feel free to send your bike related fashion statements to us.    

Rack Enhancement

I’ll admit it – I have an inadequate rack.  Much like actresses or models looking for an edge that resort to plastic surgery to enhance their frontal appearance, my rack could use some enlargement.  With me however, it’s my rear rack – bike rack. 

My rack problem has everything to do with me.  It’s not the fault of the bike or the rack, but the combination of the two poses a dangerous problem.  Take a look at the following picture:

What you see is a rack bag that is perilously close to spokes that turn at great speeds.  Some of you readers can use my issue as a cautionary tale leading you to think twice before making assumptions about bikes and bike parts.  My assumption was that since there are rack adapters (for bikes without braze ons) and most racks will fit almost any rack equipped bag that I would be perfectly okay with buying a rack and bag from an internet site to meet my needs.   Oh how wrong was I . . .

First off, the bike in the picture is a Cannondale road bike.  The last thing on the minds of the designers was some idiot putting a rear rack on such a bike – the geometry is just all wrong for a rack.  I’m a practical bike commuter idiot so when I wanted to avoid sweaty bike syndrome by carrying a bag on the back of my Cannondale I naively clicked around the Interweb and ordered up a rack and bag that looked good.

I was able to install the rack no problem, the adapters worked just fine.  However, after I proudly strapped on my bag and went on my first ride I ran into two problems within two minutes of trying to commute to work. 

Problem 1:  Within seconds I noticed that my heel rubbed against the bag as I pedaled.  With racing bike geometry the rack sits closer to one’s feet than a rack on a touring bike might.  So I hopped off and moved the bag back as far as I could.  I practice pedaled and bit and with the bag adjusted back I had no more heel rub.  Problem solved!  With a satisfied smile on my face I once again began my commute, but . . .

Problem 2:  . . . the first minor bump I encountered I heard a horrid, rapid grinding sound.  I jammed on my brakes and looked back and as you might have guessed, by positioning the bag far, far back on the rack, the bag would swing into the spokes if jostled side-to-side.

The rack does come with an angled bar meant to keep the bag away from your spokes, however the angle on the rack I bought is what I would call too steep.  Some racks solve this problem by putting in either a second bar, or a bar that angles straight down for a stretch, and then angles over to the bottom of the rack to keep bags from bouncing into the spokes like mine does.

I was able to temporarily solve the problem by using a bungee net.  I always carry a bungee cord or net with me “just in case” and this circumstance was a “just in case” moment.  I was able to deploy the bungee net in a manner that helped to keep the bag from swinging into the spokes when I encountered road turbulence. 

It was an okay hack, but not one that I wanted to employ each time I went on a ride so I began to think about how to correct my wrong doing.  While at work I was doing some mundane data checking and a light bulb went off in my head as I was using a ruler to track my progress down a paper spread sheet.  With a ruler and zip ties I came up with the following:

I am happy to say that it worked perfectly!  For one ride =(

The ruler snapped when I encountered a bump on the way home, however I believe with a trip to the hardware store I can find a more permanent solution to my problem.  I’ll post soon on what I discover.  Any other ideas are also welcome . . . just don’t suggest that I take the rack off a bike that was never meant to have one or that I buy a better equipped rack . . . I’m pretty stubborn.   

Bike Rack that will Pump You Up!

Reader Jeroen sent us what I think is a pretty awesome idea.  Jeroen wrote the following and directed us to http://heklucht.nl/:

"Hack?  Don't know, check it, thanks." 

Picture Credit to http://heklucht.posterous.com/

The Web site states:

WHAT is it?

A bikestand with airpump (Heklucht), type Ypenburg. The product has been conceived for an art project in Ypenburg (a newly build neighbourhood in the Netherlands). Eight products will be placed in front of eight houses. The goal of the project is to stimulate an interaction between neighbours, while pumping up the tyres of their bicycles. The hurdle is made out of polished stainless steel. Because of this, it shines like a jewel on the grey pavement.

I'm not too stoked on the design of the bike rack itself as far as practicality in locking up numerous bikes, but an integrated pump is a freaking awesome idea!  I don't know why I did not think of it when I came up with the Bike Hacks rack. 

I also like snowboarding and one thing resorts will sometimes do is chain screwdrivers to benches near chairlifts so you can adjust your bindings or tighten them up when they get loose.  Integrating tools into a rack is most definitely an awesome idea.

This rack even won an award, check it out here. Helpful if you can read Dutch =)

Thanks Jeroen!

Sophisticated NYC Pizza Delivery

One of the great things about Manhattan is that you can have almost anything delivered to your door.  I’m not sure if it is a good or bad thing, I will leave that judgment to you, but in some parts of Manhattan even McDonald’s delivers.

Pizza is a popular thing to have delivered and most of the bikes equipped to deliver pizza in New York City are fairly ghetto.  Check out this one for example.  To offer full disclosure, I did spot this particular hack in Queens, not Manhattan, but many Manhattan examples can be found as well. 

On a recent errand I spotted the most sophisticated pizza delivery bike I have seen to date in NYC. Check out the high style, appropriately found on the east side of town, Madison Ave. no less:

This bike would even be able to handle the largest group of hungry World Cup fans one might be able to fit into a Manhattan sized apartment. 

A Call to Engineers: Brake Disc Power

Back in March when I heard the news that some Yale engineering students produced a spokeless bicycle wheel, I wrote that while that was nice and all, I sure wish they would have put their minds to better use by asking riders what they could actually use and that way they could have put the substantial power of their ivy league brains toward a practical bike related project that the average cyclist would get excited about. 

I have no idea how they came up with their project and on top of that I have no idea what engineering principles they might have been trying to address (maybe the professor had specific learning objectives), however when I saw the project I was less than excited.  Of course I should also note that a simple zip tie gets me really excited so maybe I am a sort of simpleton. 

As a part of my entry on the spokeless wheel I typed up a few ideas on engineering projects that would get me excited, and encouraged readers to do the same.  You can revisit the entry if you like to see some of the ideas and links to products readers were excited about.  The thought I still have in mind is to send a list of the proposed projects or links to entries on Bike Hacks to engineering departments at colleges and universities around the world in the hope that professors would consider encouraging students to work on some of the ideas.

Recently when picking up some take out on the commute home I serendipitously stumbled on at least what I think is another great idea, and a practical one at that.  Some engineer out there might tell me I'm an idiot, but that's okay, it won't be the first time that accusation has been leveled against me =)

So here's my story and idea . . .

I was picking up Vietnamese food one night on the way home and I exited the restaurant, unlocked my bike, and started my journey home.  I started to peddle and heard a rhythmic ticking sound.  I kept riding and looked to see if a stick or leaf or some such thing had lodged in my spokes.  I did not see anything but the sound persisted and since I was going down a hill I did not think it was a good idea to let it go.  I jammed on my brakes and came to a stop.  I spun my front wheel and it did not take long for me to figure it out.  I had inadvertently bumped the magnetic sensor of my cycle computer when locking up my bike and the sensor was bumping into the corresponding sensor attached to my front fork. 

I bent down to adjust the sensor and ended up resting my had on my brake disc and it did not take long for me to regret that as my nerves fired a signal to my brain telling me that the brake disc was freaking hot.  Turns out they heat up a bit, especially when stopping on a hill.  I yanked my hand away and chastised myself for my stupidity. 

However, while shaking my hand in aggravation, a light went on in my head as I stared at my front brake disc.  Like any other brake disc mine has series of geometric holes in it.  See for yourself:

For some reason I immediately thought of watch gears, and then I thought about gears that are used in helping to generate power.  I then thought about the traditional bike tire based dynamo that has been used to generate power.  Like this one:

Image Credit to MyraSimon.com

I then thought, "Why not create a dynamo that runs off a gear that fits into a brake disc?"  Not exactly like this picture, but you hopefully get the idea that filled my head:

You would just need to create a gear wheel that would fit the pattern in the brake disc and voila, instant power generator.  It's basically taking the idea used with the tire based dynamo, but taking it up a notch.  You get it?  Taking it up a "notch" . . . I kill myself.

It would be enough to say power a light so you would not need to keep charging batteries all of the time like I do. 

Okay folks, if you are an engineer, tell me why my idea of using the motion of a brake disc to generate power might be stupid.  And if you are an entrepreneur who creates this, I'll take 10% of the profits =)

Do you have "a call to engineers?"  Feel free to comment or to submit it to us.

Integrated Bike Locks

A while back reader Hugo contacted us to see if we were aware of what I guess I would call integrated bike locks.  By this I mean locks that are meant to be a part of the bike rather than just an accessory, like say my Onguard Beast Chain which I bought separately from my bike.  Hugo sent along some pictures of a bike that had an integrated rear wheel lock.  Hugo lives in Finland and his email text is below:

I saw this bike hack parked outside a shop yesterday in Helsinki in Finland (link to Flickr account here):

The front wheel isn't locked to the bike rack. Instead, it has an integrated lock near the rear brakes. These are very common here in Finland and often you'll see bikes only locked like this and not to any unmovable object. Still, there is a fair bit of bike crime here.

My bike is from the UK and doesn't have one of integrated locks, and I always D-lock it to something static, and always try and get the frame and the (preferably back) wheel locked.

One day recently when running an errand I had the good fortune of stumbling upon an example myself.  Check out this bike . . .

. . . and upon closer examination (I was ogling) I noticed just such a lock.

From the looks of it this bike has been around while so this is certainly not a new concept, but I can’t say that I have seen it on any newer models sold in the U.S.  And this bike does look “European” in origin, at least from my U.S. based perspective.  Anyone out there aware of integrated bike locks in the states?  Feel free to comment or to send along your thoughts/experiences.

One more bonus plug from Hugo . . .

Also, you might be interested in this: there's a "Kilometre Race" that started on last week's "cycle to work" day and is running over the summer until the end of the September. It's a friendly competition for companies, organisations, or whoever, to form teams and see who can cycle the most kilometres.
http://www.kilometrikisa.fi/