Year: 2009

  • Spooklight and a few other links

    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…

  • In defense of concept bikes

    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…

  • Coleoptera velomobile and assorted links

    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…

  • Constructor’s Design Challenge winners

    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…

  • Bicycle: People + Ideas in Motion

    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…

  • A partial Interbike recap

    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…

  • Frames from Speedhound and Sylvan

    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…

  • Nice Suit!

    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…

  • Interbike and a few really fast velomobiles

    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…

  • Inside Trek design and a full-sized folding fixie

    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…

  • Joules, the electric stoker

    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…

  • Eurobike is over… time for Interbike

    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…

  • Great deals at JensonUSA

    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…

  • The Embira Bicycle Frame

    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…

  • Eurobike and nouveau penny-farthings

    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…

  • US Pro 09 is history

    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…

  • US Pro weekend is almost here

    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…

  • The Contortionist folds more than the average bike

    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…