Author: James
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Berner pulleys and a Rafael singlespeed
If you have checking out the tech sections of the various cycling sites lately, you have probably noticed the SRAM Red rear derailleurs with carbon fiber cages developed by Wolfgang Berner. Rafael Hoffleit, whose bikes I have mentioned on the blog a couple times before, points out that he is handcrafting the small carbon pieces…
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SCOTT Project F01 Aero Road Racing bike
After a disappointing Tour start this year, Mark Cavendish seems to be back on track with his second stage win in two days. The attention is back on Cav, but the bike that he is riding, the recently unveiled SCOTT F01, deserves a lot of attention as well. The new aerodynamic road racing bike, which…
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Bendable bike
A few days ago, Carlton Reid tipped me off to this London Daily Mail article, which features a bike design by Kevin Scott, a young UK based designer. To address the rising problem of bicycle theft (according to the article, more than 52 bikes are stolen in London every day), Mr. Scott designed a bike…
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Tour time is here again
Racing isn’t usually the focus of this blog, but when July rolls around, I do get pretty excited about the Tour. This year’s race has been a great one so far, and I am already in the pattern of following some of each stage live in the morning, then scrambling to get my design work…
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Mark Sanders’ 1985 Strida thesis project
I have mentioned Mark Sanders and his Strida folding bike on the blog quite a few times in the past (if you haven’t already read the excellent guest post that he wrote a few years ago, check it out before you continue reading this one). Though he has designed quite a few interesting folding bikes…
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An aerodynamic concept bike
Simon L. (aka Ess) is a designer who is working on an interesting aerodynamic frame design. His blog is chronicling the development of the bike, which features openings in the head and seat tubes to allow air to pass through. In one of his posts, Ess lists a few of the design details that help…
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Bicycling Science book giveaway
Looking back at the reports for the Bicycle Design Amazon store, it is clear that the book Bicycling Science is the best seller of the items I have listed. I am glad to see that, because it is definitely the first book that I would recommend to anyone interested in the design and engineering of…
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Fast Forward powered pedals
Stephen Britt is one of three finalists in the UK based Barclays ‘Take One Small Step competition’, where he could win £50,000 to develop his idea into a business. His “Fast Forward” entry, the only cycling related product in the contest, is a pair of electric assist pedals. Stephen explains the idea behind his e-pedals:…
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Shimano STEPS group for e-bikes
The Shimano Total Electric Power System, aka STEPS, is due to be launched at Eurobike in September. Bike Radar has a first look at the group, which includes a 250W electric motor and a 24V/4.0Ah lithium-ion battery that can be charged by regenerative braking. The 8-speed internally geared hub is operated by electronic shift buttons,…
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Transport+ from Trek’s Gary Fisher Collection
There was a good bit of interest in the Gary Fisher El Ranchero longtail bike when I posted it in 2008. Though the El Ranchero was presented at Trek World ’08 as only a concept bike, Gary himself commented at the time saying, “we will make a long bike, E bike? RIGHT on!” Well… that…
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African Bicycle Design Contest
Cycling out of Poverty is a non-profit foundation that raises money for projects that allow Africans to improve their daily lives through the use of bicycles. Currently, they are running an African Bicycle Design Contest at Wiki-Bike.com. On the website, you can read about the competition and you can upload your own ideas for durable…
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Trimtab 3×3 recumbent trike
David Parrott is developing an interesting semi-enclosed recumbent trike for his Master’s thesis in Industrial Design at the University of Cincinnati DAAP. I mentioned his Trimtab 3×3 concept briefly in a previous post, but it is worth a second mention to point out that David is currently building a functional prototype of the design at…
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Two penny-farthings and a foil car
It is almost the weekend, so I will leave you with a handful of fun links for Friday afternoon. Designboom posted a few bike designs by Peter Varga, including the glossy modern folding penny-farthing concept pictured here. While you are at Designboom, take a look at all the recent posts tagged with ‘bikes”. It has…
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Etta by Nick Foley
Nick Foley is an industrial design student at Pratt who has been working on a semi-recumbent bicycle design for his senior thesis. His goal with the project was to “design a safer, more accessible urban bicycle that was also more efficient and more convenient.” On his website, Nick lists a few of the key features…
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Mechanical doping and the future of e-bikes
I posted about lightweight e-bike designs back in April. At the time, I jokingly remarked in a discussion group on LinkedIn that, “the way I am riding this spring, I could use a little electric boost to bridge the gap in the local Tuesday night training rides”. I may have been kidding, but apparently I…
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Seoul cycle design competition 2010
Several readers have emailed me lately suggesting that I post a link to the designboom post about the Seoul Cycle Design Competition. I actually already mentioned it, but it was buried in a post full of links, so I can see how many people didn’t notice it. The competition has three categories: cycle design, infrastructure…
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Concept bikes by Omer Sagiv and more
Omer Sagiv is an industrial designer who currently works for Ron Arad in London. He sent me three of his conceptual bicycle designs, which you can also check out on his blog. Some of his sketches in particular are worth a look. I was sort of shocked to see this collaboration between Cervelo and luxury…
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My Assault on Mt. Mitchell
This blog is focused on bikes and cycling products, so I don’t really write about my rides very often. Yesterday though, I finally had the chance to do a ride that I have wanted to do for a long time, so I will take a break from design content to discuss my first Assault on…