December is always the busiest time of year for me. Right now, I have a big product launch in January that is consuming almost all of my time. Currently, I am also working on a local advocacy project that will be part of an upcoming presentation to our city council. Between family, work, and other…

Steve Hampsten of Hampsten Cycles had a great post over the weekend that features some really nice “Porteur” bicycles. All of these traditional, utility oriented bikes are beautiful, but I especially like the Vanilla that is pictured here. I probably wouldn’t get decked out in lycra to take this bike on a fast weekend club…

The December issue of Bike magazine has an interesting article titled “12 of the Greatest Mountain Bikes Ever Made”. As you can imagine, most of the bikes featured in the article are from the early days including Gary Fisher’s 1937 Schwinn, a ‘77 Breezer, an ‘81 Stumpjumper, a mid eighties Fat Chance, and an early…

A recent Cyclelicious post about rocket-powered bikes reminded me of this great design. As much as I would like to claim this one, I must give credit where credit is due. My son drew this bike when he was four and asked me if I could make one like it for him. Sometimes I feel…

If you are reading this blog, chances are, like me, you are a bit obsessed with bikes. I realize that lots of people out there don’t love bikes as much as I do, but that doesn’t mean that many of those people would not like to own and ride a bicycle if it were designed…

My recent post about the design of Armstrong’s time trial bike reminded me to mention the importance that 3D modeling software plays in the field of product design. Though all of the bike concepts that I have posted on this blog have been quick hand sketches or 2D Photoshop renderings, I use 3D software daily…

I was out of town over the Thanksgiving holiday visiting family. Before the trip, I talked to a friend who mentioned that he had an extra bike that I could ride if I did not want to bring one along. We ride the same size bikes and he always has some pretty nice new stuff,…

Many of you have probably already seen Damon Rinard’s now classic article about his experience building a carbon fiber bike in his garage. It was originally posted close to ten years ago and is currently archived on Sheldon Brown’s site (if any of you are not familiar with Sheldon’s site, it is a great place…

28 days! Man that is fast. That is how long Trek’s Advanced Concept Group took to redesign and produce a new TTX time trial frame for Lance Armstrong to ride in the 2005 Tour. An article in Design News, an engineering trade magazine, explains how the design team used their software tools to pull off…

I have been traveling this week and my internet access has been pretty spotty. It seems to be working now, so here is a short post that I’ll credit, indirectly at least, to the Masiguy. He left the comment “makes me want to design something” to my recent post about Specialized concept bikes. OK Tim,…

You probably noticed that this sketch looks a lot like a rendering that I already posted (which is now in the header). This was one of the quick sketches leading up to the rendering. One element in this one that I like is the little rear fender integrated into the frame. It wouldn’t necessarily have…

I am not referring to the high dollar custom machines that framebuilders create. I am talking about bikes that are modified by their owners to make them unique. It is fun to see what people do with their bikes. Pictured above is a bike, most likely owned by a messenger, that I saw in Manhattan.…

Bike Friday Walter has a great post about the benefits of riding a fixed gear. I think he makes some pretty good points and I have to agree with him that riding a fixed gear bike is a great experience. Though I do most of my riding on bicycles with derailleurs, I think that everyone…

One of my favorite parts on my current road bike is the Giant aero seat post shown in the picture to the left. It looks great on the bike and, with its 4:1 length to width section profile ratio, has a much lower drag coefficient than a standard round post. Due to its location on…

Every week, I get an email newsletter from Design Within Reach, a great modern furniture catalog. Today, the feature story was about cities made for walking (and biking). Urban design is a subject that always interests me. In this case, they used the nearby South Carolina city of Charleston as an example, so I felt…

I love to look at old pictures and drawings from the early days of the safety bike era. What an innovative time it was for the young bicycle industry. The books shown in this picture are some of favorites. Archibald Sharp wrote “Bicycles and Tricycles” in 1896. It is a very detailed book on the…

OK, I know I said I would be back to normal design related posts after the weekend, but something changed my mind. This morning, I read in the paper about two more cyclists who were killed in a nearby South Carolina town. On top of that, I read the comment from Fritz about my last…

Today’s post is a little different than my others. Most of my posts have something to do with the design of bicycles. This one is really more about design for bicycles. For some time, I have been involved with local bicycle advocacy issues in the larger cities where I have lived. I currently enjoy living…