BikeHacks

Bike BrightZ - The Film Fest Continues

A few more entries have rolled in for our Bike BrightZ contest. The movie theme is strong, but don't feel compelled to go that way.  Express yourself anyway you like.

Nate from the Seattle area sent in this one . .  .

 

And Lucas from Manchester, MO sent these . . .

Brick and Mortar Goes Wheel and Pedal

What do you think of when the word "store" is mentioned?  I would hazard a guess that most people conjure up the image of a stationary brick and mortar building where they go to buy something.  With the Internet now such a part of our lives I am sure people might think of a web interface too.  But how about hacking that concept with a bike interface?

Check out this from the folks at Microcosm Publishing: 

With everyone and their grandpa declaring print media dead, Microcosm Publishing is saying "not so fast, dudes!" For the second time in six months the Microcosm zine store in SE Portland has expanded, moving first from a 9x15' room this July to a 13x15' space, and now upscaling to 22x15' of radical publishing goodness! 

A zine tricycle!? Yep, Biel has built a mobile zine trike, a tricycle zine display cart that will take zine culture out onto the streets of Portland! On rainy days the trike is based out of the store, where it functions as display space, but as soon as the sun comes out, the trike goes mobile. "People forget that even shopping is a form of socializing and if we push all commerce onto the internet, we'll be leading some pretty isolated lives," says Biel. "I hope the zine trike will fight that and add a little old-worldly situationism into the mix at the same time."

Check it out man, mobile capitalism and socializing!

 

The email the fine folks at Microcosm sent me states:

Our publishing and distribution company focuses on D.I.Y living, with a big emphasis on bike culture. Besides books and zines, we also sell t-shirts, buttons, patches, stickers and more.

The Zine Trike is just the latest way we've incorporated bikes into our daily business operation. We also make our local deliveries by bicycle, and when our store changed location last year, we moved most of our supplies across town by bicycle caravan!

For more information visit the Microcosm Publishing Web site. 

Duct Tape Cell Phone Mount for your Bike

Reader Zack contacted us with what he calls a "rather crude but highly functional duct tape phone/pmp/gps mount."  We are all about crude on BikeHacks!

Here is Zack's description:

I molded the tape to specifically be fitted to the Palm Pre I have and it works wonderfully. Not the prettiest by any stretch but it gets the job done. I'm able to see calls, turn on and watch gps tracking and listen to some good tunes. On the cheap and only requiring just a bit of time and patience... oh, and duct tape, plenty of that. :)

Here are some photos Zack sent along . . . but don't let this be a temptation to text and ride =)

If you have any questions for Zack submit them in comments.

Bike BrightZ Contest - First Entry

Devon from Albuquerque, NM is the first to submit an entry for the Bike BrightZ contest.  Devon went with the movie theme.  I remember Tron!  To enter your art just review the contest post and get as creative as you like. Ride on!

Bike BrightZ: Win Yourself One

I have said before on the blog (you will have to believe me for now while we continue to make the transfer from WordPress to TypePad - yes we plan on having our archives back) that I am a huge fan of bike safety lights.  Living in New York City, I ride around a lot of motor vehicles that weigh considerably more than I do.  I want to do everything I can to make sure it is basically impossible not to see me at night.

Thanks to the generosity of the folks at Bike BrightZ I am now one step closer to my dream of appearing to motorists as a spaceship similar to those in Close Encounters of the Third Kind.  I am definitely dating myself here as I am sure many readers have not seen the 1977 flick, but if you haven't, I highly recommend it.  If there was an Oscar for best artistic use of food, Richard Dreyfus would have taken it home for sure. 

I have two rear blinkie lights, a Monkey light in my front spokes, a headlight and now a Bike Brightz light.   Take a look at the product in the package.

The recommended placement of the light noted on their home page is on the bottom of the down tube or the chain stay.  Take a look at this video from their web site:

The Bike BrightZ light can perform much like another product, the Down Low Glow. However you can purchase about 6 Bike BrightZ for what it would cost you to buy one Down Low Glow.  My down tube is not well suited for the light because my rear brake and gear cables are routed down the underside of the tube.

I chose to mount the light on my rear rack so that light splashes on the ground behind me.

So with everything going at the same time this is what my Globe looks like - like a rolling Disco actually.  I set the Bike BrightZ to one of the flash modes and you can see the reflection is pretty strong off of the tile floor . .

The folks at Bike BrightZ have provided a light for me to give away so a contest is in order. 

Just like Richard Dreyfus got artistic with mashed potatoes, I am inviting readers to get artistic with the Bike Hacks logo.  You will find the logo in a couple of different styles below.  You can right click (PC) or command click (Mac) on the images to save them and the rest is up to you. 

You could print the logo out on paper and take a photo, use a photo editing software (kinda like me placing the logo over the TV in the Close Encounters picture), take a picture of the logo in a unique place, even incorporate it into a video . . . the sky is the limit but the more personal the better.  Just make sure your final product is work safe. 

Once you have your final product, send us an email via our contact page and we will respond with instructions on how to get your entry to us.  Contest deadline is February 16th.

 

Photoshop Bike Hack

 

Photo credit goes to heiwa4126 via Flickr

A nice Photoshop bike hack...

7 Year Old Biker on a Mission

I can't remember exactly what it was like to be 7, but I think my mind was mostly occupied by thoughts of soccer and Star Wars at the time.  I somewhat recall reminding my mom that my soccer uniform could never sit around dirty and instructing her to purchase only breakfast cereals that had coupons on the boxes that would allow me to, once I had enough of them, mail them in to receive Star Wars figures that could only be delivered by mail. 

I do remember the bike I had.  It was a black Schwinn BMX bike with red tuff wheels. I am certain that while riding my Schwinn to soccer practice that my thoughts were not on the problems of the world, rather I was thinking about when my next action figure would arrive in the mail.  

Then there is 7 year old Charlie Simpson.  Via Mail Online comes the following:

Charlie Simpson was so upset by the devastation wrought by the earthquake that he told his mother he wanted to do anything he could to help.

He set out to raise £500 for Unicef's Haiti appeal by riding his bike five miles around his local park - but the schoolboy's efforts inspired hundreds of people online who donated a total of more than £50,000 in just one day.

Photo Credit to PA as posted on Mail Online

I am humbled by what this 7 year old on a bike has set out to accomplish.  Last time I checked his Web site, Charlie was at 29,000 percent of his goal. That is truly a figure that is no child's play. 

Eddie Van Halen - January 26 - Rock On!

Participants - Eddie Van Halen, born January 26 would be proud of you.  Leave a comment with your name and number and click the image below to go continue.  Rock on!

All about the Alleycat

Million Car March: China

I understand the human fascination and dependence upon cars, I'm just really glad I am no longer beholden to car ownership.  I did not think about car ownership much for the first few decades of my life because it was a necessity.  I grew up in the burbs where there was no public transportation and my bike was used for recreation, not transportation.  Most modern societies are set up on the assumption that people will travel by car. 

Then I moved to New York City where a combination of wealth, patience, and time is required to own, operate, and park a vehicle.  I think I am a patient person, but I'm not so good on the wealth and time scales.  I took public transportation daily for about a year after moving to NYC and then it hit me, why not ride my bike?  I rode for fun but thought commuting would be too much of a pain.  Boy was I wrong - community by bike is now like a drug. 

It has gotten to the point where when I am forced to take the subway for some reason, I get bummed out.  My commute to and from work is a part of my day I look forward to, no matter the weather.  I think back to when I commuted by car on the West Coast and it was far from an enjoyable experience - it was drudgery. 

What got me to thinking about all of this?  Reader Marc sent along a link to an article in China Digital Times about city planning in China.  The article states:

After wrestling for years with Beijing’s appalling traffic and pollution problems, city planners have come up with a distinctly old-fashioned solution: bicycles. Municipal officials want to boost the number of cyclists by 25% during the next five-year plan, state media reported today. Twenty years ago, four out of five residents in the Chinese capital pedaled to work through one of the world’s best systems of bicycle lanes.

Then comes the kicker . . .

Last year, China overtook the United States to become the world’s biggest car market. Increasing affluence brings about a million new vehicles on to the roads every month, choking the streets with traffic and the air with smog.  

Wow, a million cars a month - that's a lot traffic.  I for one am glad the U.S. does not lead in the car market any longer.  Reading about the plan to use an "old-fashioned" solution, I am reminded of something my high school math teacher pounded into our brains.  At least once a week he would walk up the board and it all caps write K - I - S - S and would reminded us to "Keep it Simple Stupid."  With all of our technology it is nice to see city planners going old school by keeping it simple. 

For most areas where people live, bikes are not reasonable transit, but with half of the world population living in cities, BikeHacks is in favor of old fashioned solutions. 

Any commuters in China out there?  Chime in with comments.

Tennessee DIY Bike Wheel Truing Stand

Toby from Tennessee sent along the following description and photos of a DIY bike wheel truing stand made out of one side of a front fork.  I admire the hack, but I must admit that I admire the work space and tools even more =) 

All descriptions and photos are credited to Toby.  If you have hacks you would like to share, use the "Submit Your Hack!" option in the main menu above.

I built a truing stand and it actually works really well. I made it out of one side of a front fork with a shock in it. I removed the bolt from inside the tubes of the shock and separated the two halves of the shock.

I threw away the springs and bolts from inside the fork and drilled a hole through both halves of the fork and bolted them together. Then I cut the fork arm off of the fork. I them got a piece of 2x4 and drilled a 1" hole that was 3/8" deep into the center of the block of 2x4. Then I put the fork arm into the hole and put corner brackets of various sizes on 3 sides of the fork arm. I secured them to the fork arm with some adjustable metal band clamps.

Then I used an old brake arm and various metal fitting, screws, washers, and wing nuts to attach a bolt that can be adjusted up, down, and back and forth for different size wheels.

You can true front and back wheels with it by simply putting the wheel into the fork arm and tightening the bolt on the wheel.