Who needs the W.N.B.R.?

when you've got
a Lady's Brooks

Slovenia rolls!

KRPAN & Cult

The former Yugoslav republic's Bicycle KRPAN is truly an alternative form of transport. It's a safe, economical, and green bike for moving light- to medium-weight goods. It's high quality components were carefully selected and built with an eye toward its primary users – Europe's postal workers.

Manufactured entirely in Slovenia, the KRPAN comes in various design options. Weighing in at 25kg it can carry up to 200kg. There's no news about when it might be available in the US, however.

The only model known to be in the US is owned by George Bush %( He was given it by Slovenia's prime minister, Janez Jansa. It was presented during Bush's recent farewell tour of Europe. Jansa is a bike-freak like Bush. He spends much of his free time on a carbon Black Gold XTR, a top level hardtail bike. It's a Cult Bike, the same company that produces the KRPAN.

Evo cycle

another cool design
from the Brits

A truly holy profession

bike
mechanic

The expectations of life depend upon diligence;
the mechanic that would perfect his work must first sharpen his tools.
Confucius

Thinking inside the box

when brown
is green

Phil Bridge, a 21 year old design student at Sheffield Hallam University, is building bikes from cardboard. It's extremely inexpensive at around $30. But some worry that it won't hold up in inclement weather. You know, like when your backyard refrigerator box fort collapsed in the rain?

Bridge, states that it's very strong and it has a honeycomb core. It's mainly used in partition walling and packaging. So his idea is that people could buy them to see if they like biking. Then if they like it they can then upgrade to a normal bike. Nor is he alone. Ryan Perkins of Pacific SouthWest Container made this cardboard single speed from a PDF CAD drawing done on Bike Forest Pro.

The Wayback Machine

and the War in Bosnia
through the Eyes
of its Children

Browse through 85 billion web pages archived from 1996 to a few months ago. To start surfing the Wayback Machine, type in the web address of a site or page where you would like to start, and press enter.

Then select from the archived dates available. The resulting pages point to other archived pages at as close a date as possible. If you have trouble connecting to the Wayback servers, the Internet archive at the New Library of Alexandria, Egypt, mirrors it.

The Internet Archive is a 501(c)(3) non-profit that was founded to build an Internet library, with the purpose of offering permanent access for researchers, historians, and scholars to historical collections that exist in digital format. Unfortunately, keyword searching is not currently supported by either the archive or the Wayback Machine.

Founded in 1996 and located in the Presidio of San Francisco, the Archive has been receiving data donations from Alexa Internet and others. In late 1999, the organization started to grow to include more well-rounded collections.

Now the Internet Archive includes texts, audio, moving images, and software as well as archived web pages in their collections.

Where I've been?

all over
the freakin' place

My latest adventure was the annual 3speed Tour hosted by the Gentlemen Cyclists in Lake Pepin.

That required several weeks fine-tuning my new lady's Hand Job, as the old-timers like to refer to Rudges.

And before that?
I was trapped by the snows in Billings, MT,
touring the JGI Center for Primate Studies in the Twin Cities,
and protecting our future with Mickey & Friends in Orlando.

But fear not,
I'm back in gear...
for now!

%-{)>

Foldy bikes

form beyond
function

I've been thinking about getting a foldy since I started using METRA to get out to the suburbs for work projects. Although its Bikes on Trains Program permits regular bikes, there are a number of restrictions:

[It] is designed to enable cyclists to bring their standard-form bicycles on board trains during weekday off-peak hours and on weekends. Three bicycles are allowed in the priority seating area in each accessible diesel rail car; two in each electric railcar.

Also, whether bikes are allowed on or not is up to the discretion of each conductor despite the program. So it would be easier to have a foldy in a bag that is simply considered baggage.


My research has turned up two elegant, lightweight models. The more traditional of the two, The A Bike, is the creation of Daka Design in Hong Kong.

[It] breaks new ground in the areas of weight, folded size and design. Weighing in at just 5.5 kg, this ultra-portable folding bicycle is the lightest in its class. By utilizing quick release clamps, fold and unfold only takes 10 seconds...

It can be easily carried on public transportation network, and its compact size allows for easy storage. The A-bike can attain normal speeds without having to pedal any faster than with an average large wheel bike...

The second, by Thomas J. Owen in the UK, is The One. It's

a comfortable stylish bicycle that not only offers all the benefits of cycling (like cheap travel and exercise) but with its revolutionary power assist system the user can cruise around with ease. When folded, ‘One’ turns into a smooth, light and compact case free of all dirty and protruding parts.

‘One’ can be easily carried, stowed and stored. ‘One’ is truly a bike for eco and money minded individuals alike. Its stylish design strips it from the folding bike stigma and makes it a bike for the 21st century.

The Queen of Scots

my early spring
diversion

I got this '53 Lady's Rudge through eBay back in January. She sat in my basement until this weekend. The weather was warm enough to get to work on restoring her and with the Jane Train out of town I actually had the time. I've christened her The Queen of Scots.

I've always wanted a Rudge with the funky hand on the chainwheel. Not surprisingly, I jumped at the chance even though it's a lady's bike. And I'm going to ride her at the upcoming 3speed Tour. But how does one dress for a lady's ride?


In a kilt! I figure at least some indomitable Highlanders rolled about the heath. Why wouldn't they then display their clan's pride as well as their mechanical prowess? Also, I did my undergrad degree at America's premier Presbyterian school where our mascot is The Fighting Scot.

Unfortunately, I find my alma mater's tartan; from the Clan McCleod, rather off-putting. So I chose this sport tartan based on the Clan Muir. Besides, I am The Accidental Environmentalist. Why not wear the tartan of John Muir's clan?


But why Queen of Scots? Well ... Mary, on the right, travels nearly everywhere with my überboss 300+ days a year. Though a Scot, she's not Catholic. But this Wee Free makes everything happen for her and the rest of us. So I think, all in all, it's a fitting name.

Stupidist bike lane in America?

from Slate V Editor
Andy Bowers

Sexing up your ride

w/happy feet

Here's one way to sex-up your ride. It might even be useful in those heavy snow areas like here in The Windy City.


Or if you're not very krafty, then you can get these Windride Bicycle Clips from The Conran Shop:

This clever and stylish pair of bicycle clips with its 'wing' design by Gijs Bakker is designed to be worn when one's pants are in danger of being caught by a bike chain, etc. The bicycle clips are made from reflective PVC material.

Gijs Bakker was born in 1942 and studied industrial design and jewellery in Amsterdam and Stockholm. As a designer, he worked for companies such as: Polaroid, Hema, van Kempen en Begeer and Artifort. Gijs Bakker has been a teacher at the prestigious Design Academy of Eindhoven for over 20 years and in 1993, he created with Renny Ramakers the famous collective Droog Design, where he is still the co-operational and artistic director.

Swiss traffic taming

with
velo-assistance

At the big HQ of the Touring Club Swiss, workers and guests park and secure their rides with the help of these space age mushrooms. Oddly enough the TCS is an auto club not unlike our AAA.

Grow your own helmet

with the
Roof R06

After Fritz commented on my post petroleum post I found an answer to his question here. It's a tad pricey at £189, or $378, especially given our plunging dollar. But the UK-made motorcycle helmet is at least a start on combining green transportation alternatives with accessories produced from renewable resources.

Why bamboo? It's the fastest growing woody plant on the planet. It grows one third faster than other tree species. Some bamboo species can grow up to 1 meter per day. This growth pattern makes it easily accessible in a minimal amount of time. The Environmental Bamboo Foundation in Bali, Indonesia lists 11 reasons:

1. The fastest growing plant on this planet

2. A critical element in the balance of oxygen and carbon dioxide in the atmosphere

3. A viable replacement for wood

4. An enduring natural resource

5. Versatile with a short growth cycle

6. A critical element of the economy

7. An essential structural material in earthquake architecture

8. A renewable resource for agroforestry production.

9. A natural controllable barrier

10. An ancient medicine

11. Integrally involved in culture and the arts.

China's pigeons fly

in the USA

But what about in China? Over at Bicycling Magazine, Dan Koeppel wonders if the days are numbered for China'a venerable steed. Not everything is hopeless though...

The past year was a good year--maybe the first good year in a long time--for the Pigeon. In June, 200,000 Beijing residents pledged to reduce car usage and walk or pedal to work. A police crackdown put thefts on the decline. China's deputy minister of construction ordered cities that had eliminated bike lanes to �restore them. Shanghai slightly loosened the bicycle ban.

But the best news came on September 28, 2006, a few days before the country's national holidays. A young couple got married in Beijing, and in a giddy moment that made nationwide headlines, abandoned the traditional limousine to ride a Flying Pigeon to the reception. The bride, in her wedding gown, arranged herself sidesaddle on the bike's rear rack while the groom pedaled.

"This is the way we like it," the bride told the China Daily. "I will never regret this."

Tie your damn shoes!

especially when
you roll

Mathew Honan reports in Wired, 27 November 07, on How to Lace Your Shoes. He turns to Professor Shoelace (aka Ian Fieggen, an Australian programmer with a shoe(lace) fetish for a rundown of the ins and outs.

Before you tie 'em, you have to lace 'em — and you can choose from among 43,200 perfectly legitimate ways to do it. A smart stringing strategy can actually improve your game, sportswise and otherwise.

The Inside-out Version of Straight (Fashion) Lacing distributes pressure evenly plus keeps the knots & ends to the side. For biking, position them on the outside, away from chains & cranks. Lace the left shoe as pictured here and the right shoe in reverse so that the knots of both shoelaces end up towards the outside. This places the loops and loose ends further away from the bicycle chain, cranks and other moving parts. It evens out pressure and reduces snagging but looks like crap.

1. The lace is run straight across the bottom (grey section) and emerges through both bottom eyelets.

2. One end of the lace (yellow end) runs straight up the right side, is fed into and runs straight across the second set of eyelets.

3. Both ends now run straight up the left side, each skipping one eyelet before feeding in two eyelets higher up.

4. Continue running both ends across the shoe, then straight up two eyelets at a time.

5. At the top of the shoe, the laces end up on the same side and the shoelace knot is tied at that point.

Got wood?

build a bike!

We never did this in woodshop %) Marco Facciola, a 16 year old high school student, decided to take the traditional curriculum in a whole new direction: a wooden bike. He notes that his choice of materials isn't all that original. In WWII Holland, rubber and steel were scarce. So his grandfather, Case Vandersluis, built wooden wheels for his bike. What is original is that Marco decided to construct his entire bike out of wood, even the drive train.

The first challenge that Marco successfully tackled was building a chain that wouldn't break. I wonder if he's ever heard of Eric Sloane? If he has, he shouldn't have worried so much. Sloane, who was known as Mr. Americana, penned some 50 books and numerous newspaper columns all celebrating good ole' Yankee ingenuity. My absolute fav is A Reverence for Wood. With it, Sloane reminds his modern readers that the first European settlers in America developed

...[a] special knowledge of which wood is suited to which task, the ready identification of native trees, the reverence for wood, the instinctive knowledge that wood can warm the soul as well as the body --

Well before our modern obsession with sustainability and even before the Back to the Land Movement of the early 70s, wood was the ultimate renewable resource. Sloane shows that in many ways it was stronger and more flexible than iron. The wooden teeth of giant mill cogs wore more evenly and ultimately lasted longer. As a result, wood drove our early industrial revolution.

I'm sure that Eric Sloane, who died in 1985, would've been fascinated by Marco's project. It reflects not only ingenuity but self-reliance and frugality. Sloane believed that these are the ultimate American virtues, for as he describes in A Declaration of Self-Dependence,

My Nation was born with a declaration of independence, but to be free, I must also practice an individual independence.

...As frugality is part of the family economy, so must thrift be important to national revenue. The practice if thrift is insurance against greed, which had no part in the original American philosophy.

Smart Fortwo

smart at all?

The Smart Fortwo was designed primarily for urban use in European cities, where parking is scarce and fuel economy is of great importance. The Smart Fortwo's length of only 8 ft allows as many as three of the vehicles to be parked in the space normally taken by one standard-length car.


Smart car dealers in the US were a mix of green car specialty companies and exotic car dealers. Approximately 1,000 model year 2004, 2005 and 2006 smart cars were imported with Smart Germany/ Mercedes Benz's cooperation and converted by G&K. The terms of the United Auto Group deal closed the door on the legal importation of the smart, and the smart soon became one of the most desirable collectible exotic cars in the US.


The redesigned Smart Fortwo is available this month. A $99 reservation program was launched by smart USA in March, 2007. This program allows interested parties to place a $99 refundable deposit on the new Fortwo in preparation for the product's launch. To some, the 2008 smart was a disappointment. Its EPA mileage was expected to drop by 20%, and in an apparent attempt to turn the smart into a profitable division, the turbo-charged Mercedes Benz powerplant was replaced by a non-turbo Mitsubishi engine, the interior made more conservative, and the overall dimensions of the car increased.

101 gagdets that changed the world

and improved my ride

Simon Usborne of London's The Independent On Sunday ranks seminal inventions. Although the bike, at #8, is only 1 of the 101, another 12 of his picks have definitely enhanced the pedaled technology for me.

8. Bicycle, 1861: The renowned 19th-century US feminist Susan B Anthony said in an interview in 1896: "I think [the bicycle] has done more to emancipate women than anything else in the world." First devised as a gentleman's play thing in the 1820s, the push-powered hobby-horse quickly evolved to become the most classless form of transport, trundling by the millions along highways and byways all over the world. The French vélocipède, invented in 1861 by Pierre Marchaux, is widely considered to be the first true bicycle.

9. Biro, 1938: Had the Hungarian journalist Laszlo José Biró kept the patent for the world's first ballpoint pen, his estate (he died in 1985) would be worth billions. As it happened, Biró sold the patent to one Baron Bich of France in 1950. Biró's breakthrough had been to devise a ball-bearing nib capable of delivering to paper the smudge-resistant ink already used in printing. Today around 14 million Bic "Biros" are sold every day, perhaps making the pen the world's most successful gadget.

22. Digital camera, 1975: There could be no digital camera without the charge-coupled device (CCD), the "digital film" that captures images electronically. Developed in 1969, the widget allowed the Kodak engineer Steven Sasson to build the first digital camera, which resembled a toaster. The first, horribly blurry snap (of a female lab assistant) he took boasted just 0.01 megapixels and took almost a minute to record and display, but in those 60 seconds, Sasson had transformed photography – today digital cameras have all but killed off film and made photographers of us all.

42. Kettle, 1891: In tea-obsessed Britain, where would we be without the humble kettle? It has been said that the kitchen-counter staple is found in more homes than any other appliance. Non-electric kettles date back thousands of years but would leave you waiting ages for your brew. The first electric kettle was developed in Chicago in 1891 but even that took 12 minutes to boil water. Things soon got quicker and today's speediest kettles can boil two cups in little over a minute.

43. Laptop, 1982: A sturdy lap was required to support the earliest portable computers. The Osborne 1, released in 1981, often stakes a claim as the first laptop but it looked more like a sewing machine than today's sleek machines, and tipped the scales at more than 10kg. Introduced a year later, the GriD Compass 1100, designed by Brit Bill Moggridge, is a more likely contender. It was the first laptop to sport the now standard "clamshell" case and its lightweight build (5kg) made it a hit with Nasa and US paratroopers.

48. Locks, 2000 BC: Listen to the jangle of the average set of keys and it's clear just how important security has become in today's trust-nobody world. The Egyptians were the first to put things under lock and key about 4,000 years ago (clever knots were one earlier solution). The wooden contraption included a key that lifted pins, allowing a latch bar to slide free. The device was similar in principle to the pin-tumbler lock invented in 1848 by Linus Yale, whose name still adorns billions of keys.

62. Pneumatic tyre, 1845: Back when cars relied on real horse-power and bicycles weighed a ton, travellers were forced to endure bone-jarring rides over the bumps and potholes of the nation's primitive roads. Cue Robert Thomson, a civil engineer who realised the potential of air to soften the way. In 1845, he patented the use of pneumatic leather tyres on bikes. In 1888, a Scottish vet called John Dunlop devised the more durable rubber inner-tube model that helped inflate the age of the automobile.

72. Saddle, AD 200: The horse had almost joined the woolly mammoth and the T. rex on the list of extinct species when man first domesticated it in around 4,000BC. The beast's fortunes quickly changed and the horse soon became man's most useful (if not best) friend. Early ranchers and riders rode bareback or on blankets, limiting the efficiency with which they could hunt. These rattled horsemen had to wait until AD200 to get their bums on a saddle, which is thought to have been invented by Chinese nomads.

77. Spectacles, 1451: The correcting qualities of stone have been known for millennia – Emperor Nero was thought to use emerald to watch (presumably green-tinted) gladiatorial games. Modern glasses were first depicted in a 1352 portrait of Hugh de Provence, and the first evidence of their sale dates to 1450s Florence. The US founding father Benjamin Franklin is credited with the invention of bifocals in 1784 and useable contact lenses followed in 1887. Today, an estimated 75 per cent of UK adults sports a pair of specs.

87. Thermometer, 1592: It is difficult to place the thermometer in the history of modern invention; it is one of those devices that would inevitably appear – the product of no single mind. Galileo Galilei is most commonly credited, but his clumsy air thermometer, in which a column of air trapped in water expanded when warmed, was the culmination of more than 100 years of improvement. The classic mercury-in-glass thermometer, still in use today, was conceived by Daniel Fahrenheit in the 1720s.

88. Tools, 2,600,000 BC: If there is one defining feature of Homo that has separated it from all other genera, it is the ability to make tools. The earliest tool fragments come from East Africa and were made by Homo habilis more than two million years ago, but it is certain early man used tools before then, likely fashioning them from perishable materials such as wood or bone. Axes emerged as early as 10,000BC and by 3000BC the Egyptians were creating finely worked flints.

95. Velcro, 1948: The Swiss inventor George de Mestral became so fed up with removing cocklebur seeds from his dog and jacket, he put one under a microscope to discover the secret of its stickiness. The answer: velours (the French for loops, in clothing) and crochets (hooks, on the burs). He took the first syllables of the words, replicated the fastening phenomenon synthetically to create Velcro, used today in everything from ski jackets to "human Velcro walls".

100. Wheel, 3500 BC: The wheel surely deserves a place near the top of any "greatest inventions" list; a post-industrial world without it is inconceivable. Its invention was perhaps inevitable, but it came later than it might have done; several civilisations, including the Incas and the Aztecs did pretty well without wheels. The earliest evidence of a wheel – a pictograph from Sumeria (modern day Iraq) – dates from 3500BC; the device rolled West soon after that.

The most important meal of the day

breakfast on wheels

Overslept? Who doesn't; especially with these long winter nights. You have to hurry: brush teeth, pack your stuff, get your bike gear on, then go. Growling stomach! What about breakfast? Thank G-d I've got bikefast!

Get on your bike, put on your breakfast tray, and RIDE! Don't be afraid. You can enjoy your meal because the cup fits into the tray. And the tray's rim prevents your nutritious meal from falling off.

Dark nights

bright lights

Even though the shortest day (and longest night) of the year is now thankfully behind us, it's still the season of night-rolling. So over at Gizmodo, you may be interested in a recent article about this new product:

MPK, a company that has made a name producing glow-in-the-dark paint, has developed self-luminous micro particles called Litrospheres. The new material is said to be inexpensive (35 cents to light up a 8 ½ x 11 piece of plastic that is 1/8" thick), non-toxic, and capable of staying constantly lit for over 12 years thanks to a betavoltaic technology that uses a radioactive gas.

Fortunately, the gas is involves a "soft" emission of electrons that cannot penetrate the glass or polymer wall of the microspheres. So theoretically, you don't have to worry about brain tumors or taking on super powers when using it.

The Litrospheres, which can be injected molded or added to paint, are not affected by the heat or cold and they can withstand up to 5000 pounds of pressure. They can also give off light that is equivalent of a 20-watt incandescent bulb in almost any color imaginable. As you might expect, the first applications of the technology will most likely involve safety equipment—or the clothing and accessories of frequent clubgoers.