Let’s face it: too much roadkill goes unused and wasted on the side of the highways…
Here’s a wooden bicycle made by someone who put those throw-away antlers to good use (fortunately those seem to be the only “roadkill” parts in the bike). I’m not sure antlers make for terribly ergonomically-friendly hand grips (Ouch! Got the point again…), but I’m sure people will talk when you ride by. I’m not sure you’ll want to hear what they have to say, but I’m sure they’ll talk.
If you live in a condo or an apartment, or even a house without a garage, finding space to store a bicycle can be tough. Not everybody wants it sitting in the living room where it’s going to be tripped over by people coming and going, and if you live in a damp climate, you may not want to leave your bike sitting outside on the porch. Also, there’s the problem of transporting your bicycle to and from the bike trail (for when you live in the city and cruising the streets amidst pedestrians and traffic isn’t that exciting). For that, you pretty much have to buy a dedicated car rack, unless… you have a bicycle that folds in half so you can fit it in a closet or the trunk of your vehicle.
The Jeep Compass folding bike is designed to do just that. Its aluminum frame bends in half at the middle, to make it easy to transport or store when you come home. Expect to pay $300 for this convenience.
If you commute on your bicycle and regularly get caught out after dark (which is pretty easy to do this time of year when it’s dark by 5 pm), it’s important to have gear that lets drivers of automobiles see you. You can attach reflectors to your bike and wear reflective gear, but Sweetskinz reflective tires might be an option that’s a little more fun.
The tires are colorful by day and reflective after dark. There are 4 different styles: Scorch (pictured), Rattleback, Nightwing, and Hazarea. All the graphics and patterns are colorful, both by night and day. Whatever design you prefer, the tires are a fun way to make a statement at the same time as you protect yourself from cars while you’re riding at night.
Not that keen on your current bicycle seat? I don’t know about you, but my rear always gets sore after a while. I’m not sure if this is because I just don’t bike often enough to build up, er, calluses or whatever, or if it’s my seat. I suppose one way to find out would be to try something like the Hobson Easyseat II.
It has two separate sides, one for each cheek. The purpose? “The Hobson Easyseat II eliminates the center horn of regular bike seats, removing pressure and allowing the natural flow of blood in arteries.” Ah, so it’s more blood down in that area I need, not calluses. That’s good to know. (Some places just shouldn’t be hard.)
The split seat is supposed to work with any bicycle (excluding stationary bikes) and be fairly easy to install. Maybe something like this is just what I need to encourage me to go riding more often.
Okay, I’m totally drooling over this FlexFix bike rack, which is fully integrated into the bumper of the Opel Antara (a European car that’s basically the same as the 2008 Saturn Vue).
The FlexFix is essentially a drawer that you pull out from the vehicle’s rear bumper. Want to use your bike rack? Great, load them up. Done biking? Just slide the rack back into its secret hidden mount inside the base of the vehicle.
The rack can hold two bicycles, and it includes an extra rear license plate and supplemental brake lights. It just doesn’t get any better than that.
Right now this is only going to be available in Europe, but one can hope these will become common place upgrades in the near future for U.S. SUVs. I hate my current bike rack, which cost a fortune because my hybrid SUV didn’t come with a towing package, so I might even be tempted to buy a new car for something like this…
via Autoblog
If you prefer riding your bike to walking, you might prefer a MP3 player specifically designed to attach to your bicycle over something like the backpack with speakers I blogged about last week. The player attaches between your handlebars, and it comes with speakers, so you can blast your tunes while you ride (or listen to them quietly). Though it might not thrill those around you, this is actually a pretty good idea. You can listen to your music without wearing headphones, which can be dangerous if your riding in traffic (or even on a busy trail), since you can’t always hear what’s going on around you.
The mp3 player runs on 4 AAA batteries and has 1 GB of flash memory, which holds up to 240 songs. The cost is $130 from Hammacher:
I’ve seen bicycles for two people and even bicycles for three people, but a bicycle built for seven? The Seven-Person Conference Bicycle from Hammacher Schlemmer is just that. At first glance, it looks more like some kind of buggy or go-cart than a bicycle, but if you look closely, all seven people are sitting on bicycle seats with pedals beneath them, so I guess it counts. After all, a bike would have to have a pretty sturdy base to support that much weight (it can support up to 1400 pounds, so I guess that means no fatties allowed, unless you’ve got a few kids to bring down the average).
Interesting it might be, but this bike doesn’t come cheap. It’s in the catalogue at $18,999.95 (plus $650 shipping and handling). Shockingly (I think), it’s sold out. Wonder who is buying these things. If you want your own for you and your six closest friends, or just to get more information on the contraption, you can keep an eye on the web page: