Cycle hire availability across London shown on a cool new site.
Thanks to the data released by Transport For London on the locations of the Cycle Scheme docks and bike movements, one clever developer has built this website that gives real-time updates on bicycle availability.
Looking for a bike? Red denotes bike stands that are full. Looking to drop a bike off? Dark blue/purple denotes bike stands that are empty, with the various shades in between indicating degrees of fullness.
The map’s fully scaleable, and there’s a newsfeed ticker, and the blue and red dots are curiously soothing. Mobile phone applications - the logical useful step - may be on their way.
posted by Tyler (Editor) - August 10, 2010 - 12pm EDT
Walking around Key West, I found this Origin 8 fixed gear bike locked up with the Huffy 3 mixte. What caught my eye was the clever use of bar tape to protect the top tube. I’m sure you big city folk have seen this before, but I hadn’t and thought it was a much more elegant method of keeping the paint from scratching than some other things I’ve seen.
posted by Tyler (Editor) - August 9, 2010 - 11am EDT
Leave it to Apple (whom we love, BTW, but are starting to get a little tired of their hijinks) to proclaim the coming of the smart bicycle, thanks to them.
In a patent filed recently with the USPTO, Apple has dreamt up a system that would allow for all part of the bicycle to provide data that, combined with the iPhone’s (or other as-yet-unannounced trinket) GPS, gyroscope and accelerometer to provide direction, speed, power, incline, altitude, location and more to the rider. More exciting, though, is the patent’s mention of communication via cellular service and WiFi that would allow teams or groups to share data among themselves while riding.
While Apple’s integration will undoubtedly make the user experience pretty darn good, this isn’t the first system that’s proposed basically the same thing, as some people are suggesting. Most recently, there’s Glympse, which lets people track you in real time. More bicycle specific, MapMyRide just added similar features and OutFront lets you publish your routes in real time. Most ambitious, though, is PedalBrain’s system, which would basically capture and provide all of the same data via 3rd party ANT+ sensors, giving Apple-phobes a way to avoid using a completely Apple-based system that probably won’t play nice with others.
The upside to said Apple-based system is in the details and magical claims made in the patent filing. Hit ‘more’ to start dreaming…
posted by Tyler (Editor) - August 7, 2010 - 12pm EDT
Until now, unless you a) own a Cannondale or b) had a frame custom made to fit their standard, you couldn’t run a Lefty suspension fork on your bike.
Assuming you’re not put off by the look of it, there are few reasons you may want to. First, some models are lighter than any normal suspension fork on the mark, bar none. Second, they’re very smooth because they use needle bearings rather than bushings sliding on a stanchion. Lastly, they’re very stiff torsionally…we’ve ridden them and the tracking is very precise.
Now, Cannondale has introduced their Lefty for All program that uses reducers and adapters to let you run a Lefty fork on any straight 1.125″ or tapered 1.125″-to-1.5″ headtube. The kit includes the spacers, adapters and appropriate steerer tube for $80. For $10 more, you get the full kit with bearings. Three different headset styles are available: Standard, ZeroStack and Hidden.
UPDATED 8/19/10 - corrected installation notes after the break.
Lovely pictures over on the BBC site today, contrasting new and old games of bicycle polo. This bicycle above is just one shot from the gallery, and, despite looking like a 1980s lo-pro (AKA modern hipster bike) was actually made in the 1950s and is highly maneuverable and well-adapted for its grass-court polo use.
The original grass-court game has a long and illustrious history in the UK, US, Ireland and India, and was an exhibition sport in the 1908 Olympics. Many of the photos on display are from the Getty archive, and show the thriving league in London in the 1950s and 1960s. There’s even a photo of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (the Queen’s husband, for non-UK readers), playing in 1967.
Click below for a picture of a vintage ladies’ team - but do check out the BBC gallery, as it would be cheeky to post any more here.
Photo from Boonkia on Flickr via Creative Commons: http://www.flickr.com/photos/boonkia/269698001/
Check this website started by a group called Sponsor My Ride: they are planning to pay London cyclists per mile they ride in return for putting advertising stickers on their bikes.
Once the organization has rounded up 5000 cyclists, they will start distributing advertising stickers and pay the following rates, according to London transport zones:
•18p per mile cycled in Zone 1
•14p per mile in Zone 2
•12p per mile in Zones 3-4
•10p per mile in Zones 5-6
For non-UK readers, zone 1 is central London, the West End and the City, and 18p is around 28 US cents. So it’s not going to make anybody rich - but if you’re commuting 12 miles a day anyway, surely it’s money for nothing? In addition, professional riders such as messengers will be eligible for special rates, the site says.
There are obvious benefits to advertisers to being associated with cycle riding - Barclay’s Bank is thought to have paid £25 million ($39 million) to sponsor the London’s new municipal cycle hire scheme . But as far as I’m aware, schemes such as this have been proposed before and never got off the ground: there are logistical problems to the whole thing, as well as the lack of billboard space on your average diamond-framed steed. And besides, aren’t we cyclists too individualistic to take corporate branding lightly?
posted by Tyler (Editor) - July 26, 2010 - 2pm EDT
Whether you’re looking at this as a safety app for your sweetheart to keep tabs on you while you’re riding (because, you know, God forbid you seem stationary on the side of the road for too long) or he/she and your friends want to see where you are on course at a race, Glympse may be the coolest non-cycling app for cycling.
Glympse is an app for iPhones, Android and Windows Mobile that tracks your movements in real time for a specified period of time, letting others (whom you specify) know exactly where you are for as long as you want to let them know.
Theoretically, you could even mount your phone using the Bicio iphone handlebar mount (or Biologic’s or Best Buy’s) and track your friend while actually riding to see where you both are in relation to each other. Or, supposing you get too far ahead on the trail and don’t want your buddy to get lost, send them a Glympse so you don’t have to crawl back up the singletrack you just ripped down.
There are cycling-specific apps that track your position in real time (like this, this and this), but they may seem like Greek to non-cyclists and family members that just want to see where you are, and not all of them can be monitored on another smartphone. Additionally, Glympse seems to have more cross-platform compatibility.
Oh, and with the iPhone’s new iOS4, Glympse will run in the background so you can continue texting, facebooking and tweeting from your ride as you please.
posted by Tyler (Editor) - July 22, 2010 - 8am EDT
This is the answer to those times when you’re pushing hard on the shifter hoping beyond hope that there’s one more gear left. Offered up by Complete Concepts, it slides onto freehub body behind the cassette, then you remove the 2nd or 3rd smallest cog before tightening things down. There are a few more steps to it, all outlined on Australia’s BikeExchange classifieds website, where you can pick one up for AU$65. It only works with Shimano 9-speed cassettes. You can also find it on eBay.
Oregon Scientific have released another action camera, the ATC9K, offering high definition recording in a robust shockproof, waterproof shell. What makes this camera particularly interesting though are it’s additional features. Firstly the built in G-sensor allows the user to measure acceleration and deceleration forces such as those generated during a crash, or cornering. Secondly there is an optional built in GPS to allow you to log your rides and review them in Google Earth. Used together these features will allow you to watch the video of your ride and simultaneously display the altitude, g-force and location on your computer screen. More pictures and specifications after the break.
Tyler Tate, a graphic designer in Kansas City, sent us some photos of his custom SID decals. Borrowing the general design motif of Rockshox’s current graphic scheme, they add a little flavor kinda like the Circus graphics on the new Manitou DJ fork. Flat layout shown after the break, and you can order up a set from his Etsy shop for your SID.
posted by Tyler (Editor) - July 8, 2010 - 10am EDT
Kevin Scott has designed a unique bike that dismisses the need for traditional locks by wrapping the frame around a pole, letting you use a small u-lock to connect the wheels and frame.
The bike uses a ratchet system (shown behind the break) to pull the frame tight when riding and loosen it to fold around something for easy locking. Besides making parking easier, it also makes storage in tight spaces (cubicle, flat, etc.) a bit easier. It’s on display now at the Young Designers 2 show in Islington, north London.
Jennifer Holt, currently a physics grad student at Ohio State, made this motorized mountain bike herself–she even made the frame so it could hold all the components. Check out her website, JennTech, Science From Scratch, where she’s posted more specifics, pictures of the electronic parts, and will soon post the schematics for the bike with its 48V motor and homemade lithium battery pack. She limited the top speed to 30mph, and admittedly isn’t very good at riding it yet–she’s already fallen off and broken her elbow. Video of it in use (pre-broken elbow) after the break.
Lovely pictures over on the 
