This Fifth Grader Is Smarter Than You: Builds His Own Air Powered Car
This kid (and his father, you know his dad helped) built this freaking sweet air car.
All that and catchy music. It also looks like it uses a fair amount of bicycle parts, making it even cooler. I wish I had learned how to weld in fifth grade. According to the Youtube page it can go about half a mile and goes about 9mph, not going to change the world, but still pretty awesome for a fifth grader. My science fair project in fifth grade was a stupid volcano made with vinegar and baking soda. To my credit it did have a cut away model showing the magma chamber, but still it was no air car.
Rush Hour In Copenhagen - Bikes Are Awesome
Sure as hell beats the rush hour in Boston. Were some of those people actually having friendly conversation?!? Was that a smile I saw!?! Are those people working out and having fun and commuting home all at the same time!!!
I am pretty sure they are having a good time. You could tell cause you could hear them, you know cause the horn symphony was turned off, and the roar of diesel engines was gone. Someday Boston… someday.
*to be clear, this is not some event, this is every day in this city, thousands of people use the bicycle as their main form of transport.*
Another Sweet Use Of A Bicycle: The Bicycle Snow Plow
When the $4 a gallon gas hits, and you can’t fill up your snow blower, try this guy.
Kevin Blake, who by day is an engineer at Trek Bicycles, came up with the idea of using pedal power to push show about 13 years ago. In 1993 Blake built a recumbent commuter tricycle with a friend and remembers thinking “could I put a blade on the front and push snow?”
His friend was skeptical about it working at all because of traction and weight issues with the light weight trike. Undeterred, Blake figured that if he could “snowplow” with a regular shovel then it should be possible to use the legs in a pedaling motion to do the same thing.
It took another eight years for Blake to acquire a junked Craftsman riding lawnmower to use for the chassis of his brainchild snowplow. Every time he shoveled snow in those eight years he would think about his pedal plow. Then one day while watching the show “Monster Garage” he was inspired. He immediately turned off the TV and started sketching some ideas for the snowplow. Within four months (Oct ’03 – Jan ‘04) of working after hours and week-ends Blake had a functional machine. (via)
Awesome. See it in action here.
Cool Bike Video’s
Because I had such a good time this weekend on a bike, and because bicycles are one of the most eco-friendly forms of transportation and I want all of you to go get one and ride them, I present these videos for your enjoyment.
Monday Confessional
Wow so did I have a good time this weekend. Good times, let me count the ways.
Friday: Yea its a little think I like to call going to see the funny man. If you have never seen or heard of this guy (as I hadn’t) then you should check him out. Warning he is really really really really really dirty and crass. If thats your cup of tea check this out. I have to admit I laughed till my abs hurt. It was a great time.
Saturday: So you think to yourself funny man pretty much makes the weekend, BUT WAIT, there is so much more. Saturday was the culmination of a dream for me. Everyone who has ever gotten really in debt knows the mental anguish that that has on you. You think about it all the time, you worry about paying it off, its generally a no good time. That is why when you finally pay off that debt, it’s like the world is suddenly a glorious and fantastic place, a magical world of elves and unicorns. I now inhabit that world! Story time.
Once upon a time in a flat flat midwestern land, a small boy wanted to go to school. The only problem was this boy was broke as a joke, so broke that for the first semester of his modestly priced state school he was forced to foolishly borrow exceedingly large sums of money from Citibank. He was the first person in his family to really ever deal with this sort of thing, and he wasn’t very good at it. Lets just say that Citibank saw him coming. I was that boy.
In a kinder genteeler world I would be saying “thank you kind Citibank for loaning me the money to attain my education.” “A million blessings upon your head for allowing me the schooling that helped lift me up from poverty to just plain broke.” We don’t live in that world.
You would think with a name like “student assist loan” that what they were offering me was a “student loan” you know the kind you can consolidate, the kind you lock into a (at the time) super low interest rate, the kind that wont suddenly sky rocket to over 9.4% interest. If you thought that, you would be wrong.
So long story short, what started out as a modest loan soon blossomed into a mob like “the juice is running” situation in which I soon realized that if I didn’t bay this bad boy off, and soon, that it was going to be with me for a LONG time. A couple of months of rice and beans for dinner (every day) ramen for lunch (most days), and paying near 100% of my income to the bank = BAMN no more loans. TAKE THAT Citbiank!
Saturday night, surrounded by friends, I logged in for the last time to Citibanks online payment center and sent them the last of the money they will ever get from me. There was cheering, and much joy was had by all.
Sunday: With a Friday and Saturday like that you must assuredly be thinking that Sunday would be spent resting, well you would be so wrong! “This is madness” you would say, to which I would respond “no, THIS IS SPARTA (bike racing)”. Thats right Sunday was the premier of the Boston Boldsprints! Think indoor racing, think people pushing themselves to the limit of their skill, think potential vomiting, yes it was a fantastic night of awesome. Many many more pictures below the fold.
Read the rest of Monday Confessional
It’s Snowing Build Yourself A Ski Bike
Proving once again that bikes can do ANYTHING I present the ski bike.
Build your own, instructions. See one in action below.
(umm do I need to even mention that these things are dangerous?) Proving once again that you don’t need something that runs on oil to kill yourself Have an insane amount of good clean eco-friendly fun.
There Is Nothing A Bicycle Can’t Do (Bicycle Powered Forklift Edition)
We have covered a lot of bike stuff around here from bike powered super computers, bike powered welders, even bicycle powered tennis ball launchers! Here is yet another awesome bike device (yaabd).
Behold! The Bicycle forklift!
I love it, uses no fuel, and I bet the person who operates it is wicked ripped. Of course you couldn’t use this for everything, but if your warehouse is small, or perhaps you only have a few things you move around all the time, why spend the extra money for fuel and a big machine when this lovely device will do just fine, plus at lunch you could race it around the parking lot! You can find more interesting bicycle devices here. (Japanese translation)
Presenting BostonBiker.Org
A while ago I mentioned that I have been working on a bicycle related project, well I am proud to announce the official Sietch launch of BostonBiker.org (doo do do dooooo!)
BostonBiker.org is a place for Boston area cyclists. You can sign up get your own site, swap stories, post rants, sell parts, advocate for better cycling conditions, or just hang out. It is quickly growing, and has lots of fun features. If you like to cycle, and live in Boston or around Boston I highly recommend you check it out.
It’s free, easy to sign up, and I am very open to working with anyone who wants to do something a bit more custom. Contact me if you have a special bike related project.
There is a lot of bike culture in Boston, but it is fractured into a lot of little groups. My goal is to bring them all together and create a clearing house for information, events, and stories. Boston has the potential to be a world leader in cycling, we just need to build a big enough group of people who are interested in transforming the city.
If that wasn’t enough here are some of the many fine features that you will be able to enjoy:
- Free
- Included Blog
- Static pages (can create an entire site quickly and easily)
- Monetize your site with Google Adsense
- Over 40 themes to choose from (with more coming every day)
- Free hosting for special bike projects
- Fun widgets to easily customize your sidebar without knowing any code
- Fully customizable
- Lots of cool cycling people to talk to
If you are interested in giving it a go you can sign up here. I would love your feedback, feel free to leave comments here with anything you liked/hated about the site.
Chicago And New York City Team Up With REI To Promote Cycling
Everyone knows that bicycles are sweet. They keep you in good shape, allow you to experience nature in a direct way, and they are a great way to reduce our carbon foot print (bikes don’t run on oil). Which is why it is great news that New York City’s Transportation Alternatives and the Chicagoland Bicycle Federation have been selected as the first recipients of REI/Bicycle Friendly Communities Grants of $15,000 each. This new grant fund, administered by the Bikes Belong Foundation and made possible with support from Recreational Equipment Inc. (REI), helps aspiring, committed Bicycle Friendly Communities become great places to ride.
Transportation Alternatives (TA) will use their award to support a comprehensive citywide bike parking initiative designed to increase bike transportation in New York by giving cyclists safe, convenient places to park and store their bicycles. TA will conduct advocacy work for “parking spot swaps” and legislation mandating bicycle access to commercial buildings. The grant will also back a bike-rack design competition organized by the NYC Department of Transportation, TA, and city art museums.
Chicagoland Bicycle Federation will use their funding to produce the first of a series of Sunday Parkways events in Chicago, modeled after Ciclovia in Guadalajara, Mexico, and Bogotá, Columbia. With a goal of “transforming communities by invigorating their lifelines—their streets—every weekend from June through October,” Sunday Parkways promises to dramatically increase ridership in the city of Chicago by creating a car-free community celebration that other U.S. cities can adopt.
(video is of Bogota)
“Chicago and New York are already working hard to become bike friendly,” said Tim Blumenthal, executive director of Bikes Belong. “These REI grants will help city governments, businesses, community leaders and nonprofit groups increase cycling for transportation and recreation. The result will be reduced road congestion and air pollution, and better health and quality of life for residents and visitors.”
Bicycle Friendly Communities is a program developed by the League of American Bicyclists to inspire city governments to create safe, appealing bicycle routes and facilities as well programs that encourage people of all ages to ride bikes for transportation and recreation. Currently, there are 72 communities across the country designated with bronze, silver, gold, or platinum BFC awards. The League’s BFC staff provides applicants with resources and technical assistance, and offers workshops and site visits for communities that want to develop and energize their efforts to become more bicycle friendly.
I think that you are going to see a lot more of this, as the economy slows down, and oil prices stay high, the bicycle is going to look better and better. “Take that love handle and use it to power your commute!” or “Hey save hundreds a year by riding your bike” or “Save the earth, ride a bike.” Pick your slogan, it doesn’t really matter why you ride, so long as you do it. Happy riding!
Coolest Bike Rack (Evar!)
Wouldn’t it be cool if bike racks came with extra features. Like maybe a bike pump, well wait no longer! This super sweet bike rack, not only looks glamorous (who wouldn’t want to see their bike attached to it) but comes with a functional and slick looking air pump.
(via)
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