Make: Online: Bicycles Archives

Archive: Bicycles

February 3, 2010

How-To: Adjustable kids' bike jump

Insructables user murphtron writes:

My son started riding a 16" bike at 4 years old without training wheels. (He was first on a push bike without training wheels or pedals at about 3 1/2.) One day he decided to build a jump in the back yard. So he found a piece of 2 x 12 ramp (with random lumber laying around) and piled up some logs. He discovered it was a bit tricky to ride in the grass and hit his narrow ramp. So I said, 'hey, let's go in the street (dead end) and try this.' First one brick was used to provide vertical lift, and then a second brick. He loved it.

With two bricks, the ramp becomes a bit wobbly. Plus, a 2 x 12 is a bit narrow, and a few times he rode off the ramp's side. So I decided to build a jump with the following qualities:

Wider ramp

Adjustable height, so it will last for a few years as he grows

Portable, so I could drag it to the dead end or local schoolyard playground.

Safer (while still providing ample opportunity for skinned elbows and broken bones)

January 30, 2010

Flat-pack bike & scooter

While the functionality may be suspect, these flat-pack wheels have awesome maker flair. Designer Nicolas Belly of Bordeaux, France won 2nd place in the L'Argus Design Contest which had the theme of "Less is More: Traveling in the Era of Simplicity." [via the Ponoko Blog]

More:

January 20, 2010

Flat-pack bike helmet: wear at your own risk?

This project by design students Julien Bergignat and Patrice Mouille seems cool at first, but Fast Company's Cliff Kuang points out some serious flaws:

[The Tatoo] neglects the way bike helmets actually work. It's not simply that they're padded--the padding inside a bike helmet is mostly for wearer comfort, rather than protection. Rather, helmets protect you because they're monolithic and rigid--that allows the force of an impact to transmitted along their length, rather than directly into your head. They're made of foam both to be lightweight and so that they can easily crack--just like a racecar, they're meant to break-up upon impact, to further disperse kinetic energy. When wearing the Tatoo, you might feel the warm glow of future-forward design. You also won't feel your legs, after you're paralyzed.

At first blush he's probably right. Is there any value in this project beyond serving as filling for a design student's portfolio?

More:

January 4, 2010

DIY powder coating oven

Flickr user j_tenkely wanted to do his own powder coating, so he bought a commercial powder-gun and built a custom oven in his garage. He says, "[t]he entire oven cost about $250, but when it runs about $150 to do a bike frame & fork, it's easy to break-even." [via Hack a Day]

December 18, 2009

The Copenhagen Wheel

The Copenhagan Wheel recently demonstrated at the Copenhagen Conference on Climate Change is a clever device that can store energy every time you apply the brakes and then reapply it in the form of motor assist as you ascend a hill on your bicycle. Developed by MIT researchers, the Copenhagen Wheel also acquires speed, distance, and direction data from an array of sensors inside the device and transmits it via Bluetooth to the cyclists mobile. [via geekygadgets]

Over the past few years we have seen a kind of biking renaissance, which started in Copenhagen and has spread from Paris to Barcelona to Montreal," says Carlo Ratti, director of the MIT SENSEable City Laboratory and the Copenhagen Wheel project. "It's sort of like 'Biking 2.0′ -- whereby cheap electronics allow us to augment bikes and convert them into a more flexible, on-demand system.

December 16, 2009

Bright Bike v2.0 plus kits!

Michael Mandiberg developed a kit for making your bike super visible to car headlights with retroreflective vinyl tape! It's easy to apply, looks fly, and comes in several colors. I did up my ride too, check it out above in normal light and below in flash (simulating headlights). The kit makes a great gift for your cycling friends and family members.

December 12, 2009

On a unicycle built for two...

Not a whole lot of build info, but this looks like it would be an exciting ride! [Thanks, Star!]

December 7, 2009

Scooter-bike hybrid

Spotted on the corner of 15th and P St., in Washington, DC, and posted on ReadysetDC.

Bike of the Day: 15th + P

November 18, 2009

DIY bike repair stand

We love bikes, just check out all our bicycle related entries. Unfortunately, sometimes our bikes break, and when they do it's a lot easier to repair them if you have a stand. Too expensive? Then make you own bicycle repair stand with a few parts form the hardware store.

I've needed a repair stand for a long long long time now. But....damn those things aren't cheap. Thankfully, I've got more than my share of blue collar blood in me....so I decided to build one. The process couldn't have been easier. I did a quickle google search on home made repair stands and saw some interesting solutions. In the end, I went with my own variation.

November 12, 2009

VR bike ride through Google Street View

Maker Aki Mimoto wrote in to let us know about his exciting new Arduino/VR/Web app mashup. He's wired up his wife's bike on a stationary platform to an Arduino using a reed sensor. Using the sensor data from the bike, along with data from a head mounted display (HMD), Ari is able to accurately pinpoint his position within Google Street View. Additional data from the HMD allows Ari to look around at his surroundings for a true VR experience.

Pragmatically explained, it means that I don't have to sit in the darkness or stare at my garage door while I'm huffing away. Hopefully once this is done, I'll be able to spend a few nights a week pedalling away downstairs and work my way across the US or Australia over the course of the year.

In the Maker Shed:

Arduino Family

Make: Arduino

November 8, 2009

The 'bike tree', an automatic storage system for cycles, can hold up to 6,000 bikes

Pt 2266
The 'bike tree', an automatic storage system for cycles, can hold up to 6,000 bikes... watch the video!. David Munk @ THe Guardian.co.uk writes-

It's not often something stops you in your bike tracks. But a spectacular "bike tree" invention from Japan bowled me over when I was in Tokyo a couple of weeks ago.

Fed up with bicycles locked to railings, piled on top of each other, blocking doorways and roads, a local council in the city installed the mechanical masterpiece. It's basically an automatic storage system for cycles and operates with computer tagging of bikes and either storage in a building or a basement structure.

There are a number of locations where these bike trees are now in place in Tokyo – some hold 600-odd bikes, others more than 6,000. The concept came from the massive Japanese steel company JFE, whose engineering works division first started them in 2007 but are now spreading.

November 2, 2009

Bicycle handlebar brake lighting

MAKE subscriber Justin Shaw has posted a project on Instructables for a bike brake lighting system that features lights on the ends of a bicycle's handlebars, controlled by an Arduino and a Pololu 3-axis accelerometer. He's even offering a $35 prize to the first person who follows his plans and posts proof of a successful build.

Bar End Brake Light: BEBL

October 26, 2009

How-To: Wrap bike handlebars

I recently got a new bike and needed to wrap my bullhorn handlebars with bar tape. Thanks to this tutorial on the Park Tool website about handlebar tape installation, I was able to do it myself with no problem.

October 19, 2009

Light-up bike pedals add bling to your ride

Need extra bling on your bike? How about some human powered, light-up pedals? Rather than drawing power from a wheel-mounted generator, each of these pedals actually has a tiny generator built in. Neat! [via Gadget Lab]

October 12, 2009

Paul Elkins' bikes, trikes, and mobile homes for birds

I love discovering a blog like Paul Elkins'. He's an obsessive designer and tinkerer who's made all sorts of bikes, trikes, boats, trailers, tree houses, stoves out of mail boxes, and even mobile homes for birds (see above). He writes of his life-long passion for designing and building:

I've been doing this idea hatching thing since I was a kid. I received my first serious sketch pad on Christmas morning when I was 8 years old. Each day I'd think of something weird and sketch it out, and every year, another book would appear under the tree. I have at least 26 of these sketch books now, filled with hours and hours of figuring and redrawing, making lists of pros and cons on an idea. Many hours were spent drawing cartoons and the human figure. These sketches led to paintings and other forms of art, but that's for another future blog. My real passion was and is design, with subject matter varying from bicycles, trikes, cars, boats helicopters, submarines, home design or whatever happens to cross my mind. Each idea has to be original, or an elaboration of something I've seen or read about. At 16 I built my first recumbent bicycle which was never photographed or completed. Several other recumbents were made as time went by. It wasn't until I was divorced and started to enter my 40's that most of what you'll see here really started to materialize. Some of these ideas have miraculously worked out great and I've spent many hours enjoying them, while others have not. For the ones that did, I have pride in knowing that my mind and hands had a part in their creation and existence. For the ones that didn't, I chalk them up as a lesson.

High mileage trikes and more

October 6, 2009

Stepper motor bike light generator

Over on DinoFab, Dean shows off his latest bike improvement, an LED light system that uses a generator built from an old printer stepper motor. He points readers to this article about how to generate electricity using steppers.

Stepper Motor Powered Bike Light

How-To: Simple bike trailer

Instructables user cmachia made a simple bike trailer from some scavanged wood and two bike tires to fill a need to haul more stuff than fits in a backpack.

October 5, 2009

Bike builders compete to build best commuter bike ever

The fine folks over at Core77 have a bunch of pictures from the launch of the Oregon Manifest Constructor's Design Challenge. The top 12 designs will be on display for the duration of the event.

We're looking for the next-wave transportation bike! OREGON MANIFEST has challenged frame builders from around the country to design and build an innovative, modern transportation bike in this technical trial of engineering dexterity and fabrication mettle.

Over 30 custom bike builders will be developing considered, integrated, and spectacular solutions for the everyday rider. The top 12 winners will be displayed at the OM Bike Union for our full 6 weekend run!

[via Core77]

September 29, 2009

Square bike

Square bike... at the Math Midway (more photos)...

September 24, 2009

Bauhaucycle

This baby was designed by one Michael Ubbesen Jakobsen. From baubike.dk:

The BauBike is inspired by Bauhaus design. It is constructed around the geometric shape of the square and the equilateral triangle. The design is stripped down to clean lines and raw material. The design follows a set of formal rules, limiting the geometry to straight lines in a pattern of 60 and 90 degree angles in proportions following the principle of the golden section.

[via Recyclart]