Reflectivity, why not more?

This picture, from our local bike to work day breakfast last week, shows one of the red blinkie lights on the back of my commuter bike. I have one on my rear rack trunk bag as well and when I am riding during rush hour, I always have at least one of the lights flashing. Even during the day, I think a red blinking light helps to increase the visibility of a rider in traffic. You can also see some of the reflective tape on my commuter bike in this picture. It may not be pretty, but like many other bike commuters, I have reflective tape on my frame, rims, cranks, shoes, helmet, you name it; anywhere to increase visibility.

The question this brings up is, “why don’t more manufacturers in the bicycle industry design products that are already reflective?” Some clothing manufacturers do, but the majority of the of the cycling clothes, helmets, and other gear that you find on the market have minimal reflective properties or none at all. A reader, Patrick McMahon, recently sent me an email asking just that question. I won’t quote his entire message, but in part he said:

“Most cyclists that I know (predominantly commuters) go through the painstaking effort of buying reflective tape and other reflective materials to make their bikes, helmets, fenders, shirts, jackets, backpacks, panniers, etc. more visible.

It seems to me as if most bike and bike accessory manufacturers design as if they're making products for Navy SEALs, without thinking about the importance of visibility to the safety of riders. I realize that some individuals may not like the look of reflective materials, but I don't understand why lines of clothing, bikes, and other things targeted towards commuters aren't generously coated with reflective material. I've resorted to buying shirts from a highway contractor company because I can't find a good, wicking t-shirt that will keep me visible while biking home at night.

I've always wondered if manufacturers were avoiding reflective materials because it made it challenging to shoot promotional photos, or because they thought it would fade and look unsightly, or if they were afraid that by putting reflective materials they thought they opened themselves to legal liability. ”

Patrick also pointed out an interesting page on the Bicycle Helmet Safety Institute website. They conclude that reflective helmets are safer, but that “manufacturers will not spend the additional 25 cents for reflective trim on each helmet until consumers are willing to pay an extra dollar for a reflective helmet.” A couple of my old Specialized helmets had a sizable reflective sticker on the tail, but most helmets these days do not. Is cost really the reason, even on expensive helmets, or is fashion also part of it?

I think Patrick’s question is a good one, so I want to open it up to all of you; especially those of you who work in the bike industry. I know that there are some great reflective products out there, but if they really do increase visibility, why aren’t there more? I think cost is part of it, but I also believe there are other factors that keep manufacturers from designing reflectivity into more products for cycling. I don’t want to bias you with my theories though; let me know what you all think.

SwissBike and a few links

I haven’t been able to post for the last few days, but I do have a few things to quickly pass along. Luckily for all of you, I am in a hurry this afternoon, so you will get these links without much commentary on my part.

The folks at Montague recently came out with a new full sized wheel folding bike called SwissBike. You can read more about the bikes on their site. Best of all, they have a blog to support the brand.

Fritz asks in a recent post, “What do you think of the state of cycling? Do you see anything truly interesting and new in the near future?” Sound like a question that some Bicycle Design readers might want to weigh in on.

Roland Saekow, a student at UC Berkeley, sent me a link to his Bike Cuff design, which he says was inspired by handcuffs and “the club” for cars. His design is a theft deterrent and not a lock in itself. It wouldn’t stop a thief from throwing the bike in a truck, but it kind of reminds me of those frame-mounted wheel locks that you see on many of the bikes in Holland to prevent someone from just riding off with it.

I just read a good post on Bike Hugger that some of you will like titled The Rise of the Compact Crank (aka "The Death of the Triple").

Robb (aka 198) posted about his tour of the Industry Nine facility. He took quite a few interesting pictures too, so check it out.

Instructables user dpearce1 posted instructions for building a solar powered trike. Also, Park Tool has a bike month contest currently running on the site, so look for some more DIY bike content there.

Finally, I’ll point out that the people who run the Bike Trailer blog are hiring. Well, the blog isn’t really hiring, but they do need someone for the Bike Trailer Shop in Flagstaff, AZ. If you have a passion for bike cargo trailers, then find out more here.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder

I guess that explains why this early nineties carbon fiber Ferrari Colnago C35 with gold plated C-record components is up to 6 grand on eBay with 2 days still to go. When I saw this bike earlier today at a Cozy Beehive post, it brought back memories of the late 80s when ads for Italian bikes with limited edition gold plated parts were everywhere. I didn’t understand the appeal then and I still just don’t get it. In the case of this bike though, it’s not just the gold plated groupo that I don’t like. The curve of the seat tube, the bulge of the chainstay and seatstay intersection near the dropouts, even the relationship between the angular wheels and the frame, all combine to make this bike look a bit whacked (to use a technical term). Of course, that is just my opinion. I have mentioned the old Ferrari/Colnago bikes before and it is probably no secret that they just don’t appeal to me. Obviously though, some people DO like them and are quite interested in this bike in particular, as a collectors item or for whatever reason. I guess that brings me to the point of this post; I am glad that not everyone likes the exact same things that I do. As I commented over at the Beehive, aesthetics are subjective and I think that is a very good thing. Certain forms, colors, etc appeal to different groups of people and that is one of the factors that makes design an interesting profession.

I know that by posting my opinion about this bike, I am opening myself up to negative comments from the legions of gold plated Italian component fans on the web. Before I alienate that group like I did the top tube sporting fixie crowd, I want to say this; if you like this kind of stuff, I encourage you to buy this bike and ride it proudly. Just because I don’t like it doesn’t mean someone else shouldn’t. If you do buy it though, I have one suggestion; you might want to consider having a custom gold pad made for that crazy swaybacked top tube.

Win Susan

Do you ever have one of those weeks where it just seems like everything is happening at once? On top of my normal work schedule, Bike to Work Week is upon us and I am involved with the effort here in Greenville. Also, I have a couple of additional volunteer obligations that happened to hit this week. I have commitments every day this week after work and meetings during my lunch hour for the next two days, so posting here at Bicycle Design will be light throughout the week. Yeah, I am feeling a little overwhelmed, but I am not complaining. I consider myself very lucky to be able to work on the things that I care about and to give in a small way to causes that I think matter.

On the subject of giving, I want to mention the fund that was set up for Elden Nelson’s wife Susan, who has been battling cancer for years now. If you read Elden’s blog, Fat Cyclist, you know that Susan’s condition has recently taken a turn for the worse. Elden’s friend Kenny set up a Paypal fund to help out the family (click the link at the top of the sidebar to donate). I have never met Elden, but I have been reading his blog for a long time, so I made a small donation last week after reading a particularly moving post. Small amounts can help; if a lot of readers contribute 15 or 20 bucks, it can make a difference to the family during this very tough time. I encourage all of you to read a few of the latest posts at Fat Cyclist and help out if you can. You can also help by buying a Fat Cyclist jersey. The new designs from Twin Six look great, so take a look.

Sorry for venturing off topic, but I think this is a subject that warrants it. Hopefully, I will be able to post something design related later in the week, but it may be early next week before I get the chance. In the mean time, go to Fat Cyclist and contribute if you can. Also, don’t forget to ride your bike to work at least one day this week.

Bicycle rendering in Photoshop

I mentioned a great reference CD earlier this week, so I will keep that theme going and review a DVD today. Some of you may remember a little over a year ago when I posted about Scott Robertson’s book, Start Your Engines. In that post, I mentioned his instructional Photoshop Industrial Design rendering DVD, which takes you through the process of creating one of his reflective surface renderings, in this case, of a bicycle. After that post, Scott was nice enough to send me a copy of the DVD. I enjoyed watching it, but at the time a prompt review got lost in the shuffle.

For those of you who do not recognize his name, suffice it to say that Scott creates some really slick renderings and illustrations that appear 3 dimensional using quick 2d Photoshop techniques. Whether you know it or not, I am sure that almost all of you have seen a few of his renderings. Some of his bicycle renderings were circulated around the web as an April Fool’s hoax a few years ago. The concept bikes, which I believe he actually did for the movie Minority Report, were incorrectly presented in emails and on many blog posts as a new line from Specialized called Venom.

Before I talk about Scott’s DVD, I have to say that usually I can’t stand any type of instructional computer videos. Just to give an example; I tried to watch an Alias Maya DVD not too long ago. The video may have presented some good information, but I just couldn’t get though it. Though I have an interest in the software, the way that the video jumped from a guy sitting in a chair speaking directly to the camera to screen shots of the curser clicking around on menus just drove me crazy. I am pretty easily distracted, so usually when I try watch an instructional video like that, I just end up daydreaming and get absolutely nothing out of yet. My experience with Scott’s DVD was different though. He talks through his rendering process and you see what he is doing on the screen the entire time. Many of the steps that he is showing are presented in real time, so you feel like he is showing you something without a bunch of disconnected stages that leave you guessing how he got from one point to another.

Even though I admire Scott’s work, I started watching the DVD with low expectations. I have been using Photoshop for a long time, so I wasn’t sure that I would get much out of it. Well, it turns out that I did. The main reason I liked it is because it is not a video that teaches you how to use Photoshop. In fact, the video assumes that you already know the program pretty well. What it does well is present a specific photorealistic rendering technique that uses some of the tools in Photoshop that most designers are already familiar with. Basically, you are not learning to use the program; you are just getting a glimpse into how another designer uses the tools to get very nice results. It helped me to think about a program that I was already very familiar with in a different way and that got me excited about trying some new techniques.

The DVD also includes a .psd file of the concept bike with all of the layers that you see in the video as it progresses from a quick sketch to a polished rendering. I had a lot of fun playing around with Scott’s file, tweaking the curves, and quickly modifying the forms to explore different options. Playing with the file is cool and really helps to reinforce some of the techniques that are shown in the video. You can probably tell that I really enjoyed it. I would definitely recommend this DVD to anyone interested in Industrial Design rendering techniques, for bikes or any other product. Here is the thing though; I mentioned that I received the DVD a long time ago. Now when I look at the website, the bicycle rendering DVD shows up as “sold out”. I have no idea if Scott plans to produce any more or to create an updated version. Some of his other instructional videos are available and I am sure they are good, but if you want the bike rendering one you might just be out of luck. I’ll see what I can find out though and will update this post if I get any news on future availability. In the mean time, I encourage those of you interested in rendering and illustration to check out Scott’s website and sign up for his newsletter.

Cycling Science

Actually, a good alternate title for this post might be “confessions of a bike geek”, because when I was in college, I used to ride up to the library every so often to read the back issues of Cycling Science. Our library didn’t have the current issues, just the bound copies of back issues that they kept in the reference section. The articles by Chester Kyle about aerodynamics fascinated me the most, but I read all of the articles in the issues that they had. I have to admit that some of it was over my head at times, but Cycling Science was by far my favorite bicycle publication in the early nineties.

When I noticed that RoadBikeRider.com was selling a CD containing all 23 issues that were published between late 1989 and mid 1997, I felt compelled to order a copy. I received the CD several months ago and I haven’t had the chance to really go through it and read everything, but I think it is a great reference to own. Sure the articles are all a few years old, but I think anyone who is interested in the design of bicycles would benefit greatly from the information on the CD. The pages are actually scanned from the print magazines, so in addition to reading the articles, it is fun to look at all of the old advertisements. 24 bucks may seem a little high for a CD, but it is a purchase that I am really glad that I made.

Coincidently, right after I ordered the CD, I found a copy of the book Science of Cycling edited by Edmund Burke at a used book sale ($1 well spent). The book contains selected articles, many of which deal with the physiology of the rider, but it also has some good information about mechanical factors and equipment. I would recommend it too if you luck into a copy like I did.

Since I mentioned Dr. Burke, I will point out that the Cycling Science CD is dedicated to him. Some of you may remember that he died unexpectedly on a training ride in 2002, but he left us with the books and great articles that he wrote for Cycling Science as well as many, many other cycling publications. Even those of you who might not recognize his name have surely read some of his work. If you haven’t, I recommend that you order the CD and start now.

A student design and a few links

Stelian Tchapkanski is an industrial design student who is working on a concept for an electric assist bike. His goal is to change people’s perception of the bicycle and to make commuting a fashionable alternative for those who don’t currently ride. In his own words, the concepts are “not designed to replace the bike, but are more as an alternative to the car.”

My first reaction, which I already passed on to Stelian, is that the rider position in both of these form study renderings is way too aggressive for a commuter-oriented bike. The average casual commuter wants an upright riding position that is much more relaxed than that of a racing cyclist. Stelian agreed with that comment and would like to get more constructive criticism from all of you who read this blog. He is going to start working on a full size mock up soon, so leave a comment if any of you have feedback that might help him with his project.

Bike Portland mentioned the 2008 IDSA Western District Conference in a post yesterday. Designers at the conference will take part in a workshop titled, Yield! Bikes and cars, can’t we all just get along? The participants will be presented with two design issues; improving on street parking and the design of complete streets. Read more about the event and the questions they hope to address at the Bike Portland post. I am looking forward to seeing some of the solutions they come up with in the workshop, and I will be sure to pass those along.

I just updated one of my posts from last week with info about the Zipp podcast, so check that out if you are interested in hearing more about the new 1080 wheels.

Finally, I want to close this post with something that is not design related. I have mentioned before that Masiguy is one of the first bike blogs that I started reading and is one of a handful of blogs that prompted me to start this one. Tim (aka Masiguy) is a great guy, so I was upset to hear that he crashed pretty hard at the San Diego velodrome the other night and suffered a concussion, broken bones, and other injuries. As you can see from the picture at BikeBiz, the crash was definitely a nasty one. If you want to help out with Tim’s recovery, his friend Blue Squirrel has set up a Pay Pal “get well” fund. To contribute, follow the link from his post, where you can also read updates on Tim’s road to recovery. Get well Masiguy; I’m looking forward to some updates on that blog of yours soon.

A chair inspired by bicycles

Some of you might be wondering why I am posting a chair here on Bicycle Design. Well, if you have been reading the blog for a while, you have probably heard me say many times that I think variety is very important for all types of designers. If you work in the same industry on the same type of product all the time (even great products like bicycles), it is easy to get stuck in a rut. Taking on a project that is out of one’s comfort zone by occasionally stepping into a totally different industry or market can provide a designer with a valuable fresh perspective. That translates to better work when the designer gets back to the products that he or she creates on a daily basis.

I firmly believe that designers who look only at the work of their competitors and never look outside of their particular industry end up creating stale “me too” designs. That is why I want to pass along this carbon fiber and aluminum chair from Laisr, which happens to be a side project of Cannondale Design Director Torgny Fjeldskaar. Torgny points out that the chairs were “inspired by materials and production processes from the bicycle industry.” I like to see that kind of design cross pollination, so I was glad to see these new furniture designs from a successful bike designer. It sounds like Torgny and his partner, Javier Alberich, got a great response when they unveiled their designs at Salone del Mobile in Milan earlier this month. I am not surprised; the chairs look great. Check out the other Laisr products and read more on the company’s website.

While I am posting, I want to pass on a few more links. I would be remiss if I did not mention the International Bicycle Design Competition, which starts accepting entries tomorrow, May 1st. You can read more about the competition here and here.

Road Magazine recently had a short interview with Steve Hed about issues related to aerodynamics. The article also has a picture of a HED Stinger wheel with a prototype disc shaped center section that replaces the traditional hub. It is pretty interesting; take a look.

Finally, some of you might remember my review of the Strida 5.0. I enjoyed riding the bike, but I felt like, at 6’ 2” tall, I was at or near the maximum height to ride the bike comfortably. After I returned my test Strida though, I found out that the designer, Mark Sanders, is actually taller than me at 6’ 3” and that I should have moved the entire seat assembly above the top pin in the frame (something the directions do not tell you). Oh well, live and learn. For anyone who had the opposite problem with the original Strida, they have just released a smaller version of the bike with 14” wheels. The new Strida Bantam is designed for kids and smaller adults (under 5 feet).

Gearing for Brasstown Bald

It was an exciting race to the top of Brasstown Bald on Saturday and I had a really great time photographing the action. Check out my latest stage 6 photoset on Flickr if you are interested. I have probably mentioned before that I really love to see the mountain top finish on Brasstown; my kids and I have been to watch it every year since it was added to the TdG in 2004. One of the reasons that I like to see the pros suffering on those extremely steep grades (up to 25%) is that it reminds me of the pain I felt the first time I raced up to the top of Georgia’s highest peak many years ago (time to cue the flashback music).

For a few years in the late eighties/ early nineties, a very short time trial (4 miles if I remember correctly) to the top of Brasstown Bald was part of the Athens Twilight Criterium race weekend. I was in college at the time and had never been to Brasstown Bald, but I decided to ride with some friends to do all the races in the weekend series. At the time, I was a fairly strong rider and the lowest gear on my bike was a 42 –21. Those were the days of 7-speed freewheels, and I firmly believed that there was never a need for a rear cog bigger than a 21 tooth on a road bike. After all, a 21 was a lot bigger than the 18 tooth rear cog on a 7 speed straight block, so it seemed like a good climbing gear. After we arrived and registered at the base of the mountain, I started warming up with a friend who had a similar rear cog. Several other riders started asking us, “are you riding up with that?” or making comments like “you are going to change wheels before the race, right?” We saw a few people with triple cranksets and started to get a little worried. When someone showed us how he had set up his road bike with the 32 tooth cassette and long cage rear derailleur from his mountain bike, I started to question my own gearing choice a tiny bit.

I don’t remember my finishing time, but needless to say I did not win. I never had to get off the bike and walk as I saw some people doing, but I can say that on the steepest sections I was swerving from one edge of the road to the other. I remember a spectator on the steepest grade telling me to ride a straight line. I don’t know if he was trying to be helpful or just being a smartass, but either way I was too delirious from the pain to yell anything back. I didn’t have to ride 88 miles over Hogpen Gap and Unicoi Gap to get there like the pros in this year’s stage, but I still remember it as a pretty painful day on the bike. The fact of the matter is that Brasstown is an extremely hard climb no matter where you start.

OK, that is enough reminiscing about a race that I did nearly 20 years ago. The point of my little trip down memory lane is to explain why I was checking out the cogs on several of the pro bikes that I saw on Saturday. Several of them seemed to be running 26 teeth in the rear, but a few looked like they were at the maximum limit of their rear derailleurs with 28s. You don’t often see pros riding with gearing like that, so it says something about the difficulty of the climb. It also should serve as a lesson to young racers who want to look PRO. You won’t be fooling anyone if you are struggling with a gear that is way too high for the conditions while everyone else is passing by. The real pros know that the gear that gets you up the hill the fastest is the best one to use. There is no shame in riding with a compact crankset or a really big rear cluster if that is what you need. If I were to race up Brasstown today, you can bet that I would set up my bike with a lower gear than I normally ride. Even then, I doubt I would turn down a friendly push on some of the really steep sections.

Updated 4-29-08: Obviously I wasn’t the only one looking at cassettes on Brasstown. I just noticed that Velonews has a good tech article on the subject. Also, be sure to check out the link that Fritz left in the comments about the gearing that Team Type1 ran during the stage.

TdG Team Time Trial pictures

I finally uploaded some of my pictures from yesterday’s team time trail to Flickr, so check out my Tour de Georgia 08 set. I had a great time photographing the race; in fact, I think I becoming addicted to race photography. With such a short circuit lap and two teams on the course at once, there was never a break in the action. I took the opportunity to experiment with my camera settings and try some new things. Some of the shots worked out, though many of them didn’t. Still, the important thing is that I had a blast and learned a bit in the process. I am becoming more interested in race photography all the time, so I appreciate any feedback (good or bad) from any photographers who might be reading.

Speaking of photographers, I had the opportunity to meet Ken Conley before the stage yesterday (in addition to being a great photographer, Ken is a really nice guy). When I saw him again after the stage, I found out that he actually had a chance to ride on the back of one of the motorcycles and take some shots. Very cool! Check out some of the resulting images on Ken’s blog and on his photo site.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot, for any of you who are only interested in the bikes, you can my skip the race shots and go straight to the photos that I tagged TdG08bikes. Of course, I recommend that you look at all the shots, but I just want to give you the option.

Time to run. I have to get ready for the Brasstown Bald stage tomorrow. Can’t wait; it’s a tight race so stage six will probably decide the winner.

Tour de Georgia- team time trial

Slipstream-Chipolte just won the first pro team time trial in the U.S. since something like 1994. Astanta and High Road were close behind on the course here at Road Atlanta. It was a really hot day at this race course, which is usually used for automotive racing, I just heard someone say that the temp on the asphalt was 102 degrees. It certainly felt like it out there taking pictures today. OK, that is enough trying to play race reporter for me. I’ll leave the details to all the real race reporters who are frantically typing away here in the press room. Seriously, I don’t know how these guys do it. I have a new appreciation for all the immediate race results that I am accustomed to reading on sites like Velonews and Cyclingnews.

As you know, this blog is all about the bikes, and I took quite a few shots of the team bikes before the stage. Unlike most time trails, this race was run on road bikes; they weren’t even allowed to use clip-on bars. With the exception of the high profile rims on most of the bikes, they looked just like what you would see in a regular road stage. The riders weren’t even allowed to wear time trial helmets for this twisty 2.5 mile course that they repeated 4 times.

As you can see from the photo here, most of the Slipstream riders were using Zipp 808 wheels for their winning ride today. Only two riders, Danielson and Vandevelde were using the newer and much deeper Zipp 1080s. In addition to having a much deeper rim profile, I believe the 1080s have a newer more pronounced dimple pattern and the edge of the rim blends seamlessly with the tire. I’ll have to check the facts on those features, but I can say after looking at them up close that they are nice looking wheels.

As I said before, I have many more pictures to follow. I’ll start sorting and get them uploaded to my Flickr account as soon as I can. Stay tuned.

Updated 5/1: If you want to hear more about the 1080 wheelset, listen to this recent Zipp podcast. For those of you interested in bicycle technology, I recommend adding the Zippcast to your feeds. The podcasts are short (10-20 minutes) and I think they are usually quite interesting.

Wolfhound Singlespeed 29er

I am busy today getting caught up at work so that I can take off for the Tour de Georgia tomorrow, but I do have time for a quick post. Robb sent me a link to a post on his blog about his experience riding a friend’s Wolfhound Cycles singlespeed 29er. The bike immediately caught my attention because lately I have been thinking about selling my rigid singlespeed mountain bike (an old Cannondale with the original Pepperoni fork, so when I say rigid, I mean it) and building up a singlespeed 29er to replace it. Since Robb lives in Atlanta and rides some of the same rocky and root covered Southeastern trails that I do (Pisgah, DuPont, Tsali, etc), I was pretty interested in his experience with this rigid bike.

The first thing that you notice about this Wolfhound bike, built by Fred Cuthbert, is the interrupted seat tube. Here is what Robb had to say about that part of the design:

"His interrupted seat tube design allows you to run 16.5" chainstays on a 29er and still be able to put your seat all the way down. From what he says..and I agree after riding it...it also stiffens up the bottom bracket. The bottom bracket has Phil Wood external BB bearings pressed into it which is another really cool feature."

You can read more specs on the bike and see additional pictures at Robb’s post. Also, check out more pictures of this bike and a couple others on the Wolfhound blog.

Reactiv LED cycling jacket

I am a little late in mentioning this, but for those of you who have not seen it, here is a picture of designer Michael Chen’s Reactiv cycling jacket. The jacket, which uses colored LEDs to indicate when the rider is accelerating or decelerating based on movement sensed by a built in accelerometer, recently won a 2008 James Dyson Award. The jacket also has amber LEDs in the sleeves that serve as turn signals when the wearer’s arm is lifted. A recent article in BikeBiz pointed out that two other bike related products were on the shortlist for a Dyson Foundation prize this year. A single-handed brake lever, designed by four students at the University of Guelph in Canada, was highly commended and a bike lock that doubles as a front and rear light, designed by Adrian Weidmann of the Zurich University of the Arts, was also in the group of 13 concepts that made the final cut. The BikeBiz article also pointed out a few previous products for cyclists that include wearable indicator lights. Take a look; the article is worth a read.

Les sent me a link to a sculpted wooden tandem that I don’t believe I have posted before. The bike was made by Jens Eichler, a student of wood-technology at the University of Applied Science in Eberswalde, Germany. According to his post, Jens spent about 400 hours working on this project. Check out a few more pictures here.

While I am passing along links from readers, I’ll mention this Japanese multi level bike parking garage that Murray sent. Pretty cool.

Finally, I want to point out a few nice photos of bikes that Ken Conley took at stage one of the Tour de Georgia. I agree with Ken that the older Marco Polo graphic scheme with the dragon details is much nicer than the plainer new bikes. The graphics on the Rock Racing bikes are pretty nice too for racing bikes. You just can’t miss that “lizard juice” green on black color scheme in the peloton. Speaking of the Tour de Georgia, I will be there on Thursday for the team time trail and on Saturday for the Brasstown Bald stage. Not sure about the circuit race in Atlanta on Sunday yet, but I do want to try and make it if I can. Look for my race photos on Flickr toward the end off the week. I’ll post a link here when I have them uploaded, so stay tuned.

Why not?

As I indicated in my last post, I have been really busy lately. I subscribe to quite a few magazines and I usually read the articles that interest me as the issues arrive. Lately though, my magazines have been just been stacking up on the corner of my desk. Well, just last weekend I finally got around to reading an interesting article in the January issue of Wired titled The Race to Build the 100mpg Car. Some of the information in the article about teams vying for the Automotive X prize may not be as timely now as it was 6 months ago, but it is still a pretty interesting read. One particular quote from the article jumped out at me. S. M. Shahed is a Honeywell corporate fellow and a past president of the International Society of Automotive Engineers who also serves as an adviser to the AXP. In explaining the expectation for the winning entry (to be safe, comfortable, mass-producible, etc.) he said, "We do not want toys." The writer of the article elaborates saying, “in other words, a one-off, carbon-fiber-ensconced motorized recumbent bicycle isn't going to cut it.” Ok fine, I agree, but what about a comfortable mass-producible pedal powered velomobile with electric assist? That seems like a pretty good transportation solution to me.

Before I go on, let me say that I fully realize that not everyone is going to ride a bike for transportation no matter how high fuel prices go. The biggest reason that I like to ride to work has to do with the fact that I just love to ride, period. With a busy schedule, commuting is basically free riding time, so I take advantage of it when I can. That love of riding may not be a consideration for a lot of people, but that doesn’t mean that human power should be discounted entirely as a viable transportation solution for a pretty large segment of the population. Lets face it; human power is very efficient. If someone builds a light enough enclosed vehicle with some cargo carrying capacity, I don’t see why a portion of the power cannot come from the person inside. Electric bikes are gaining in popularity in parts of the world, so I don’t see why velomobiles with an electric motor assist can’t do the same. Another statement from the article that favors human power is worth pointing out; “AXP organizers decided that teams would have to account for upstream carbon emissions as well as those from the vehicle itself.” Since electricity, the production of hydrogen, or most other potential power sources you can think of generate pollution at some point along the way, this distinction should give a real advantage to a vehicle that is partially powered by its driver. I don’t know if any of the X prize teams are using the driver to generate even a small portion of the vehicle’s power, but it seems like something that could provide an edge when the efficiency per unit of fuel input is calculated.

Those of you who have been reading this blog for a while will probably recognize the aerodynamic velomobile pictured here. Greg Kolodziejzyk built it with speed in mind, but I can certainly imagine it a little bigger with lights, a cargo area, and an electric motor. With those changes, it probably wouldn’t look all that different from the all-electric Aptera car that is currently entered in the X prize competition. If the Aptera team could just consider adding some pedals to that thing, it could be the perfect urban car. Makes sense to me; any thoughts?

Bike blog quiz

I don’t have time for much of a post today. I have been really busy with work lately and had to press on through lunch. Since this blog gets a mention though, I do want to point you to QuickreleaseTV’s 400th post, which is a bike blog quiz. I scored a perfect 10 out of 10, though I must admit I did take a wild guess at one answer. Still, that result probably just means that I spend too much time reading bike blogs. Oh well, there are worse ways to waste time on the web. Go ahead and take the quiz and let me know how you score.

Fritz or David or Donna or Richard? I forget. Anyway, that person who runs Cyclelicious mentioned the bike blog quiz too. Also today, he/she linked to an interesting interview of Richard Schwinn by Georgian Terry about steel as a frame material. Go ahead and listen and read a little more here.

Bursford’s Ultimate

Ultimate is right. I have posted old superbikes from Lotus and Hotta before, but this picture just reminds me that I need to post more of those crazy bikes from the 90s that I love so much. In the mid 90s, Bruce Bursford was passionate about speed on a bicycle and breaking records. Using technology and materials from F1 racing and the aerospace industry, he built the “Ultimate Bike” a version of which is shown here. Sadly, Bruce was killed by a van while on a training ride in 2000.

I just found this great page about his Ultimate Bike via Stumbleupon, so I wanted to pass it along. Check out the gearing on this LOLA labeled bike (a maker of Indy cars). Wow! That makes a 53 x 11 look pretty wimpy. I guess that is why I hardly ever get up to 207 mph on the flats.

Look 586 Mondrian Limited Edition

I don’t have much time to post today, but I do want to quickly point you to some nice shots of the Look 586 Mondrian limited edition that were taken by Ken Conley. Only 50 of these Mondrian frames will be produced, so you had better order now if you want one. Read more about the limited edition release here.

I am a fan of Mondrian’s work; in fact, I have a print of his 1931 painting 'Composition with two lines' hanging in my office. I would order one of these frames, but I recently sold my old La Vie Claire winter cycling cap on ebay, so I guess I don’t need the matching bike anymore. Well… that and the fact that the fact that $4499 frameset price is a little rich for my blood. Oh well, at least I can look at Ken’s pictures.

Since I brought up La Vie Claire, I will change the subject and say that I was glad to hear that Trek has finally severed it’s ties with LeMond. Greg LeMond’s unfounded comments about Armstrong and others have been hurting his namesake brand for long enough, so I think Trek’s decision to dump the LeMond brand was way overdue. Still, it is too bad that the relationship had to end like this. I guess the positive thing about all this is that I don't have to feel guilty about pulling for Fignon in the '89 tour anymore. On one hand, I really wanted to like LeMond back then because his success in the sport was good for American cycling. On the other hand though, Fignon had that cool "professor" image going for him with the ponytail and round glasses. How could you not like that?

Flax frames and a few links from readers

A reader, Pierre, sent me some interesting pictures that he took recently at the Paris composite trade fair. The 3 main tubes of the frame shown here are made from 80% flax and 20% carbon composite. If that sounds familiar, it is because former Belgian world champion Johan Museeuw has been marketing frames that use flax/carbon composite main tubes for quite some time now. Museeuw has several flax frames available with varying flax to carbon ratios, 80 to 20 being the highest. Museeuw claims that the main advantage of a flax composite frame “is its excellent shock-absorbing quality, which makes for an enhanced riding comfort and, accordingly, for improved performances”. While previous Museeuw frames hid the flax beneath a layer of Carbon or under paint, the latest one, the MF5, has the dark brown flax fibers on the outer layer of the main tubes. If you haven’t seen these bikes, take a look here. I have never ridden one and can’t speak to the ride quality, but I think the visual result of the exposed flax is very nice.

Back to the frames shown here from the Paris show. Pierre pointed out that the frame and tube at the show were rejects, but that they were interesting to see without any finishing, paint, or varnish. He mentioned that he “could see the surface texture had linear small grooves similar to those you'd see the surface of wood.” Though these pictures do not represent the current Museeuw flax bikes, I thought it was quite interesting to see the layers in the cut tube shot. Thanks for the great pics Pierre.

While I am posting, I want to pass along a few other links that some of you have shared with me. Lately, I have been receiving a ton of email tips from readers. I appreciate them all, but my time to devote to the blog is limited so occasionally they get lost in the shuffle. If I mentioned that I would post something and never did, you might want to resend it. I wish I had the time to post everything that I would like to, but there just aren't enough hours in the day.

Anyway, here are a few recent links from readers:

Jason sent me this Gizmodo link to a very odd contraption.

Bubba pointed out this concept bike with light tubes built into the frame. It also has a little storage area, kind of like a glove compartment.

Fabrizio, who you may remember from his Luna Lander design, has a new bike that he just released. The O-Mega has a long wheelbase (kind of like a cargo bike) to improve stability. It appears that a second passenger seat is optional.

Finally, someone (sorry I can’t remember who) sent me a link to this Little Fish framebuilding page. There is a lot of framebuilding info on the web (some of it probably pretty questionable), but I like this site because it documents Suzy’s process of building a few lugged steel frames in a simple, straightforward manner. Make sure you check out her tutorial while you are there.

Bike design jobs

Every so often, I get emails from industrial design students or recent graduates who want to know how they can get a job in the bike industry. I usually ask them to send me any bicycle related projects in their portfolio that I can consider for posting. Quite a few people in the industry read this blog, so the exposure doesn’t hurt if you have a concept that you are particularly proud of. Beyond posting your concept though, I can’t really offer much help (remember, I design products outside of the bike industry). I can say that now is probably the best time ever to get a job designing bicycles; all you have to do is look. I pointed out recently that bicycle sales are on the rise and I think that trend will continue as the industry expands further into markets that it has not traditionally tried to reach. That, of course, means that the number of opportunities for designers at bicycle companies will continue to grow.

In just the past couple of weeks, I have noticed or heard of several bike industry design jobs. An ID position at Giant was featured as the job of the day on a Core 77 post not long ago. Soon after I saw that one, I received an IDSA newsletter, which had a listing for a design position at Serotta. You can read more about that one on their website if you are interested. Finally, I have heard from several people about a few open ID positions at Trek. As far as I know, they are still looking for a staff designer and for an experienced designer to work on helmets. On top of those three, I have heard from headhunters about a few other positions in the industry that are open right now and I am sure there are several more that I don’t know about.

Yep, it’s probably as good a time as ever to break into the bike industry, but I imagine that means stiff competition for design positions as well. The best advice I can give to design students is to work hard and make sure that your portfolio reflects your interests. If you want to design bikes, then take the initiative and work on some personal projects in your free time. If you have any sketches or renderings that you are particularly proud of, send them to me and you might just see them show up in a post.

Theft proof bike designs and more

Just a quick post today; I want to mention the One Hour Design Challenge winner at the Core77 blog. The Core site gave forum participants one hour to design and post a theft proof bicycle concept. The seat/lock concept shown here was chosen as the winner, but you can see all of the entries on the forum thread. There are 4 pages total and I suggest you look at them all. It is fun to see some of the quick concepts that were obviously thought up on the spot.

Since it is April fools day, you probably woke up this morning expecting to see a few posts like this one (more here). Obviously, I am not going to fall for anything like that. Now you will all have to excuse me while I run home to wrap my aluminum frame in carbon. What a great idea; the wonders of modern technology never cease to amaze me.

Photo credit: Core 77