Friday Photo - Using a Bicycle to Pump Gas

Photo courtesy of boston.com

Here's someone putting a stationary bike to good use. After the destruction from the 2011 tsunami in Japan knocked out electrical power, these folks used one to pump gasoline.

Thursday Video - Daisy the Solar Powered Tricycle

Daisy at Burning Man

Daisy the Solar Powered Bicycle was created by Professor Bob Schneeveis of Stanford University. Daisy is large and she can carry quite a few people. That's why she doesn't travel very fast, but Daisy does keep up a steady pace. The video is only a minute and a half long - Be sure to watch it all the way to the end.

Weird Bike Wednesday - Coventry Rotary Tricycle

An 1879 Coventry Rotary Tricycle (photo courtesy of New Atlas)

Here's an unusual tricycle from the 19th century. Built in Coventry, England it had two small wheels on one side and a large wheel on the other side. The saddle is in the middle, and pedaling provided power to the large wheel. There are two levers, one which applies brake to the large wheel, and one which turns the small wheels to provide steering. In 2016, one of these was expected to fetch eight to ten thousand dollars at auction.

Prior to the modern "safety" bicycle, tricycles were popular with those who weren't comfortable with the highwheelers. Most ladies of the time wore long dresses, so tricycles appealed to them. The roads of the era were made of dirt and had ruts left by wagons. The wheels on this trike would all fit into the wheel tracks left by other vehicles, since there was no middle wheel. This made the ride somewhat more comfortable than other trikes.

Friday Photo - Bicycle Bathroom Sink

Use that old bike to spruce up your bathroom

I ran across an article out on Buzzfeed called "27 Clever and Unconventional Bathroom Decorating Ideas." Number 4 suggests using an old bicycle for a sink. I'm not sure about this one. I just don't like the idea of getting a flat tire on my bathroom sink.

Thursday Video - Bike Move

A bicycle trailer full of moving boxes

Here's an interesting little video (actually a mix of video & stills) showing a guy moving 5 miles away with the help of seven friends, using bicycles and trailers. Some of the trailers were so wide that the riders went around the obstacles at the bike trail entrance instead of through them. This was done in Portland - In Indianapolis I think you would have trouble rounding up that many bike trailers for moving cargo.

At the end of the video, there is a link to the Portland, Oregon based website Shift2Bikes.org  Here's the video, which is three minutes and 11 seconds long:

Weird Bike Wednesday - Folding Recumbent Trike

The Velorian folding recumbent trike

Here's an interesting design that apparently never made it off the drawing board. It is a recumbent tricycle that folds. There are a number of articles out there about it on websites like Behance, all dating back to 2010. It was designed by Mantas Palaima, an automotive / industrial designer from Lithuania. It looks like he put quite a bit of thought into the design, which features:

• A carbon fiber frame
• Underseat steering
• Front wheel drive and rear wheel steering
• Ten degrees of camber in the rear wheels to improve stability when cornering
• 24" rear wheels and 19" front wheel
• Folded size of 48" x 30" x 21"

My guess is that the concept never went into production because of cost. The reason recumbents and folding bikes cost more compared to standard bikes is they are produced in much smaller quantities. With a folding recumbent, it is a very small niche in the market.

Friday Photo - Australian Tandem Bicycle

Tandem designed by Hubert Opperman (photo courtesy of Modern Mechanix)

Here's an interesting bicycle. This side by side tandem was designed by Hubert Opperman, a prominent Australian cyclist during the time between World War I and World War II. His bicycle racing career ended with the outbreak of World War II. After serving in the RAF during the war, he went into Australian politics. This photo appeared in the August 1934 issue of Modern Mechanix.

Thursday Video - Ski Jumping with a Bike

View from the top of the ski jump

Well, the Winter Olympics are now over. After watching ski jump competitors fly through the air, I wondered if any daredevil had taken his bike down a ski jump ramp and flown down the hill. Turns out there are a few that have.

In this video, Igor Obu makes a run down a ski jump ramp. A couple things about the video: First of all, the audio is in German. Secondly, very little of interest happens in the first 2 minutes and 40 seconds, so feel free to skip ahead to that point. The jump is shown several times, from different perspectives. Igor travels just over 42 meters, which is way less than what ski jumpers achieve. I think someone needs to design a bicycle with wings. Then they could make this new sport part of the Summer Olympics.

Will Igor stick the landing, or will he crash into the ground? Watch the video to find out.

Weird Bike Wednesday - Ultimate Fat Tire Bike

Here's the ultimate fat tire bicycle. I wonder how much the rear tire weighs. I bet that when you get going on this bike you don't want to stop and accelerate up to speed again. I don't have any information about this bike, I found it (surprisingly) on the website 1947 to Current Chevy & GMC Trucks. Under "Alternate Tinkerings" there is a thread for "Hot Rod Bicycles."

Friday Photo - Pizza Wheel Covers

I need a set of these

Here's an interesting wheel cover I found out on Tumblr. It looks like the owner of this bike is a bicycle polo player. They all have wheel covers so that balls and mallets don't wind up in their spokes.

Thursday Video - Raccoons Hanging Off Bike

This looks like fun!

Here's a cute video. There's a bike hanging outside, and one little raccoon jumps onto the back wheel and hangs on. It's not very long before his friend comes along and pushes him off.  The two then begin to fight, and a third raccoon comes along. It quickly turns into a free-for all, with each raccoon alternately fighting and jumping on the bike wheel. This is short video, only 50 seconds long:

Weird Bike Wednesday - Bike Boat

The Bike Boat on dry land

There have been a number of amphibious bicycles that have been developed. The Bike Boat is a little different than most. Instead of continuing to ride the bike when you enter the water, it's time to break out the oars and start rowing. It's basically a recumbent trike with a detachable hull.

I'm guessing this idea didn't make it past the prototype stage. In the "News" section of their website, they have a 2015 entry that says they are getting ready to start a Kickstarter campaign, and nothing after that. I don't know if they never did the Kickstarter campaign, or if they failed to raise enough money to launch the product.

Here's a short video of the Bike Boat in action. One thing I notice is that the top of the hull is not much above the waterline. There are some other videos on the website, but they all show the Bike Boat in still water. I don't think you would want to take it out on a fast flowing river.

Touring Tuesday - Ride the Fault Line

Crossing the Mississippi River by Ferry

Here's an interesting ride coming up June 2 through 8. It's called Ride the Fault Line, and travels through four states over six days. For those of you who don't remember your earthquake history, New Madrid, Missouri was the epicenter of a magnitude 7.5 - 8.0 earthquake in 1812. The earthquake was so powerful it caused the formation of Reelfoot Lake in northwestern Tennessee. Several earthquakes above 7.0 had preceded it in the prior two months.

The ride begins and ends in Sikeston, Missouri. Highlights include:

• Shawnee National Forest
• Thebes courthouse - This 170 year old courthouse alledgedly held the slave Dred Scott for a short time
• Hunter-Dawson Home State Historic Site
• Ferry ride across the Mississippi River
• Discovery Park of America - You can see what it was like to experience the New Madrid earthquake in their earthquake simulator

Friday Photo - Emu Chasing Mountain Biker

Better speed up - Emus can run 30 MPH (photo courtesy of Bicycle SA)

Here's one of those "Only in Australia" problems for mountain bikers - Getting chased by an emu. Apparently for half an hour during a race, it would chase every biker that passed through a stretch of the trail. The organizer said "It was great for the spectators but a bit of a shock for the riders." Apparently the problem was serious enough they had to put up this sign:

Thursday Video - Top 5 Amazing Crash Saves

Please don't go any higher

This week's video features the 5 best saves in professional cycling. Sometimes it isn't a charge up a major climb that is the most critical move in a race, but a split second reaction to avoid a major crash. This video features:

• Sagan and Cancellara avoiding a crash. Watch how Cancellara throws his back wheel to the side.
• In track cycling, Laurine Van Riessen rides on the wall of the velodrome to avoid crashing.
• Sagan and Cancellara again - This time Cancellara goes down and Sagan bunny hops over him.
• Sam Bennet makes a great save while weaving his way through the support cars.
• Danny Van Popell narrowly avoids disaster at the end of a race. They show video from a couple different angles and it doesn't look that impressive, until they show a still photo.

Friday Photo - Sea of Bicycles

Dude, where's my bike?

This week's photo comes from the website Groundhog Dude. This is the bicycle parking outside the train station in the Belgian town of Leuven. There were an estimated 5,000 bikes parked here at the time. I hope this guy was able to find his bike.

Thursday Video: Robin Williams' Bicycle Collection

Robin Williams joking with Lance Armstrong

Robin Williams had an addiction to cocaine early in his career. After John Belushi's death from an overdose, he quit drugs and alcohol and began cycling. He once told a bike shop owner that cycling saved his life. Over his lifetime, he acquired quite a few bikes. 1n 2016, his heirs sold 87 of them at auction, and donated the proceeds to charity.

The video below shows some of his bikes, but for a complete listing you need to visit the Paddle 8 website. There you will see that he had some really nice bicycles of all makes and types. He also has some collectible bikes, like a Pea Picker Krate Stingray. There were also a few oddities in the collection, including a clown bike, a Schwinn unicycle and an electric scooter.

The auction was a big success, raising over $600,000. That was triple what experts expected from the auction. The money raised was donated to the Challenged Athlete Foundation and the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation charities.

Women Bike Indy Meetup Tuesday Night

Activity at one of last year's meetings

The Women Bike Indy meetup will hold its first meeting of 2018 at 7:00 PM on Tuesday at Circle City Bicycles. New store manager Joe Bucksot will cover basic bike maintenance. There will also be a discussion of upcoming activities for 2018. There is no cost to attend, and cookies and punch will be provided by Circle City Bicycles. Come to the meeting and make some new friends.

Friday Photo - Happy Groundhog Day!

Quokka in front of bicycles (photo courtesy of Scott McCook)

Since today is Groundhog's Day, I went looking on the Internet for an image of a groundhog and a bicycle. Unfortunately I couldn't find one, but I thought this little guy could fill in. He's a Quokka from Australia, so he's a marsupial. They live in southwestern Australia and on some offshore islands. I wonder if they have Quokka Day in Australia instead of Groundhog's Day.

We all know the weather prediction rule - If the groundhog (or quokka) sees his shadow, it's another six weeks of lousy cycling weather. Let's hope for a cloudy day.

Weird Bike Wednesday - The Moox

The Moox is a bicycle / scooter hybrid

Here is the Moox, a bicycle and scooter hybrid. You can ride it like a normal bike or push off with one leg like a scooter. It has an aluminum frame and cro-moly handlebars. The Moox has 20 inch wheels with 4 inch wide tires. It is also equipped with 7 speeds and mechanical disk brakes. At the Moox website, you can buy one for $599 in any of these colors:

• Green / Black
• Blue / Black
• Gray / Orange
• White / Red

Personally, I'm not sure if these bikes will be a commercial success. I can't ever remember riding along on my bicycle and thinking "I wish I had a scooter instead of a bicycle right now."

Here's a two minute video that shows the Moox in action: