Drones & Vehicles

That’s How We Roll

That’s How We Roll

Spotted in the MAKE Flickr pool, this homemade contraption from user Whymcycle who, besides having the best UID I’ve ever heard, has this to say about his creation:

Made from an 8 foot..96?..pair of power line spool hoops, sized down and painstakingly re-arc-ed back to more or less circular 84?, and crossbars of electrical conduit. Also with 4 handholds made from Schwinn Varsity drop bars…and foot straps of old car seat belts. We’ll see if practice, persistence and careful study of YouTube European footage..will allow me to learn some of the art of Wheel Gymnastics.

The device itself is called a “Rhönrad,” “gymnastics wheel,” or “German wheel,” and is apparently the basis of an entire sport in Germany.

Building Bikes “From Steel”

California filmmaker Michael Evans likes to capture the beauty of workflow, what a craftsperson looks like when he or she is deep “in the zone” of their process. This video features the smooth moves of Sean Walling, owner of Soulcraft, a custom steel bicycle frame shop in Petaluma, CA. It documents Sean in the workshop […]

Belt-Driven, Hubless Rear Wheel Bicycle

Belt-Driven, Hubless Rear Wheel Bicycle

The aim was to use a hubless wheel to create a compact bicycle, with the benefits of a large wheel and belt drive.Hubless wheels have appeared in bicycle concepts already, and were first invented by Sbarro. However, few concepts have made it to prototype and when only used for aesthetic purposes, the disadvantage of extra cost out weights the visual gain. Lunartic uses the hubless for a reason; to house the working parts, reducing the wheel base but not sacrificing conventional riding geometry. Lunartic is supposed to be as compact as possible without folding or being awkward to ride, however there is the potential for the front wheel to fold up into the rear or for that space to be used for a laptop back, motor or dynamo.

Old Bike Refresh

Old Bike Refresh

There are a lot of old, broken down bikes out there — we have at least one in our garage. It’s a good bike. It’s a little beaten and bruised, a little rusty, but a quick strip-down, a few fresh coats of paint, some lubrication, new tires, maybe a new seat, and it’d be back […]