Mackenzie Cowell is one of the founders of DIYbio.org. He is featured in the most recent of our ongoing series of video interviews with notable makers, sponsored by Dow chemical, over at elementsofhumanity.com. Mac is a big advocate, not just of the fledgling discipline of synthetic biology (or “biological engineering,” as it’s coming to be […]
Spotted this sexy commercial electric bicycle in a back issue of Popular Science at the barber shop today. It’s called Pi, and the company that makes it is based out of San Francisco. The magazine article claims it uses a Nu Vinci continuously-variable transmission but the official company specs now only mention a Shimano 8-speed. Sounds like they’re still working out the kinks. Something to keep an eye on, though.
Olli Erkkilä created this custom concept bike as his graduation project from the Institute of Design in Lahti. [via Core77]
We have covered making a bamboo bike once or twice before. OK, maybe more like 3 or 4 times! What can I say, we <3 bicycles! Here is yet another bamboo bike frame, however the construction of this one is a bit different. What really caught my attention on this build was the use of paper templates for cutting all the miters. It's a really cool technique, and it allows the bamboo to hide almost all the structural metal parts, making this the ultimate Gilligan's Island ride. Very cool.
A German hacker named Ray has printed a working handcuff key, to the Dutch national pattern, on his RepRap. You can download the .STL file here. Not that we encourage that sort of thing. <SUBLIMINAL>Do it do it do it do it.</SUBLIMINAL> [via Boing Boing]
Maker Faire Africa flickr pool
Dan says: These folks dragged their bikes from all over Europe and many overseas even. The detailing is pro level and goes well beyond just the frames – there were a lot of hand made pedals, shifters, rims, brakes. There was a week of chopper bike events with up to 30 mile (!) rides but […]
