` Catherine sends this in about Maya Pedal, which helps create and supply bicycles and pedal-powered machines to communities in Guatemala. Bicimáquinas (translates as “bicycle machines”) are pedal-powered machines that act as an intermediate technology to assist the family economy in obtaining a higher production capacity in agriculture and in small business. Each bicimáquina is […]
From MAKE subscriber Justin Shaw comes the UberLight – a dual LED matrix bicycle turn signal an brake light. An interesting design using accelerometer to determine braking, plus basic switches for indicating turns. The project uses an Arduino in combination with a couple of serial-controlled red/green matrices. Riding with this setup should get some much-needed […]
the cheapest gift: your old, flat tires for artistic reuse “When man invented the bicycle he reached the peak of his attainments. Here was a machine of precision and balance for the convenience of man. And (unlike subsequent inventions for man’s convenience) the more he used it, the fitter his body became. Here, for once, […]
Thanks to Robin for pointing me to this experiment in winter bicycling with skis: Here’s a downhill-only version by another Maker in action: Here’s Ktrak, the fancy commercial version:
Or car? Somewhere in between is this project from SJSU: (via Ecofriend) Here’s the homepage for Dr. Hsu, and here’s a presentation he gave on solar cells (pdf). At $4,000 and 30 mph with a 60-mile range, sounds like a good alternative to smaller gas-powered scooters!
Michael Mandiberg’s created a beautiful and beautifully simple way to be seen biking at night: I wrapped up my bike in retroreflective vinyl. Retroreflective vinyl is like a big scotchlite sticker; scotchlite is that super-reflective stuff that is on running shoes, jackets, and night safety equipment. Here’s a video of the process and result: And, […]
Here are 3 different designs for bicycle-powered buses: 1. The Buscycle (image via Ecofriend) 2. Eindhoven University’s human-powered bus (also see our previous coverage): 3. The Velodisco: On one hand, these all look pretty inefficient. On another, shouldn’t you have less wind, drivetrain, and surface resistance to overcome per person on a well-designed setup like […]
