Bicycles

48V Electric Flat Tracker

This is one of the better DIY electric rides that I have come across. It’s an amazing 48-Volt, 15 horsepower, bike that uses a Briggs and Stratton Etek motor. It looks like it’s a very smooth ride. However, at those speeds I would suggest using a motorcycle helmet. What a great project! About a year […]

Make a leaf blower bike

Make a leaf blower bike

Chris Williams wanted a small 2-stroke scooter, so he decided to make his own out of a bike and a leaf blower engine. This was one of those projects I couldn’t get out of my head. I had seen, on the internet and in person, the small 2-stroke engine powered scooters which were becoming increasingly […]

Maker Profile – Bicycle Rodeo

Introducing Cyclecide, an inventive band of Bay Area performance artists who make creations out of materials from the junkyard. These Makers create everything from amusement park rides to outrageous bicycle contraptions to found-object sculpture. Plus, we take a historical spin through the origins of the modern bicycle. Check out Cyclecide’s website at cyclecide.com. Get the […]

Meatricity

Meatricity

Meatricity is the electricity generated by the muscle power of humans or other animals. After a great day working on project ideas for Alternative Energy module in next summer’s Learn 2 Teach / Teach 2 Learn program at the South End Technology Center, I drove by a huge workout gym sort of filled with beautiful […]

Bike co-ops in L.A. and beyond

Here’s a short piece about challenging car-dominated car culture (and, to a lesser degree, high-priced bike shops) in an unlikely city: (via Treehugger) We’ve got the Yellow Bike Project in Austin, which has suspended its bike-earning program while building out a new space but has kept a very-respectable commnity bike repair shop in action. What […]

Warmer winter cycling

Warmer winter cycling

Probably only a mockup, but such a wonderfully weird idea that I wanted to share. From Momentum: Iron Saddle Who hasn’t suffered from ‘cold butt’ while riding in winter, at least in the northern parts of the continent?… A battery, a 12 volt iron (without steam option) and voila! Toasty Buns! And of course if […]