NYC big wheel race Saturday
With prizes for most original vehicle and best costume, I’m wishing I had heard about the NYC big wheel race a bit sooner…
Transportation
Weird front tricycle scooter for sale now
Saw one of these on Burnet Rd. in Austin today. It’s a Piaggio MP3. Apparently the wheels “loosen up” at speed to allow for cornering, but are stiff at idle so you don’t have to hold the bike up with your legs. There are, supposedly, other advantages as well. I’m no bike expert, but it seems like an interesting novelty. Glad, as always, of comments from those in the know.
Unpowered Mechanical Gate Opener, the Video
Reader captures footage of a car-powered mechanical gate opener.
Not Brian Wilson’s woodie
That’s right, it’s a wooden sports car. And although the sexy images shown here look PhotoShop-y to me, the body of the car, which is made fiberglass-style out of wooden fibers woven on a custom-built loom, appears really to be complete. You can follow Joe Harmon’s construction of “Splinter” at his site. [via Dude Craft]
Unpowered mechanical gate opener, part 2
Now here’s a perfect example of why I love the MAKE community. In response to my earlier post about the possibility of modern mechanical gate openers, reader MichaelLubke went out and took these photos (1,2,3) of a real live working mechanical gate near his ranch. What’s more, he ran down the original patent on the gate’s design! This patent, US number 3,163,947, was issued to Mr. Alvin E. Gandy of Eden, TX, in the year of Our Lord nineteen-hundred and sixty-five. His invention, known as the “Gandy Slide-A-Way,” is activated by the weight of one of your vehicle’s tires on a short steel ramp built into the driveway right in front of the gate. I wonder how many of these were ever made?
Thennagin Bomber at Handcar Regatta
This weekend, a crew of MAKE folks (myself included) will be at the Handcar Regatta, right here in Sonoma County. We’re excited because it’s not everyday that there’s a maker event in our own backyard. If you’re not familiar with it, the Great West End & Railroad Square Handcar Regatta & Exposition of Mechanical & […]
Bauhaucycle
This baby was designed by one Michael Ubbesen Jakobsen. From baubike.dk: The BauBike is inspired by Bauhaus design. It is constructed around the geometric shape of the square and the equilateral triangle. The design is stripped down to clean lines and raw material. The design follows a set of formal rules, limiting the geometry to […]
