Enginerve : Bikes

10% luck, 20% skill, 15% concentrated power of will, 5% pleasure, 50% pain…a 100% reason to remember the name

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    BikeCraft 2013 has shown up on my radar as the Holiday Season is upon us.  It is Saturday and Sunday after Thanksgiving at Velo Cult. 

    Schedule

    Saturday, November 30th

    • Event hours: 11:00am to 6:00pm @ Velo Cult
    • After-party: 7:00p @ Velo Cult

    Sunday, December 1st

    • Event hours: 11:00am to 6:00pm @ Velo Cult

    Admission

    As always, BikeCraft is FREE to attend. But be sure to bring cash for beer, coffee, food, vendors and, of course, those donations that keep BikeCraft running year after year!

    Location

    Velo Cult
    1969 NE 42ND AVE
    Portland, OR

  • aff6da54-86ad-42ef-8155-65f8dc88282cPant vs Pants?  Not important.  Last year I went through two pairs of Novara Tights due to zipper failure.  REI was excellent about taking each pair back, especially as the zipper failed for no particular reason and certainly not from overuse, unless the tights were designed to be on a shelf and not worn. 

    This time the Novara brand has a real winner here.  They are not flattering for a shape they are far superior to the tights for stopping wind and rain.  I have only ridden down to 32 degrees but they have performed far above the tights and my old favorite Sugoi tights.  The extra length stays over the tops of my Shimano boots and keeps water out of leaking through the top and there is easily enough room for thermal tights when the weather gets into the teens.

    I did purchase these with my 20% off member coupon earlier this fall, so I feel like I have a real deal.   And there is a pocket, big enough for a wallet, and in this temp, weather I am storing my apartment keys, bike lock key, or all purpose rag, the pocket is a long overdue feature in biking pants. 

    Ride on!

  • TransAmFlyer

  • bits-wheel-tmagArticleI found this on the NYTimes chasing the new MIT wheel.  I think it appears destined for fixee style bikes, who else pedals backwards.  I might like one on my commuter though.

    Superpedestrian, a start-up in Boston, announced on Monday that it has received $2.1 million in financing to help build a wheel that transforms some standard bicycles into hybrid e-bikes.

    The product, the Copenhagen Wheel, is a design from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology SENSEable City Laboratory. The original goal of the wheel was to entice more people to more bicycles in large cities in lieu of cars by giving them help from a motor.

    “If you think about today’s cities, they have been developed for the scale of the automobile, with people being required to travel great distances that are quiet large,” said Assaf Biderman, founder of Superpedestrian and associate director of the SENSEable City Lab. “Most cities are built around topographies that require motorized transport and it can make cycling and walking very difficult.”

    Superpedestrian’s solution is to slip a motor into an existing analog product: the bicycle.

    While the new wheel is still round, it has technology that makes it different from most normal bike wheels.

    The Copenhagen Wheel replaces the rear wheel of a bicycle. It includes a motor powered by a built-in battery and sensors. When someone pedals with the new wheel in place, the bike uses sensors and an app on a smartphone to measure the amount of effort the rider is putting into each pedal. It then offers an additional boost when necessary.

    One of the most interesting components of the new wheel is that the rider doesn’t need to tell the bike when help is necessary, the wheel just figures it out using the sensors and gives the bike a push.

    “Riding on a flat surface, or up a hill, will feel exactly the same,” Mr. Biderman said.

    The wheel doesn’t need to be charged or plugged in on a nightly basis, either. Instead, the wheel captures the energy from the brakes when a rider goes down hill and then stores that power in a high-capacity lithium battery. The motor also acts like a generator, creating power for later rides when the rider pedals in reverse.

    The company said the wheel will last for 15 miles in each direction and will fit on most standard bicycles.

    Superpedestrian is expected to start taking orders for the wheel next month and will begin shipping to customers at the start of next year.

    The financing round is being led by Spark Capital with participation from David Karp, the founder of Tumblr.

  • logo_100x115I want to automatically copy by Garmin Connect information to Strava.  Trying CopyMySports

    Garmin Connect keeps my actual precise data and because of its method of calculating the information is more accurate than Strava.  The simple explanation is that Strava has to include phones and “non-Garmin” devices and so is slightly different.  But Strava is more fun, both with sharing, competing over segments, courses, and teams. 

    A friend recommended a product called GarminSync which is now being renamed Garmin Connect.  While it is currently having issues, it looks like it could be a good solution until Garmin or Strava catch on to what they should be doing and why.