MetaFilter posts tagged with bike

Reasons to wear a helmet

Toekneesan — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 08:54:41 -0800

The world's worst bike lanes according to readers of the Guardian. The Flickr group where readers submitted their candidates.

City of Bikes

kliuless — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 05:55:36 -0800

Car-free cities: an idea with legs
Car-free neighbourhoods are no unrealistic utopia – they exist all over Europe.

Safe Bike Routes Made Easy

netbros — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 11:19:05 -0800

Ride the City maps the best or safest urban bicycle route from point A to B. Presently featuring multi-lingual maps from New York, Chicago, Austin, Louisville, San Diego, and Seattle. Their blog posts updates about new cities added to the grid, or other topics relating to urban bicycling.

A wheel. You know... For kids!

ObscureReferenceMan — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 19:43:00 -0800

A better way to get kids to learn to ride - a single training wheel. The folks at bikecommuters.com liked it too. Available December 1.

We live in the city of dreams, We drive on the highway of fire

Toekneesan — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 09:59:08 -0800

David Byrne has just published a new book about bicycles called Bicycle Diaries. A long time rider, Byrne muses on how the world looks and works from the vantage point of a cyclist. It's getting pretty good reviews. To launch the book, Byrne is touring the US and arranging public forums. Each event features a civic leader, an urban theorist, a bicycle advocate, and Byrne himself speaking about bikes in cities. Here’s a schedule of the upcoming events. He’s also designed some bike racks for his hometown of New York City. Special Bonus Links! Byrne's review of Pedaling Revolution: How Cyclists Are Changing American Cities by Jeff Mapes A map of Byrne's Bike Racks. A three part tour of Byrne's New York studio. David Byrne on the perfect city. (Previously)

To boost urban cycling, figure out what women want.

lunit — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 12:59:50 -0800

In part because a gender gap persists in urban cycling, women are considered an “indicator species” for bike-friendly cities. If you're interested in reading more about women and cycling, Jan Garrard at Deakin University in Melbourne, Australia has a ton of publications available.

A Talking Head Dreams of a Perfect City

kliuless — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 09:41:37 -0800

David Byrne's Perfect City Osaka's robot-run parking lots mixed with the Minneapolis lakefront; a musician's fantasy metropolis BONUS -More Than a Tree Grows in Brooklyn Rooftop Farm [1,2] -Skyburbs: Bringing the Burbs to the City [1,2] -An Explosion of Ganjapreneurship [1,2] -The Power of the Poor [1,2] -The Currency Revolution [1,2] -The Dawn of Augmented Reality [1,2] -Where Did All the Flowers Come From? [1,2]

Let's ride bikes!

leotrotsky — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 16:59:15 -0800

Ride a Bike through an Architectural Drawing: no, really.

Conceptual bikes

madamjujujive — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 07:13:40 -0800

Putting heart and muscle into the term "bespoke," Josh Hadar creates hand-crafted metal sculptures that double as functional bikes. He describes his process in a recent interview with RocketBoom. Intrigued? A bicycle custom built to your whims could run from $12-$35k, or if you live in NYC, you can try your hand at welding and metal sculpting at his Burn Clinic. (via bioephemera)

Bike vs. Cars War

nometa — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 06:39:24 -0800

In light of the recent tragic death of a cyclist in Toronto, even normally well-balanced MeFites have polarized in the bikes vs. cars “war”. But according to Guillermo Penalosa, the fight is really about better urban design. He helped to radically reinvent the transit and parks infrastructure of Bogata, making it of the best cycling cities in the world. The recent changes to Broadway in New York were influenced by Bogota's success. Gil now advises the Project for Public Spaces and is Executive Director of Walk & Bike for Life. Their solution to the pedestrians vs. cars vs. bikes battle is simple: better urban planning (previously on MeFi) that gives everyone their own safe space. Not sure if your city's infrastructure is up-to-snuff? Apply the 8/80 rule. In the meantime, keep safe out there.

To Cape Town..

fire&wings — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 09:55:49 -0800

The Big Africa Cycle. Peter Gostelow is cycling from Dorset, England to Cape Town to raise funds for The Against Malaria Foundation. And it's not his first big adventure. His "Long Ride Home" a 3 year cycle journey from Japan to England saw him cover over 48,000km unsupported and largely alone. Along the way he had his bike stolen by a crazy Nepalese butcher, lost half his belongings down a gorge in Tajikistan, had a run in with Iranian shepherds, and sneaked across Tibet, before being caught, fined and sent back. Of course, he cycled on. The Long Ride Home produced some very special photography (some collected highlights here and here, as well as images of Camping Wild and of his bike) and his latest adventure down through Europe and into Africa promises more of the same. You can follow him on his blog, Flickr stream, and on Twitter.

+fixie -hipster

unSane — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 12:10:11 -0800

Two girls, one bike. SLYT, SFW. One bike starts at 2'25".

Freakanomics on used bike prices

fixedgear — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 15:10:37 -0800

Bicycle Inflation in Paradise? Freakanomics looks at used bike prices in Portland. Interesting reading.

Pooh pooh

Blazecock Pileon — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 15:20:10 -0800

Bicycle Snobbery - whether "mustache handlebars", silly tattoos, "mankinis" or other male cycling fashion statements, brass knuckle bicycle grips or celebrity brokeback pie-plates, NYC's Bike Snob casts judgment on all he surveys from one high gear

Portable bike lane projector.

erikvan — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 11:35:01 -0800

Lightlane builds lasers that shoot out from your bike onto the road, displaying a bike lane wherever you ride. Written about here and here.

Vélo + Couture = Bikes + Fashion

dersins — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 11:36:25 -0800

The Vélocouture flickr pool. Over 1600 photos of stylish (and, uh, "differently-styled") bike fashion, from the hipster to the formal, the casual, the young, the old old-timey, the new old-timey, and much, much more. There's also a blog.

Keep it radical, good chap!

loquacious — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 19:58:13 -0800

We've had quite a few lovely posts over the years about people on bikes and skateboards and all these fine new sports that those crazy kids are in to these days, whether it's charging it, huckin' or riding in all its myriad of forms. New, yeah? Here's your great-great-granddad showing you what for with some barspins and suchlike novelties on a heavy old fixie. Stick around for the full-pipe attempt at the end. Directed and filmed by Thomas Edison.

Bike Parkour

By The Grace of God — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 13:42:52 -0800

Bike Parkour. Exactly what it says on the tin.

Didi Senft keeps it Real

rageagainsttherobots — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 11:44:25 -0800

Bike fanatic Didi Senft, who's been building crazy cycles for years, shows off his latest "angular" bikes.

The Bicyce Thief

fixedgear — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 13:48:58 -0800

someonestolemybike.com Videos of folks who have had bikes stolen. Kristy chased the thief down and got hers back.

I love that dirty water...

not_on_display — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 11:27:15 -0800

"I was the 2000 Women's World Champion Mountain Bike Bog Snorkeller. The what? you ask. Well, it goes like this..." [previously]

When Borrowing to Save Actually Makes Sense

Toekneesan — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 10:03:17 -0800

Portland's got white ones, Austin has yellow ones, Vassar has them in pink. What are they? Community bikes. Colleges, universities, even whole cities are seeing the benefits of offering their students and citizens an alternative to cars, fossil fuels, and parking lots. Want to start a shared bike program in your community? Here's how. (previously)

It looked like the Eiffel Tower going for a walk.

rikschell — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 05:28:03 -0800

Last year, Michael Mooney attempted to break the world record for riding the tallest bike. Instead he broke his knee. This year he tried again. Like any good biker, he got up and tried again (1:33 for the good stuff). He may not have broken the record, but he sure is awesome.

Den Vaffel Bike

photoslob — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 10:08:08 -0800

Waffle Bike is a fully weaponized waffle-making machine. (SLYT)

Around the Country in 121 Days

netbros — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 14:07:47 -0800

62 year old emergency physician John Hall and his wife Jane took off on a Bike Ride Around America to promote cancer awareness. They started on April Fool's Day, and completed their 12,000 mile journey around the perimeter of the country just today. Along the way they encountered hundreds of towns and thousands of friendly people, and a few not so nice. All in all, a pretty amazing accomplishment in my book.