Bike sharing service Social Bicycles has raised $1.1 million to expand the reach of their social bike sharing service to new markets. The company, led by Ryan Rzepecki, reported the funding this morning. → Read More
There’s been quite a bit of disruption in bikes recently and the Bicymple is no exception. Designed by Josh Bechtel, the bike aims to be easy to ride, trouble free, and less expensive than traditional gear and chain models. You can check out a video here but we got a chance to talk with Josh a bit about his new design. → Read More
It’s rare to see the creation of a product from idea to implementation but Blink Steady, a unique, multi-sensor bike light, allowed us to do just that. Created by Benjamin Cohen, Stuart Heys, and Mark Sibenac, the Blink Steady launched in April on Kickstarter and shipped last month. → Read More
The Velo is still a bit of a pie-in-the-sky project but I’d totally be down with it if they made a few in real life. Designed to reduce the “problems” associated with biking – namely collisions and mapping – the bike/microprocessor system is fully electric and connects with your smartphone to perform some very interesting tricks.
First, there’s collision avoidance that offers haptic feedback… → Read More
When’s the last time you really splurged on something for your bike? The old girl gets you around town, puts up with your ridiculous maintenance regimens, and shifts and rattles in just the right way to get you up and down the hills of your hometown. Why not show her you love her and, thanks to Blinksteady, put a ring on it.
The Blinksteady is the world’s smartest bike light (citation needed). → Read More
We’ve already seen bikes from both Audi and McLaren in the last year, so I suppose it’s no surprise to see competition from Porsche. The German sport car giant has actually had a bike for quite a while now, but I believe the new Sport and Rennsport are their first attempts at road-going bikes rather than the mountain variety. → Read More
This is the Bergmönch – the Mountain Monk – a scooter that folds into a backpack, thereby allowing the brave to ride down the hills the climb up at breakneck speed. There are no pedals – just a pair of disc brakes – and it costs $1,880. → Read More
The last wooden bike we saw, from Audi, was considerably more… well, elegant than this one. Yet I think if I had to have one as my everyday ride, I’d go with this one from Chicago-based Lagomorph Design. It’s got a simple, blocky beauty, and I’m guessing that black walnut exterior covers up a more traditional metal frame. → Read More
Fellow Seattlite and Etsy seller Erica Hanson has put together a great little tool bag for discerning bikers: the Mopha. It’s waxed canvas and consists of ten of little pockets for you to put your patch kits, hex wrenches, spare tube, and all that jazz. Then roll it up and strap it to your frame. Hell of a good-looking thing, and the simple, rugged construction seems like it should last… → Read More
This clever little app, called Bike Repair, shows you how to fix your bike using videos and pictures. Is your transmission borked? Are your breaks soft? Do you have a squirrel in the spokes? It’s all here. It will even help you fix your seat and handlebars for the most comfortable ride.
It runs on the iPhone, iPad, and under Android and costs $2. I, personally, enjoy the rough and ready techno… → Read More
Japan-based Sanwa Supply announced [JP] a mini camera specifically aimed at cyclists. The so-called “Bike Mini DV Camera 400-CAM003″ can not only shoot videos and pictures, it also doubles as a voice recorder. → Read More
Just take a look at that. What’s going on here? This radically different bike frame design is called the Roundtail, and inventor Lou Tortola claims that circular rear fork thing makes for a way more comfortable ride. → Read More
Earlier this week we saw that McLaren got together with Specialized to make their exquisite Venge road bike. Apparently Audi felt left out of the party, and has announced the fruits of its collaboration with Portland bike-maker Renovo: the “duo” series.
The bikes’ primary differentiating feature is, of course, the wood frames. Audi has built them out of “woods selected to match the look of Audi… → Read More
Cross-discipline collaborations are nothing new for the car, bike, or any industry, really. By putting their heads together, people can produce truly new and interesting works of engineering, though the result is almost always horrendously expensive. In this case, considering the collaborators are the well-known bike maker Specialized and the famed auto designer McLaren, you know it’s going to… → Read More
If you’re like me, you cringe a little whenever you put a little synthetic oil on your chain or send some toxic cleaning fluid down the drain. Seems to me that people with bikes are more likely to care about their environmental impact, and also more likely to pay more for quality gear and accessories. These sustainable bike care products from Orontas let you and your bike feel good. → Read More
I don’t post this because I condone the use of fixies in the city. I post it because these bikes are kind of rad. Sure, fixies are actually impractical in the city, especially one like Seattle, where I live, but there’s something to be said for removing mechanical elements until all you have left is a unicycle with a front wheel and handlebars. More info at Inner City Bikes. (Oops, I… → Read More
In honor of the excellent new program, Portlandia, I present to you this special, sustainable, Vegan-grown, humane leather bike-mounted can cage, a mere $45 from Etsy. → Read More
We see bamboo here and there on CrunchGear (the Dodocase, laptops, bikes), but I’m usually suspicious of bamboo-type products, because they usually make specious claims of greenness.
This kit seems useful, though, if only because it provides a semi-eco-friendly way to put together a new bike. Interestingly, it does not provide the bike parts or the bamboo. Hey, what the… → Read More
This is a good idea. We’ve all seen bike computers, heart-rate monitors, and so on, the sort of things athletes or just data-loving runners and cyclists track during their activities. The trouble is that they’re rarely easy to consult: you have to take your eyes off the road to check your speed, or interrupt your run cadence to check your heart rate.
The 4iiii Sport-iiii system (pronounced sport… → Read More
Technically, it’s reinventing the wheel-shaped gear system found on most bikes. But I can never resist a ready-made headline. This weirdo bike uses a pair of pulleys instead of the chain and gears us normal people use. Hungarians are too good for gears, is that it? Actually, there are several serious advantages to this setup. I’m no bicyclologist, so you’ll have to evaluate for… → Read More
These stylish Puma Mopion bikes, designed by Biomega, are focused on on carrying capacity and lightness. The frames are aluminum and as you can see, differ from traditional and hardtail designs. Personally I like to keep my stuff in a rolltop like the Soyuz or Vandal, but to be honest, when I need to pick up a few things from the store, I’d rather pop ‘em in a basket than put them in… → Read More
A group of charming fellows have created something they’re calling “Social Bicycles,” a bike-sharing system that allows you to drop bikes off almost anywhere there is a bike rack, locate them, and access them with an iPhone app. And it’s all outside of the confines of traditional urban bike-sharing systems. While we all know that humans are intrinsically violent and… → Read More
As is the case with so many concepts we see here at CG, the design here hasn’t really caught up to the idea — like that other bike lock I just wrote up. Lock that alerts you via WiFi if it gets tampered with? Good. Lock that looks like you could cut through it with a pair of kiddie scissors? Not so good. → Read More
Unorthodox ideas like this one by Brit Kevin Scott are often the germ for more advanced designs, but I think this one takes things a bit too far. A built-in lock utilizing the bike itself is a great idea, but messing with a key structural element like the frame bars is a dangerous move. Although the mechanism here is cool and convenient, I wouldn’t trust it (or the bike) after a few months… → Read More
Using a bike as a power source is nothing new, but the idea of providing your own power is getting more and more attractive as people find their lives full of energy-sucking devices. Nokia just a couple weeks ago started pushing a little phone charger for bikes, and if I ever bought another Nokia phone (unlikely) I’d definitely pick one of those up as well.
If you felt like building your own… → Read More
That’s a nice looking bike. A bit of suspension on the front… nice commuter frame… I’d pay $500. What’s that, it costs more than twice that? I assume there are gold nuggets inside the frame. No? Indeed. Then I’ll bid you good day, sir. → Read More
We like electric vehicles here at CrunchGear, from the Volt to the Leaf to the Eneloop to the U3-X. But fantasy electrics are one thing — what if you actually want to buy a real live electric bike? → Read More
Lots of people think hipsters ruin everything, but really, they only ruined fixed-gear bikes. Everything else is still fine: tight pants were never really cool, those big sunglasses are clearly dumb, and the hair is pretty self-condemning. But you can’t swing a cat in Seattle without hitting some joker on a fixie, even though this city is in no way fit fixed gear bikes. They’re fun to ride, but no… → Read More
Do your kids hate wearing helmets because the one you got for them at K-Mart is not very “cool”? I’ll bet they won’t mind wearing this Lazer Urbanize Bicycle Helmet. At $100 a pop, these helmets certainly aren’t cheap, but you can’t put a price on safety, right? As more people take up biking to work through car-filled streets, stylish safety gear like this is going to be in high… → Read More
While not the first bike to do away with spokes, the Shadow might be the first to see mass production. And its certainly the first to be wireless. Yes, that’s correct. Wireless bicycles. → Read More
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