Author's posts

No-tip bicycle without training wheels

Popular Mechanics magazine has given a Breakthrough Award to the Gyrobike, an invention that prevents bicycles without training wheels from tipping over.

Four Dartmouth College students developed the idea of putting a flywheel inside the rim of the front wheel. A drill is used to spin the flywheel, which keeps the bike stable under novice riders. …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2006/10/06/no-tip-bicycle-without-training-wheels/

Gyrobike won't tip over

Dartmouth College students have developed a device — spinning flywheel — that keeps a bicycle from tipping over. Developed by Hannah Murnen, Augusta Niles, Deborah Sperling and Nathan Sigworth (not pictured).

 

Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2006/10/06/gyrobike-wont-tip-over/

Gruesome bicycling accident book in the works

What do they say… If it bleeds, it leads?

A publisher is offering a $500 prize for the best pictures of people crashing on bicycles. The winner gets the picture on the cover of a book to be released in May 2007 — “Cycling's Greatest Misadventures.”

The offer comes from Solano Beach, California-based publisher Casagrande Press LLC. It's self-described as a “new literary press founded or promote quality non-fiction and fiction. …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2006/10/06/gruesome-bicycling-accident-book-in-the-works/

How to get support for bicycle trails — put the pols on bikes

You don't have to pay a corrupt lobbyist like Jack Abramoff to gain funding for bike paths and trails in your area. You simply need to get your mayor or county executive interested in bicycling.

Just look at Seattle, Chicago, and Columbia, Missouri as examples.

For instance, I ran across a story in my local newspaper on Wednesday that said trails are taking a high priority …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2006/10/05/how-to-get-support-for-bicycle-trails-put-the-pols-on-bikes/

Cyclist rides on new East Lake Sammamish Trail

In spring

Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2006/10/05/cyclist-rides-on-new-east-lake-sammamish-trail/

Robot bicycles uphill; can pro career be far behind?

Robotic cyclist Murata Boy has achieved a new skill, he can pedal uphill.

Shown here on an earlier S-curve balance beam run, the robo-cyclist achieved a new goal by pedaling up a 25-degree incline at the Ceatec electronics show in Japan this week, says Digital World.

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2006/10/04/robot-bicycles-uphill-can-pro-career-be-far-behind/

Landis expresses sympathy to former neighbors

Cyclist Floyd Landis expressed his sympathy to the Amish community near his hometown in Pennsylvania that was the site of Monday's schoolhouse shooting that left five girls dead.

He also pledged in a blog post at FloydLandis to donate funds to those affected by the shooting and urged anyone who would like to help to visit the Coatesville Savings Bank website for the Nickel Mines Children's Fund and the Roberts Family Fund.

Landis is recovering from hip surgery he underwent last week. He's also working on his defense against doping charges that could result in a 2-year ban from professional cycling and the loss of his 2006 Tour de France. …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2006/10/04/landis-expresses-sympathy-to-former-neighbors/

Florida gives bicyclists 3-foot buffer

Florida has joined at least six other states that require motorists to give bicycle riders a minimum 3-foot gap when passing.

In announcing the law that went into effect on Sunday, Florida newspapers have filled their pages with anecdotes from cyclists who have been hit by passing cars or who frequently feel the rush of close-passing cars and trucks.

Bicycling advocates are hoping the new law will put a dent in the bicycle fatality totals in the state …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2006/10/03/florida-gives-bicyclists-3-foot-buffer/

Winners of Mt. Diablo Challenge bike ride

There's a short, little 10.8-mile bicycle ride in California where the organizers give away a free T-shirt to anyone who can finish in 1 hour. Sounds easy?

The ride is the Mt. Diablo Challenge in the East Bay suburbs of San Francisco. The bike ride sports a 3,249-foot elevation gain, 6.9% over the last 4 miles. Out of 957 finishers, the Save Mount Diablo organization handed out only 134 free T-s on Sunday.

This year's winner was Robert Anderson, a 51-year-old cyclist from Mill Valley, California …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2006/10/02/winners-of-mt-diablo-challenge-bike-ride/

How to keep 60 kids safe on a bike path

I'll have to admit that I was expecting the worst when I volunteered to help chaperone a peloton of 60 middle school pupils bicycling on the Sammamish River Trail this weekend.

Clipped wheels. Face plants. Head-ons with speeding adults trying to shave seconds off their time trial records. Tangles with roller-bladers, dogs on leashes or stollers. Anything could  have happened — but nothing did. …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2006/10/02/how-to-keep-60-kids-safe-on-a-bike-path/