Basil Brings Bike Bags and Panniers into the Land of Fashion

We just go in some Basil bike-specific panniers, baskets, and Postman bags . Basil is a Dutch bicycle accessory company. These bags attach to your rear rack and look good on and off your bike. When you arrive at your destination, detach the bags, and bring them into the your workplace or local store, they read as fashionable carry bags. You don't appear as a dressed up bicycle tour leader who is lost. Your carry-all is not hanging awkwardly from a too-short black web handle embedding its metal hooks into your leg. Instead, these bags look and feel like other non-bike specific trendy book bags, purses, and totes.

All of the bags have rack hooks that fit on the rails of the rear rack, but there is a zipped flap that covers the hooks, so only you know they are there. They also have reflective material on the outside, zipped compartments, and shoulder straps or wide handles for ease of carrying. The baskets have an internal frame with hooks attached and a carry handles. The Basil items are attractive and different from most of the other baskets and panniers I've seen. I don't know how they hold up, so put up a post, and let us know how they wear.

The patterns currently in the shop are probably more appealing to the female of the species than the male of the species, in terms of actually carrying around the bags. The guys at the shop have commented that they think the bags are appealing gifts for the women, but they don't feel as if rose and fern patterns really fulfill their own personal carry-bag needs. However, tons of guys come into the shop in search of parts and accessories for project bikes they are making for the special women in their lives. These bags are a nice way to personalize that commuter bike project gift.

Basil does have designs that are a bit less fancy, and these designs, as well as the checked basket designs, may appeal to male and female cyclists who want fewer floral patterns and more solid colors in their lives. The totes and Postman bags aren't what you are going to want to take if you are cycling touring through the Himalayans, but for local shopping and commuting to work via bicycle, it is refreshing to see another option for an alternative and stylish way to carry items on your bike.

 

  Photos taken by Wheelgirl. (The white foam in the last photo is covering the hooks that you use to attach the bag to your rear rack.)

One Stolen Bike Recovered on the Way to the Bike Shop

I was riding to work last Saturday, taking a different way, enjoying the sunshine. I looked to my right, and I was just about to pass two guys, one on a skateboard pushing a white GT mountain bike and the other on an black single-speed IRO Highlander.

I smiled and nodded to the guy on the black IRO Highlander. I like IRO frames. They are practical and don't cost an arm and a leg. He smiled back. I noticed the Wheelgirl sticker on the top tube. Cool. Thanks for the support, I thought. Then my brain remembered that I had helped to build that bike, and it was for a girl who had told me several weeks ago it was stolen while locked up at the BART!

In that I have been watching a bunch of action adventure movies, while I wait for the time to change and the days to get longer, I pulled in front of the guys, took out my cellphone, and let them know, with a smile, that they could start walking, or we could all have a conversation with the police. "How do you know it is stolen?" they asked. I pointed to the Wheelgirl work t-shirt I was wearing and the sticker on the bike. "We built that bike for a girl, and she told us it was stolen at the BART" "But we bought it from a guy at the BART," they answered. Lesson learned: Don't buy bikes at the BART from people you don't know. If you want to gamble with your money, go to Las Vegas.

They both knew the jig was up. And to their credit, they gave up the bike without a fight or a harsh word. One guy was in his twenties, and one guy was at least in his thirties. The bike was pretty trashed, but after a tune up, some new cables, housing, brake pads, pedals, and a polish she is looking like a sweet single-speed ride again. (Read after the jump, urban cyclists, to see if you can answer the U lock riddle.)

Photos taken by Wheelgirl. This is the bike right after it was recovered from an adventure as stolen property.

The girl who owns the bike told me that she had locked the bike with a new Kryptonite lock, and the lock was still there after the bike was stolen. The lock was closed, both pieces were locked together, and it was fully functioning. It wasn't cut, mangled, or broken? If you have had this wacky lock thing happen with a newer U lock that was made after 2006, put up a post, and let me know how bike thieves are performing this trick. (This was not an older U lock that you could open with a pen.) This is the second time I have heard of a bike being stolen without the Kryptonite U lock being damaged in any way.

This Valentine's Day, Show Your Love With The 1045-Piece Lego Batmobile Ultimate Collectors' Edition

If they already have bikes, make a 1045-piece Lego Batmobile Ultimate Collectors' Edition (No. 7784) to give to your lovely elementary-school aged niece and nephew for Valentine's Day.

The Batmobile has a transmission attached to the wheels, a hood that lifts via a turn of the tilt steering wheels to expose the turbo engines, a flip-up cockpit roof, and spinning orange faux flames coming out of the exhaust. The Batmobile is big ride at 17.5 inches long by 6 inches wide. (Make sure to send the Lego instruction books, so the kids can take it apart and put it back together again when they feel like it.)

A gift card for the Lego site will let them pick out an existing Lego project, or go to the Lego Factory to design their own customized Lego models. Lego will make the bricks, put them in a box, and deliver to you whatever you design. I've spent hours playing with the Lego web-based software designing the inside of the bike shop. If you want to see a cool giant Lego project, check out the time-lapse video of Joel of BoingBoing building the giant 5000-plus piece Lego Millennium Falcon ( No. 10179), which is 33 inches x 22 inches x 8 inches. And what was that yellow box 27 seconds into the video?

(More photos after the jump.)

Here are more photos of the building process:

 

North American Handmade Bicycle Show, If This Eye Candy Had Calories, You Would Be One Fat Hog

I attended the 2006 and 2007 North American Handmade Bicycle Shows (NAHBS) in San Jose. The show were feasts for the eyes for anyone who loves bikes. (We've got both show posters framed up on the wall in the shop.) I didn't make it to the 2008 show this year in Portland. But by all reports, it was a huge success. Here is a short list of links you can click through to view photos and get an idea of the festivities.

• The first image below is a list of Best in Show from the votes placed by those attending the NAHBS Show Daily Sunday Night.



• The next image below, is a photo of a bike made by Sam of Naked Bicycles and Design (photo take by UrbanVelo.org.) Sam won three categories for this bike.



• Click here for a list of every builder at the show and his or her website.



• Photos from the show, particularly close ups and detail images can be found here and here on the NAHBS website alphabetically arranged.



• And make sure to read all of the features in the NAHBS Show Daily Reports:  Day 1, Day 2, Day 3 Morning, Day 3 Evening . There are interviews and interesting information related to materials and bicycle frame building.



• Bicycleradar.com coverage by Gary Boulanger, US editor has a ton of full-bike photos and attendance numbers of approximately 6800 attendees for the show versus 5000 attendees last year in San Jose.



• Check out the Velonews coverage by Matt Pacocha and the Velonews NAHBS Gallery



• Check out the 5-part series on the NAHBS on cyclingnews.com Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5 by James Huang. Make sure to view a photo of a twenty-something Chris King and an example of a bicycle frame he made under the name, "Cielo".

 

Photos lifted from the web: NAHBS best of show list lifted from their sit; Naked fixie and Independent Fabrication track bike lifted from the NAHBS site, photo taken by Urbanvelo.org; Vanilla Cycles rear dropout photo taken by James Huang for cyclingnews.com; Ahearne shifter on stem, lifted from NAHBS site, photo by Urbanvelo.org.

Hudz Brake Hoods in 8 Colors Help to Fancy Up Your Ride

Bar tape is one way to dress up a road bike. Now there is another way to feel fancy. Hudz, has come out with colored brake hoods, and throughout 2008, according to their site, they will be shipping hoods in 8 different colors that will fit Shimano Dura Ace (7800) and Ultegra (6600, which also fit Ultegra SL and Shimano 105), Campagnolo, and SRAM levers. The Hudz colors are as follows:

Bastogne blue
Roubaix red
Ghent grey
Wallonne white
Brugge Black
Paris Pink
Vlaanderen Yellow
San Remo Green

(I'm not sure about the color naming conventions? Pink doesn't bring Paris to mind. It brings to mind a city in Italy?)

Hudz is also able to create custom colors for brake hoods, to match team colors for those putting together club, race, or special event team bikes. Also, the company plans to donate money from the sale of their products to charitable organizations. Each colored hood has a charity associated with the color.  Hudz is looking to sponsor bike teams or groups who ride and are socially and environmentally conscious, and they redesigned their product packaging, so it is takes up a smaller landfill footprint.

I haven't tried these brake hoods. But I do know that some designs and rubber compounds feel more comfortable than others on the webbing between my thumbs and index fingers, and different rubber compounds wear better than others. If you put some Hudz on your ride, post a comment.

(Photos lifted from the Hudz website and a vendor's catalog.)

Teenage Guy Builds Bike and Drivetrain Completely Out of Wood

Marco Facciola, a 16-year-old high school student, had to complete a personal project of a non-academic nature as a requirement for the International Baccalaureate program at his high school. So, drawing inspiration from stories his grandpa told him, he made this working bike completely of wood, including the drive train. Grandpa's stories included making his own wooden bicycle wheels during the war years, since rubber was a scarce commodity. Check out the chain and the pawl arrangement Marco designed, so he can coast down hills on his hand-made wooden single-speed. (Click here for Marco's description of his wood-working and bike-making process.)

 

Photos lifted from the online "Lee Valley & Veritas Tool Woodworking Newsletter".

Lee Valley to Neatorama (check out the naked mole rat ,scroll down) Gizmodo

Sheldon Brown's Spirit Lives on With All of Us Whom He Inspired To Build Better Bikes

Sheldon Brown died of a heart attack on February 3, 2008. He was 63 years old. If you ride a bike, and you haven't visited his website, click on this link right now; scroll down, and read everything you can. This man made a gigantic contribution to the bicycle community while he was on the planet through his prolific work as a mechanic, writer, photographer, researcher, advocate, and teacher.

Most of us who have had questions about bikes have turned to Sheldon's website and his detailed writings on historical information about bicycles, component compatibilities, and precise technical and experiential information. He shared his information and insights without hesitation through the years via the web.

He created the definitive online source of bicycle mechanical information. As importantly, he did so with humor and a positive, encouraging tone that didn't intimidate the beginning do-it-yourself weekend warrior bike mechanic or bore the pro bicycle mechanic. His articles are inspiring and the work of an exceptional teacher.

I did not have the chance to meet Sheldon or his family. (However, I have happily read the writings of his wife, Harriet, and her report on her experience riding Paris-Brest-Paris. And I have read about his family through his journal entries and articles.) Thoughts are with his family at this time.

Ride on Sheldon, and thank you for making all of us more knowledgeable, helpful, and inspired cyclists and bicycle mechanics.

  Sheldon with his family in Jan. 2007.

Photo lifted from Wikipedia and Sheldon Brown's website

Folding Bicycle Wheel Design

Duncan Fitzsimmons, a mountain biking enthusiast and industrial designer, has come up with a prototype of a full-sized road or mountain bike folding wheel. The folding wheel allows commuters and those who need to store their bicycles or wheelchairs to collapse the wheels into long and flat compact positions. This facilitates storing your ride, for example, in slim tall public lockers or above a train seats on a luggage rack.

Carbon fiber is Duncan's wheel material of choice in order to reduce the total weight of the wheel,  given the added weight of the hardware and hinges. You can check out more photos and a video of the wheel prototyping process on Duncan's site.

Photos lifted from Duncan's site. Original link sent to me by Customer Shawn from bikeradar.com