April 7, 2010

New Bike Tech

Hypebeast.tv has a new interview with the guys behind Outlier, who craft cyclable basics.

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Benedict Radcliffe Graffiti Bike = The Art of Going Brakeless / Instant Morris Louis

Viktor Vautier via Juxtapoz.

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I’m not surprised to hear that electric bikes are all the rage in China: I remember seeing countless two-wheeled contraptions that had some kind of ad hoc outboard motor strapped to them. In fact, I passed an old Chinese dude riding an electric bike across the Manhattan Bridge just the other day…

Of course, besides legal issues, GOOD points out that electric bikes represents a stepping stone between traditional transportation (bicycles) and an emerging middle class aspiring to Western ideals of status (electrics automobiles)—an intermediate space in a rapidly developing economy that is nonexistent in our car-dominated nation.

The Economist via GOOD. Also on NYT.

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The trailer for Quicksilver (1986) starring Kevin Bacon would have been a perfect companion piece to Massan, but alas I came across it last week and it wasn’t worth updating. (Engadget)

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Related: Walmart Now Selling Fixed-Gear Bikes (HRO); Jill Allyn Peterson’s clever reflective bicycle chain cover (GOOD); New York is the 8th Most Bike-Friendly City in America (NYMag)

Bonus pic:

Homemade fender seen outside Trader Joe's Brooklyn

Postscript: I didn’t achieve my March goal of five laps around Prospect Park in under an hour, due largely to poor weather and minor bike-related injuries. This month for sure…