Speedlinking 23 May 2008
Stuff found clinging to the underside this week…
After creeping through a red light, this driver found himself between the boom gates and passing trains in High St, Glen Iris. –Stonnington Leader
Two words: You Fail.
- Style or anti-style
- Your call: stop trying to be cool and just ride it or bike as fashion accessory?
- But is he a real ‘bentist?
- Francesco Russo is going to make an attempt to break the world speed record for a human powered vehicle in the Ristretto. I’ve just a couple of observations on this:
- in the second photo: is that thing—capable of doing 92km/h—being held together with duct tape?
- and look at Russo: no woolly beard, no long socks, no sandals—what kind of recumbent rider is he?
- [Thanks Tom]
- Rumble, rumble
- Seems like a good idea to me: Rumble edge bike lanes.
- Spot the difference
- bikely.com vs veloroutes.org
- Mythbusters
- 6 Myths About Commuting By Bicycle.
- Cyclisme en France
- Picked up on Audax-oz, The Australian Financial Review had a short feature today on cycle touring in France, including a short spiel on the PBP.
- Power to the pushie
- I mentioned power-assisted bikes a few weeks ago, but I missed this one: Eric Peltzer’s DIY Project.
- And then I don’t even know what to make of this clip-on electric front wheel.
- Yeah, it’s rocket science…
- What is it about rocket scientists? Eventually, they have to bolt one of their contraptions to a bike and jump on. Following on from this nutjob a few years ago, here’s another crazy:
Strapping even a small one of these roaring monsters to a bicycle sounds like madness, or at least an early start on an application for a Darwin award.
- Personally, I think I’ll keep pedalling.
- [Thanks Tom]
More on related topics
- In praise of power-assisted bikes
- Of course it was the lawyers!
- RTWD brings challenge to Hobart
- Melbourne bike commuting = gorgeous
- It IS rocket science
2008
23
May
- Posted by Treadly and Me at 09:53 pm
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- Filed under: Commute, Gadgets & Gear, Melbourne, News, Speedlink
- Tags: bicycle, commuting, cycle touring, cycling, electric motor, france, hpv, power assisted bike, ristretto, rocket bike, speed record, style, wankers, you fail
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Re: the record attempt ‘bent – they’ll seal the joins with duct tape for that extra little advantage aerodynamically. But they need to be careful – a french rider going for the HPV hour record failed when it fogged up inside and then, from the look of the video, he passed out from either heat or lack of oxygen (or raised CO2…).
Undoubtedly Charlie is right there—no doubt that’s what the duct tape is about. But wouldn’t it make a much better story if they’d actually MacGyver’d the vehicle together with tape and a handful of improbable parts? Oh well, at the length truth will out.
I tried the rumble edge by car the other day -after making sure I wasn’t going to hit anyone. Should you be asleep as a driver and slowly wonder into the bikelane then yes, this rumble strip makes sense. But other than that, I don’t really see how it is (practically) different from a normal line or more helpful. As long as this doesn’t take up $$ that would otherwise be spend on say, repainting the median on the Gardener’s Creek path, I think its an ok gimmick. But knowing money doesn’t grow on trees it really looks like a look-we-are-doing-something-but-not-really initiative that has a significant opportunity cost.
Hmm, maybe. As protection for an individual cyclist, I think the rumble strips are useless—once a car has its wheel on the strip it’s already too close. But the purpose of the rumble strip appears to be to improve “the communication to drivers about the bicycle space”, presumably to make the bike lane a safe space overall. In this respect, I think they are worth trying.
Cyclists in the United States are generally opposed to rumble strips because they can cause problems for cyclists. The exception is if there is a demonstrated history of run-off-the-road accidents.
If the cyclist must leave the cycle lane for any reason, you have these bumps to contend with, and anything big enough to get a motorist’s attention is enough to cause a wheel diversion crash for a cyclist.
A few years ago in Colorado I was passing another cyclist when the bike lane line I was riding on suddenly became a rumble strip that I didn’t see until I was right on it. I had trucks passing to my left and a bicycle to my right; I hit the brakes to merge back right but still bent up both wheels and crashed pretty badly at about 30 mph.
Yep, I’ll pay that. I didn’t think of that, but I should have. I’m careful to avoid catseyes and those other little white plastic ‘button’ lane markers you often get at intersections—and what’s a rumble strip but a line of those little buttons?
I wonder if a smooth edged bump (like a very low speed hump) along the edge of a bike lane wouldn’t serve the same purpose without causing the same hazard to bikes?
Correction: it appears that these particular rumble strips are made from bursts of paint rather than plastic buttons. No less slippery though, apparently.
As for a similar strip installed then removed in Chandler Highway within a couple of days—what the heck is going on there?