The Bike Hearse: Your Green Trip To The Afterlife
How’s this for a unique and eco-friendly way to get from the funeral home to your final resting place? Wade Lind, owner of Sunset Hills Cemetery in Eugene, Oregon came up with the “bike hearst” as an option for those really looking to limit their impact once they’ve passed on. Let’s hope there aren’t many hills along the way.
IZIP Trekking Enlightened Hybrid-Electric Bike: First Impressions
If you’ve ever lived in or visited Ithaca, NY your probably familiar with the phrase “Ithaca is gorges”. It’s a funny little saying that gives a good indication of the region’s topography — hills, hills, and steeper hills. In fact, the inclines we have around here would make even Lance Armstrong break a sweat. So, it was with great expectation that I took advantage of an opportunity to review the IZIP Trekking Enlightened hybrid-electric bicycle from Currie Technologies. Could it be possible to bike to work and not immediately have to take another shower?
I’m still figuring that out — and will have a full review shortly — but so far, I have to say that I’m very impressed with the technology being utilized in this bike. First off, this isn’t one of those bikes that you hit a switch and kick back while the electric motors putts you along. The IZIP instead is an electric-assist — giving you some extra torque to help you up some tough inclines. To that end, you still have to pedal. The beauty of this system is that you can choose to have it on or off — or at different levels of assist. About to hit a hill and want some support? Simply press the “+” button on the left handlebar and watch the LCD indicator light a few bars higher. Want to back off? Hit the “-” button. It’s as simple as that — and believe me, you still get a workout.
Google Street View Camera Goes Low-Tech With Trike Version
Google’s Street View fleet has a new low-tech edition: the Google Trike. For those not familiar with the street capture technology, it’s a feature on Google Maps that allows you to view actual images of a street location — in 360 degrees. Beyond the fascinating technology that puts this all together — what’s even more impressive is the army of employees out there on the roads of America (and almost every other country) taking panoramic snapshots using the Google camera vehicles.
Of course, cars (thankfully) aren’t allowed to go everywhere. But that hasn’t stopped Google. The search engine giant has instead hacked a trike to carry the necessary equipment to get the digital deed done. From Autobloggreen,
The three-wheeled, human-powered overgrown tricycles carry 250 pounds of ballast in the form of “a mounted Street View camera and a specially decorated box containing image collecting gadgetry,” says the internet giant. All that extra heft reportedly requires a “specially trained super fit” rider. Google’s new trikes will be deployed first in Genoa, Italy, this spring. Assuming that launch proves successful, Google will send its pedal-powered cameras to the United Kingdom, where they’ll point their lenses towards a slew of famous British landmarks.
Recycled Bike Swag: Detours Toocan Juicy Travel Bag
While baskets are the eternal favorites for lugging things around with your bike — there may be times when you’d like those groceries or books to be a bit more contained. That, or you just need some additional space. Either way, these travel bags from Detours are a fantastic option — and with a very green characteristic: they’re made from recycled juice packs.
Each bag is made up of about 100 juice packs — with the company quick to add that no two bags are alike. Each features a bathtub rubber bottom, wide mouth, removable rain cover, reflective tail-light tabs on both ends, and will hold about 15lbs of your stuff. The only caveat is to beware placing sharp objects inside your Toocan — as the pouches can rip and tear up the seam. Otherwise, the company says the bag will last many years and then when done, you can just recycle it!
Cycling…
I used to ride a motorcycle. It was a Suzuki GS 1150. That’s 1,150cc engine with 123 horsepower. Since it only had to accelerate 500 pounds, it could go from 0 to 70 in less than 3 seconds and only one gear change, which I knew from personal experience. It was the kind of bike that taunted you, that dared you to ride fast.
There was a gas station near one of my favorite riding places that sold high octane racing fuel. I loved to fill up and go for a long twisty ride. The racing fuel had a different smell, it smelled like adventure.
Riding a motorcycle is such a manual process. Between clutching, shifting, accelerating and braking, you have to use both hands and both feet. You lean into turns. Riding involves your entire body.
My motorcycle riding days ended when someone made a right turn in front of me. I was enjoying a straight road to the maximum, went around a bend and right in front of me was a car, pulling into a driveway. I would have swerved into the left lane, but there was an on coming pickup truck. My only choice was to hit the brakes. I remember seeing the horizon fly past my feet, then I landed in the gravel on the other side of the car. I walked away with a sore wrist and a scratch on my right ankle. The motorcycle never ran again.
OB1: The Hybrid Electric Bicycle That Also Costs $13,000
We have a crush here on Groovy for electric-hybrid bikes. Personally, just knowing that I’ve got some assistance on the myriad of hills surrounding my town is a pretty sweet advantage. I’d pedal the other 90% of the time — which would be a hell of a lot better than taking my car the five or so miles to work. Plus, no sweaty nastiness on those host summer days.
Anyways, if you’re looking for the absolute pinnacle in electric-bicycle customization, the OB1 from Optibike is probably your best bet. From Gizmag,
“The key component of the Optibike system – the patented Motorized Bottom Bracket (MBB) which drives through the derauiller gear system to optimize acceleration and range at all pedaling speeds – is now oil cooled and delivers 850 continuous watts of power. Add to this carbon fiber handlebars, brakes, derailleur, chainring and cable ferrules, a customized paint job, GPS satellite navigation, plus a wireless PDA interface that provides real-time feedback on remaining range, battery charge and motor temperatures, and you have yourself one high-performance urban commuter.”
The Green Picture: The Lexus Of Human-Powered Bicycles
The Rhoadescar is one of the swankiest human-powered two seaters I’ve seen yet. Especially with the top up to keep the rain/sun out. Granted, you probably won’t fit in the bike lane — and the highway will be a bit of a challenge, but I did it nonetheless.
The Dog-Powered Recumbent Trike Harnesses Man’s Best Friend
We’ve heard of dogs dragging humans through the wintry depth of the Alaskan wilderness, but this is the first engineered dog-powered trike I’ve ever laid eyes on. Inventor Mark Schuette expanded upon the idea of the dog-powered scooter (yes, it too exists) and used the “dog behind a steering wheel” configuration with ‘the added stability offered by a sit-down trike design and twice the steering power and braking power of the scooter.’ From the article,
The original scooter enables the human to ride standing up whilst the dog is harnessed into a frame and subject to steering and braking. As the scooter requires the rider to stand upright and balance it was not particularly appealing to some users (such as the elderly or physically handicapped). The new trike adopts a tadpole design (two wheels in front) and has a harness space for a dog on each side of the rear wheels. Schuette’s inventions are the first dog pulled devices to place the dog behind a steering wheel. This is designed to give the rider precision steering control of the dog making it easier and safer to ride in an urban environment.
It should be noted that while there are two spaces for more than one dog, it’s not absolutely necessary to employ 8 paws of power. Additionally, the human-powered pedal option means Fido and Spike won’t have to drag your ass around all by themselves. There’s also a fender kit included to protect the pooches from coming into contact with the rear spokes; or I imagine small rocks and such.
I Ride My Bike
Enough with the gloom and doom over peak oil and climate change you say. You want an empowering story of change? Alright here’s an example of a personal adjustment I’ve made in my own life in an attempt to address both the above events because after all, the basic answer to both peak oil and climate change is roughly the same. Stop using fossil fuels; or at least cut way back on using them. But that’s so hard everyone says. It can’t be done. Nonsense. Or as Tom Athanasiou recently said, Change is necessary and because it is necessary it is possible.
I decided 2007 would be the year I got rid of my car. Not completely, but I’ve known for some time that driving a car keeps me dependent on the oil economy and pollutes this planet. I’ve known I needed to cut back on my automotive oil addiction. But it wasn’t until 2007 that I got serious about making change. Here are the numbers for the year so far.
Vectric Shareholder Report Shows Promise For Electric Super Bikes
The Vectrix shareholder report for April 2007 just dropped into my lap. Besides some beautiful eye candy, the document lays out some important milestones reached by the company; as well as future developments underway for the vehicle line. Here are some of the highlights:
>>Financially, Vectrix has firmed things up by appointing HSBC to undertake a strategic review which could lead to a flotation. Such a move could would see the company valued at up to 200m. Yee Haw. Additionally, the big V might put itself up for sale to attract a larger company or interested private party. We’ll keep our ears open on this one.
>>Besides its launch in the EU late last Fall, Vectrix now poised to push the new all-electric bikes in the UK (indeed, they launched yesterday) and in the U.S. by the end of June. Over 2,100 customer reservations in the U.S. alone are waiting to be fulfilled. The first 700 scooters allocated for the American market will see a roll out in major U.S. cities so as to increase visibility of the product. Look for the bikes in Seattle, Austin, Portland, San Francisco, Newport, and other locales. By the end of 2007, there will be up to 50 official Vectrix dealers in 8 countries (Italy, Spain, England, Portugal, Switzerland, Greece, Australia, and USA). Plans are already underway to expand distribution to Japan, France, Germany, and Israel.
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