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This seemingly amateur video was created with the intention of promoting Guitar Hero World Tour via viral internet marketing (or murketing, if you will). Not surprisingly, it’s a hoax, in that it features computer generated imagery courtesy of the Droga5 agency.
Monthly Archive for November, 2008
The Busycle Project isn’t new, or really all that unique in that multi-passenger bicycle-like vehicles have been around for over a hundred years. But damn if this 15-passenger bike bus doesn’t look like fun!
Visit www.busycle.com for more info.
Here’s a great beer commercial. After 600 years of brewing beer, it stands to reason the folks at Stella Artois know how to market the stuff. Check out their website for more, www.stellaartois.com.
(Courtesy of Bike Blog NYC.)
Here’s a little gem from the 1994 Bridgestone catalog, via Sheldon Brown’s website:
Don’t ride out of guilt over last night’s meal. Don’t be a slave to your bike, or else you’ll resent it, and feel guilty whenever you think about it or look at it. Soon you’ll be avoiding it altogether. If all your rides are like a swimmer’s workout, you’ll burn out on bikes as fast as swimmers burn out on laps. Ride when you want to ride.
The people of Kinfolk Tokyo have glimpsed my version of heaven and recreated it here on earth. High end track bikes mixed with high end alcohol wrapped in an open, vintage Japanese interior. Looking through the images, I can imagine many tales of the days of old being exchanged with a movie-like quality to it all. Not content with current Japanese track frame offerings, especially as it concerns us taller American-folk, they’ve also gone about creating Kinfolk Bicycle Company as another option at the upper-echelon of steel frame building.
Jim G from San Francisco had a vision. He wanted a carry-along saddle bag, and realized that he could just turn his perfectly good messenger bag into a saddle bag. He even went so far as to fabricate his own mounting system. Sure, he could have just bought a saddle bag mount, but where’s the fun in that?
One of the most ingenious aspects to Jim’s design is the incorporation of his mini-pump into the system. The total cost of the project (minus the bag and toeclips, which he already had) came in at just $18.
Read the whole article at www.yojimg.net.
It’s amazing what $50 and Craigslist will get you, this time a genuine Little 500 bicycle, as raced in the 50th anniversary event. The basics are that students from Indiana University race for glory on four-person teams for 200-laps of Bloomington’s soccer stadium. Outside of Indiana, the race first came to prominence in the 1979 Oscar winner, Breaking Away. Rules handed down to level the playing field and remain true to the original spirit lead to a modern day bicycle oddity – a road bike with one-piece BMX cranks, flat pedals and a coaster brake tied together with a one-size-fits-most frame. This is modeled after the original Roadmaster bikes of the day, with the brand of the bike changing throughout the years, settling on Mongoose and then Schwinn in recent years. There is no doubt about it, this is essentially a department store quality bicycle with a bit of history within for good measure. After some laps and surely some fanciful trip spanning years from there to here, this one now hangs in the basement of the Urban Velo headquarters with the rest of the freak-show collection.
The real question is to why a bike along these lines isn’t available in department stores, as I have a sneaking suspicion such a bicycle would fit the needs of many people far better than the full-suspension monstrosities currently dominating the racks.
Get through the Chicago winter throughout December at the IRO Sprints Series, hosted on December 1st, 15th and 22nd at the Cobra Lounge. Straight sprints, a relay race, plenty of prizes and most importantly live speed metal each evening. Live Speed Metal. This has the potential to get rowdy, as any good roller racing session should. All proceeds go to the Bicycle Messenger Emergency Fund with prizes from a whole variety of sponsors, with top male and female finishers coming away with a new frame.
The original Buff is one of the most indispensable items a cyclist can have. For those unfamiliar, Buff is the brand name for the original microfiber seamless headwrap. The company was formed in 1992, 60km outside of Barcelona.
In a sense, the original Buff is a lot like a bandanna, and serves many of the same purposes. It can be a face mask, light scarf, headband, wristband, blindfold or headwrap. The Buff improves upon the old school bandanna in several ways. It’s made of polyester microfiber 
that’s breathable, quick drying and fairly stretchy. The seamless “tube” shape allows the Buff to be manipulated into shapes an ordinary bandanna couldn’t achieve, such as a balaclava or a scarf that provides equal coverage all the way around the neck. It can be used as a skull cap, or as a headwrap that covers your neck for protection against the sun.
Continue reading ‘The Buff’
Just in time for Buy Nothing Day we’ve brought the Urban Velo embroidered Messenger Hoodie by Earth Wind and Rider to market. This is one of the most practical wool jerseys I’ve personally ever owned, having bought a blank version about a year ago when I first laid eyes on one. Why buy a premium piece of merino wool that you can’t wear off the bike without feeling like an idiot? The original tech fabric, and still the best.
This is no sweater, the wool knit is tight, the body of the jersey thin (but not too thin) and soft. This jersey features a full zipper on the front, and a double one at that. Hidden zippers grace the side reliefs and the three pockets located along each side seam and the back. The 4″ cuffs have thumb loops, and along with the hood the jersey features an extended front collar to keep the cold at bay.
Available in the Urban Velo Store for $145.
BicycleTutor.com is a great site for home mechanics. Some of the material covered is pretty basic, but for thousands of beginners, the videos are incredibly helpful. And even seasoned cyclists might learn a trick or two, especially since the website takes advantage of reader comments. Take for example, this video on removing surface rust. The tutorial is spot on, yet a reader was able to point out that bronze wool or brass wool works even better than steel wool. Cool.
Check out this and other tutorials at www.bicycletutor.com.
In the messenger industry there are two camps on the issue of backpacks. Some love the larger capacity and better weight distribution backpacks offer, while most opt for the ease of access and the sheer convenience of a traditional sling bag. In my time as a messenger I’ve always sided with the latter. Being able to quickly access the envelopes and small packages that make up the bulk of most messenger’s work is key to keeping the flow of deliveries going. I had tried a backpack before, but couldn’t stand having to take my bag off every time I needed to get to manifests or packages.
Then I was turned onto the Shag Bags messenger backpack. Designed and built by Shaggy, a working messenger in Milwaukee, it has all the desirable attributes of any well-made messenger backpack, but with a few ingenious features that sets it heads above the rest. The most obvious of these is what Shaggy calls the “swing pocket.” The swing pocket is a waterproof pocket, roughly 12″x14″, mounted sideways on the outside of the bag that allows you to slip one shoulder out of a strap and swing the bag around to quickly access whatever you have in there. In the month I’ve had this bag, 90% of my work has gone in this pocket, and the motion to swing the bag around is just as intuitive as a single strap bag. I can even access my manifest box from the internal divider while on the bike without even taking a shoulder out. I really don’t know why no one has thought of this before. It is secured by Velcro and has kept everything bone dry in even the worst downpours. The new bags have two buckles to keep things extra secure from what Shaggy tells me.
Continue reading ‘Shag Bags Messenger Backpack’
A reader who goes by the handle Bikeroo wrote to us with some unsettling news from Toronto.
A cyclist and a cabbie were in a confrontation and though the details of it still remain unclear, the cyclist was rammed by the cab into a pole and was left to die. Fortunately, doctors were able to save him but he lost his leg. The cabbie has been arrested and numerous charges have been laid, but for the most part it’s just a slap on the wrist. You can find more information being updated on blogs such as Biking Toronto.
You can read more at Posted Toronto and CBC News.
November 29th and 30th, in conjunction with the rideSFO Bike Swap, come the rideSFO Goldsprints. Qualifiers on Saturday, finals on Sunday this is 4-up roller racing at it’s finest. Race for free with your paid admission to the swap so you can spin out the rage of missing that steal of a deal you walked past.
Urban Velo contributor Dan Pugatch recently started a new job and a new blog.
As a messenger for New Amsterdam Project, Dan uses a cargo bike to deliver organic food to people’s houses. He says even Staples wants them to start delivering office supplies.
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