A mad scientist creates a jaw-dropping, steam-powered bicycle. Not as convenient as an electric-motorized bicycle and a lot more complex than a human-powered bicycle, it brings back the great memories of the steam-locomotive toy I had as a kid.
I’m not sure why the top stories of 2019 are very important. I don’t have advertisers to appease and I don’t monetize my loyal readers. It is not a fair measurement because the stories posted in the first part of the year had more opportunity to build an audience than the stories from a month ago. I guess I’m just curious what stories spiked the status quo and if you missed them, you get another shot to read them. So here you go. The most-read stories of 2019. E-Bikes Not…
The year is almost up and Niner squeaked in with this amazing custom artwork to easily win my “Best of 2019 for Custom Paint.” You can read the entire story here. Congrats to Niner senior graphic designer Nate Adams for such a fun, well-executed custom presentation.
I was introduced to Bob Sutton by the late Steve Tilford. That should tell you something right there. We became fast friends. Bob even spent some time working for the same publishing company I used to work for and Dirt Bike published a few of Bob’s adventure stories. Bob was recently diagnosed with a very serious medical condition that required a surgery. When Bob showed up for the procedure, his doctors were shocked at a good amount of bruising on Bob’s body. Bob explains in an email received this morning;…
I’ve noticed a number of well-meaning experts touting the use of pool noodles by cyclists to keep motorists from passing too closely. I believe this is bad advice that may be counter productive and potentially dangerous. Here’s why. Years ago I was given a jersey that read “3 Feet To Pass” and had graphics of a big arrow and an automobile passing a cyclist. I thought it was pretty cool. My first ride in it dampened that enthusiasm. It seemed like an inordinate number of vehicles passed dangerously close (by…
A flood of headlines last week appeared to be clickbait because of their preposterous claims. The articles from Outside, The Verge, Men’s Health, KSL.com, Adventure Journal and Electrek referenced a study from Brigham Young University claiming that riding an E-bike requires close to the same amount of energy as riding a bicycle. Anyone who has had the pleasure of riding an E-bike knows the main attraction of electric-motorized bikes is how much they reduce the energy needed to ride. These media outlets were claiming the study proved this perception wrong.…
Four major user groups share unpaved recreation trails designated for non-motorized use; hikers, trail runners, equestrians and mountain bikers. A change in California law (that other states may adopt) has permitted electric-motorized bikes access to these same trails, thus adding a new user group into the mix. While these five different user groups share the same trail, how do their speeds and amount of trail used in a specific amount of time compare? Anecdotal answers abound, but finding quantitative data on the question is difficult. My solution was to conduct…
Last week we had hurricane-strength winds, major power outages and wildfires that seemed to negatively impact every family in California. Well, all that changed on Sunday November 3rd because it was time for the 11th Mike Nosco Memorial Bicycle Ride and Mike must have been pulling some strings from up in Hero Heaven. Riders were treated to the best weather imaginable (I was tempted to hop off the moto and jump in the ocean) and the riders again showed up to support the event in impressive numbers. Cyclists are good…
No doubt, it is a cool concept. Make a bicycle helmet sans a hard-surface shell that can fold into the palm of your hand and tuck neatly into a tube the size of a bicycle water bottle. Make it so small that it could easily be mistaken for a baseball hat (with a three-point retention strap). Finally, make this helmet meet or exceed the U.S. CPSC and EU EN-1078 cycling safety standards. Park & Diamond, a company that has never made a bicycle helmet or any other product, claims they…
Mike the Talking Bike was used by the State Patrol for bicycle safety education statewide. Jerry Dickson of Owatonna, creator of the program, is pictured sixth from the left.