Six Great Long-Distance Bike Trails Without Cars

Wouldn't it be great if there were long-distance trails specifically for bicycles? Basically -- roads without cars?

Well, there are! A quickly emerging network of abandoned railway lines are being converted by regional governments into superb bike paths. In addition to offering very gentle grades that are ideal for bikes, many of these new trails are satisfying long. The longest rail trail is over 300 miles long, and the longest off-pavement bike trail in the country stretches 2,500 miles. On these bike roads you can cruise along for weeks without ever encountering a car, or worrying about being bumped off the white line by an oblivious motorist. These are not paved roads, but packed gravel or dirt. Many sport spectacular tunnels and bridges courtesy of the former railways. At the same time these trails pass through small towns affording local eateries and rural lodging, as well as the usual camping spots along the way. I tell you, there's nothing like arriving at the soft pillows of a B&B after a long day of pedaling.

Many of these trails did not exist as bike paths even a few years ago. More are being opened every day. There's great effort to sew short sections together into long haul bike-primary paths. Eventually you will be able to cross the country via a series of interconnected car-free roads. In the meantime, the clearinghouse for the latest additions to the bike-road network is the Rail to Trails Conservancy.

But you don't have to wait to enjoy some fantastic overnight tours on roads without cars. Here are six of the longest continuous bike trails in operation right now, in ascending order of length on Kevin Kelly's Website KK.org/cooltools.

Arm powered quadcycle is like a rowing machine with a view

Most of us start out on an exercise plan with good intentions, but let's face it, sitting in a room doing the same repeated motion gets boring pretty fast. I have a rowing machine propped up against my wall, but lately, it gets used mostly as an expensive coat rack.

Cycling is a great alternative that gets you plenty of fresh air and outdoor views, but the exercise is confined mostly to the lower torso and legs. What if we could combine the outdoor fun of cycling with the all over workout of rowing? Well, short of finding the nearest river and launching a kayak, this arm powered quadcycle called The Champiot looks like a great solution.

Instead of pedaling, you create power by thrusting the handlebars back and forth like a rowing machine, and unlike most human powered alternatives to a regular bike, the Champiot is designed for one rider. Manufacturer Ferez Industries makes several versions including some with supplemental electric drive for when you lack the strength to row home. The Champiot Ultra shown here sells for $999.

Ferez Industries, via Treehugger.com

'Sound From Wind' Turns Bikes into Musical Instruments

Remember the mods you used to inflict on your bike when you were a kid? Flags and streamers were fine, but best was the conversion of pushbike into motorcycle by the simple addition of a playing card and a clothes-peg. To a child's ears the rat-a-tat of laminated linen against spokes was engine noise.

Sound from the Wind is another way to convert motion into music. The concept, from Korean designer Joseph Kim, consists two ceramic replacements for the handlebar grips which channel air through their internal tubes. The setup apparently sounds like a flute or ocarina, and you can alter the pitch with some switches on the handlebars. Volume is increased by riding faster.

What I really like, though, is not all about the sound but the look of these things. They remind me of airplane jet-engines, which are obviously an essential addition to any kid's bike. In fact, the only problem is that they are ceramic, clearly too brittle to survive for long.

Sound from wind: musical bicycle

Double Bike Takes You on a Supremely Ridiculous Ride

By the looks of things, this double-wheeled bike concept can easily stand alongside gems like the 12-foot tall bicycle, face to face tandem bicycle and the running bicycle in terms of sheer stupidity and pointless danger.

Since there is no chain attached to the lower wheels, I can only assume that the upper wheel is generating all the momentum—transferring the energy like a set of gears (although, I can't imagine that would be very efficient—and you would have to pedal backwards).

At any rate, you would have time to think about how stupid this all is as you hit a pebble in the road and fall to your untimely death.

[My Confined Space via Coolbuzz]

Bodum Chambord 8-Cup Press & Thermal Glasses

Bodum Chambord 8-Cup Press & Thermal Glasses

While high-end coffee makers promise ultimate convenience, there's still nothing quite like a french press.

The Bodum Chambord 8-Cup Press & Thermal Glasses ($40) brews up to 8 cups of coffee the old-fashioned way, and features a built-in, three-piece stainless steel filter, a polished stainless lid and holder, a wide black handle and knob, and a glass carafe.

As a bonus, the set includes two 12-oz. Pavina double wall glasses, giving you everything you need for a great coffee experience.

A2B Trike offers disabled children a special needs vehicle with style...

Inspired by disabled children in Jerusalem, designer Shabatai Hirshberg concocted an ultra-cool tricycle for special needs children that never-the-less inspires a bit of geek envy.

The A2B Trike is designed to allow a child to walk right into a mounted position for cycling, while the chest support plate stabilizes the child's body during transit. Although still in the developmental stage, Hirshberg hopes to bring the prototype design to market for around $6,000 in the near future.

Via Metropolis & Yanko Design

Factor001, world's most advanced superbike, rolls out for an amazing $27K+

When the world runs out of gas, we'll all be riding carbon fiber bicycles, weighing 15.4 pounds and hooking our bodies up to telemetry systems that rival the space program. With The Factor001, you don't have to wait for such inevitabilities — if you happen to have a spare $27,724 lying around, that is.

Designed by Formula One race car engineers at BERU F1 Systems, it's the most advanced bicycle in the world. You'd think it was a Ferrari, with its carbon ceramic brakes controlled by a hydraulic system, and then there's that flashy metallic finish. It's also packing a built-in GPS transmitter, and like a good Garmin Forerunner, gathers up "laboratory quality" biometric and performance data for you to peruse on your PC when you get home.

Besides all that, it looks so cool I thought it was some design-concept-y prototype bike. But no, it rolled out at London's Science Museum on March 11th, and is ready for prospective buyers to be measured up for this custom-fitted machine of the future. Now if they can just bring that price down to under $1000, I'm in (that is if some wealthy reader can loan me the cash).

Factor001 Press Release, via Inhabitat, Via Dvice.com

Tensegrity bike is totally wired...

Tensegrity is a word coined by Buckminster Fuller to describe structures where strength and integrity are achieved by balancing members under compression, with other that are in tension. In creating a bike frame where most of the members are under tension, Romanian designer Ionut Predescu's Wire Bike replaces most of the tubing with high strength carbon fiber and Kevlar cables, saving lots of weight in the process.

WhileI don't doubt the Wire Bike's basic strength, I wonder whether it will have sufficient lateral strength to avoid flexing when a rider really stands on the pedals. Especially when a 'BOB' (Big Ole Boy) like me hits it....

Yanko Design, via Treehugger.com

Sportsta Mask - Darth Vader's Missing Link?

Whether you're biking, riding, skiing, or climbing, protect your face — and your health — with the Sportsta Mask (£27.99; roughly $40).

Features HEPA-style filtration. Filters Out Exhaust Emissions and sub-micron pollutants all within a lightweight Neotex aerated mask, the Sportsta provides maximum ventilation paired with maximum protection.

I would hope that this would only be required by some commuters and bike messengers, but the way our air is getting, you never know...

Lance Armstrong's Bike Stolen, Then Found...

Lance Armstrong's one-of-a-kind TREK time-trial bike was stolen from the Team Astana bus in Sacramento overnight. Armstrong and the rest of Team Astana are in Sacramento for the Amgen Tour of California.

The bike and three other Astana team road bikes were discovered missing sometime this morning. According to Armstrong, " ... it's the only one like it in the world." Armstrong has a backup TT bike he can use in the Solvang time trial if the stolen bike isn't recovered.

A reward is being offered.

Going to the Amgen Tour of California - Stage1? If so you must check stop by the California Bicycle Museum at UC Davis

Emily Blake, left, a UC Davis alumna who lives in Davis, and Drew Tombleson of Woodland check out the Draisienne bike at the California Bicycle Museum during the Celebrate UC Davis! street fair Oct. 12. (Karin Higgins/UC Davis)

Learn a little bicycle history at the California Bike Museum in the basement of the Third and B Street building downtown.

The temporary exhibit includes the Pierce Miller bicycle collection, which features bicycles from as far back as the 1800s, and will be open through the Amgen Tour. The museum, in which the city and UC Davis are partners, opened its inaugural exhibition in October 2008. The show had been scheduled to close in December, but organizers decided to keep it open through the Amgen Tour weekend.

Swiftwalkers to Streamliners, Bicycles 1823–2008, showcases the museum’s Pierce Miller collection, which includes some of the earliest bicycles ever built. One organizer estimated that as many as 4,000 people have visited the museum since its opening around the time of UC Davis’ Centennial Fall Festival last October.

The exhibition in the Third and B Street Building’s basement is open from 9 a.m. to noon every Saturday through Feb. 14, 4-7 p.m. Feb. 11 and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Feb. 15. Admission is free, with donations accepted.

To inquire about museum tours at other times, contact David Takemoto-Weerts, bicycle program coordinator at UC Davis, (530) 752-2453 or dltakemotoweerts.edu.

More information: http://californiabicyclemuseum.org

Media contact: David Takemoto-Weerts, TAPS bicycle program, (530) 752-2453, dltakemotoweerts@ucdavis.edu.

Caltrain bolstering on-board bike space

For those of you that live in California and use Caltrain, here is some great news!!

Caltrain crews soon will begin ripping out seats from their train cars to make room for more bicycle racks, the first in a series of moves intended to bolster capacity for frustrated bikers.

At a meeting Thursday the Caltrain Board of Directors authorized the "interim" solution to the problem of hundreds of bicyclists who get "bumped" (left at the station) whenever a train's bike racks are full.

The board decided that the number of bike racks in gallery cars should increase 25 percent from 32 to 40, while the number of racks in bombardier cars should soar 50 percent from 16 to 24. To free up space for the racks, the number of seats on the bottom floor of gallery cars should drop from 16 to eight and in bombardier cars from 19 to 11.

In all, the total available bike slots for the entire day should swell 28 percent from 4,000 to 5,152. During peak commute times there should be 27 percent more slots, for a total of 2,930.

A total of 272 seats will have been removed. Read the rest of the article at the Mercury News

The Blue Glow - Sweet Wheels!

The Blue Glow - Long Glow: uv protected automotive clearcoat

This is a 30sec exposure in the dark bathroom, you get the idea.

Mobius Cycle (206.290.20961016 1st ave, fourth floor Monday to Friday) off of 1st Ave in downtown Seattle has partnered with SIK Werks to create a custom rim that glows in the dark for 14 hours on a full charge. The rim pictured here is a white DT Swiss 1.2 that glows with a blue phosphorescent in the dark. The photo below is the wheel in daylight.

Bicycle Design Winner

Bicycle Design blog held a contest and a bent won.

Bike Hugger.com has a great discussion about the design and the practicality of the design. Check it out here.

Bikes Move Tomorrow

In this ad, CSX is telling the story of how you need big trains to move lots of cargo. Well, I was wondering who made all those cargo bikes!

Gladiator helmet makes you the scariest cyclist around

Regular bike helmets protect your head when you fall, but do they intimidate and terrify everyone around you? No, they don't. That's not so with the Gladiator Helmet, which looks like it does a questionable job of protecting your melon but does a bang-up job of making you the most intimidating cyclist on the street.

While the helmet/goggles combo doesn't look too comfortable, and while it looks like it would julienne your head rather than protect it in a fall, it has a certain look to it. You know, a look that says "I'm not above murdering you if you get in my way." And there's certainly something to be said for that.

Via Yanko

Bring the bike lane with you with LightLane...

This is a concept right now, but I really like idea...

Having a bike lane on the street that you're pedaling down is a great thing. It makes drivers aware of you and it gives you your own space to travel in. Unfortunately, that is rarely an option. What to do? Just take a bike lane with you!

The LightLane is a concept design that uses lasers to project an illuminated bike lane all around you wherever you go. It keeps you visible to cars and it keeps you safe. Until all cities put in bike lanes for cyclist safety, we might have to rely on clever devices like this to stay safe.

Good, via The Daily What

Strida folding bike: "Look, Mom, no (greasy) hands!"

The main innovation of Strida's sweet line of folding bikes isn't in the elegant design that let's you fold the bike in a convenient package that's easier to wheel into an office, subway car or elevator.

Its biggest selling point is a freakin' rubber belt that replaces the greasy chain. For you hardcore eco-commuters who sweat what a folding bike can do to your suit's pantlegs, it's a godsend.

Oh, and the folding-up thing is great, too. Many folding bikes require you to carry them — transferring the aforementioned grease to your jacket — like a heavy, awkward briefcase. The Strida handlebars fold in, and the triangle design collapses together to bring both wheels side by side, like a collapsed baby stroller's.

It retails for $800, but you can get them online with some shopping around for $600. Accessories include mudflaps, a saddle bag and — of course — an iPod backpack.

HMX fuel cell bicycle looks like a rocket bike, but for the lazy rich

In an effort to bring their hydrogen fuel cell expertise to small electric vehicles, Horizon Fuel Cell Technologies' HMX — that stands for Hydrogen Mobility X-Tender — has finally made the moped cool.

At a top speed of 15 mph, the bike gets 180 miles on a single hydrogen charge. The bike's 36V engine does allow it to operate "pedal-assisted," although with a $3000 price tag, it's unclear why an owner would want to do any work at all.
Recharging the solid-state hydrogen fuel cell takes 30 minutes, but the six-gear motor does take 10-15 seconds to warm up. Because you wouldn't want a bike this unique-looking to be a bank robbery getaway vehicle anyway.

The HMX comes to the US later this year.

Like, Who Needs Lights on a Fixie?

K, so why is that top bar sticking out either end? Turns out that there is an LED integrated into each end, evidently solar powered too, though I can't see any solar cells. Or perhaps you can open it up and fill the thing with a dozen D batteries.

I am probably opening myself up to significant abuse to note that fixie riders usually don't encumber their bikes with lights any more than they do with other marginally useful inventions like brakes.

It is being sold by Areaware for $500, which seems pretty cheap considering that a leather seat alone is worth about a hundred bucks. Via Dvice