Month: February 2010

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Nine mechanical engineers build a spokeless bicycle


Nine mechanical engineering majors had a dilemma: what do you do for your mechanical design class when you only have a semester? Well, this guys decided to build a spokeless bicycle. Admittedly, only the back wheel is spokeless, but there are reasons for that.

The students that posted this up were in a mechanical engineering class at Yale, and wanted to prove that you could build a human powered spokeless bicycle. It’s a very impressive project, and make sense when you think about it. The design allows for the possibilities of an electric motor, or even (as the student put it) “some sort of gyro balanced storage basket”. Keep in mind, this is a prototype so it’s a little rough around the edges, but the concept is sound. Also, the design originally called for both wheels to be spokeless, however due to budget and time restraints they stuck to just the back wheel.

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Become a bikeUMD Ambassador!

BikeUMD Bicycle Ambassador
What is bikeUMD?
bikeUMD is a campus program with the goal of promoting bicycling within the UMD community. Funding comes primarily from the Department of Transportation Services (DOTS) but the program also depends heavily on collaborations with the Campus Bike Shop in Cole field house and the Campus Police.
What are we looking for in a Bicycle Ambassador?
We are looking for energetic, punctual students, faculty and staff who are comfortable riding a bicycle and eager to advocate for improved bicycle facilities on our campus. Candidates should be interested in promoting safe and fun biking behaviors and events. Interested students should not expect to graduate before spring of 2011.
Duties:
* Chalk bicycle related messages
* Pass out bicycle related information during Bicycle Week (April 5 – April 9, 2010) (Please be willing to commit to 4 hours of volunteer time during this week.)
* Attend training sessions and informational sessions. (No more than 2 a semester) (food provided)
* Share announcements about bicycling on campus through facebook, twitter, email and other social media
* Represent the student body by giving input and feedback on facilities and plans
* Other opportunities to promote cycling:
o Lead bicycle tours, assist with helmet fittings, promote use of u-locks, etc.
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but really…. it is not as much as CAR VERSUS BIKE as it is ME ME ME!

by gwadzilla
the other day I got out on the bike…
it was not a training session
it was not a workout
it was just a way to get from POINT A TO POINT B
so often on this short cross town trek from my home in Mount Pleasant to my dad’s house in Bethesda I found myself playing chicken with the oncoming cars
it was not just frustrating… it was also dangerous
there were cars swerving to dodge snow crossing the double yellow line coming straight towards me
funny… the car drivers work so hard to avoid damage to their cars
if only they worked so hard to not risk injury to pedestrians and cyclists
so often a car driver will slow for a pothole in the road… while that same driver will not alter their speed when approaching the pedestrian or the cyclist
Continue reading “but really…. it is not as much as CAR VERSUS BIKE as it is ME ME ME!”

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San Francisco Takes Parking Spaces for Trial Sidewalk Extensions

mojo_p2p.gifA photo simulation of the new Pavement to Parks public space in what was once two parking spaces in front of the Mojo Bicycle Cafe in NOPA. Image: RG Architecture.

With the success of San Francisco’s Pavement to Parks trial plazas, the city is about to unveil its newest plan to use its streets for something other than cars when it converts parking spaces to public space by extending sidewalks into the street with durable wood platforms.

City planners acknowledge that the inspiration for these new pedestrian spaces came from the success of Park(ing) Day, an international sensation developed by Rebar, where people in cities around the globe occupy parking spaces for one day a year and build pocket parks and other innovative facilities.

The first iteration of the loosely dubbed Pavement to Parks 2.0 projects, which could happen in the next few weeks, will be the transformation of two parking spaces in front of Mojo Bicycle Café on Divisadero Street, in coordination with the massive construction project that is remaking the Divisadero corridor.

“The idea is essentially to build a cheaper bulbout, to get the same effect as a $100,000 [concrete] bulbout at a fraction of the funds,” said the San Francisco Planning Department’s Andres Power, project manager for Pavement to Parks. “We will take the occupation of a sidewalk off the sidewalk and move it into the parking lane.”

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Obama’s Transportation Budget Request – Good for now but not sustainable

By Steve Van Beek

the Administration proposes to fund the increase by tapping what user revenues there are and by significantly increasing the proportion of transportation programs paid for by the nation’s taxpayers.

…
these are five reasons why these strategies are unsustainable:

(1) Transportation cannot consistently out-compete other domestic priorities,

(2) Experience shows that annual appropriations without dedicated funding sources often go unfunded or fall short of authorized levels,

(3) Injecting taxpayer money into trust funds breaks the historic link inherent in current programs between how monies are raised and how they are spent,

(4) Transportation providers and federal agencies need a solvent and predictable trust fund regime to plan and invest in multi-year infrastructure projects, and

(5) Current surface transportation and aviation policies require reform and changes need to be linked with new trust fund regimes.
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Study: Even in Car-Centric Atlanta, Transport Reform is Health Reform

The authors also noted the significance of a documented link between dense residential development and public health in a city known more for its grinding traffic jams and struggling transit:
The Atlanta region is relatively skewed in terms of walkability, with a low proportion of survey participants actually walking and limited variation in urban form. While this presented some difficulty, the large sample size and oversampling of residents of walkable neighborhoods allowed for reasonable estimates of association. The fact that these results emerged in the auto-oriented Atlanta region is an indication that relationships are robust; associations are expected to be stronger in regions with higher overall variations in walkability and/or transit access.
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Pedestrian Safety after Snow

By Nancy Floreen

Although we are getting back to normal in many ways, visibility is still limited by large snow banks, and many sidewalks are still hidden under mounds of snow. Please continue to be very careful when driving and walking. Here are some more safety tips to keep in mind.

For drivers:

• Slow down and obey the posted speed limit.

• Stop for pedestrians at crosswalks and intersections- it’s the law.

• Don’t block crosswalks when stopping at intersections.

• Take extra care around schools, playgrounds, and neighborhoods.

• Always look out for pedestrians, especially before turning at a green light or making a "right turn on red."

• Obey signs, signals and markings–and never run red lights.

• Be careful when passing stopped vehicles. They might be stopping for pedestrians.

• Share the road. It is your responsibility to look out for others.

For pedestrians:

• If you must walk in the street, face traffic so you can see the vehicles coming toward you.

• Stay visible after dark and in bad weather with reflectors or retroreflective clothing. • Cross the street at marked crosswalks and intersections whenever possible.

• Stop and look every time before crossing streets, even when you have the right-of-way, and especially at intersections with “right turn on red.”

• Before crossing, look left, right, then left again, and over your shoulder for turning vehicles. • Begin crossing the street on “Walk” signals – never on a solid or flashing “Don’t Walk.”

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Bridging The GAP

From Cycle Jerk:

Urban Velo bounced this article from Newsweek today about one of the last remaining speed bumps in the completion of the historic C&O / GAP trail connection from DC to Pittsburgh.

The douche bags over at Sandcastle Waterpark, “refused to allow the trail to proceed through their property, even threatening riders with arrest who pedal their bike through their parking lot that features a double yellow line for car traffic, forcing riders to take what amounts to a highway around their property and thwarting what would otherwise be the longest continuous city to city trail in the United States”.

These shitbirds are missing a golden marketing opportunity to have legions of active outdoorsy types riding and walking right passed their front door for free. Perhaps they just need some bad press to put this issue in perspective, so please forward this along.

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