November 30, 20076 Comments on Queens bicycle ghetto blasters
These kids in Queens roll with 5000 watt amplifiers booming about 150 decibels of music on the streets of New York City. They make custom cabinets to house the systems, with more cabinets holding the car batteries to power the system. Most of the bikes have decorative lighting and some have DVD screens for viewing while riding, according to the Times article.
Read more at the New York Times. Thank you to the Longmonster.
November 29, 2007Leave a Comment
Another celebrity bike rider! From news reports:
Rialto Police Sgt Don Lewis said Rodney King told police the shooting took place while he was riding his bicycle in neighboring San Bernardino. King rode his bicycle home after the incident and it was not immediately clear who fired the shot, Lewis said.
November 29, 20072 Comments on The ethics of transportation choices
I’ve written a couple of times on the consequences our transportation choices have on people far away from us. In this Streetfilms interview, ethicist Randy Cohen brings it home to the local level.
Cohen tells us that ethics concerns itself with the effects of our actions on other people. Very few people think of the impact we make when we make a decision (or, more often, no intentional decision) on our mode of transportation. Cohen discusses the issues surrounding individual freedoms versus the public costs in the video interview. Watch it here.
November 29, 20078 Comments on Taking the lane: How it’s done
Dual Chase Productions creates a number of PowerPoint presentations with video showing how cyclists interact with traffic. These instructional videos are intended for cyclists, motorists, law enforcement, advocates planners and engineers. Instructional videos for cyclists are intended for LCIs and other educators. Cycling advocates can use the PowerPoint slides and videos to show planners, engineers, law enforcement and motorists road use and safety from a cyclist’s perspective.
Samples of slides and videos are available for online viewing at Cyclist View. This lane control video, for example, demonstrates a cyclist “taking the lane” in 45 mph traffic in the motoring mecca of Orange County, California.
Another example is this presentation on “Inclusive Design and Planning”, which is designed to help planners understand and inclusively plan for the diverse spectrum of cyclists by showing on-bike video of cyclists in traffic and combining this with road diagrams.
November 29, 20074 Comments on Bicycle iPod speakers review
Ari Bader-Natal reviews the “iHome iH85B Bike to Beach Speaker System for iPod” over at his bits and bikes blog.
Your iPod docks in the speaker unit which sits in a water bottle cage, and the iPod is controlled from a wireless controller mounted on your handlebar. It’s a handy looking gizmo and would make a nice gift for the bike commuter who has everything. Read the full review at bits and bikes.
November 28, 20074 Comments on Create your own Bike Snob franchise
Contest below!
Regulars readers of Cyclelicious know I have no skill for humor. I thoroughly enjoy Bike Snob NYC, however. A couple of copycats have popped up who try to copy his formula for humor, including my own computer scripted Autosnob experiment.
A couple of people have asked me how the Autosnob works. Like any computer program, it follows a formula, and I follow the formula perfected in the Bike Snob’s “Worst of Craigslist” posts. If you want to create your own Bike Snob franchise blog, here’s how you, too, can gain fame, fortune, and interviews with Bicycling magazine and big name bike blogs.
Write the preamble. This is an introductory paragraph or three setting up the overall theme of the post. Bike Snob makes effective use of metaphors and similes. For the Autosnob, I grabbed the text from various “worst similes” websites. Here are some freebies:
You get the idea.
Select your Craigslist ad. The best ads are ones with photos, so select your city or region and search for “fixie,” limiting your search to the title text and posts with photos. You might also want to set a minimum price to weed out the small trash (like old broken pedals) that people peddle on Craigslist. Here’s an example of this search.
I’ve selected this ad for you to experiment with in the comments. It’s an ugly 25 year old bike with missing parts, junky cell phone photos, and a ridiculous price.
The owner is also obviously clueless: “just got a new bike. this one’s too big for me(i’m almost 5’10”). it’s almost 33″ stand over hi. it’s probably from the ’90s. i’m not too sure. it’s a fuji del rey. it’s set up with a fix gear cog. i have a free wheel for it. i also have a smaller front chain ring for it. i even have the old deraillers and gear shifters if you want to turn it back to a bike with gears. i have drop bars or bullhorns that i chopped from drop bars. i have one or two brakes and levers for it.”
Mock the ad. But do it with cleverness and style and pop culture references. The obvious things to mock on this bike are the missing saddle, “33 inch stand over hi,” “one or two brakes” (He’s not sure? At least he spelled it right), $225 for a bike that sold for $300 new in 1983, and what looks like a Polaroid as a spoke card. You can probably do something clever with the color — BSNYC likes to find similarly colored objects for his Craigslist finds. This color reminds me of eggplant, but people pictures are funnier. It takes more work, but a photo of a has-been celebrity in a purple outfit would work well here. Here’s the best of both worlds: A has-been celebrity who looks like an eggplant!
Obligatory mentions. If the bike is a Pista, be sure to mention the Pista-dex. For any recent fixie, be sure to compare the price against a new bike’s MSRP. If the handlebar is partially wrapped, you must mention the “dog erection” look of the bar.
Colorful euphemisms. I’m a fan of BSNYC’s euphemisms. For example: “I loudly admonished him for having Oedipal tendencies.”
Try your best! Write a snobby review of the Fuji Del Rey linked to above. Put your “Worst Of” review as a comment here or in your own blog (be sure I can find it). A panel of celebrity judges (TBD) will determine the best ad among the entries. The winner gets a $20 Amazon gift card. The usual rules apply: I need your valid email address if you’re the selected winner, and this contest must be legal in your area. Contest deadline is next Wednesday, December 5 at 6:30 p.m. U.S. Pacific Standard Time.