Raspberry Pi Headlight Projects Useful Data on the Ground

Cycling is my favorite way to get around, and in past years technology has created all kinds of devices that can help make it more convenient. There are countless smartphone apps that help people plan their route or keep track of various things when they ride. But safety is important, and anything that takes your eyes off the road can be a problem. That's why this do-it-yourself project by Matt Richardson is so cool: He used an inexpensive Raspberry Pi credit-card-sized single-board computer to create a very special kind of bike headlight that can dynamically project information on the road in front of you while still illuminating your way and making you more visible to other road users.

His prototype shows speed, but it could show almost anything that a rider might find useful: Maps, or turn-by-turn directions from a GPS program on a smartphone, or weather info, time to destination, distance traveled, proximity warnings if a car is getting too close, etc.
Check out Richardson's video for all the details:
If you want more on how and why this was built, here is the sneak peek video mentioned in the other video, it gives more details:
Granted, the concept of the dynamic headlight is not without faults and it would have to be done right to avoid being one more distraction. But if only minimalist data is projected in a sane way, I think it could be useful to some cyclists.

B-Cycle Has Spread to 15 US Cities

Members of the B-Cycle bike-sharing program with an annual membership will now be able to rent bikes in 15 U.S. cities thanks to the 'B-connected' initiative. This is an expansion of a pilot program that started last Spring between Denver and Boulder in Colorado. Apparently it was successful because the participating cities now are:

• Denver, CO
• Boulder, CO
• Madison, WI
• San Antonio, TX
• Houston, TX
• Spartanburg, SC
• Charlotte, NC
• Des Moines, IA
• Kansas City, MO
• Omaha, NE
• Nashville, TN
• Kailua, HI
• Broward County, FL.
• Fort Worth, TX (launching Spring)
• Salt Lake City, UT (launching Spring)

The process for annual members to connect to visiting cities is simple:

1. Bring your B-card and credit card that is linked to your annual membership to another city that is part of the B-connected group.
2. On your first visit to a station in that city, visit the kiosk and select “No” on the screen which asks if you would like to purchase 24-hour Access. Swipe your credit card associated with your account. Accept the user agreement for that city’s system.
3. Voila! – You are ready to ride a B-cycle in that city!
4. All subsequent checkouts in that city can be done using your B-card at the dock, just as you do in your home city.
5. This process will need to be done the first time you visit a new B-connected city.

Here's a video that shows B-Cycle in action:

Just Bike!

I love cool videos that are not only well done, but also help normalize cycling. Almost everybody has, at one time or another, been on a bicycle. It’s not about who rides what bike, how fast they ride it, or what they wear while riding. It’s about human powered transportation and the freedom and fun that comes from it. Ride on!

Scooter-Bike to Debut for French Bike Share

Commuters in a bike sharing scheme debuting in Bordeaux, France are going to get to try a spanking new hybrid between a bike and a scooter. French designer Philippe Starck and automaker Peugeot teamed up to create the Pibal (French for "baby eel"), a retro-stylish, aluminum-framed vehicle that allows users to ride it like a bike when the going's easy, or to propel it by foot like a scooter when traffic's heavy.

Bordeaux's residents were asked to submit ideas for a new kind of bike, in an effort to increase bicycle use in local public transportation. Starck and Peugeot synthesized these elements together to create the crowd-sourced Pibal, which features yellow colouring for increased visibility, and ample storage in its front and rear racks. Starck explains on Dezeen that:

Just like the pibale, undulating and playing with the flow, Pibal is an answer to new urban ergonomics, thanks to a lateral translation which allows oneself to pedal long distances, to scoot in pedestrian areas and to walk next to it, carrying a child or any load on its platform. It only has the beauty of its intelligence, of its honesty, of its durabiliity. Rustic and reliable, it's a new friend dedicated to the future Bordeaux expectations.

If It's Hip It's Here comments that

The [Pibal] is basically a scooter and a bike compacted into one though the Bordelais (citizens of Bordeaux) are happy to have their very own custom-created public bike and no longer need to feel snubbed by metropolises like Paris and Copenhagen who got their own custom-created public bicycles a while ago.

The Pibal does look a bit heavy, and its lack of a top bar probably means the frame will flex a bit more, residents will get to test out the prototype's durability and versatility when the program launches with 300 Pibals in its fleet -- all free to use -- in June of this year.

Washington State Rep. Ed Orcutt Says Bike Riders Pollute The Environment

Washington state Rep. Ed Orcutt (R–Kalama), a ranking member of the State Transportation Committee, argues that bicycling is bad for the environment and says bike riders should have to pay a tax to help maintain the state's roads. Orcutt made his comments in an email, which was posted by the Cascade bicycle club blog on Saturday. In the message, Orcutt states bike riders pollute the environment because they produce more carbon dioxide than car drivers.

The email from the lawmaker, which was written to bike shop owner Dale Carson, goes on to say that because bike riders have an "increased heart rate and respiration," the act of riding a bike "results in greater emissions of carbon dioxide from the rider."

"Since CO2 is deemed to be a greenhouse gas and a pollutant, bicyclists are actually polluting when they ride," Orcutt wrote in the message, which Carson provided to The Huffington Post on Monday. Carson had originally written Orcutt an email arguing against a proposed 5 percent bicycle tax on bikes that cost more than $500. He said biking is good for the environment as part of his argument for why bicycle riders save taxpayers money.

In his email response, Orcutt said a bike tax makes sense because currently drivers are the ones paying for roads and for the bike lanes on them. Cyclists, on the other hand, don't pay for roads because they don't pay a gas tax "or any transportation tax," the email states.


In Seattle the combined local and state sales tax rate is already 9.5 percent, meaning that if the bicycle tax is implemented, people buying a bike that costs over $500 would pay a 14.5 percent tax there. For a $600 bike, that would be an extra $87.00. Washington's bike tax was part of a 10-year, $10 billion transportation package that was introduced in February by state House Democrats -- legislation that would also impose a tax on purchases of cars, trucks and gasoline. The bicycle tax is expected to raise $1 million throughout a 10-year period.

Some of the Cool Bikes at the 2013 Handmade Bike Show

Wood was everywhere at the 2013 North American Handmade Bicycle Show that took place last weekend in Denver. This Woody 29er Scorcher! is in ash with Kevlar reinforcements and walnut insets, from Connor Cycles. Too pretty for the mean streets?
BIke Friday's New World Tourist is made for touring but suitable for city riding with its folding frame and back rack. Totally customizable in colors like this Sky Blue Sparkle model.
Frame master Joe Sycip made this bike as one of what he calls the Java Boys bike series (there are, thankfully, Java Girls bikes, too). Sycip says this is a 'cruiser'; if so, seems like a perfect city cruiser.
Jon Littleford's bikes are hand-drawn on paper before they are handmade in his shop. Littleford's Daily Ride bike has signature Littleford features - like the integrated rear rack and the gorgeous rear wooden trunk.
Tandems may not be your first thought when you think city cycling - but think again. Breaking in newbie riders is great on a tandem, as well as carting older kids to school. The rigid titanium frame in this Jack's Tandem built by Black Sheep Fabrication is designed to be lightweight but rigid; larger tires are for stability for gravel riding but could work great on crumbling city streets.
It doesn't look like your everyday commuter bike, but Japanese designer Shin-ichi Kono of Cherubim (founded in 1965) made these lovely curving frame parts with beauty and what the company calls "minimum but enough functions." This Rambler took first prize for best City bike at the show.
The longer you city bike, the more you crave a longtail - a bike that can take anything, including extra passengers, you might want to throw on it. Here Rick Hunter's lovely longtail has extra fat tires (sensing that fat tire theme?) to go anywhere, including through city snow or slush.
OK, no, there is no reason to have a chainsaw on the back of your city bike. But Moots, which makes all kinds of mountain bikes, made this IMBA Trail Maintenance Bike not only to win "Best Theme Bike" at the show, but also to demonstrate the versatility and practicality of this titanium-framed bike. Sans chainsaw, all the IMBA features would work well for rugged city style riding.
Breadwinner is the new company that is a collaboration of frame makers Ira Ryan and Tony Pereira. WIth a motto like this one: "Breadwinner Cycles makes beautiful high-quality bicycles for people who love to ride every day" you know they have city cyclists in mind. The Arbor Lodge is classic and capable-looking for a perfect blend of form and function.
This pleasing steel-gray magnesium-frame Paketa tandem touring bike is not the most obvious choice for city riding. It's for touring. But think about the fact that much of the fun in city cycling these days is doing it with someone you love (or at least like). Themed city rides – the beloved Tweed rides, Kidical Mass rides, or yes, even World Naked Bike Rides - are all perfect examples where a gorgeous tandem comes in handy.

London Congestion Pricing Creates Positive Results On All Accounts

Streetsblog, used the occasion of the 10th anniversary of London’s congestion pricing system to review its effectiveness. As you probably know, congestion pricing is a tool by which cities limit automobile and other traffic to certain areas by charging a fee for access. In London, that fee is £10, or about $15.


Has it worked? Streetsblog says yes — or, it did for a bit.

In its first few years, the London charging scheme was heralded as a solid traffic-buster, with 15-20 percent boosts in auto and bus speeds and 30 percent reductions in congestion delays. Most of those gains appear to have disappeared in recent years, however. Transport for London (TfL), which combines the functions of our NYCDOT and MTA and which created and operates the charging system, attributes the fallback in speeds to other changes in the streetscape and traffic management …

The congestion charge also raised millions in revenue, some $435 million in 2008 alone.
But the benefit over the past decade can be seen most clearly in the three maps Streetsblog provides.

Car traffic declines.

Bicycle usage rises.

 
Public transit use increases. 


Less traffic, less congestion, more public transit use, more money for government investment. All the sorts of things that drive right-wing Americans insane. So I wouldn’t hold my breath for implementation in a U.S. city any time soon.