12/11/10

Lots of unrelated links

“The Beast” by M55 Bikes is an aggressive looking pedelec with a claimed 40 mph max speed. I think this is one of those electric bikes that begs the question, how fast is too fast? Isn’t this really just a motorcycle with pedals?

Also recently posted at Yanko Design, re:energy is a front wheel concept that promises to harness kinetic energy from riding. The idea behind the design by Jinsik Kim and Boseung Seo is that a user can recharge his or her laptop, phone, or other gadget with the energy stored in the wheel. Maybe in a world with no crosswinds, but in real life it is not very practical. I certainly wouldn’t want to get passed by a bus while riding a bike with a disc wheel in the front. Ouch!

Yet another bike seen at Yanko Design is Omer Sagiv’s folding city bike made from recyclable molded plastic. The full suspension, singlespeed ‘ReCycle Me’ was one of the shortlisted entries in the Seoul Cycle Design Competition. You might remember that I posted a few other concept designs by Omer Sagiv a few months ago.

Speaking of molded plastic bikes, check out the Bisickle, a “whimsical” commuter bike concept by illustrator/inventor/cartoonist Steven Johnson.

I’m really liking the illustrations by Chris McNally on the new Ibis website.

PUBLIC bike has couple of new models that will debut this month. Tell them in ~200 words or less where you would take them and what you would do on a 90 minute bicycle trip in your hometown, and you might win one of the new bikes.

Every other blog in the world has mentioned this, so I might as well quit holding out and jump on the bandwagon. I am skeptical about the idea, but I have to admit that I did find it initially interesting (maybe it was just the models and photography that drew me in). I can’t wait to see how this product is received when Hövding actually starts selling it in Sweden, possibly as early as next Spring.

Pedalr is a site where you can buy or sell bicycles, parts, accessories, apparel or anything bike related. Unlike Craigslist and eBay, pedalr gives “artisans, boutique manufacturers and small shops of the biking world a platform to create identity and connect with bicycle passionate folks.” Read more about it here and click around a bit. It is a pretty cool site to explore.

Alastair Warren wasn’t happy with existing mini-pumps on the market, so he designed one that he believes will offer a better user experience.

I liked the Eurobike Student award winning design for a tent that used a bicycle as part of the structure. Apparently, Topeak has a similar tent on the market.

Apple’s “smart bicycle” patent was making the blog rounds not long ago (including on this blog). Yannig Roth shared some interesting thoughts on the subject, with a mention of the Smart e-bike, recently on his blog.

Alchemy Goods is a Seattle based company that makes bags and other products from old bicycle tubes, seatbelts, advertising banners, etc. They just released a few new products including the Pine messenger bag (for smaller loads), which you can see pictured here.

Bike198 is introducing a new t-shirt line starting with this “Size Does Matter” 29er shirt. Robb Sutton of Bike198 says, “The design of this tee by Adam Allen gets to the retro roots that started with custom steel 29ers but still speaks to the aluminum full suspension designs that we see in today’s market.” They are offering the shirt at a discounting rate until 11/13, so check out the pre-order page.

Richard from Cyclelicious attended the 2010 San Francisco Bicycle Expo last week. Check out some of his photos, including those from the Pedal Savvy bicycle fashion show that took place during the expo.

Salvatore Avantaggiato from Valgioie, Italy is the designer behind the oONDA. Check out the website(in Italian) to see a video of this unconventional folding bike

On a trip to Italy to visit his wife’s family, Brian Miller visited theGemmati Velocipedi factory, which has been producing Iride bikes since 1919. Over the years, he visited many times and finally decided to start importing the classic steel lugged Iride bikes to the U.S. The deep-drop pantographed stem on the track bike, caught my attention. I still have a few old pantographed 1980’s Italian parts that I no longer use, but I just can’t bear to part with.

Posted in E-bike, Uncategorized (Bicycle Design)

Ngày kỷ niệm của những chiếc xe 2 bánh.

Có lẽ có khá nhiều người biết ngày 21 tháng 7 là ngày của những người điều khiển motor. Vậy còn ngày của những chiếc motor là ngày nào?


Ngày kỷ niệm của những chiếc xe 2 bánh.


Việt HùngThứ sáu, 12/11/2010, 8:18(GMT+7)

Có lẽ có khá nhiều người biết ngày 21 tháng 7 là ngày của những người điều khiển motor. Vậy còn ngày của những chiếc motor là ngày nào?

Có thể không có một ngày kỷ niệm chính xác cho những chiếc motor nhưng ngày hôm nay, chính xác là 125 năm về trước, vào ngày 11 tháng 11 năm 1885, mốc thời gian có một sự kiện khá đặc biệt với lịch sử motor thế giới. Ngày mà nhà thiết kế, kỹ sư thiên tài người Đức, ông chủ đầu tiên của tập đoàn Daimler Chrysler, người được coi là cha đẻ của những chiếc xe hơi Mercedes và ngành công nghiệp xe hơi châu Âu, Gottlieb Daimler trình làng chiếc xe máy chạy xăng đầu tiên trên thế giới.

Ông được cấp bằng sáng chế mang tên “Reitwagen”, ông đã xây dựng một mô hình chiếc xe hai bánh và chế tạo thử nghiệm chiếc xe đó với một động cơ nhỏ (động cơ này được phát triển cùng với động cơ của những chiếc Maybach hạng sang) nằm trong một khung xe bằng gỗ cùng những chiếc bánh xe cũng được chế tạo bằng gỗ. Gottlieb Daimler đã test chiếc xe này bằng cách lái nó đi ba dặm dọc theo bờ sông Neckar của Đức và nó đạt được vận tốc tao nhất 12 km/h.



Mặc dù chỉ đạt tốc độ hơn 10 km/giờ một chút nhưng điều đặc biệt là chiếc xe gỗ 2 bánh đã "tự đi" mà không cần ngựa kéo hay bất kỳ một lực tác động nào.

Gottlieb Daimler có một câu nói rất hay về những chiếc xe 2 bánh: “Ngày của những chiếc motor có thể là từng ngày khi bạn ngồi lên chiếc xe của bạn, điều khiển chúng và tận hưởng những cảm giác bay bổng, thoải mái và tự do”.


































Theo Autopro

Influx: Meet the MakersA cross-section of the creative industries December 3rd, New York, NY


Enough talk. Let's get something done. Let's flip the podium on its side, turn it into a workbench and actually make something. And let's ask an amazing mix of people—the doers and the makers, the authors and the artists, the craftsmen and the creators—to let us in on how they do what they do. To show us their "making of" and see what it inspires in us. To give us a day when creation beats criticism and production trumps consumption. Let's celebrate the resurgence of making.

Life Edited - A tiny huge apartment design contest

What is LifeEdited?

What if we could save money, radically reduce our environmental impact, and have a freer, less complicated life?

Treehugger founder Graham Hill has part of the answer: we need to have less stuff and live in smaller spaces, like the 420sf (~39 m2) apartment he will renovate in 2011.

With some design and technology magic, we think 420 square feet can allow for working at home, space for 2 guests to stay over, a sit-down dinner for 12, lounge space for 8, and maybe even a steam room.

To find the best designs, Graham created LifeEdited with Mutopo and Jovoto as an open challenge to design an ultra low footprint space. We’re inviting people to propose, discuss and evaluate designs with the goal of inspiring people to consider small living spaces.

The winning designs will be selected by the LifeEdited jury and the community. If a design is found that meets all of Graham’s criteria (he needs to love it, since he’ll be living in the space and paying for it) an additional contract will be awarded to use the design or elements of the design in his apartment renovation. Graham will then open the apartment for tours, events and stay overs (for the best LifeEdited designers).

LifeEdited is being made possible through the generous support of our sponsors:Cisco, Treehugger, Core77, Architizer, Resource Furniture, Green Depot,Mechoshade, Amina, NRDC, Voltaic Systems, Strida, Crowdbrite, Jovoto andMutopo.

Together we can show how we can live better, reduce our environmental footprint and save money.

Fiskars' Cuts+More has so many different sneaky little functions, it's almost like it was designed in prison

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If I could've had just one pair of scissors back in my design school days, when we all needed to work with a great variety of materials in a single day, it would've been these Fiskars' Cuts+More Scissors.

In addition to your basic scissoring function, there are cutouts for wire, twine, and even rope:

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The sheath has a packing-tape cutter on the bottom edge, and on-board sharpening slots to hone the scissor edges:

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A bottle-opening notch will open beers (or what looks to be bottled Windex in the photo) so you can take the edge off before class:

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Finally, you can detach one half of the scissors and the other half now becomes a titanium shank. (The company literature refers to it as a knife, but I know a shank when I see one.) Perfect for post-crit score-settling; ask your mouthy classmate if he wants to tell you that "your chair design doesn't seem like a good representation of dialectical materialism at all" to your face.

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Core77

Fast Co. interviews Astro Studios on the design of the Boxee

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If I told you you had to design a two-sided remote control, how would you deal with the problem of accidentally pressing buttons on the bottom while you're trying to interact with the buttons on top? My first instinct would be to spec out an internal gyro so that the device knows which side is up, and negates the down-facing buttons; but Astro Studios, the firm behind the Boxee and its two-sided remote, solved it through "simple physical design":

One side is very simplified and pure with play and pause buttons and a four-way navigation pad. We placed those controls in the center of the remote, which keeps your hands away from those buttons when you're using the QWERTY side, which you hold like a phone when you're text-messaging. It took a couple mockups to dial in the right proportions, but it's actually quite comfortable -- the physical design itself is what keeps your hands away from the areas you don't want to use.

You can read more about the design of the Boxee, including Astro's interesting decision to waive initial fees in exchange for Boxee equity, atFast Company's interview with Astro.

Core77

Herman Miller updates an Eames classic

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Herman Miller's Select line has recently reinterpreted the Hang-It-All, the iconic coat rack by Charles and Ray Eames. The Eameses originally designed the Hang-It-All in 1953 for children's rooms, with brightly-painted maple spheres for the knobs; the welded wire frame was produced using mass production techniques they'd perfected while working on their wire table and chair legs.

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The update renders the HIA modern with solid walnut balls and a powder-coated black frame. The 14 knobs total mean one unit should be enough for the average singleton or couple's entryway hanging needs, but for a cooler visual effect, families or offices that have the wall space can gang up a bunch of 'em in a row.

Core77


Asus' seriously unusual laptop design is for someone with a big-ass lap

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The name of Asus' media center laptop is as unwieldy as the actual machine: The NX90JQ-A1 is a 9.4-pound beast with Bang & Olufsen speakers that stick out of the side like ears.

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The screen is an absurdly huge 18.4 inches, widescreen of course, and the highly reflective polished aluminum surface is cool to look at--but probably shouldn't be touched or used in environments with overhead lighting, which only knocks out 99% of potential users.

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Two other interesting design features: 1) See those little black rectangles to either side of the keyboard? Those are dual touchpads that work in tandem, i.e. you can be "mousing" with the left one while button-clicking with the right one. 2) Having speakers mounted on the screen, while unwieldy, actually fires the sound towards your own ears, unlike the keyboard-mounted speakers of most laptops, which shoot the sound straight up.

If you're interested in learning more, PC Mag has a review of the NX90JQ-A1 (will you Marketing guys please give this a better name?) here.

Core77

Vacu Vin's PopSome: Like Tupperware with a pop-up spout

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We like to see designers really exploring the properties of the materials they use in their product designs, and Netherlands-based Vacu Vin has put silicone to good use with their PopSome Candy & Nut Dispenser. A cleverly-designed lid forms an airtight and watertight seal with a protrusion in the bundt-pan-like bowl; pull on the lid's "upper lip" and it pops up into a spout. Check it out:

The PopSome was awarded a 2010 Good Industrial Design Award (not to be confused with the Japan Industrial Design Promotion Organization's Good Design Award; this one is conferred by a Dutch organization called Designlink).

Core77