bits and bikes

While there’s a growing range of interest in and options for commute-oriented bicycles (e.g. the $900 Novara Fusion, the $1100 Breezer Uptown, $1600+ Civia Hyland, etc.), if you’re considering bicycle commuting, I would recommend against purchasing one these. Instead, I’d suggest borrowing a lesson from Agile software development: iterate.

Somewhere, in your basement, in your garage, your old bike is leaning against wall. The tires may be flat, the chain may be a bit rusty, but the frame is the right size. Let’s start here. You’re willing to give bicycle commuting a shot, at least for a week or two. I don’t think this necessitates the Hyland just yet, but a tune-up at your local shop is definitely in order. Give them a call and schedule it.

Let’s skip ahead a bit. You’re enjoying the daily commute, have done a bit of reading online about the little things that help make commuting easier. But even after a two or three weeks, your seat is still uncomfortable. Or perhaps your back is sore from leaning too far forward. Or you’re having trouble seeing bumps in the road on your ride home. Whatever is bothering you most, it’s time to address it. Head back to the shop, and get that new saddle, the handlebar extensions, or the headlight. The following week, you’ll be able to appreciate the difference. Another few weeks later, when something else is bothering you, repeat the drill.

I’ve seen a few instances of the big, up-front new-bike investment based on good intentions to begin commuting, and it’s always sad when it doesn’t play out as planned. What I’m suggesting here is an alternative: that if you incrementally improve your commute, you will keep your investment in line with the experience payoff.

I’m not saying this will be pretty. I started in grad school (which, by the way, is an excellent time to begin commuting by bicycle), on an early-nineties steel-frame mountain bike, to which I bungee-corded a milk-crate to carry my laptop and books. Over the past few years, the milk-crate has been replaced with REI Garage Sale panniers, the seat has been replace by a more comfortable saddle, the pedals now sport Power Grips, the front headlight, rear blinky, and wheel monkeylectrics are all LED-based. The tires got skinnier, more puncture-resistant, and grew fenders. The handlebars sprouted comfortable extensions. The water bottle holder now holds my sound system. I’m still waiting for the opportunity to turn it into a NuFixie. Lest it should sound like I now ride a completely different bike, I will point out that these changes happened slowly, over the course of several years and thousands of miles of commuting. In that time, I continued to prove to myself that the incremental improvements were worth the time and cost. And while this early-nineties steel frame bike now likes like some sort of FrankenGiant, it’s one that I’ve been quite happy with.

At this point, now that I’ve convinced myself that I’m in it for the long haul, I feel comfortable investing in a shiny new bicycle. Every now and then, I stop in a bike shop to try out something new. Ultimately, I seem to always walk away disappointed, thinking about the ways that I wished the test-ride was more like my daily commute. I’m sure some day soon, I’ll try something that grabs me. But until then…

Click for larger image

Linux = Recumbent

via If Computers Were Bikes, What Bikes Would They Be? | Gadget Lab from Wired.com.

I posted an entry on the Grockit blog today, about how aim to build a learning platform that we is both both peer-powered and data-driven. My goal is to contribute a new post each week or so, which you can find here: http://blog.grockit.com/author/ari/.

Following my acquisition of these socks, I’ve actively been on the lookout for interesting opportunities in my field. I’m excited to have found something great in the works at Grockit, and will be joining Farb and his team there next month. More details in the weeks to come… This blog will most likely be quieter for the next few weeks, after which I plan to continue posting at my breakneck pace of 50 posts every year.

I came across Jonathan Feinberg’s Wordle yesterday, and spent perhaps a bit too much time generating word clouds for Bits and Bikes. Click on the images below to view the full-size versions of two of my favorites:

Following on my recent posts on the hackable Monkeylectric LED spoke lights and the Altoids tins of bicycle hacks, I’d like to share a new idea. I don’t have the parts, tools, or know-how to build this myself, but perhaps you do, so I’ll share:

The idea is to build an automatic continuous transmission for a bicycle, by wiring up a controller for a NuVinci CVP designed to maintain a constant level of effort from the rider.

In the past year or two, I’ve spotted articles and reviews discussing an interesting new technology for bicycles: the NuVinci CVP from Fallbrook Technologies. The “CV” of the NuVinci CVP reflect the fact that the gear ratio is continously variable: While most bicyclists are familiar with the clicking feeling of switching between discrete gears, the NuVinci CVP offers an alternative in which a continuous spectrum of gear ratios are available. The demo video gives a nice overview. While a few high-end bicycles now incorporate the NuVinci into configured bike, you can also purchase just a hub or purchase just a pre-built wheel. Most user reviews so far have been quite positive about the technology, ratio speed range (350%), and test rides, but have been less positive about the added weight (~8lbs), reduced efficiency, and price (~$400). (See the reviews at bikehugger, veloblog, and bikecommuters).

…build a controller that continually adjusts the NuVinci’s gear ratio to maintain peak efficiency.

So let’s assume for the moment that the NuVinci CVP lives up to its billing. I’m suggesting that rather than constantly adjusting the NuVinci’s “CruiseControl” twist-shifter to maximize your efficiency, we build a controller that continually adjusts the NuVinci’s gear ratio to maintain peak efficiency. If I’m not mistaken, the effect should feel something like riding a stationary exercise bike. Or am I mixing up effort, power, and cadence? I did a bit of looking and came across one off-the-shelf power output sensor (the Polar Power Output Sensor Kit), and there are a whole slew of relatively cheap cadence sensors available.

Automatic controls for gear-shifting has made a recent resurgence, thanks to the three-speed Shimano Coasting group. Bicycles built on the Coasting components (or a similar system) automatically switch gears based on the bike’s speed (?? correct me if I’m wrong on this.) The goal of the Coasting system has been to enable simple bicycle designs for non-riders, by removing those pesky hand controls for shifting and braking. Clearly I have a different goal in mind than Coasting: elegance, not simplicity.

A bicycle that automatically and continuously maintains the preferred gear ratio (or cadence?) for the rider. Too good to be true? A simple afternoon hack? Please share your thoughts on the NuFixie Challenge…

Let me start by saying that I believe in visibility. And not in the dim-red-blinky kind of way. A healthy dose of LEDs and reflective tape cover both me and my bicycle when I ride after dark. But while my 4-AA front Cateye is quite bright, and my PlanetBike SuperFlash on back is nearly unmissable, my side visibility falls short. So a few years ago I picked up a pair of Hokey Spokes, and attached one to each wheel. (These battery-powered units attach to a spoke and fill the wheel with light from 16 yellow LEDs when it is spinning.) Last week, I took off the Hokey Spokes to try out something new: the Monkeylectric m132s. I’ll start with a few videos…

I first heard of Monkeylectric last summer, when I met Dan Goldwater in Cambridge to see his then-current prototype. Dan, the force behind it, is a bona fide Maker. Prior to Monkeylectric, he was a co-founder of Instructables, a community site for how-to’s and DIY projects. He has contributed a large number of projects there, both LED-themed and bicycle-themed, and the m132s clearly draws on this body of work. Where the m132s differs, however, is in accessibility: It is for sale, already assembled and ready to use.

I will compare the Monkeylectric 132s to the Hokey Spoke based on the three criteria that I believe to be most important to the bicycle commuter: enjoying the commute, practicality, and staying safe.

Enjoying the commute:
There’s no questions about it: the Monkeylectric 132s is fun. Bright colors, in a variety of patterns, constantly changing.

I’ll repeat a request I made when reviewing another fun bicycle accessory: I’d like to see the lights blink to the beat of the music, a la iTunes Visualizer. Dan has posted schematics online, so perhaps this may not be impossible after all. If you figure this one out, please let me know…

Practicality:
Installation does take some time, but you only need to do it once. The included instructions are a bit skimpy, but Dan has posted a detailed guide on Instructables, which I recommend printing out. The unit is attached to spokes with zip-ties, and a set of rubber spacers eliminates any rattling. The Hokey Spokes, on the other hand, rattle incessantly, regardless of how much they are tightened. On the other hand, they were designed to be easily removable (with a screwdriver), and that does advantages over zip ties. I used the Hokey Spokes in the winter, when I ride home in the dark, but take them off in the summer, when it remains light longer. Now that the m132s is zip-tied on, it’s not coming off again (unless someone cuts it off.) One suggestion: Before using the zip-ties, think about which side of the bike you stand on more often, and orient the m132s so that the buttons are accessible from that side of the bike.

Unfortunately, the battery cage of the m132s is not water-proof. You can either remove the batteries when parked outside on rainy days, or follow Dan’s Instructable on waterproofing the batteries, themselves. On the other hand, everything electronic outside of the battery cage has been coated with a water-proof layer, so you can use it in wet weather, if you so choose. The Monkeylectric website has photos of wheels partially-submerged in puddles during a downpour, to reassure you. I have yet to leave mine in the rain, but will update this review once I do…

When it comes to bicycle accessories for daily commuting, my preference is generally for road-ready manufactured products over homemade DIY products. Rain, snow, salt, constant jostling, and potholes are eventually unavoidable, and so my bicycle and the things on it must be able to handle that. So while it looks like a great project, I haven’t assembled a SpokePOV kit. Aside from the Hokey Spokes, there are other approaches to side-lighting for bicyclists. Commute by Bike reviewed the Pedalite Self-Generating Luminescent Bike Pedals earlier this year, and while it doesn’t look particularly bright, it wins points for not requiring any batteries.

Hokey Spokes do offer one feature missing from the m132s: multi-unit synching. This is a cool trick in theory, but I found that the IR sensors were often triggered by bright sunlight, and frequently found them already running when I returned to my bicycle at the end of the day (Partially covering the sensors with electric tape solved the problem.) This synching and the fully-waterproof enclosure were two areas that the m132s still lags behind. Perhaps next revision.

Staying safe:
The m132s is significantly brighter than the Hokey Spokes (I included a direct comparison photo in the gallery above.) So to the extent that higher visibility means increased road safety, that’s good. I’m a bit worried about the swirling color light show being too visible, and causes a distraction to drivers, so, for the time being, I’ve been setting it to a single-color (orange.)

Summary: If you are concerned about cars not seeing you at intersections, the MonkeyLectric m132s is a remarkably bright wheel-based light set. The customizability, hackability, and color variations may be unnecessary for a visibility-focused commuter, but hey, they definitely add to the fun.

Dan is offering a discount to readers of Bits and Bikes. Use coupon code “BIKECULT” when ordering to receive a 25% discount at the Monkeylectric web store.

I spotted this clever website today (via), which plots the number of Google results for various spellings of one particular expression.

I, too, have generated statistics on various spellings of particular words, and have just yesterday posted them online. This includes about 100,000 spellings of about 3,000 English words, collected through the SpellBEE activity, as part of my dissertation work. So if you’ve been wondering about the relative frequency of various misspellings of the word “accommodation”, you can now rest easy: check out spellbee_errors1.txt. Details, descriptions, and downloads are here.

Several months ago, I wrote about the iHome iH85b (aka the “cycler”, the “Bike to Beach Bicycle Speaker for iPod”, or the “iHome2go”.) I continue to use this speaker during my commutes, and still highly recommend it. But that’s besides the point.

There are only three spots (that I can think of) to reliably mount a peripheral onto a bicycle: on the handlebar, on the rear rack, or in a water bottle cage. The front bar is a good spot for smaller trinkets that require attention, such as lights, bells, and electronics. The rear rack is a good spot for mounting assorted cargo, either in a milk crate, kitty litter buckets, or in plain old panniers. The water bottle cage, with one exception, is really only good for carrying one thing: a water bottle. The exception? When you bike sports a second cage.

A second water bottle cage opens up a slew of new possibilities. The iPod speaker is but only one option. There are all sorts of other creative uses for this space, ranging from home-brew lighting upgrades to a repair kit to the “Gadget Bottle” to other fully patented inventions. Know of others? Leave a comment.

What I like about these various designs is the creative use of the fixed space. iHome cheated a bit by shipping a larger-sized cage with their speaker, but in general, the size is a hard constraint. This reminds me of the large number of creative uses of Altoids tins in electronics projects, ranging from the MintyBoost to hundreds of Altoids tin projects posted on Instructables.

So what’s the right bottle to house your next DIY bike project? After some quick browsing on Amazon, my best find is this one from 3dRose LLC.

Related Post: My review of the iHome iH85b iPod Speaker

Chris Seibold’s new O’Reilly book, the “Big Book of Apple Hacks,” is now available (from O’Reilly Media or from Amazon.) While I haven’t seen it quite yet, I am familiar with at least one portion of the book: My blog post on User-Initiated Privacy for Web Applications is included.
This contribution describes a simple way for end users to maintain the privacy of their personal data when using web applications. Page Axe is a small program for Mac OS X that offers this, but the idea is not platform-specific.

I’m looking forward to see what else is in the book!