Bicycle Technology and Patents

Specifically, Joules is a robotic stoker for your tandem bike, when you are riding solo on a tandem.

This project definitely has a steam punk flair, and combines some art, whimsy, and a good deal of engineering.  Joules was built by engineer Carl Morgan with his son, a former pro cycling racer.  The web page with more information on Joules is here.

Carl has a great U tube video also, linked below.

The temperature here in Boise has been around zero degrees F for the past week, and I have been riding my Catrike Speed to work everyday.  The combination of clothes I have keeps me warm all the way, and my only problem is my glasses and ski goggles fogging up sometimes.   My clothes are an example of the layering system.  The first layer is thick wool blend socks, polypro long underwear top and bottom, and thin polypro liner gloves, as shown below.

The next layer is an insulating layer, which is added to the base layer.  This includes Keen cycling sandals, North Face cross country ski pants which are windproof, fleece gloves where are the inner part of a pair of winter mountaineering gloves (Chouinrd winter gloves), fleece neck gaitor, head covering by Pearl Azumi, and Expedition weight Patagonia Capilene pullover. I have a down coat I could wear, but at around zero degrees it is just not needed.

The outer layer is made up of Marmot uninsulated goretex wind pants which zip all the way up the leg, Sidetrak neoprene boot covers which leave the cleat on the bottom of the shoes exposed, the nylon outer gloves of the Chouinard winter gloves, an REI goretex raincoat, a cycling helmet, and a waterproof helmet cover. Not shown are my ski goggles, which I wear over my glasses unless they fog up.

On April 22 1884 a young reporter from England named Thomas Stevens left San Francisco and headed east on a Pope “Columbia” ordinary bicycle.  This was a high wheel type bike, and had a 50 inch front wheel.

A few weeks into his trip he shot a moutain lion, and 103 days and 3700 miles of wagon roads after starting, he was in Boston.  After wintering in New York, he took a steam ship to Liverpool, and rode through England.  He took a ferry to Paris, and rode through Germany, Austria, Hungary and was in Bulgaria by June 24 1885.  A month later he was in Istanbul, and spent 6 months in Persia.  He was arrested in Afganistan and returned to Persia.  By August 1886 he was in India, and two months later he was in Canton China.  He cycled in Japan and headed for San Francisco by steamer and arrived December 24, 1886.  Steven’s wrote a series of letters during his journey which were published in Harper’s magazine.  The letters were collected into a book, Around the World on a Bicycle and is available in reprint and in digital form in the Gutenburg Project.

I was wondering how to move my tactical flashlight so it would be in front of, under, or on top of my fairing.  The light is usually mounted on the front deraileur post, but with the fairing on for the winter the light really lights up the inside of the fairing, and that blocks a lot of light from hitting the road ahead.

A helpful email from Pat Franz of Terracycle suggested the Terracycle Accessory Mount would probably do just what I wanted.  The unit arrived in only about two days after the internet order!  I put it on, and it does get the flashlight above the fairing nicely.  I’m going to ride it a few days like that, and I think I will try it mounted lower on the fairing frame, maybe even poking through a hole in the fairing.  Here is what is looks like mounted over the top of the fairing. It is a bit distracting having that in my line of sight, but I might get used to it.

I have been using this light for more than a year, through all last winter with commuting every day in the dark, rain, and snow.  I thought I would post an update on the light setup and where to get the components.

The flashlight is a Surefire 6P tactical flashlight.  It is very solid aluminum, water proof, and a bit pricy at around $50.  Mine is a Surefire 6P, and other Surfire models would work such as the SureFire 6Z, C2, M2 and G2 or Cabela’s 6 v flashlight made by Surefire ($32).  These models are available from Tactical Design Labs, Surefire, Amazon, ebay or Cabela’s.

The flashlight comes with an 80 lumen incandescent bulb, which is very fragile, and for my system you take out the factory bulb and replace it with a Malkoff M60 insert.  This is an LED bulb with a plastic lens, which boosts the output to 240 lumens, and is apparently an indestructible bulb.  My flashlight has hit the pavement at 20 mph many times, and the bulb is fine.  I have a flashlight like this pointing rearward with a red lens, and one pointing forward with a clear lens, and people tell me I’m very visible.

The Malkoff M60 insert is available from a Boise cop supply company, Tactical Design Labs (http://www.tdlabs.com/ . They are selling the Malkoff insert as an upgrade for police, who use Surefire flashlights extensively. They say “It will easily illuminate objects at 350+ feet and will blind opponents within a 100 foot radius.”  It is very visible in the daylight or dark.  I take the flashlight camping, and it will light up a mountainside 50 yards away.  The inventor, Gene Malkoff also has a site where he sells them. Tactical sells the flashlight and Malkoff insert as a unit, for $80, which is the cheapest price I have seen.  The insert is $49.95 alone.

I have been using the same 17670 AW Protected Battery, one for each flashlight, everyday for a year.  They are  available from Lighthound for $11.  I get about 2.5 hours from each charge, and I turn them on day or night, summer and winter.

This is the Malkoff insert, which goes inside the flashlight.

I use either a Fenix 360 Bike Mount light holder, $15, this is high quality in fit and finish, but rattles. A small rubber band between the top half and bottom half stops the rattle. A no-name brand is also pretty decent, on ebay for about $10, search Ebay for “New Bike/Bicycle LED Flash Light Mount Clamp Holder.” These are a little loose on the Surefire, so I put a section of inner tube around the flashlight body, for a tighter fit.

Charger: Ultrafire WF-139 Charger for 3.7 volt Lithium Battery Charger, from Lighthound.com, $18.00 (charges two of the 17670 batteries).

I had a friend get this setup, and on a long bike ride through an old railroad tunnel in northern Idaho,  his light was the monster of all the lights in the blackness of the tunnel.

What is the big deal about front wheel drive recumbents?  Here is one that is really cool, from 1950.  It has an internally geared hub, and a very stylish body.  This would be a cool bike!

Thomas Traylor’s 1982 design patent for a front wheel drive two wheeled recumbent, very similar in design to a Cruzbike Silvio.  Considering Maria Parker’s new 12 hour record, set on a Cruzbike, maybe Traylor was ahead of his time!

There are dozens if not hundreds of patents on lawnmowers combined with a bicycle frame and propulsion.  Some date from the 1880s!  Here is a typical one.

Maria Parker, mother of 2, recently set a new record for miles traveled in 12 hours.  She stopped before the 12 hours were up, and covered 241.01 miles. As noted on the Cruzbike site, “She not only set the recumbent 12-hour course record for women, but she went farther than any previous female road biker had ever done in this race. She also went farther than any woman on any recumbent bike at any UMCA non-drafting 12-hour event. At Bike Sebring in Florida, which appears to be the place where 12-hour records are set for recumbent male riders, the 12-hour record for a recumbent woman is 137 miles.”

The men’s record is 241.5 miles in 12 hours.

I commute on my trike about 355 days a year (all days except when snow is plowed onto the shoulder of the road), and I need to pick up mail, and have sufficient storage to carry my cold weather gear home, on days when I don’t wear it on the ride home.  I had a rack, and panniers, and they worked fine, but I wanted something lighter and that didn’t make the Speed look like a utility truck.  I got the $14 Nashbars triangular frame bags at Bruce’s suggestion, and they are great for summer commuting.  I still needed a little more storage for winter use.

I saw all the room under the seat and thought I could use a PVC pipe to use that space.  But I found a Pickett blueprint carrier which is very light, and with its screw top lid is totally waterproof.

It can carry my rain pants (in stuff sack), my rain coat, gloves, and head covering.  They also have extension sections, so I can add another section for longer loads.  it would also be perfect for carring lunch, as long as its a round lunch, like bagels, hot dogs, donuts, etc.  This tube setup seems light and aerodynamic, and is working well.

A stuff sack in the tube. It holds about 3 stuff sacks like this.