The Pudding Creek route takes riders on a seven-mile round trip experience in an area of the redwood forests that most tourists never see. Departing from Fort Bragg, a city on California’s Mendocino Coast, the tour zooms through the Noyo River Canyon. You’ll pass deep into the old-growth redwood groves, home to trees that are up to 2,000 years old, as well as Douglas firs, alders, berry bushes, lush ferns, wooden trestle bridges, and an abundance of other wildlife.

A certified guide leads the “train” of riders on the tour, and you can even pay extra to tow your dog friend behind you on a trailer. Passengers disembark at Glen Blair Junction for a 50-minute layover to have a picnic or take a walk along a loop trail dotted with wildflowers.

You don’t have to be a seasoned biking enthusiast or even in particularly good shape to enjoy this trip. Though you’ll be pedaling for most of the tour, the two-person, custom-built railbikes feature electric assist to carry you effortlessly through the forest. Since they follow the railroad tracks, you don’t even have to steer, which means you’re free to spend the entire tour gazing around at the scenery and taking photos if you like. Each railbike has four wheels and is made of lightweight upcycled materials.

The train tracks were originally laid by a 19th-century logging company that needed to get trees from the forest to sawmills and shipping facilities on the coast. The Fort Bragg Railroad grew to 40 miles by 1925, stretching inland to Willits. The less-than-pleasant fumes of the trains’ pot-bellied stoves and gas engines gave the route its “Skunk Train” nickname (now the name of the company operating the railbikes).

Within a few decades, the railroad was used more for passenger trains than lumber, and then landslides closed a 1,122-foot-long section. Skunk Train made use of these sections by offering two short train rides from either end, and of course, the Redwood Route Railbike tour.

The Pudding Creek Railbikes tour runs daily, and rates are $250 per bike for the two-hour ride. Children age 6 and older are allowed to ride. If you’re feeling a little more adventurous, there’s now a harder and longer option available: a 25-mile trip along a remote stretch beyond the closed tunnel that takes about four hours. The Railbikes on the Noyo package costs $495 for a two-person bike, lunch included. Get details on the Skunk Train website, and check out lots of fun footage on the company’s Instagram.

The post Railbikes: Take a Pedal-Powered Tour Through California’s Ancient Redwood Forests first appeared on Dornob.

Forward-thinking visionaries like creator Stephan Henrich are leading the way with advances in “robotic design and architecture in physical realization and speculation,” and one only has to feast their eyes on his latest work to see just how much is possible through the combined powers of 3D printing, mechanistic robotics, and modern ground transport.

Dubbed “The Infinity,” the project is (surprisingly) not a Batman-esque reimagining of the Tron bike, nor is it a souped up, hyper-sleek sports car like the Bugatti Bolide. It’s actually a beach cruiser – a mode of transport that’s usually not considered quite as sexy.

But this isn’t just any beach cruiser. It’s a true example of Henrich’s penchant for design that’s anything but simplistic. Built around a “continuous construction element,” the bike, though not motorized, is just one short step away from inking itself into the history books as a perpetual motion machine on wheels. Henrich explains that this is “driven by a revolutionary monotyre clip chain construction…propulsed by a central wheel getting its force by a crank over a short chain and a 8-speed gearbox.” Sound complicated? That’s because it is – but would you really expect the cruiser of the future to be anything less?

Set aside all that techno-babble, impressive construction, and sleek, industrial composition, and the bike remains just that: a bike. There’s pedals, handlebars, and wheels — they just so happen to be arranged in a way that makes non-robotically enhanced rides look like that trike you had as a kid.

While it’s only a prototype for now, “The Infinity” all-wheel beach and city cruiser has the potential to make a big splash with its innovative design concepts, 3D printed origins, and central “continuous construction element,” though Henrich believes it has the potential to make an even bigger splash as a two-wheeled transport for bike riders everywhere. As the design itself proves, with a little time, imagination, and creativity, anything is possible.

The post Stephan Henrich’s Infinity Bike is the Beach Cruiser of the Future first appeared on Dornob.

This two-wheeled wonder is the brainchild of designer Roman Dolzhenko, known for his next-level aesthetics that reimagine anything and everything on wheels. From his concept for a Level 5 autonomy electric truck that represents the future of freight to the Mimic e-bike, whose jungle cat curves could be seen on the streets of Wakanda, Dolzhenko knows how to bring his singular stylistic flair to every ride he touches.

Like his previous designs, the Spirit gigabike is also electric — another indication of his creative penchant for setting his wheels in a world looking to make clean energy the wave of the future.

And the future is now, as the Spirit gigabike is set to hit the streets in all its glory soon. Looking like the world’s coolest mashup, the bike evokes some serious Tron: Legacy vibes with its low-slung body and wide, pavement-grabbing wheels, married with the best of Batman’s most ambitious designs. Think Dark Knight-era Batmobile’s opaque black, chunky (but never clunky) details and need for speed. Just one look and you know this thing is gonna hug curves, burn rubber, and never look back.

The body of this motorhead’s dream-come-true doesn’t only come in basic black, but mixes things up with dark gray, metallic silver, and orange, as well as gold body options that contrast beautifully with the stark matte details found on the rest of the bike. And the details really are something. Thick, hypertrophied wheels, curving aerodynamic lines, high-tech displays, headlights and taillights that mirror Robocop’s distinctive headgear: the Spirit gigabike positively oozes speed and charisma, a bonafide influencer sure to leave other bikes in its uber-sleek and trendy dust.

Feeling your inner Batman? Then stick with the opaque, gritty black that would make even Bruce Wayne jealous and rule the streets of Gotham (or your own hometown) with the electric bike of the future. Marvel more your thing? Then go for the gold and challenge your inner Iron Man (smug sense of self-satisfaction not included). Whatever color you choose, be prepared to lean over those handlebars and ride into Tron universe, leaving just an echo of the razor-thin taillights blinking in your wake.

Creating epic rides that mimic pop culture legends is nothing new — see the real-life Mach Five Speed Racer car designed by custom car builder Mark Towle if you don’t believe us — but the Spirit gigabike cherry picks its influences from some of the coolest ones around. Even better, it’s an eco-friendly e-bike that’s road ready and totally rad. What more could you look for in futuristic transport?

The post The Futuristic Spirit Gigabike is a Pop Culture Mashup for the Ages first appeared on Dornob.

Half the fun of product design is imagining the possibilities. “What if?” can quickly turn into tangible products at the hands of experienced e-bike manufacturers like Bosch, too, so it’s not too unrealistic to imagine this concept bike quickly coming to a road near you. With ten years in the industry, the company has created a concept that would give urban riders everything they could want in an electric bike, starting with ultra-sleek design and ending with peak performance.

Meant for the city commuter, this sports cruiser promises a smooth on-road experience and the suspension to handle the occasional off-road shortcut or two on the way to the office. Yes, both the front and rear suspension are fully integrated into an eye-catchingly sexy carbon frame. Presented in a classic black and white color palette, each component of this “Design Vision” flows seamlessly into the next. Even the electric drive system is merged with the frame and handlebars to form one cohesive unit.

Not only does it look like a cool ride, but the Design Vision also functions like one, too. For starters, it’s equipped with a top-of-the range Performance Line CX motor and high-performance ABS components elegantly wrapped in white-coated carbon — not to mention luxury side cooling channels hidden within the frame that offer a you a refreshing mist while you’re riding. And every electric bike needs a battery, but Bosch refuses to make that a noticeable bulky addition to this otherwise-streamlined look. Instead, the company’s PowerTube 625 battery is integrated in the bike’s down tube, where it can easily be removed for charging.

This first-glance sophisticated design highlights what Bosch is capable of, but the real controls come from the Nyon on-board computer, which is neatly tucked into the middle of the handlebars for ease of viewing while simultaneously almost disappearing. The same can also be said of the very discrete brake cables and hydraulic hoses tucked inside this handlebar area.

Lighting is an essential safety feature, but that doesn’t mean it has to compromise on style, and the Design Vision’s permanent LED daytime riding light (attached under the front luggage rack) certainly doesn’t. Similarly, the rear LED light is woven into the frame.

“Our aim in developing the eBike Design Vision is to show what is already possible today when it comes to functional design integration and investigate where the journey might take us in the future,” says Claus Fleischer, CEO of Bosch eBike Systems. “eBikes are becoming more confident — even in terms of design.”

Ten years has seen myriad advancements from the first-ever e-bike, which was basically a newly miniaturized motor attached to the drive of an existing frame. Through extensive research, development, trial, and error, companies have built the suspension, braking, and balance for a more comprehensive ride. Now Bosch is hoping to raise the bar for where eBikes may travel in the decade to come.

The post Bosch Reveals Sleek New e-Bike Design Vision first appeared on Dornob.

Dubbed the Karen Blixens Plads public square, this new space by Danish architecture firm COBE addresses a common problem in a nation of cyclists: finding a convenient and covered place to park one’s bike. The square features a “concrete carpet” that rises into artificial hills to reveal secure and orderly bike racks, and it’s all located next to the new University of Copenhagen.

Bicycling is considered a primary form of transportation all throughout Denmark, with people riding bikes in all weather, all year long. They’re used not just for pleasure and commuting, but also to travel around the mostly-flat country and even tote home groceries. During rush hour, bike lanes in Copenhagen can be just as crowded as highways in the United States and other car-centric places. That’s because around nine out of 10 Danes own a bike, and they cycle an average of 1.6 kilometers (about a mile) a day.

As you can imagine, Copenhagen has lots of bike parking to meet that demand, but rarely is it quite as cool as this. COBE has designed a public square and university plaza that breaks up the large space into smaller individual zones, including the domed bicycle garages, steps that form an outdoor amphitheater that can seat up to 1,000 people, public benches, and pathways leading into an urban nature preserve.

The architects add: “At more than 20,000 square meters, Karen Blixens Plads is one of the largest public squares in Copenhagen. Located between the newly built University of Copenhagen and the nature reserve Amager commons, Karen Blixens Plads is a hybrid of both park and square in one. The square has a unique undulating landscape, with bicycle hills and plant beds, and has room for more than 2,000 parked bicycles, two-thirds of them in covered spaces inside the bicycle hills. In a soft transition, Karen Blixens Plads brings together the university’s need for urban spaces and bicycle parking with the open landscape of the neighboring common, promoting green transportation, climate change adaptation, and biodiversity.”

“In collaboration with CN3, COBE and EKJ’s construction engineers calculated and created 3D projections of the iconic concrete dome constructions. The solution is based on a shell construction as the load-bearing structure. Aesthetically, the design provides a large airy space underneath the domes. However, while a shell construction does not normally have holes in it, these domes have large openings, which constituted a significant challenge and required additional statistical analyses.”

The little circular planted areas are more than just decoration. They also absorb rainwater, preventing flooding and supporting biodiversity. On top of that, all of the materials chosen for the project are sustainable and low-maintenance. The design is kept deliberately simple and free of unnecessary ornamentation to make sure it’s easy to care for.

Despite having won first prize in a 2014 competition, the Karen Blixens Plads square was only just completed this year. At least the university students can feel safe leaving their bikes in such a well-designed public space!

The post Urban Bike Parking Tucked Beneath a “Concrete Carpet” in Copenhagen first appeared on Dornob.

An improvement upon a previous SmartHalo product, the SmartHalo 2 is an all-in-one connected device that gives you five highly convenient new functions: navigation, an ear-piercing alarm, fitness trackers, a bright headlight, and a personal assistant. Designed by cyclists, for cyclists, the add-on securely locks onto your handlebars, and only your unique HaloKey can unlock it for removal. A mount adapter accessory even makes it possible to easily transfer the device from one bike to another, which is especially great when you’re traveling and using rental or share bikes.

Consisting of little more than a simple interface and touch screen, this smart bike accessory aims to make your ride a lot safer with clear route navigation signals, guiding you with the “halo” of lights around the screen’s outer rim. Easy to see and understand, it eliminates the need to view maps and street names on your phone, and you can rest easy knowing won’t ever miss audio instructions due to background noise. Unlike other bike GPS devices, you also don’t need to preload maps on this one. The SmartHalo uses Google to navigate instead, though you can customize your routes if you prefer certain road types or want to avoid busy streets and hills.

A powerful front light, now five times brighter than the original version, will automatically turn on and shut itself off when needed thanks to an onboard sensor, so you’ll never have to worry about accidentally running down the batteries, either. The 250-lumens light is strong enough to meet even the strictest of European bicycle lighting laws, featuring normal, blinking, and pulse modes. You can set it to come on for all rides, only at night, or manually.

The device recognizes you by the SmartHalo app running in the background of your phone. If someone else tries to mess with your bike while it’s locked up, it’ll emit a 110-dB alarm, which is loud enough to send most potential thieves running. If your phone dies, no worries — you can simply input your custom “Tapcode,” a combination of long and short taps, to deactivate the alarm.

The SmartHalo’s “Assistant” function basically stands in for your phone while you’re riding, so you can keep it tucked safely away where it’s not in danger of getting wet or becoming a distraction. You can also see who’s texting, calling, or messaging you and receive incoming difficult weather notifications on here, or turn notifications off if you’d rather not be bothered at all.

Quick-touch shortcuts make it easy to answer calls, select saved destinations, or even emit horn sounds while you’re on the go. Plus, you can measure cycling metrics like speed, distance, elevation, calories, time, and how much CO2 your ride saved with the SmartHalo’s fitness tracker, which automatically collects data from every ride.

The SmartHalo 2’s most recent Kickstarter campaign raised over $1.7 million CAD. While pre-orders are now closed, you can still keep an eye on the official website for updates on the product’s retail debut.

The post Instant Smart Bike Accessory Adds Five New Functions to Your Ride first appeared on Dornob.

“One day, I entered a large sporting goods store, where a large number of wheels were displayed in the bicycle department,” recounts Antinori. “As a daily cyclist, I was fascinated by that vision, so I decided, almost instinctively, to take three (wheels) of different sizes.” This was an example of an impulse buy with a creative purpose that was not fully formed. At first, Antinori had no idea how he was going to repurpose the wheels, but felt like there still must be some way he could use them. Then something happened that had nothing to do with cycling that gave his creative instincts a clear direction.

“A few years ago, the first high-capacity LED strips began to appear on the market, so the idea of associating a known object — a wheel — with a new emerging one — the LED — led me to the first experiment,” he adds.

When you bike to work everyday like he does to his studio, you form a personal connection to it — or at least more so than you would to driving or taking public transit. This closeness is undoubtedly another part of the inspiration that helped Antinori realize his vision.

“I have always loved (Marcel) Duchamp’s art, so perhaps it was my subconscious that guided me there,” he reveals. “The fact remains that all the people who came into the house and saw this strange object — an illuminating wheel — hung from the ceiling, were struck by it.”

The positive feedback that he received from friends, family, and associates soon got him thinking more in commercial terms. He recounts: “I understood the potential of the idea, and so I started to think of it as not only an extravagant object — a unique but approximate piece in the realization — but instead as an object that had all the characteristics of a product to be reproduced in series, of high quality, which could be part of the large family of lamps.”

To go from having an inkling of undefined inspiration to thoughts of productization is the path that many successful entrepreneurs take. It is proof that a simple idea born on a day that you were not expecting can quickly put you in front of customers all over the world, like at the International Contemporary Furniture Fair (ICFF) in New York, where I had the pleasure of meeting with Antinori in May of 2019.

It took Antinori two years to develop the technical aspects of the lamps. In case you were wondering, the wheels themselves are stationary and cannot spin. He also came up with the marketing campaign for the lamps, which in turn got him thinking about his idea in broader terms. “I created an image and a communication strategy, (which included) conceptual films, the website, and graphic design,” he explains, “until I found myself creating a brand that could contain these curious objects, named CYCLAMPA.”

A trademark brand of his company Kaleideas, CYCLAMPA resonates with customers because of its relationship to the environment. It would be wrong to create a product that blends energy-saving LED technology with a zero emissions bicycle, only to wrap and ship it in an excess of plastic. For this reason, Antinori only uses plastic for a few components, but the majority of the packaging for the lamps is recycled cardboard. “The bicycle (and the light) become a cultural object,” he explains. “Watching it stimulates us to return to environmental issues, where sustainability can marry beauty.”

Along with their environmental significance, these lamps also carry an emotional meaning for Antinori. He says: “These lamps represent for me the desire to look beyond (the usual), and to discover everyday objects, like a banal wheel, that can still suggest something new.”

The post CYCLAMPA: The Upcycled Bike Wheel Lamps Born from a Trip to the Local Sporting Goods Store first appeared on Dornob.

Opting for a two-wheeled navigation tool over a gas-guzzling machine also means saving money and time you might otherwise spend waiting at traffic lights and driving around town trying to find a parking spot where you won’t get ticketed. Pair all that with increased community interaction, and it almost seems like biking can’t help but make for happier citizens. That’s why in Poland, TPA Instytut Badań Technicznych Sp. z o.o. has created a solar-powered bike path that illuminates under the night sky to encourage riders to keep indulging their good habits even after night has fallen.

Inspired by Studio Roosegaarde and their own 2014 glow-in-the-dark lane in Eindhoven, Netherlands, the Starry Night bike path is made from a similarly luminescent synthetic material called phosphor, which lights up in the evening after it’s been energized by the sunlight. The material stores this energy over a long period of time, allowing the path to shine for over 10 hours before it needs to naturally recharge again.

The self-sufficient, cost-effective bike path is located near Lidzbark Warminski, and while it was originally devised to ensure the safety of cyclists at night time, it’s gone on to attract a lot of attention from tourists keen just to ride on a futuristic looking track, becoming a bit of a novelty in its own right. The whole thing cost $31,000 to install, and although it was completed back in September 2016, it’s still under supervision due to the uncertainty of its longevity under the wave of visitors who are currently using it. The 330-foot-long luminescent lane is split into two six-foot-wide sections, allowing both cyclists and pedestrians to use it side-by-side throughout the park.

Although the phosphors can radiate different colours, the town mutually decided that they wanted this particular path to radiate blue in order to match the nearby lakes — and of course give a nod to one of Van Gogh’s most famous works of art, The Starry Night.

The post Take a Starry Night’s Ride on This Glow-In-The-Dark Bike Path in Poland first appeared on Dornob.

Consumers will have two distinct e-bikes to choose from: a 43-pound compact model called ARĪV Meld and a folding model that weighs 48.5 pounds called ARĪV Merge. The Meld costs approximately $3,160 USD and the Merge $3,835. Both e-bikes will feature a smartphone handlebar mount, allowing users to freely navigate an accompanying mobile app displaying travel distances, speed, battery life, and motor power. ARĪV was designed and engineered at the GM plants in Michigan and runs solely on proprietary technology created at GM’s Urban Mobility Solutions facility in Oshawa, Canada. The company has been developing an e-bike concept for the past four years now in hopes of providing the public with more urban mobility options.

While entering the cycling arena might seem like an unusual move for a car manufacturer, it’s important to remember that GM is simply listening to the market and responding to its needs. “I think both GM and Ford are exploring non-traditional transportation opportunities because their overall vehicle sales have been declining,” explained Garrett Nelson in a recent CNBC article. Nelson is an analyst at the independent forensic investment research firm CFRA. He added that his firm “views GM’s e-bike and Ford’s recent e-scooter investment [in Spin] as an attempt to appeal to a younger and more urban demographic, whose transportation needs are proving to be considerably different than those of prior generations.”

“Car makers are highly concerned about the implications of this ongoing shift in consumer preferences on their long-term car sales, particularly with the rise of Uber, Lyft, and various ride-sharing options which weren’t available several years ago. Their fear is that this demographic may not need — or want to — purchase a vehicle at all.”

Despite the growth of autonomous cars and electric vehicles, there are still people attracted to smaller mobility options. After all, getting around a city in a car can be a hassle, and sometimes even treacherous. Traveling by bike is both amusing and liberating — but for trips that require more than one mode of transportation, a bike can become cumbersome. With ARĪV, GM is making the choice of cycling easier, creating models that are both lightweight and foldable. It will soon be a breeze to fold up your bike and bring it onto the subway, or to keep it in a truly secure place during the workday instead of leaving it outside locked against a pole.

What GM and the other car manufacturers that are coming out with smaller modes of transportation realize is that people will always have a desire to be mobile. The more seamlessly and smoothly you can provide that for them, the more people will stick with your brand.

The post GM’s New E-Bike Makes Urban Mobility Easier Than Ever Before first appeared on Dornob.

Proud to be presenting a world first, GentleTent, an Austrian inflatable tent specialist, has created an innovative pop-up camper that attaches directly onto your bike. Allowing enough space to comfortably sleep two people, this compact sleeping pod will soon allow anyone to pitch on the go! Whether it’s on the beach, on the side of a mountain, beneath the stars, or in the middle of a field, the B-Turtle gives you the freedom to roam and sleep wherever the wind takes you.

The combined transport and caravan trailer means that cyclists can power on through their journeys during the day without having to give up the luxury of sleeping comfortably in the evening. The lightweight aluminium wheel trailer weighs just 65 pounds and can easily pulled along behind your bike or e-bike, having already been successfully tested on standard bike trails.

Given the recent boom in electronic bike use, GentleTent inventor and founder Gernot Rammer believes that he has created a new market for both cyclists and camping fanatics, both of whom will now be able to invest in this micro-caravan for a lifetime of modern camping. Keeping accommodation costs at a minimum, this nifty gadget will help travelers all over the world shelter themselves from the elements at any given moment.

How B-Turtle Works

Fully inflating in a matter of minutes, the camper can also be taken down and packed away in less than 10! Comprised of an inflatable tent situated on top of a metallic frame, the B-Turtle also has an integrated tray in its trailer section capable of storing up to 120 liters — something that will surely help lug all your camping essentials around. In “turtle” mode, the B-Turtle acts as an ordinary cargo trailer with a width of 79 centimeters, allowing for easy traveling on most paths. In “camping” mode, it offers enough sleeping space for two and a spacious vestibule at the front, which itself can be used as an awning area or entrance. The camper has also been equipped with a fully retractable door.

Once the tent has been pitched, the B-Turtle measures 83 X 51 inches, with a two-person air-filled sleeping platform that stands 28 inches above your chosen terrain. The trailer and tent can then be fixed using the guy-lines, supporting legs, and tent pegs. The tent is also equipped with a rear wall window, two side window openings, and mosquito nets. The support platform that unfolds and rests on top of the trailer measures 130 x 210 centimeters in size and promises a sturdy foundation.

Once deflated and packed away, the tent attaches to the bike using a drawbar with Weber coupling. The trailer has two 12-inch spoked wheels with slight inclination in order to run and grip the roads better.

How Can I Get One?

The B-Turtle is available for purchase from GentleTent for €2,990 (approx. $3,500 USD). This includes the trailer, the inflatable tent, the guy-lines, the stakes, a repair kit, and a hand pump. In the near future, the company hopes to give customers the chance to rent a B-Turtle for weekend trips and short holidays.

The post B-Turtle: The Inflatable Tent You Can Take Anywhere first appeared on Dornob.

Martin Koomen and Tadas Maksimovas present “Pi Bike,” a surprisingly ergonomic and elegant rendition of its 2D inspiration. They made a few minor alterations to the main form of “The Picycle,” curving the seat upward slightly and making the front arm straight in a shape that also mimics that of a kneeling human body. They even measured the proportions of a standard bicycle to ensure a proper fit.

They tweaked, adjusted, and tested the shape using scale models made of cardboard and plywood. Once they determined the right size and shape for the frame, they made silicone molds to cast a prototype frame out of resin. After these resin parts were sanded and assembled, a crank set, racing handlebars, and Hydra fixie wheels were attached, all in a sleek matte black.

“However, that was only half of the work, as new molds had to be made for the final version of the frame, which was cast out of the stronger enforced carbon fiber,” the designers explain. “Then of course the bike had to be assembled again.”

From the first sketch to the final product, it took about a year to complete the project. The designers collaborated with WE ARE Pi, an “independent international ideas company founded in Amsterdam on 14th March 2011[3.14],” and launched the bike a few days before Pi Day 2018. Coincidentally, Pi Day is also Albert Einstein’s birthday, which explains the fun photo shoot theme.

The pi symbol, of course, represents the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter, and it takes its shape from the lowercase Greek letter π, which is also the first letter in the Greek word “perimetros,” meaning circumference. The fun of it is that it’s actually an irrational number, which means that its exact value is unknowable. While it starts with 3.14, the numbers that come after that go on and on for trillions and trillions of digits.

As a matter of fact, computers made to constantly calculate its digits break world records each and every year, revealing a slew of new numbers beyond the end of the last calculation. In November 2016, “pi enthusiast” Peter Trueb’s computer calculated 22,459,157,718,361 verified digits of pi. Imagine how stymied ancient mathematicians were by this problem, certain as they were that in a world created by an omniscient god, nothing could be unknowable.

Modern-day math lovers use the pi symbol as a way to broadcast their pride. It shows up on t-shirts, gets tattooed on people’s skin, and serves as the basis of all sorts of other designs, including that of the transforming “Pi Workstation” by designer Joe Manus, who describes the piece as “3.14159 options in one and endlessly cool.”

All photos by Paulius Gvildys

The post Pi Bicycle: A Fun Ride for Both Math Nerds and Cycling Enthusiasts first appeared on Dornob.

That “feeling planted” sensation is the result of the Sno-Go’s unusual three-ski design. The ski bike uses S.L.A.T., or Synchronized Lateral Articulating Technology, to give you stability and maximum control, and its 13 pivot points let you turn on a dime simply by steering and pushing down on the handlebars.

Want to tackle a bump or jump? Simply pull back on the handlebars to lift the front of the Sno-Go. Stopping — yes, that’s important! — is easy enough, too. Just lean your weight over to one side and cut into the snow, as you would if you were skiing.

The company used a similarly intuitive mix of skiing, biking, and snowboarding techniques when designing the Sno-Go to make the mountains more accessible to people of all ages and skill levels.

The Sno-Go was built using 6061 aircraft-quality heat-treated aluminum alloy, so you know it’ll be durable no matter what terrain you throw at it, and you don’t need to worry too much about rust, because all of its hardware is stainless steel. It’s obvious that no detail has been overlooked in the design process. “From the Rock Shox front suspension to the all-mountain wood core twin tip skis, every inch of the bike has been drilled down to a science for making the ride smooth and controlled,” the company says.

The Sno-Go team recommends that users wear sturdy boots with plenty of support and thick rubber soles when riding to keep their feet safe, comfortable, and toasty in the foot grips. Snowboarding boots will do the trick, if you have them.

If you’re wondering how you’ll get the Sno-Go to the top of the mountain, don’t worry. There’s a chair-lift hook on it, so you and the bike can ride up easily and safely, arriving in position and ready to hit the snow. And after you’ve enjoyed your last run of the day, you’ll be thankful for the bike’s quick-release system, which makes it easy to break down for storage.

The Sno-Go ran a successful crowdfunding campaign and is on track to start shipping in January, just in time for prime snow conditions. We predict a sharp rise in anxious weather forecast watching, with many people fervently hoping for snow days in the months to come.

The company says that currently, more than 200 ski resorts in North America allow ski-bikes, and that number is only going up. It advises that customers check with their favorite ones before taking the plunge and investing in a Sno-Go.

The post Sno-Go: Is it a Bike? Is it Skis? It’s Both. first appeared on Dornob.

“Ride with the Laserlight’s forward projection technology, combining a white light and laser image to beam out of blind spots, junctions and situations where you’re otherwise unseen,” say the designers.


The laser beam reaches 18 feet in front of you and is visible from multiple perspectives, which is ingenious. Independent testing has revealed that the projected image does help bus drivers see bikers more often. British transport research agency TRL compared the Laserlight to a standard LED-only light and “demonstrated its superior visibility” the Blaze team reports. “To a bus driver, visibility increased from 72 percent to 96 percent, with similar results for other vehicles.”

New York’s popular Citi Bike bike-share program is currently testing the Laserlight in all five city boroughs this month, and the London Santander Cycles bike-share program was so impressed with the TRL research that it decided to install the Laserlight for all of its customers. Both cities are hoping the enhanced safety will attract new riders who’ve been hesitant to join the hectic pace of urban biking.

So that’s the premise and the proof of its effectiveness. What about the specs? How can the Laserlight improve your daily commute?

The Laserlight has 109 components within its aircraft-grade aluminum case, and it is designed to survive jolts from even the bumpiest terrain (city potholes, for example, the nemesis of every urban biker) and all kinds of weather, from frigid to tropical. And since it’s completely waterproof, you won’t be able to use rain as excuse to take the bus instead of biking to work.


You can use the laser and helmet light separately as well. The bike light itself casts 300 lumens of white LED to shine the way forward with both a steady beam and a flash mode. It can last an impressive 13 hours on a single charge, which may be longer than your legs will. There is even a handy indicator to show you the battery level, and you can recharge it quickly via USB (we’re talking 50 percent in an hour).

But, if you’re still worried that you’ll run out of juice, switching to power-save mode can get you safely to your destination. Blaze calls this mode the “get me home,” which is an LED flash at 95 percent depletion, and it will give you four hours of light. Hopefully that will take you door to door, and when you get home, you can easily detach the unit with one hand and stow it till next time.

Blaze also offers its Burner, which is a powerful LED light that clips magnetically to the front and rear of your bike for added visibility.

The post Bike Safely in the City with the Laserlight first appeared on Dornob.

FormMount is a new modular system that lets you mount GPS computers, cameras (we’re looking at you, GoPro fans…), lights and — soon — phones to the frame of your bike. No more clamps and zip-ties!


What makes this mounting system unique is that it can be adjusted to hold different sizes of add-on gear, and it also moves up and down a range of five heights to suit you and your riding style best. The FormMount’s fore/aft feature lets you slide any size of computer forward or back so it’s in the best viewing position for you, and you don’t need to use any clunky tools.

Comfort for the rider is part of it, but of course, a true heads-up display goes a long way to keeping a rider safer. Whether you’re tracking your teammates, clocking your speed and miles covered or checking the map for the bike trail you’re on, the adjustable height and angle of the display mean you can keep your eyes on the ground ahead at the same time.

It should come to no surprise that a group of avid cyclists are behind the invention. F3 Cycling is a Chicago-based startup founded by Tim Boundy, along with with teammates Frank Pistorio and Mike Scalise. All three are life-long cyclists (hence the “3” in F3 Cycling) and are “driven to bring innovative product ideas to life,” they say.

Their goal is to streamline bikes by cutting down on the clutter that can accumulate when you try to add on separate pieces of gear, and in turn make bike rides more practical and fun.

Key to the versatility of the FormMount are the arms that can be adjusted to grip your devices. They are tough, too—tough enough that F3 Cycling is happy to give the original owner a lifetime warranty. They are “injection-molded carbon or kevlar-reinforced nylon, over-molded onto CNC machined stainless-steel sleeves for strength,” the inventors explain. “The cradle/mounting area is Delrin for durability and positive computer fit — Delrin is a low-friction nylon, chosen to reduce wear.”

Currently the FormMount, available for preorder, supports Garmin and Wahoo bike computers, but the F3 team is working hard on adding compatibility with other systems. The company also points out that since many bike light manufacturers use the GoPro type bracket, you can easily mount a light underneath using F3’s GoPro cradle. Now you can shoot scary movies at night as you bike through woods around a haunted mansion…. Or film your evening commute home. Completely your choice.

The FormMount is F3 Cycling’s first product offering. A manufacturer in Spring Grove, Illinois is running their production, and the design process is also locally based, making the FormMount 100 percent American-made. They have a phone mount option in development as well, which they have been road-testing. They hope to ship it in April 2017.

The post Trick Out Your Bike with Tech Accessories first appeared on Dornob.

The post Shoka Bell, the Bionic Bicycle Tool first appeared on Dornob.

Getting cities without bike lanes to install them isn’t really that hard. All they do is paint a thin white line with a periodic picture of a cyclist and they’re done. But those lines of paint don’t do a thing to protect the cyclists trying to ride in the bike lanes.

Flow Bike Lane from Copenhagenize Design Company is an efficient and low-cost way for cities to install actual bike lines which are above street level, giving cyclists a little more protection from the motorists driving just inches away.

The Flow tiles are all made of 100% recycled plastic and wood. They come in the form of tiles which snap together in any configuration and can create a bike path that’s as long as it needs to be to accommodate cyclists. Because the tiles are a different color than the street, they also help to provide a visual barrier between car space and bike space.

Copenhagenize wanted to prove just how simple it is to install the system, so their advertisements depict children pulling the tiles into place and snapping them together. With an adult crew, half a mile of track can be completed in just one day. The company hopes that someday this design and others like it will show cities just how simple it can be to install bike lanes in places where cyclists would love to have a safer place to ride.

“Only a few generations ago, the bicycle was an integral part of the urban landscape in cities and towns around the world. Modern urban planning is often singular in its focus on technical models, statistics, political mandates and cost. Copenhagenize Design Co. prefers to place the primary focus on human nature in our work. We think about the bicycle user first and design from there, whatever the city.”

“In an age of increased urbanisation, strained public health and continued addiction to the automobile, modern mobility solutions are needed more than ever. Every city once used the modest bicycle as an important tool for successful urban mobility. We are intent on helping cities go back to the future and learn to simplify by building for bicycles.”

The post Recycled Snap-Together Bike Lane first appeared on Dornob.