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Archive for the ‘Bicycles’ Category
CycleStreets
12 Apr 2010 at 08:37
David Haden
Bicycles, Birmingham, Mapping, Stoke-on-Trent
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CycleStreets, a new grassroots volunteer-led project to provide cycle-route mapping. It’s grown out of a Cambridge-based service, and has now expanded to the whole of the UK. It uses Open Street Map and integrates with Google Earth. It’s currently in beta… Why is there still a massive gap in the traffic-free network between Wolverhampton and […]
Puncture-proof bike tyres
Just thought I’d mention that my Marathon Plus puncture-proof bicycle tyres have been doing sterling service for two years now — not a single puncture during that time. A worthwhile investment (you’ll spend £50 for a pair) and it more than pays for itself in the long-term. I’d recommend them to anyone fed up of […]
Wheel life
Bicycles as locative-media production tool (video after the click).
Cycle Dialogues in Walsall
03 Apr 2009 at 16:20
David Haden
Artist(s), Bicycles, Birmingham, Mapping
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Birmingham’s Sima Gonsai is cycling through and around Walsall to make an artists’ map of the place, until 10th May 09… “I am looking for the personnal and eccentric and aim to create an audio/visual new piece of work presenting an alternative look of Walsall. So far I have been recommeneded to see a ghost, […]
Spinwell
Fab; a Birmingham bicycle-fan blog, Spinwell: fixed wheel and single-speed in Birmingham,. Judging by the recent photos, ‘mango orange’ seems to be the colour for 2009…
The Derringer
An unusual petrol-pedal hybrid bicycle, the Derringer, from California. With retro styling that harks back to the sort of 1920s motorcycles that my family business used to make, way back then, in Birmingham…
Bicycle commuting
19 Oct 2008 at 07:15
David Haden
Bicycles, Birmingham, Mapping, Regeneration
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Andrew Dubber ventures onto the Birmingham canals with a bicycle… “suddenly, it felt like I had gone on holiday. The trip was leisurely, mostly flat, untroubled by traffic and punctuated by friendly waves and cheery chats with people who were slowly making their way through Britain’s waterways, having cups of tea and navigating the locks. […]
Cycling Stoke, ideas wanted
14 Oct 2008 at 17:05
David Haden
Bicycles, Regeneration, Stoke-on-Trent
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Stoke-on-Trent City Council. Hardly a beacon of excellence. But one thing it has got right — the city’s excellent network of off-road bicycle paths. Which, if put together with neighbouring Newcastle-under-Lyme, has to be fast approaching more than 100 miles in length. The Council now has an additional £4.8-million of new grants from Cycling England […]
Logging in and ordering from overseas versions of Ebay
07 Oct 2008 at 19:53
David Haden
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There are times that you just can’t get what you want in the UK. In my case, a replacement Halogen HS3 2.4w 6v bulb for my bicycle’s dynamo-lighting kit. This insense narrow-beam bulb is super for dark nights, but only has a life of about 100 hours. Even the legendary Maplins catalogue couldn’t offer me […]
Bicycle Film Festival
28 Sep 2008 at 07:01
David Haden
Bicycles, Birmingham, Entertainment
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Cool, the 8th Bicycle Film Festival in London — from the 1st – 5th of October 08. And it doesn’t look overpopulated with ‘racing jocks in lycra’ films, either. The local Smethwick-based bicycle saddle-maker, Brooks, has even made a special limited-edition saddle in racing-green for the occasion…
Accessorise your bicycle for the summer
Remember the days when bikes had coloured-tassles hanging from the handle-grips, and a folded-up business card stuck through the brake-blocks could make it sound like it had a motor? These days the designers are giving bike accessories a makeover… Flute handles for musical cycling… Leave a trail of soap-bubbles behind you. Each bubble contains one […]
National Coastal Path steps forward
I’ve blogged before about the excellent idea of a national right-to-roam coastal path… “2,500 miles long and ten yards wide, snaking and wriggling its way around the coast of England, along cliff and shore, through shingle and sand, across dunes and around inlets.” Now, it seems, there’s been some progress… “Natural England, the Government’s countryside […]
Hydrogen -powered cycles
Take a look at Suzuki’s new new hydrogen-powered motorbike (no petrol, no noise!, no gears, no emissions)… You’ll be able to fill it up at Birmingham University, now home to Britain’s first hydrogen filling station.
St. George’s Day activities, No.2 : go for a ride on the National Cycle Network
23 Apr 2008 at 07:04
David Haden
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The charity SUSTRANS built our National Cycle Network in just twelve years — 12,000 miles of substantially off-road bicycle paths, complete with signage, robust surfacing, and volunteer rangers. It’s a triumph of the sort of practical volunteering spirit that can move mountains on a shoestring budget, outwitting pettyfogging bureaucracy and red-tape along the way. Find […]
Video on Flickr, Seero
09 Apr 2008 at 07:01
David Haden
Bicycles, Cool sites, Mapping, Photographers
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Flickr is hosting video in Pro accounts, from now. “We’re thrilled to introduce video on Flickr. If you’re a pro member, you can now share videos up to 90 glorious seconds in your photostream.” Cool, but it’s ever so slightly trumped by live streaming video in Google Earth, geo-located at the very spot the video […]
Bike lockers
16 Mar 2008 at 07:03
David Haden
Artist(s), Bicycles, Birmingham, Photographers
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Decorated secure bicycle lock-ups at Sutton Coldfield train station… It’s a pity the whole bike has to be enclosed, rather than simply being locked to a secure rail. Presumably it’s needed to prevent spiteful petty vandalism, rather than outright theft. Part of the Public Art in Public Transport West Midlands Flickr group…
SMS-powered bicycle locks
Nice idea; joggle a locked-up bicycle and the nearest CCTV camera will swing around, zoom in, and take pictures of the bike and the junkie trying to steal or vandalise it… “When the [motion-detection & SMS-powered] system was piloted in Portsmouth last October through December [08], bike crime was reduced by 90 per cent”
The cultural bicycle club of Birmingham
02 Feb 2008 at 09:09
David Haden
Artist(s), Bicycles, Birmingham
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The cultural bicycle club of Birmingham… “Just three things are required to join this [ Facebook ] club: a bicycle, a love/need for art and culture and a refusal to let the Olympic fiasco and the funding cuts get you down.” Definitely a candidate for a creative collaboration with the North Birmingham Troll Slayers, I’d […]
More cycling funding
Another nice cycling announcement, of new funding. It was buried in the detail of a Birmingham Post report of a few days ago, on the next round of the dwindling European Regional Development Fund for the West Midlands. Part of the next round of money will go on a… “£1.3 million, 20-mile cycling route between […]