What a great idea!!!

From the good folks at Bikerumor.com. Imagine the situation. You park your beloved bicycle outside your work, locking it securely. Unbeknown to you a thief starts to cut your lock, however the vibrations trigger the cunning alarm you have hidden in your bike which sends you a SMS to let you know there is a problem. Despite rushing downstairs immediately you are just too late and see the thief cycling away. Undaunted, you run back to your computer, log on to a special website and follow the movements of the thief until the vibrations stop, thus revealing your bikes location so you can go round, or call the police, to retrieve it. Sound far fetched? Then read on to hear more about this great new security device.

This unique GPS tracker is cunningly concealed inside a fully functional rear bike light. Designed by

GPSTrackThis, once the Spylamp is activated a vibration sensor detects any movement of the bike, notifies the owner via SMS that the bike is in motion and uploads its position to the GPSTrackThis website. So long as motion is detected the device continues to upload its position every 20 seconds allowing the owner to plot the course of the bike and it’s current location. It is also possible to set the device to transmit it’s position either upon demand or at set intervals. It is worth noting that the motion sensor needs a few seconds of continual motion to activate, so an accidental bump or passing car shouldn’t trigger the alarm.

The device works with any mobile network in the world and the user only has to buy a pay-as-you-go SIM with each GPS upload being charged at a fraction of a cent.
GPSTrackThishas sold the Spylamp online for the past few months, however the firm has now ceased online sales and is looking for a distribution partner or interested retailers to get in contact. They are also working on a new tracker which can be hidden inside the bicycle frame, getting around the one obvious disadvantage of the Spylamp system.

Here's a bad idea

Cyclists should always be prepared for problems on the road. Some of us carry CO2 cartridges or frame pumps for when we have a flat tire. Now there is a new "technology". The guys at Lifehacker.com had this idea for "evilweek". Here's how it works.


Need air, no problem. Pony up next to any automobile and you have instant air. All it takes is 2 1/2 feet of air hose and two chucks, one for each end of the hose. Attach the first chuck to the car tire then the second to your bike tire. Open the value to the car tire then slowly open the value on the bike tire.


Lots of problems here. Car tires have less pressure than bike tires...pressure issues. Getting caught might be a painful if the car you are getting the air from is owned by the incredible hulk. Let's say someone saw you and took a picture with their phone....the car you took the air from had an accident with a fatality because an under inflated tire separated and caused the accident. Then the person with a picture of you taking the air posted it to the local TV station website. How many friends you think would rat you out? Jail time, dude...and lots of it.


While this is a modestly creative idea, it is a bad idea and not worth the ill will for the entire cycling community. Good ideas with only positive outcomes is what the cycling community needs.


Another thing...I could just see this on Jackass...some genius stops beside an 18 wheeler and gets blown into many pieces. Opps...not so good of an idea.

Specialized on top of their game!!!

Three major road teams will use Specialized’s equipment in 2011, following the announcement it will supply bikes for Team HTC-Highroad’s men’s and women’s teams from next season. Specialized will replace Scott as the bike supplier at Bob Stapleton’s ProTour squad, with Scott already announced as the supplier for ProTour hopeful Pegasus Racing.

Specialized renewed its deal with the Astana squad last week and will also supply Bjarne Riis’ Saxo Ban-SunGuard outfit again in 2011. The pairing with Team HTC-Highroad was described as a “multi-year partnership beginning in 2011”, but no set period for the deal has been announced.

Ok...so now Specialized may have the Yellow, Green and Polka Dot Jersey for the the Podium. Roughly 18% of the riders in the Tour next year will ride Specialized. Likely that Cancellara will also win the opening time trial. Nothing shabby about that, Specialized!!!!

How many World Championships? Kona, Time Trial, Tour de France, ITU Women's Sprint, and countless mountain bike championships. Not to mention they make a dang good bike too!!

Finishing the MS Century Ride

My wife and I finished the MS Cycle to the Shore Century on October 2 along with good friend Dianne. It was awesome. We all finished strong. Then on Sunday morning we rode back to Jacksonville 67 miles.

cool stuff..courtesy of Bike Rumor

You’ve seen touchscreen, and mapping computers have been around. Now we’ve seen the future.
Cerevellum, a South Carolina based company whose founder also helps design for Blue Competition Cycles has developed a cycling computer with an integrated video camera that displays the footage on the screen as you ride.
The Hindsight 60 is what’s shown here, and it also records footage from the rear facing camera, however it’s only recording eight :30 loops (4 minutes total) and starts rewriting the earliest segment once the memory is full. There’s an accelerometer in it that senses an impact and will stop recording just afterward, so you’ll have the video proof of what led up to any rearward accident.
The cycling computer has all the basic functions (speed, max/avg speed, ride time, distance, odometer, time) and uses GPS to determine speed, so there’s no separate speed sensor. You can, however add an ANT+ cadence sensor to show cadence, or it can pick up cadence from any power measuring cranks that also determine cadence.
If you have a power meter, it graphs power in real time, allowing you view your power output as a graph on the screen, giving you a better visual indication of how long you’re able to sustain a certain output and/or keep yourself at a certain threshold.

OUCH!!!!!!

What else can you say? Double Ouch!!

People of Walmart fodder

Check out peopleofwalmart.com. This guy has got to be headed for a photo session for People of Walmart.

Two Wrongs Make...

Two Wrongs Make...

How to Open A Wine Bottle With A Bicycle Pump

How to Open A Wine Bottle With A Bicycle Pump

Any surprises here?

Below are the first lines of the top articles in almost all cycling publications. Are there any surprises among them?

Three-time Tour de France champion Alberto Contador of Spain has signed a two-year contract with the Saxo Bank-Sungard team managed by Bjarne Riis.

A former teammate of Lance Armstrong has reportedly backed claims by disgraced cycling champion Floyd Landis that Armstrong took part in and encouraged doping within the US Postal team.

A former team manager of cycling star Levi Leipheimer has claimed the American narrowly escaped a positive test for blood doping during the 2005 Tour de France.

I hope something (one way or the other) will come of all this investigating for doping. It seems like every year we have many unresolved allegations of doping. Let's get to the bottom of it and move on. This continual and perpetual investigating and media hype is not good for cycling.

Steelrider2

Tour de France head butt???

This afternoon in Bourg-lès-Valence, it was lucky for Mark Cavendish as he took his 13th win and went into the history books - he has now won the most Tour de France stages of any current sprinter. The stage was overshadowed when Cavendish's teammate, Mark Renshaw, was thrown out of the race for head-butting Julian Dean (Garmin-Transitions).

In my opinion, Rensahw's disqualification was the right thing.

What happened to the Globe Vienna Deluxe?

What's with people...don't they learn?

You simply cannot run over a bicyclist, much less three of them.

www.news4jax.com/news/23894526/detail.html

Justice would be served if a group of cyclists were the jury!!!

What makes Steelrider2 happy?

2010 Specialized Allez Steel.

New Specialized Globe Daily

Nice new bike...Specialized Globe will have a new model in 2011...the Daily.

•Traditionally inspired Globe A1 frame in standard and step-thru versions
•Classic uni-crown, curved blade fork in steel and alloy
•Custom, durable steel 'zeppelin' fenders
•Bolt-on front and rear hubs provide excellent ride security and curb thieves looking for "free" wheels
•Custom, Globe basket with integrated U-lock holder (5 KG), or rear rack (10 KG)

What is this world coming to?

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- A 25-year-old man is facing two felony counts of aggravated battery after an altercation with several bicyclists participating in a Memorial Day ride that ended with two riders in the hospital with stab wounds.

According to the arrest report, the incident began when the side-view mirror of Matt Salmons pickup truck struck one of the riders as a group pulled into the Kent Campus of Florida State College at Jacksonville just before 11 a.m. Monday. After an argument escalated into an altercation where two cyclists we stabbed, Salmons sped away in his truck. Police arrested him less than a mile away.

The two cyclists were hospitalized; one in serious condition.

Salmons appeared before a judge Tuesday morning on the two felony battery counts and a third charge of simple battery, a misdemeanor. He was ordered held on $205,009 bond pending an arraignment on June 23.

Cool Stuff about Bikes and one way uncool thing

Over the last few weeks I've heard of several cool ways people are using their bikes.

Found in eu Jacksonville, a local hip newspaper, Joe Gaskin and Matt Bort started a lunch delivery business called Velo Food. They deliver lunch from several restaurants in the Downtown and Five Points area. Cstomers are excited that they don't have to hunt for parking and can get food delivered to their office for a nominal fee above the price of their lunch. They are hoping to get more restaurants signed up so more Downtown/Five Points workers can enjoy Downtown eateries. Check it out at eujacksonville.com.

Found in Vimby.com, a group of guys in Philly have started a recycling business called the Pedal Co-Op where they pick up the blue bins with trailers hooked to their bikes. Its less expensive than having a traditional service that drives a vehicle to pick up the recycling. They also pick up trash food from restaurants and have started a compost business. This way companies can know that their recycling is taken to the recycling station in a green way. While the videos are a little long, you can check them out at vimby.com or youtube under Pedal Co-Op.

Found in Florida Sportsman (February issue), people are customizing their bikes to hold fishing gear so they can use the bike instead of their car to take them fishing. Check it out at floridasportsman.com.

Now for some not so great information. During a Memorial Day holiday ride in Jacksonville, a motorist and cyclists had a confrontation as the ride wound down. It seems the motorist became enraged at the large group of cyclists (130 or so) and followed the cyclists to the start point. He got out and after starting a fight, stabbed 2 of the cyclists. One was injuried severely enough to be transported to the hospital. This is way uncool.

Keep finding creative ways to use bikes and also be very careful out there.
Steelrider2

Now this is impressive!!!!