Bikes and bits and experience

si_keay said:

Hi,

Im new to this forum, Im a student in uk studying 3d design. I'm also really into my biking, mainly jumpy stuff, but commuting is also very important for me.

I'm trying to get some feed back and any ideas from you guys about your cycling experiences.
Basically I'm tring to come up with a new product which will improve the lives of cyclists, while being environmental, or encourage people to take up cycling or cycle more often.

My thoughts at the moment are of the rain and cycling; generally a pretty miserable combination. If you use things which makes cycling in the rain better than I find it, Id really appreciate your story.
Or if you have any other thoughts on how cycling could be better except for an outright ban on cars, I would love to hear it.

Thanks

Alright, I'm game. I do ride in the rain at times, in fact, I'm well-prepared for it. I have fenders on my bike and high-end light kit. I wear multiple layers of biking clothes with the outer layer being a bike-specific windbreaker. I have full gloves I wear and wool socks. I dress mainly for the temperture. Wear glasses that keep the rain out of my eyes. The bottom line is I don't care if I get wet, I care that I don't get cold or hot.

It is very hard to find clothing that will keep you dry and also allow sweat to wick out of your clothing quickly. Wearing the right materials makes all the difference. Bike shorts and shirts are made out of polypropylene or wool or blends. They wick moisture which is what we need when cycling. I have a water-resistant rack trunk to store dry clothes in. When I get to my destination I can change out of wet clothes rather quickly.

If it is a downpour then actually wearing rain-repllant over-clothing is better. Most of the time I don't bother because I am generating body heat and the rain is helping to keep me from overheating. In cold, raw rain it's important that I wear enough layers and keep my head warm with a skull-cap under my helmet made for cycling. I even will wear a balaclava if it is really cold.

The fenders keep water from spraying on me. That is for comfort. The light is so I can puddles far enough away that I can manuever around them or slow to slowly go through them. In poor-visibilty conditions I would hesitate to be on the road because I don't want to get hit by a driver that is not paying attention.

Thanks for posting,

It seems like you use a lot of products (clothes etc) to make your journey more comfortable.
Do you always bring another set of clothes; 1 for biking and 1 for your destination, or is it just when it rains?
I was thinking of a way to put a shell around the bike or some sort of bubble I suppose to enclose the rider from the elements (wind rain cold).
What would you say to that and have you by chance ever tried a cycling cape.?

On another note, I was wondering what your and anyone's veiws on the environment are and whether you consider environmentally friendly products (eg. their bio-degradability etc) when you buy bike products?

Thanks again

si_keay said:

Thanks for posting,

It seems like you use a lot of products (clothes etc) to make your journey more comfortable.
Do you always bring another set of clothes; 1 for biking and 1 for your destination, or is it just when it rains?
I was thinking of a way to put a shell around the bike or some sort of bubble I suppose to enclose the rider from the elements (wind rain cold).
What would you say to that and have you by chance ever tried a cycling cape.?

On another note, I was wondering what your and anyone's veiws on the environment are and whether you consider environmentally friendly products (eg. their bio-degradability etc) when you buy bike products?

Thanks again

I live and ride in Seattle, so dealing with rain is part of the experience of living in the beautiful Pacific Northwest. My approach to the rain is almost identical to that of Insight Driver's except that I carry the spare clothes in a backpack or panniers, depending on which of my bikes I am riding as not all have racks.

I would not think that an enclosing shell would add a lot of weight and would make the bicycle cumbersome. Afterall, we don't see people riding around on the roads with the fully-faired, totally enclosed bicycles like those used the HPV speed records.
I also would not be interested in a cape. The best cycling clothes fit fairly close to the body and don't flap around in the wind.

I commute to work and do bring my work clothes with me separately and change back into the cycling gear for the commute home.

I commute to work/school but ferry, via car, my clothes once a week to the locker room where I change/shower. On the bike I carry books/research in a backpack. I found that carrying the amount of books and paper that I need in a messenger bag caused me back to hurt.

As for rain...well, I live in Tucson, so I don't see much of it. During the monsoon season (June to August, roughly) I'll occasionally get caught in a monsoonal downpour, but to be honest, it's a nice way to cool off....so I don't carry raingear, then. During the cooler months, December to Marchish, I'll wear leg warmers and a thin microfiber jacket, with maybe a long sleeve jersey underneath or a short sleeved jersey w/ arm warmers. In any case, I'm comfortable in the coldest temps we get--low 30's, occasionally high 20's--with that setup.

Part of my commute is usually in the dark. I use a Cygolite w/ dual bulbs mounted on my helmet and powered by a huge, clunky battery. What I'd like to see is a helmet mount light with a high capacity battery built in that recharges quickly and is uber bright. None of the LED lights I've seen on the road come close to my light for brightness. In any case, it'd be nice to be rid of the cable running from my helmet to the battery in my backpack. Helmet mount is essential since I think it improves my visibility to cars: I can look right at them, and the light better insures that they'll see me.

As for biodegradeable stuff, I'd like to see more work on bio-friendly cleaners, degreasers, lubes, oils and the like, but outside of those things, there's really nothing else that needs to be bio-friendly.

Outside of that stuff, I'm pretty chuffed with the state of the art of the bike kit that I have, from components to clothes.

si_keay said:

Thanks for posting,

It seems like you use a lot of products (clothes etc) to make your journey more comfortable.
Do you always bring another set of clothes; 1 for biking and 1 for your destination, or is it just when it rains?
I was thinking of a way to put a shell around the bike or some sort of bubble I suppose to enclose the rider from the elements (wind rain cold).
What would you say to that and have you by chance ever tried a cycling cape.?

On another note, I was wondering what your and anyone's veiws on the environment are and whether you consider environmentally friendly products (eg. their bio-degradability etc) when you buy bike products?

Thanks again

Others have already thought of ways to put a shell around a bike. Look at what people use at Human Powered Vehicle races. The impracticality of a shell of any kind is that, for a two-wheeled vehicle, wind is a major problem that causes insurmountable difficulty in staying upright. Even slight breezes cause a kite effect.

There is a practical reason for multiple layers of clothing: on a bike it takes time to warm up. For me, typically I'm not fully warmed up until I've ridden at least 5 miles. From cold to warmed up would have me removed one layer of clothing. My cycling jacket, for example has removeable sleeves. It also has a dual front zipper so I can unzip both bottom and top of the jacket. I put leggings over my biking shorts that I can remove as the air gets warmer. This is practical when I start out in the morning when it is cold and ride as the sun comes up and it warms up pretty quickly.

The wicking fabrics in biking clothes are great because they don't hold water like a sponge. They dry quickly on my body when I get out of the rain.

As others post, it's often more practacle to use a car one day to bring clean office clothing and bike in the rest of the week. I opted to put a rack on my bike and strap a rack trunk on it.

Any lightweight, very strong, unbreakable container that could be mounted on a bike to carry things would be a good place to look into designing. I opted for the rack, as I said. I would want to see more sophisticated designs than ones I see on the market now.

As it stands, many people over the years have addressed using a bicyle as a mode of transportation, transport and recreation. Anything that could make a typical road bike more versatile would be of value. For example, I would not run with fenders on my bike in the summer since I live where it only rains in the winter. It's not easy to come up with some great idea that would help a bicycle commuter. The best one can come up with would be incremental improvements based on finding out what's already out there, what's good and what's bad about it and such.

I flip a switch on my bike, and a invisable force-field permiates 4-feet in all directions from my bike/while riding(keeping myself and my bike totally dry 🙂 . The energy needed to create the force-field is generated by my rear-wheel constantly moving, and even stores energy so when I'm stopped/ I'm still protected.

Question is, is how to make this idea work(small enough size on a bike) , market it , sell it for big $$.... and become a millionaire 😉

Thanx for posting people,

(Insight Driver).. Im not sure how thecanopy would work and I know ones already exist (shell thing) but I'm going to try prototypes to improve on existing ones (kite effect etc..) Dunno if it'll work..

My original posting was to see if there are any problems you guys have as cyclists which I could set my mind to improving.. this led on to canopies for the rain etc..

If youve got any annoying little things about biking that you could share, that'd be great.. for example I was riding my bike with a surfboard under my arm the other day but it kept knocking on the handle bar and I could only ride 1 handed.. [solution: maybe some sort of storage for large objects]..?
or anything really..

Ty

si_keay said:

Thanx for posting people,

My original posting was to see if there are any problems you guys have as cyclists which I could set my mind to improving.. this led on to canopies for the rain etc..
Ty

Sometimes its the obsticals in the way while riding that make us all stronger riders - rain- sleet - snow- you name it. 🙂

With me, its all or nothing. Either give me the elements at its full wrath of the day , or dont take on the elements(ride rollers, etc. indoors).

If your a commuter- then there are small things you can do to make the ride less of an anoyance(ie. make sure your gonna have dry feet , warm head, warm hands, etc.)

If your a commuter- then there are small things you can do to make the ride less of an anoyance(ie. make sure your gonna have dry feet , warm head, warm hands, etc.)[/QUOTE]
So would you do that by wrapping up in lots of layers?
You dont like the idea of a covering to your whole body, how about faired sections covering just, say your hands (like you see on some motorbikes.. but not so heavyweight)..
Or a central heating system!? warming the handlebars and pedals.. perhaps powered by dynamo.??

si_keay said:

Or a central heating system!? warming the handlebars and pedals.. perhaps powered by dynamo.??

You have come up with some interesting ideas to try to come up with a problem that needs solving.

In the world of cycling, I think you will find small groups that may spend money on items for comfort, but most will not ride in any less than ideal weather.

If you want to get rich in the cycling worLd, then you have one primary path. Invent a way to make something lighter and stiffer. The people looking for those things are the ones who spend hundreds of dollars for somethig that is marginally better THAN THE STANDARD COMPONENTS. (Look at the REAL differences between Sora and Dura-Ace compared to the price difference).

Lighter/stronger wheels, tires, frames and other components (whether real or imagined) are the money makers...

Of course, I know this this is limiting to the realm of making current things better... I have no ideas for new things...

dgregory57 said:

In the world of cycling, I think you will find small groups that may spend money on items for comfort, but most will not ride in any less than ideal weather.

If you want to get rich in the cycling worLd, then you have one primary path. Invent a way to make something lighter and stiffer. The people looking for those things are the ones who spend hundreds of dollars for somethig that is marginally better THAN THE STANDARD COMPONENTS. (Look at the REAL differences between Sora and Dura-Ace compared to the price difference).

Lighter/stronger wheels, tires, frames and other components (whether real or imagined) are the money makers...
...

How funny... yet how true :o 🙂

The whole "oversized bar - 31.7/8" vs. the 26.0 bar situation probably makes me laugh the most. There is the slightest weight difference between the bars 1-2 oz. at the most. Now, lighter/stronger wheel...... that can only be a good thing 🙂

This poster sumed it up well, in saying that most riders wont ride unless the conditions are nice/optimal. People who ride in the rain expect to get wet, in places they'd rather not , but bear it...... and at the end of the day- consider themselves hard-core , and deservingly so 😉

I know everyday, I continually think of a good/GREAT bicycling accessory that I could invent.... that would improve the cyclist mobility - be more efficent on the bike ...... something worth wild !!!! ONE day I hope to do so 🙂