Spring is coming!
Hooray! Our plum tree in the backyard just started flowering and my hardwood fig cuttings are now showing some life. Still waiting on our apple trees but they should follow suit soon. Time to start thinking about this years garden!
P.S I apologize to our East Coast snow bound readers 
27.Feb.10 
Impressive tube ball
From the folks over at Box Dog Bikes in San Francisco, they’ve shown us their bundle of joy: a massive ball of innertubes
I was pretty excited when mine got to be fist sized, this is impressive (and yes I am impressed by such things)
Dream L.A. bike map
Found this droolworthy map-set of a potential bicycle network in the Los Angeles metro area. Being originally from LA maybe I find this extra exciting though…
Don’t be deceived though, this is purely conceptual (ie fantasy). The LA Bike Working Group is trying to draw attention to LA’s severe lack of a cohesive bike network
This network would rival the kind of connectivity that has only been available to drivers on the extensive freeway system. Keep on dreamin’ 
Click to see the complete set of maps
Found via Inhabitat
Dan’s interesting articles, February 23, 2010
- San Francisco Takes Parking Spaces for Trial Sidewalk Extensions
- How To Build a Vertical Bike Rack Using Spare Parts Home Hacks | Apartment Therapy Re-Nest
- TIGER project comes with Portland’s first two-way cycle track
- Streetsblog San Francisco » San Francisco Takes Parking Spaces for Trial Sidewalk Extensions
- Blue Ribbon Bike Fender
Tour de Taco ride report
Report: fun! Was a huge turnout, although not the 400+ as RSVPs on Facebook, but still around a none too shabby 150. Despite the crowd, it was strangely orderly, not reminiscent of a critical mass ride at all. Groups were broken off of the main crowd, maps were provided, and everyone made the rounds to four different taco trucks in Oakland’s Hispanic dominated Fruitvale district. I hardly ever get down to East Oakland so it was nice to see a new side of my city
Cyrus from californiatacotrucks.com gives a pre-ride pep talk
Mass of bicycles crowds the Fruitvale BART station
East Bay Bicycle Coalition co-sponsored the even with Oaklandish
A taco truck owners dream; these guys were rolling in cash yesterday
“Hey man, what’s with the camera?? I’m here for tacos, not photos!”
My lovely girlfriend Kendra at taco stop numero dos. Check out her bike tube earrings
Bonus shot: riding home through Oakland’s Little Saigon we found this gem:
Well that’s it! Another successful taco truck ride, more to come I’m sure
Mobile bike cafe in Nagoya, Japan
Cute. CharRie, the owner, said in a blog post: “I always wished to make people happy with my hand brewed coffee on bike. My dream has come true on Valentine’s Day!”
Neat little idea and well executed. Check out the blog post for more pictures and info
Found via UrbanVelo by way of Candy Cranks
Seattle’s Mayor Mike McGinn bikes to work
Seems like the most down to earth mayor ever!
No better way to understand the current state of our citys streets than to be out in them. This mayor gets it
Thanks StreetFilms for another fantastic video
Dan’s interesting articles, February 16, 2010
- 1910 Pierce Chainless Bicycle
- ANT Bicycles – A video interview
- Turn Signal Jackets
- East Bay BRT may create longest complete street in California
My Cree MC-E custom headlight
Forgot to post this! I built this setup a couple months back and its been running flawlessly since..and god damn is it bright.
The LED is a Cree MC-E mounted to a star board and thermally epoxied into a 1” copper cap from the hardware store which is “creatively” rigged onto a U-bolt. A 15 degree lens is installed; good light spread. I used some curved spacers from v-brake pads to allow the light to be pivoted and adjusted into position. These LEDs get hot, especially at full power, but so far the copper has done an excellent job as a heatsink. Simply riding the bike wicks away nearly all the heat.
The battery is a 14.8V 4400mAh lithium ion pack crammed into a water bottle. The whole thing is driven by a bFlex controller that controls the light output modes and regulates the power. It’s interfaced by the red weatherproof button seen above. There’s a small red LED (near the red lid) that the bFlex board is connected to that tells me when the battery is low and needs to be charged.
My first LED setup way back in 2007 was a trio of CREE XREs that I quite liked but I noticed one day cruising the information superhighway that LED technology had already come leaps and bounds in just the few short years since that build: I could now build a single LED setup that would match the brightness of the previous three and with less power consumed!
Costs: The LED ran me $25, the battery $80, the controller $30. Not a cheap build but Im going 3 years on the battery and controller now and I feel confident riding at night. When your bike is your only form of transportation like it is for me, the cost is worth it
Its a pretty easy little project and the payoff is nice, give it a try. Drop a comment if you have any questions or just, you know, want to comment, that’s cool too 
