Isn't this a familiar scene?

Ah yes, the car obsessed maniacs who exist to drive cars badly. But everyone needs a purpose in life, so is it fair to be cruel?

This RTA video is very good, and depicts a rather sad but all too frequently encountered scene.

You really will have to watch it, and if cyclists and the responsible 'other' road users adopted the sign universally it would be quite an effective example of road-user solidarity.

Judge for yourself and watch this little beauty:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvC6RryUn0Y

Two useful bike 'bits'

There are a number of bike indicators on the market these days. This one is from the UK, and looks as if it might work (for a change).

Not just an indicator, but a mirror too, and a front and rear light.

Check it out:
http://www.sjscycles.co.uk/cid/SRQ5UZNU273Y3NSGICOQL28KFDUXL12K/product-Winkku-Winkku-Safety-Bar-End-Mirror-with-Lights-and-Indicator-20137.htm

This bike bit comes from the USA and may be useful for mountain bikers as well as the tandemists amongst us who need some quite small inner cogs due to the sometimes lost chains that go down where they don't belong.

Even if it had to be posted here, this device would not break the bank, for a change:
http://www.gvtc.com/~ngear/orders.html

A few video links to visit

This is a London safety video that shows how to ride with 'lorries', better known here as trucks. It's worth watching, although the Toowoomba situation hardly compares. The essential awareness of how a truck operates is just as valid though:

http://www.tfl.gov.uk/roadusers/cycling/11687.aspx?lid=switcher

Theses are a mixed bag of bike related videos:

RTA 'Slow down' TV ad':
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9VWF1DXQ8s&feature=related

UK road safety inattention kills:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsJs4AYa8sU&feature=related

USA 1950: safety:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QEKTZyQmwk

USA 1960:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqpNqoumVcA&feature=related

USA 1948:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPh3zJ6lmn8&feature=related

Going fast (80mph) by pedal power:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5V2FgwN_re4&feature=related

Jet bike- is this person mad?:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6qeDkwnDPQ&feature=related

This fellow is returning home after cycling around the world in about three days (what kept him?):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCxwyeoStLY&feature=related

School bans cycling to school

This short video is amusing, or it would be if it was not quite so sad.

Not an Australian school, we are pleased to report, but a UK one. Having sold off all their sports fields, with children not aware what a vegetable is any more while refusing to eat Jamie Oliver school dinners, the ban on cycling to school should really come as no shock.

You will have to tolerate the advertisement for superannuation before the real story comes on.

Watch and laugh/cry at the superiority of the British, well, the English anyway:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/8149987.stm

Bike gadgets

Front wheel dynamo

Need a front wheel bike dynamo? Look no further than PedalPower+.

This front wheel dynamo can charge your batteries as you pedal along on the next TBUG world tour of the Darling Downs, or even beyond.

Products and prices here:
http://www.pedalpower.com.au/index_files/Page1734.htm

From the web site:
http://www.pedalpower.com.au/index_files/Page437.htm

PedalPower+ is an innovation that allows bike riders to recharge their mobile phones, GPS and other small devices in a safe and regulated process from a bicycle hub or bottle dynamo.

In the ‘old’ days, a bicycle dynamo was only used for one thing, bicycle lighting, which was the only electronic application that a rider needed. If you needed a telephone, you found a public phone box, if you needed to find your way you looked at a map

While the application for lighting still exists today, far more is needed, modern riders use mobile phones, GPS and need to have easy electronic answers to recharging, small devices that require 5v up to 600mA, DC input to recharge them. Appliances like GPS, mobile phones, AA and AAA batteries, digital cameras, MP3, iPod and iPhone, to name a few.

At PedalPower+ we provide the solution. Our range of products gives you a complete system by generating energy while on your bike, using that energy to recharge your device while riding, collecting and storing all or part of the energy and using the collected energy to charge devices while not riding. How easy.

By using our patented, small, modern technology, we have solved several major issues that enable a bicycle dynamo to be used to recharge small electronic devices safely. Issues such as creating DC output, current regulation, stability, efficiency and reliability.

Our patented technology is used in two ways, firstly by incorporating our patented technology inside our hub dynamo, making it the world’s first DC Output Bicycle Hub Dynamo, effectively making the charging process exactly the same as from a mains wall charger giving up to DC 5v 600mA. This allows direct charging of any small device requiring 5v and up to 600mA, to recharge its internal batteries without using a special regulating cable from an AC dynamo

Secondly by being incorporated into our PP+ Universal Hub Dynamo Cable. This allows our standard AC hub dynamo or third party AC hub dynamos, rated at 6v3w or 2.4w to be safely used as the source of energy. Perfectly suited to AC dynamo hubs from Sram, Shimano, Schmidt, Suntour, Novatec and other manufacturers, great to use as a simple retrofit for those riders who already have hub generators.

Today’s society’s demands for green, environmentally friendly, health promoting products, combined with the needs and wishes of modern bike riders, are perfectly answered with the PedalPower+ system. The whole range completes a clean, green and free solution to the energy requirements of the rider, whether that rider is a commuter, trekker, long distance rider or holiday maker. PedalPower+ encompasses all.

American bike e-newspaper

It's another world, cycling in the USA. What an amazing place it must be compared to how cycling is treated heer in Toowoomba, and Australia.

The pace of change, even acceptance of a sort, does seem to be accelerating here, if somewhat glacially, and we are only 20 million compared to nearly 300 million, but still...

Have a read and see how our cousins are dealing with 'the bike':
http://www.bicyclepaper.com/articles/2009/07/prepping_for_the_big_tour

Australian bespoke bike builder

Velosmith is an Australian handmade bike builder. We found this on the web, so have not seen any or met anyone with one, but they certainly look and sound like quality.

Worth a look if you are about to buy an expensive bike anyway, so at least you can spec it to your needs: http://www.velosmith.com.au/index.html

Velosmith tourers are hand-built for a lifetime of cycling. The combination of steel tubing and careful component choice ensures that your Velosmith bicycle is made for the long haul.

All frame tubes (except seat and head tubes, which are rust proofed) are sealed, no moisture can get in so no rust to shorten the life of your frame. Components such as a Rohloff hub gears provide tens of thousands of virtually maintenance and adjustment free kilometres. Rohloff chains too have a reputation for being the best quality available today.

Tim has two bikes riding through South America here:
http://andesbybike.blogspot.com/

And another pair riding the Australian wide-brown-rim here:
http://www.2tyred.org/2tyred.org.htm

The photo is from the Velosmith site