On July 4th, in an annual ride which attracts hundreds of cyclists in Los Angeles, two cyclists – excellent road racers I’m told – were apparent victims of road rage. The driver in the car was an ER doctor, who according to witnesses, yelled at the cyclists then cut them off, and then slammed on the brakes in front of them.

The road where the cyclists were hit has become quite attractive to cyclists in recent years. Needless to say, these are dangerous times in LA, as car culture meets bike culture. see the story on the attached links….

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-bike9-2008jul09,0,6023414.story

This pedal powered car didn’t go over well with Toronto Police, but the four perps handled the situation gracefully.

Before turning our focus to bike culture and bike safety, we developed a system called the Lifebike for bicycle-based paramedics and EMTs to use at large crowded events such as July 4th, parades, sports events, etc.

Four of us prototyped the Lifebike in our Berkeley workshop, in time to throw it in a station wagon and drive to the national IPMBA (Cops on Bikes) annual gathering in Ogden, Utah. It was Ross Evans (inventor of the Xtracycle), Nate Byerley (inventor of the Bike Blender, now leading Xtracycle), and Mike Cobb (bicycle customizer and master seamster, now at Portland’s Clever Cycles), and myself. Prior to stepping into the prototyping process, Mike and I rode along with ambulance-based paramedics in San Francisco on two occasions, and interviewed bike-based paramedics.

The City of Boston was the first major EMS department to try the LifeBike, during a 3 month trial including the July 4th festivities in Boston.

The major advantages of the Lifebike, when compared to traditional EMS bike setups:

• Hightly customizeable with large foam-padded dividers similar to a professional camera bag. Position the dividers where you want them using the large Velcro strips. Then slide your gear in place. This is superior to the top-loading approach of pannier-based systems.
• Carries any size defibrillator, not just the miniature defib units.
• Carries a full size or folding backboard. You can immobilize a person, saving precious minutes while an ambulance or golf-cart style vehicle is making its way through the crowd.
• Top pack uses Xtracycle snap-hooks. You can grab it and walk up a flight of stairs without having to carry the whole bike.
• Top pack is insulated — good for IV fluids.
• Hard sides protect gear from pokes and kicks while moving through a crowd.

Now that we’re full-on with Rock the Bike, we no longer have time to push this project forward. We’re looking for a cool bike-based EMT or paramedic to take our prototype on extended loan, use it to the fullest, document it on Flickr and Rock the Bike, and help grow the project. Ideally it will be a Bay Area person, who would be up for taking part in bike events like the Bicycle Music Festival. If you know of people who’d be a good fit for this opportunity, please let us know.

Rock the Bike community members will be picking a new home for the Lifebike prototype in a poll that will be open on Sept. 1st-3rd. Until then, we’ll be accepting requests. To apply, simply add a comment to this post, explaining how you’ll use the Lifebike prototype.

This is a stunt video, not an education video. The idea was to recreate a tool I read about in the book “Snowcrash”. The device is called the carpoon and it costs $5. The Carpoon: Designed to attach to large slow moving vehicles and allow a bike to quietly skitch behind it. Enjoy.

As I rolled thru the busy park at night. I had my DLG green envy on. The “Oh look at that light”, “Cool Light” and where did you get that light? shouts and questions were coming from all over the park as I rode along. DLG is the major piece of equipment that raises attention for cyclists. I have yet to use them and not get into conversations with people about my DLG. I tell them they are handcrafted in San Francisco, and it seems to make them appear even more mysterious. It just adds to the DLG mystique I guess. Riding at night is way more comfortable than during the day because of the DLG system. I hear cars leaving the lane or at least giving me way more space than sans a DLG. So yes I feel they are worth it. The only downside is that if your are a hurry, the conversations you get into will slow you down. It is great because slowing down and being part of the community is a lot better than speeding through and never knowing who you live with. Peaceful riding, Carl

well, finding this company was a bit of a god send; I’ve been looking into getting either a Trek 520 Touring, and new 2008 Ralliegh Sojourn (new touring bike w/ disk brakes) or simply a Surley Long Haul Trucker and more than likely adapting an Extra Cycle frame/bags.
Came out of the library 2 days ago, and saw the most interesting bike I’ve seen since the Dutch beer delivery rig crossed my sights, a mtn bike w/ this type of extension BUILT IN! 😀
Then, after getting ahold of a retail shop by the same name (Fraser) I found y’all.
Has anyone tryed to mount a Burley D’Lite or Corsair XT trailer to one of these, and what were the limitations? I wld love to hear back on this.

Aaron, Da Hobo wit’da mojo 😉

All we need now is for rock the bike to come out with bright white DLG and we would have been very patriotic 😉

(those red ghosties above the bikes are balloons tied to the snapdeck)

This bike is just one of the antique racing bikes hanging on the wall of my neighbor Gian Bongiorno’s shop. It’s one of Campagnolo’s earliest shifting mechanisms. Apparently Fausto Coppi won the Tour on it. To operate it, you pull one lever to undo the axel quick release. At this point, the axel is imobilized in the dropouts only by notches in the dropout! Then you pedal backwards, using the other lever to change gears. Once the chain has moved to the new gear, you redo the QR for the axle, then pedal forward. Apparently these were popular because they were light weight, but they caused many accidents.

…but you don’t have his skills behind the mic, or a custom made soul cycle is not in your budget. Don’t fret, you can still get the bike party going Southbay Cruiser style.

1)Get yourself a soul cycle head unit (or build your own stereo) I like the soul cycle head unit because it’s small, it’s light, it’s stealth if you ride through areas with the police aren’t too excited about bike stereos and it’s affordable(get other cruisers in your group to chip in to share one for your rides if you need to.) Down low glow on an xtracycle is a nice added touch but you can attach a soul cycle head unit to a regular bike if you an xtracycle is out of your budget.

2)Get yourself a roland microcube battery operated amp, mic and cord (This is a light weight PA set up. Not the best sounding in the world, but good enough for around a campfire or vacant street at nigh. throw in some rechargeable double AA batteries)

3)Print out the lyrics to your favorite songs to sing along to. Put the songs in a binder. Load the songs on your ipod.

Now when you find the right time/place on your ride. Bust out your gear and start singing along with the music pumpin’ out of your soul cycle head unit. This is karaoke for the streets. And even if you aren’t a great siinger, it only takes one person to get everyone into the right mood to want to jump up and sing their favorite 80’s tune or whatever. Dancing follows.

(If I uploaded them correctly)here’s a few karaoke/dance pics from the most recent ‘A Pirate’s Life for Me’ Southbay Cruiser ride on 6/20/08.

Some interesting scenes from the workshop this week, preparing for BMF. The musical part starts at 3:05. It was awesome to see the expressions on our neighbors’ faces as we cruised around West Berkeley with Janaysa singing and playing.

Folk / Soul singer Janaysa came by the workshop on Tuesday to test-ride the piano mount on the Mundo. She was initially ‘concerned’ but left on a high after a good try out.

Live at Maker Faire 2008 from Rock the Bike’s Pedal Powered Stage. Watch in high quality by clicking twice on the video itself and selecting “Watch in high quality” on the YouTube page:

Video from Rock the Bike’s Pedal Power stage at Maker Faire this year. The sound system we’ll be using at Saturday’s BMF is even better.

Nice clips of SHAKE YOUR PEACE! performing, as well as Yacouba and the Spirit Gatherers, and Fossil Fool, the Bike Rapper.

We had a great practice ride tonight in the neighborhood around our workshop. The aTractor Seat and custom bamboo piano mount were both strong and comfortable, allowing her plenty of leg room. She practiced about 5 songs, giving me time to see how the bike handled. The handling was difficult but manageable. Even the slightest uphill made it noticeably harder to maintain a straight line, because her weight is so far behind the rear axle. The frame was up to the task, but the front end just felt light. I had to really maintain focus and keep my arm muscles tensed at all times.

The sound of her voice and piano playing made it all worth it, though. I’m really excited to bring her unique music to the streets at BMF, live!