Tag: bicycling

Bicycled: A Bike Made of Junkyard Cars

Bicycled: A Bike Made of Junkyard Cars

Posted on by Kbaumlier

Bicycled is a upcyling project where the frame of a bike is made out of recycled materials that come from cars from the junkyard. Lola Madrid, who is behind the project strips cars of parts such as the transmission belt, upholstery materials, and door handles and uses them to make a new bike.

Which parts are used for what purpose? The bike chain is made out of the transmission belt, the seat and handlebars  are made from seat upholstery, the seat post clamp is made out of a door handle, and the bike’s safety reflective lights are made from the turn signal reflectors on the car.  Each bike is unique, and he is working on developing a line of bikes.

You can watch the Bicycled video online which shows Madrid in the process of making the bikes, and contact him via the website to get your name on the list for a bike.

Image Source:
bicycledbikes.com/

 

Links:

www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=wOB-KciTjvo

bicycledbikes.com/

 

Were you passed on your morning bike commute? CAT 6 Racing

Were you passed on your morning bike commute? CAT 6 Racing

Posted on by Kbaumlier

Cyclists have a joke about “racing in CAT 6” which is not exactly a race or an official category of cyclists. CAT 6 is a term for commuter cyclists who race to work as a sport.

Also sometimes called “the commuter race” and “hipster racing,” CAT-6 racing is the unspoken urban tradition of trying to go faster than, and not get passed by, a stranger on your bike.  A CAT 6 race starts when a stranger riding a bike tries to pass another cyclist and the other cyclist speeds up rather than let them pass. This creates an impromptu race.   Sometimes the race is started by gender battles (a girl passing a guy for example), competitiveness, and also just for fun.

I’ll admit, I have started a CAT 6 race before (but didn’t know it had a name.)  I often will pass someone on my bike and continue to ride faster so that the biker I passed would stay in my dust.

When I spent a summer in the Headlands near Sausalito, CA,  I would ride once a week over to San Francisco, and would cross the Golden Gate bridge.  While riding across the bridge I had to avoid the tourists who were walking, and also find your spot within the cyclists. It always felt like a race – a sort of pass or be passed feeling.

Did you pass someone today on your bike, or try to pass someone who passed you first lately? If so – you might be a CAT 6 rider.