There are some sweet options out there for adding a trunk to your bike, but if you're looking to save some cash or just feeling inventive, try this alternative from Instructables. Using a plastic toolbox as the foundation gives you a cheap, durable starting point, and lets you create different trunks for different purposes:
A small weekend trunk for fun rides
A larger commuter trunk with room for a change of clothes.
A "Good Samaritan" trunk, with a set of tools for helping other cyclists in a group ride.
Portland, San Francisco, and Vancouver are experimenting with bikes boxes - dog-leg extensions to bike lanes that put cyclists at the head of the pack at an intersection. The purpose is to prevent right turns that drivers make without noticing the bicycle that's riding alongside them.
It's hard for anyone in a U.S. city to imagine a local government that would spend money to plow bike paths. But in Copenhagen it makes good sense: this path sees 10,000 bicycles a day. That makes it a public transportation system like any other, one that keeps 10,000 people a day off the city buses, trains, and roads.
It's a great thing to see. Especially when you realize that they've kept the path as clean as the street running next to it.
Good lighting is essential for the bicycle commuter, especially during the spring and fall months when commutes are likely to happen in twilight conditions. But unlike recreational cyclists, commuters need tough, cheap components that'll survive daily use for a good long while, but won't be a magnet for theives.
That rules out all those high-tech zenon/rechargeable units, leaving solid little devices like this Cateye LED Taillight. For $10 you get a surprising level of functionality: a triple-LED set-up, multiple flashing patterns, and a large lens that glows off to the side. Plus, unlike a lot of basic taillights that run on button batteries, this one uses AAA's - more convenient to buy, and you can carry a few extra in an Altoids tin in case your head- or taillight goes dim.
There are plenty of speaker systems out there for iPods and other MP3 players. And a few of them are readily adaptable (or at least portable enough) for use on a bicycle. But this speaker unit from iHome nails it: A water-bottle-size system that encases your iPod; includes a speaker, amp and batteries; and is weather-resistant. According to customer reviews at Amazon, it packs enough punch to overcome wind noise and even stir-up the neighbors.
In other words, it's perfect for cruising the 'burbs on your Mobiky playing George Thorogood's Bad to the Bone.
Drivers. Uggh. It's not the four wheels that cause trouble - it's the fifth one in the hands of someone just itching to slip past you, eager to make that right turn.
So a bit of advance warning is useful, and that's why bicycle mirrors are genuinely useful. Few cyclists have them, perhaps grouping them with bells and baseball cards as kid-bike add-ons. But mirrors will keep you out of trouble, and give you a more relaxed journey in the process.
This bicycle mirror from Mirrycle doesn't look very high-tech, but it's top-rated on Amazon right now: 4.5 stars from 30+ reviewers. The assembly process is a little tedious, but results in a mirror that will hang tight to any bar design, and won't vibrate as you ride, buzzing your image.
As bicycles become more popular this year, the five-finger supply chain is working hard to keep their "inventory" fully stocked. If you're a daily commuter, you're that much more exposed, especially if you commute to a location in the city.
They say that no lock is truly theft-proof, but that's not really the point. Your locking set-up simply has to be more difficult than the next guy's. Thieves don't enjoy working hard, and will walk right past your Fort-Knox'ed Bianchi to grab that Schwinn with the Walmart cable.
So for the ultimate in visual and physical deterrents, try this: Grab a couple of these Master Lock U-Locks and cable-tie the U and lock portions together. Set the combinations to match as well. The result: the thief now has two locks to cut, while sparing you some of the annoyance of fumbling with two separate locks.
The design of this particular U-lock makes this easy, because the combination numbers are on the bottom of the cylinder, so they'll be right next to each other when you're ready to get going.
Riding with headphones on is never a good idea, but a little music goes a long way, particularly if you have a quiet, early-morning commute. The Orbit MP3 speaker by Altec Lansing is a good choice. Instead of trying to snow you with the mock sophistication of stereo speakers that are inches apart, Altec focused on giving you a single, relatively-large driver. The result is solid, full-range sound that should have no trouble helping you beat-match your pedalling to your favorite Kraftwerk track.
The Orbit measures about 4 inches in diameter, runs on AAA batteries, weighs about 4 ounces (as much as a cellphone) and connects to any MP3 player using a headphone jack.
If you're looking to tool-up your bicycle as a car replacement, the Topeak Dynapack DX is worth considering. It's a trunk bag with a fully-integrated seatpost rack, allowing you to easily attach/detach the bag using a simple clip. The bag itself is a semi-rigid foam shell, large enough to accomodate a helmet and some gear (minipumps, etc.)
The ease with which you can remove the bag is what makes this great for commuters and others who use bicycles for errands - it makes it easy to strip your bike of easily-stolen valuables. If you have a flashing taillight, it would make sense to try to attach it to the bag - that way it comes with you when you leave the bike.
Yes, there are larger trunk bags, and of course you can also get panniers and handlebar bags. But the convenience of this bicycle trunk gives you Vespa-like carrying capacity with minimum installation, maximum security, and heck it looks pretty decent too.
In the last few years, public rent-a-bike systems have been flourishing. Although the concept isn't new, the recent success of these systems has been made possible by automated lock/unlock systems, where riders can get access to a bike using a credit card. This takes labor out of the loop, and keeps bikes from being stolen.
Now a designer is suggesting that these locks are, by themselves, all that would be needed to get a city's residents riding. Abhinav Dapke designed a concept for a "bike tree" that uses a rider's fingerprint to lock and unlock their bikes. The tree-shaped stand saves space and discourages tampering.
Geneva has something similar like this installed in a few locations, but this seems like a simpler, more elegant solution.
Boston is a tough city to commute into. Driving is a mess, unless you enjoy navigating horizontal rollercoasters at speeds ranging from 1mph up to the top speed of a yellow cab. Mass transit is available, but be prepared for a lengthy walk if you're not lucky enough to live/work near a stop.
Of course, anyone who's picked-up a tourist guide knows that Boston is a "walking city." But commuters know that Boston is also a "freezing city."
Ok, if it isn't obvious, I'm zeroing in on cycling - but I'd like to offer a variation. Last summer, I discovered the devastating efficiency and sheer thrill of crossing an hour of city in half the time, by using a bicycle in conjunction with mass transit.
The Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority doesn't allow bikes on the T during peak commuter hours, but there are a few loopholes. Weekends are wide open, and folding bikes (folded-up) are permitted anytime.
Since my folder was out of commission, I took out my hybrid bike out on a couple Saturdays to try it. The point-to-point speed of a mixed-mode commute is a real eye-opener. Take the Red Line, where each stop is roughly a 20 minute walk (or 5-10 minute bike ride) apart. Starting halfway between Porter and Davis Squares, you can get to the far end of Charles Street (via the Charles/MGH stop) in about 20 minutes.
How good is that? On foot, that'd be 20 minutes just to walk to and from the stations at each end. By bike, skipping the T, it'd take about 40 minutes (it's only 6 miles, but the traffic's killer.) By car? About the same, and at rush hour even longer.
In winter, it's even more compelling. Less time outside, but all of it spent in motion, keeping you warm but never sweaty.
Boston is a tough town to cycle across, due to insane drivers, random street layouts, and inclement weather. As a result: very few bike commuters. But now that folding bikes are becoming lighter, cheaper, and more sturdy, I think we'll see more and more people take advantage of that loophole, and try a mixed-mode commute.
Especially since a gallon of gas cost more than a gallon of Gatorade.
The last few posts have leaned towards bigger/sleeker/stranger variations of a working bicycle. But in the other direction we find bikes that nobody really considers to be bikes. Two wheels, human-propelled, handlebars, brake levers... and yet scooters are largely dismissed as toys. In most cases that's justfied, but the Xootr is an exception. The larger wheels increase ground clearence and can bridge pavement gaps more smoothly. It has a large platform for adult feet (that's Mely-O's foot right there.) And the fit and finish of the Xootr give the impression that it's engineered for serious, daily use.
It's really a sub-bicycle, and for commuters taking a long hard look at folding bikes, the size and weight of this machine can't be dismissed.
Prices: $179-299
Weight: 10.5 lbs
Deck platform: 7.9in x 24in; constructed from 9 layers of laminated birch with a polyurethane clear coat
Folded size 31.1 in long x 9.4 in high x 12.6 in wide
Xootr website (and yes, they also sell a folding bike.)
The traditional bicycle gets high marks for simplicity and utility, but for the commuter it's lacking in a few key areas. If you've ever asked yourself "What if a bicycle had"
...some weather protection
...a little extra power boost when you needed it
..."real vehicle" features like turnsignals
...then this short unassuming clip will be a real eye-opener.
It's a Go-One velomobile, made in Germany by Beyss and available in kits or fully-built. Fully-assembled, it runs about $17,000, and that's not even including the hybrid system. Blame that on the high price of hand production, coupled with a steep euro/dollar exchange rate.
This particular design stands apart from a lot of the other velomobiles you see in the market: much nicer fit and finish (ahhh those Germans) and a shape that doesn't look tubby or awkwardly sawed-off. The look is no accident: designer Michael Goretzky was part of the original Smart Car design team.
This is the most convincing commuter vehicle I've seen so far. With more development time and (sorry to say it) a low-cost Chinese production line, this would make a tempting $5k supplement to a car.
Welcome to Using Bicycles, a blog dedicated to people who rely on their bikes to get to work and get things done. Bike commuters trek their way to cube farms in India, actual farms in California, and everything in between - much to the confusion of the drivers, pedestrians, and livestock they pass along the way.
There's a reason why people who have access to cars don't use a bicycle: bicycles are not an ideal solution for the roads, traffic, and weather that commuters have to contend with. But that inadequacy leads to a wealth of inventiveness, as commuters figure out how to make the most of their equipment. It is the brains of these riders - not their legs - that make their machines go.
This blog is about those people and those machines.
. For $10 you get a surprising level of functionality: a triple-LED set-up, multiple flashing patterns, and a large lens that glows off to the side. Plus, unlike a lot of basic taillights that run on button batteries, this one uses AAA's - more convenient to buy, and you can carry a few extra in an Altoids tin in case your head- or taillight goes dim. 
