The Wheelie Good Round-Up

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Once again it’s time for our usual mix of bite-sized bike-related items that we hope will bring a smile to your weekend. Enjoy.

1. The man who lived on his bike

No explanation needed for this week’s video here on the Round-Up – The man who lived on his bike. This one man art project sees our rider in various guises spending his days on the bike (while it is moving) at work, rest and play in Montreal over 382 days. Just to warn you there is a naked man on this bike though his bits are blurred out in this version of the video.

2. Online urban cycling book

Looking for some bike-related reading material while you sip on that espresso post ride? We recommend Urban Cycling, a book by Katie King Rumford, which examines the problems of biking in urban areas by suggesting alternatives and solutions to those problems. Katie is a graphic design artist and the book, which is lavishly designed with some awesome photography, was a final student project for her graduate level graphic design program. There is an online version of the book that is free to read using Issuu, an online site that allows you to view digitally uploaded material. Read it here. It is definitely worth checking out.

3. Bike valet service

It seems all sorts of businesses want to get that cycling pound now cycling is increasing in popularity. In London, this has seen the Crowne Plaza London – The City, offer a bike valet and repair service. This particular Crowne Plaza hotel encourages guests, who stay with them, to bring their own bike. The hotel’s concierge will be on-hand to complimentary valet park the guest’s bike at the hotel, while there is also a cleaning and repair service if needed. The hotel also offers a residential package that offers bike hire as part of the stay at the hotel.

4. Wheelie good record

It has all been about cycling related world records on the Round-Up recently. This week, we bring you news of the world record distance for a wheelie without pedaling (called a manual). Sixteen year old Zach Hutlelin travelled 686.25ft/209.2m on his Specialized P.3 mountain bike around a specially designed course at Markham Park in Sunrise, Florida in December. The record, which has only just been recognised by the Guinness Book of World Records, topped the previous distance of 334ft/101.8m by Jim DeChamp. Having seen some of the more extreme downhill manual riding, we think we’ll leave this trick to the youngsters.

5. No hat’s off for this product

We were alerted to a sorry bit of cycling tech that is supposed to protect your head in a collision on our Google+ brand page from one of our followers there. Called the Crasche Hat, the product is not a helmet but a beanie hat with protective inserts that can be easily removed and reinserted. The company is marketing the Crasche Hat as protective head gear for use in any outdoor leisure sport/activity. The company’s website is rather vague as to what sort of protection testing the hat has gone through but its marketing message is rather telling: “The Crasche hat is ideal for people who should wear a helmet, but don’t. It is not designed to replace a helmet, but it is certainly a whole lot better than nothing on your head.” It may look vaguely fashionable but we suggest you are better off buying a helmet.

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