The Wheelie Good Round-Up

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Check out our selections below on what caught our eye around the web this week.

Cycle safe

Cycle safety has been back on the agenda this past week after Bradley Wiggins and British Cycling coach Shane Sutton both suffered injuries in cycling collisions with motor vehicles. Their crashes have brought the cycle safety issue to a wider public and will provide a boost to The Times’ Cities fit for Cycling campaign that was relaunched last week. It make take some time for people to listen and provide more protection for cyclists but we were quite heartened by the plea of this young man to try and get cars banned from Richmond Park in London on Sundays.

Rapha spoof

We do like a little bit of Rapha here at Going Going Bike but we admit their marketing can be at times rather pompous. You only have to take a look at the latest video for their autumn/winter range to realise that. Rapha’s pretentious has not been lost on a group of cyclists in Portland, Oregon. They have designed a spoof website that takes the mickey out of Rapha’s website. The website mimics the style and typography of Rapha’s. The group also have their own take on the aspirational slogans that populate Rapha’s website. It is definitely worth a look if you want to have a quick laugh.

Get the right gear

Do you sometimes wonder what gear you should be in when you’re out on your bike? Being in the right gear leads to efficient pedalling and of course ease of riding. Scientists have built a clever phone app that will do the shifting for you thus turning your bike into an automatic. The app calculates your cadence and road speed via two sensors on the bike and then works out the correct gear you should be in and puts you on it. The technology, developed by Cambridge Consultants Limited, uses a Shimano automatic gear shifting system with a low-power version of Bluetooth so that sensors can talk to an iPhone. The team at CCL are still making improvements to the app but there is hope that an anti-lock braking system that can prevent skidding could also be added to the tech.

Let the Donky take the load

It man not be the most beautiful looking bike in the world but the Donky Bike is a new way of seeing utility or cargo bikes. Part BMX in look, the Donky has removable racks that are mounted on a sturdy square-section beam that runs the length of the bike. You’ll be able to carry items on the back and front of the bike as the design means the weight of the carried objects is held by the frame. There are plans in the future to develop front and rear child seat options. The Donky Bike is available to purchase online for £499 The Donky bike is the work of British designer Ben Wilson.

Riding indoors!

Last week, we showed some video footage of some urban downhill mountain biking through the streets of Le Paz in Bolivia. We thought that was crazy until we found some clips of people riding MTBs indoors. First off a clip from an event in Bulgaria that took place last weekend where there was a downhill race through the National Palace of Culture in Sofia and then a POV of a rider riding through a shopping mall in Prague. Crazy!