I'm having a Great Big Cargo Bike Sale! Only three ex-demo Riese & Muller cargo bikes left at big discounts.

Duomatic

Duomatic, originally uploaded by Ben Cooper.

A new thing to experiment with – years ago, Sachs made a Duomatic, and it’s great to see SA resurrect both the idea and the name.

It’s a beautifully simple isea – it’s a two-speed gear with a brake. Back-pedal a little bit, and it changes gear, alternating between the two. Backpedal more, and it brakes. So you have gears and brakes with no cables – perfect for a minimalist commuting bike.

It’s about £80 I think…

Rohloff QR cable stop

Rohloff QR cable stop, originally uploaded by Ben Cooper.

Problem: On an S&S equipped bike, how do you separate the Rohloff cables neatly?

Solution: Make a custom quick release cable stop which unclips at the push of a button.

So you just undo the two bayonet cable splitters at the back hub, unclip this, and the cable can uncoil and stay attached to the front half of the bike…

The Beast…

The Beast…, originally uploaded by Ben Cooper.

An Alleweder towing a Carry Freedom Elephant trailer, carrying a Hase
Pino recumbent tandem, and a HPVelotechnik Scorpion recumbent trike.

This lot is going to the Bishopbriggs Cycle Festival tomorrow -my legs
are going to die 😉

Bishopbriggs Cycle Festival, 2-5pm, Etive Park next to Menteith Ave.,
Bishopbriggs.

Fuel Cell Bike

Fuel Cell Bike 2, originally uploaded by Ben Cooper.

Found some old pictures of a bike I helped build for the artist Simon Starling – called Tabernas Desert Run, this fuel-cell-powered bike was ridden through the Spanish desert. It’s now in GoMA – Glasgow’s Gallery of Modern Art.

It’s got a 2kW Ballard fuel cell, running from two aluminium hydrogen tanks which would be fitted to the seatstays. The fuel cell was used to keep a NiMH battery pack charged, and the battery pack ran a 900W Heinzmann motor through a custom control system.

It’s meant to look bodged, by the way 🙂