Electric car pulls 50ft tree

While I am on the topic of hauling Christmas trees with energy efficient vehicles, I feel compelled to share an image and article that was passed on to me by an uncle of mine.

The tree and car are reported to have traveled 15 miles from forest to home. The report is that the tree was decorated in advance so that the driver could pass by the home of his housebound grandmother and share the spectacle with her aging eyes.

At it's final destination, the tree was cut into sections and positioned inside the driver's home to form the optical illusion that the tree was growing up through the center of the house and protruding through the roof.

Is it real or is it Photoshop? You be the judge: http://bit.ly/NFtreecar

Once again, real life people in European countries have proven that small vehicles are capable of hauling mighty loads.

Christmas tree on a bike

A lot of folks make the argument that they need to drive an SUV or a truck year round in order to remain prepared to haul the occasional item that is too big for a car. People use similar justification when selecting a car for transportation instead of a bicycle.

In truth, the majority of people who need to haul kids or groceries drive cars every day. Except for this guy.

In addition to a sporty winter coat, our friend in Copenhagen has invested in a bicycle that can easily handle kids, groceries, and the occasional over-sized item.

http://bit.ly/xmasbike

An open letter to Penn DOT

12/2/2009. Please let me register this 2001 Cushman Truckster from New York State. It's a motorcycle and I need it to haul things.

12/4/2009. Penn DOT has rejected registration of this vehicle, stating that the vehicle is not a motorcycle and is not road worthy.

In response I have gathered supporting evidence of other 3-wheeled enclosed cab motorcycles in PA and submitted it to them for review.

Included in my evidence is the Wildfire, an inferior 3-wheeled truck currently for sale at http://www.marketscooters.com/ a York, PA motorcycle dealership.

All of this information has been submitted through Trina at Brimmer's Licensing Service in Lancaster. Trina has been most helpful and yet she is not optomistic that I am going to get anywhere. She has given me the direct phone number of the Special Service Unit in Harrisburg that handles the registration of unusual vehicles.

I will be calling them later today. Wish me luck!

Turn signal jacket

So. Didn't know it. But. There is a site called instructables.com that provides DIY tutorials on everything from building a cat hammock to constructing padded football uniforms for toddlers.

I learned about the site after reading a Tweet that pointed to an article with instructions on how to make a turn signal bicycling jacket using LilyPad LEDs and conductive thread.

It is quite possible that this breakthrough in DIY turn signal jacket production will revolutionize two-wheeled commuting practices across the globe. Actually. Probably. Not.

But. If the illuminated clothing trend makes its way into the marketplace, I believe that it may usher in a new era of rider conspicuity.

Powered jackets are not a foreign concept to year-round motorcyclists. I already use an electric jacket and gloves to stay warm on winter rides. I'm also pretty handy with wiring projects. This makes me a good candidate for the DIY turn signal jacket. Or not. I am nowhere close to threading my girlfriend's sewing machine with electronic string.

While I've got bigger things to do with my time, I would consider purchasing a mass-market version of the turn-signal jacket. The winning product will need to be durable, appropriately priced and integrated into a garment that I would buy anyway.

Mk2kid illustrates for Ducati

Ducati motorcycles commissioned artist Mk2kid to produce a series of motorcycle prints that are absolutely dark and angry and appropriate for our times.

The limited edition prints are a part of the Ducati Official Fine Art Print Collection.

The prints feature the Ducati Monster and the Hypermotard (among others). The machines are aggressively ripped apart and splattered with energy. The graphical style of the artist makes the motorcycles appear as if they have exploded on the canvas and evokes a scene of carnage that is anything but cozy.

According to theispot.com, Ducati used Cultwork Agency to locate Mk2Kid. I used Google to try to locate Cultwork Agency and returned no direct information about the group. I was able to identify other Ducati works that were copyright by Cultwork, indicating that the agency does exist and may have a history of locating talent for Ducati.

Mk2Kid has a slick flash website that is, unfortunately, difficult to navigate and reveals little information about the project.

The Ducati Art website refers to Mk2Kid simply as MK and indicates that the artist was born in Jerusalem, Israel in 1976 and now lives and works in New York City. He appears to like whiskey. 

Whatever the story, Mk2Kid has produced some fine art. I like it and look forward to watching this artist in the future.

Bicycle friendly America

The League of American Bicyclists added 15 new communities to their Fall 2009 master list of Bicycle Friendly Communities in America. Lancaster did not make the list but momentum is gathering to improve our situation.

Ninja Fast wants to know what you think makes a community bicycle friendly.

According to the League, Lancaster has a lot of work to do before it will be considered as a bicycle friendly community.

Philadelphia, our neighbor to the East where bicycles hang from street signs like Spanish Moss, is the only recognized bicycle friendly community in the state. As such, it is still only a bronze community. This basically means that, "we notice you are trying, but you've got a few things to work on before you will be recognized as silver or gold. You may never reach platinum."

Only three communities in the country are platinum winners: Boulder, CO; Davis, CA and Portland, OR.

Pennsylvania, as a state, is only ranked 40th out of 50 for being bicycle friendly. The League states that, "Pennsylvania has an exemplary route network, but no safe passing distance law and no accommodation or complete streets policy."

It is not easy to become recognized as a bicycle friendly community. The application process requires that a community report on how it promotes bicycle riding from multiple angles. The community must be actively working on measurable outcomes in Engineering, Education, Encouragement, Equality, Enforcement and Evaluation.

A renewal process assures that even recognized communities are continually striving to do better. The program is careful to prevent communities from slipping back into their old unfriendly ways.

I'm not looking for hot showers and a masseuse on ever corner, but I would like to see Lancaster organize its efforts enough to begin the application process for this program. My goal is to simply see more of my neighbors leaving their house in the morning with a bicycle helmet on.

I have recently joined the League of Lancaster Bicyclists and hope to work more with them as a channel for advocating change in our community. I want to see concrete things happen that make more people consider bicycling as a viable form of transportation.

Let me know if you have ideas about how to make bicycle commuting an attractive option in Lancaster.

Read more about the Bicycle Friendly America program and see how your state ranks among others.

This bike hobby is about to get political

I've spent decades commuting around Lancaster on my bicycle with the belief that I was one of the proud and unorganized few. Well what do you know, we may still be few, but we are no longer unorganized. I learned on Saturday that, embedded within Dream Ride Projects (organizers of the Dream Ride and the Nightmare Tour), the League of Lancaster Bicyclists exists to move Lancaster County towards becoming a Bicycle Friendly Community.

The League of Lancaster Bicyclists is an affiliate of the League of American Bicyclists. This is not a social group of riders, but an organized effort to advocate and promote bicycling across the country. Through intentional work in the areas of engineering, education, encouragement, evaluation and planning, enforcement, and equality, the league uses its members to advance bicycling in their local communities.

Sign me up. Never mind, I already signed up this afternoon. But tell me what to do. I'm so eager to volunteer and support this organization that I'm getting impatient waiting for my marching orders.

Membership is open to anyone and includes a subscription to Bicycling Magazine and discounts at participating bike shops. Sign up here or click on the Lancaster League of Bicyclists logo to the right of this blog at anytime to learn more about the league. If you are not in Lancaster, find out if there is a League of American Bicyclists affiliate in your area.