Bicycle Forest Blog

O’Leary Built Bicycles

info — Sat, 12 May 2012 01:40:03 +0000

Here’s a nicely made video about frame builder Charlie O’Leary of O’Leary Built Bicycles. Charlie is a BikeCAD Pro owner as you can see from the full scale printout at 0:16. It’s great to see BikeCAD playing a small part in the creation of these beautiful bicycles.

Couchbike on the Weather Channel

info — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 00:09:16 +0000

This segment from the weather channel about alternative vehicles features a quick clip of the Couchbike.

Enigma on Meet the Maker

info — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 14:57:12 +0000

I always get a kick out of seeing BikeCAD Pro featured in framebuilding videos. This is a nice piece about Enigma from the Bespoke Bristol Meet the Maker series.

Steven and Chris

info — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 10:01:37 +0000

Today was the 500th episode of CBC’s Steven and Chris. It was an honour to have the Treadmill Bike and Couchbike featured on this special show. It was fun to sit in the audience and see how the show is actually put together each day. Getting called down to sit on the couch with Steven and Chris was also a fun surprise.

Hello from NAHBS

info — Sun, 04 Mar 2012 06:08:03 +0000

Things have been going well in the BikeCAD booth at the North American Handmade Bicycle Show. I’ll be doing a seminar on BikeCAD at 1pm. Hoping for a good turnout for that.

NAHBS 2012

info — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 07:56:03 +0000

We’ve just arrived in Sacramento for the North American Handmade Bicycle Show. Looking forward to showing off the new features of BikeCAD version 8.0

We have a new T-shirt for this year’s show. The new design highlights the range of different bikes that can be modeled in BikeCAD, from cruizers, to BMX, to MTB, to touring, to mixte, to TT, to track and everything in between. Come see us. We’re at booth #702

Embedding BikeCAD in your own web site

info — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 15:08:30 +0000

You can now easily embed any BikeCAD model on your own web site or blog. Just copy the embed code from the model info page for your design and paste it into your site.

Here’s an example below:

More info at: bikecad.ca

718 Cyclery

info — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 14:37:31 +0000

718 Cyclery in Brooklyn has been named NYC’s #1 Custom Bike Shop by New York Magazine. Here’s a nice video about the shop. I’m glad to see they’ve integrated BikeCAD Pro into their processes.

Electric Assist Treadmill Bike

info — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 17:09:42 +0000

When we built our first Treadmill Bike back in 2004, it was done mostly for kicks and giggles. I never anticipated all the media attention it would receive. This morning, I was quite excited to learn that an enterprising inventor from the Netherlands is taking the concept a step further with an Electric Assist Treadmill Bike.

Here’s a video of Bruin Bergmeester’s bike in action!

Velomobiling

info — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 14:44:21 +0000

The Bicycle Forest received an early Christmas gift this year. Mark and Ray from Bluevelo lent us a Quest velomobile. And what is a velomobile you ask? A velomobile is a human powered vehicle, generally a trike, with an aerodynamic shell for comfort, weather protection and luggage space. We had a great time riding this velomobile. The aerodynamic fairing cut through the wind like a buttered dolphin.

Another freaky aspect of the fairing is that it obscures everything else that’s going on underneath there. People don’t necessarily notice that your legs are moving, so they wonder if the velomobile is powered by some kind of motor. But no, this one is all human powered.

As you pedal, a chain drives the 26” wheel in the back. Manoeuvring is handled by the two 20” wheels in the front. Both front wheels have drum brakes for quick stopping. All three wheels are mounted to a suspension mechanism that makes for a really comfortable ride.

The shell on this velomobile is fibreglass. Our complete Quest model weighs about 35kg which feels really light, yet there’s a carbon fibre shell option that’s even lighter, bringing the total weight to less than 30kg.

There’s a little panel of switches in the cockpit that control head and tail lights as well as left and right turn signals.

The top of the cockpit is open allowing for good visibility. However, for greater aerodynamics and weather protection, you can throw on the foam skirt that seals things up even more.

Bluevelo is based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. They sell velomobiles from all over the world. And in some cases, as with the Quest, they oversee the fabrication of the machines for the North American market.

I am thankful for the opportunity to try velomobiling and hope to see more of these fun bikes on the road soon.