Ring Around With Bikesphere

When you're in the big city, it's all about being seen.

I'm not talking about the paparazzi spotting you in a trendy Meatpacking District bar or along a Paris boulevard--although I could be.  Rather, I am referring to cycling along a city's streets and byways, especially at night.

These days, most of us are using "blinkies" attached to our helmets, bags or bikes.  On most urban thoroughfares, brighter is better, as you want to stand out among the streetlights, neon signs and other sources of ambient urban light.  Many of us have also taken to wearing reflective vests over our clothing.  There are also all sorts of other accessories made of reflective materials we can use.

Now Michelin--yes, that Michelin--has come up with a new and possibly better way of making us more visible to drivers and others.  

Its new "Bikesphere" is a "smart" device that attaches to the handlebars.  It has light and proximity sensors that analyze what's going on around the cyclist.  If a car approaches, it laser-projects a red ring of light around the cyclist.  As the car draws closer, the projection intensifies and is more visible to both the cyclist and motorist.

This beacon is meant to show a "safe" distance between the motorist and cyclist.  According to Michelin, more than t 20 percent of drivers don't honor this distance--usually because they don't realize how close they actually are to a cyclist--and cause more than 5000 avoidable crashes every year.

In daylight, and in good-visibility conditions, Bikesphere saves its batteries and activates only its shining "position lights".

Bikesphere is the first product to come out of Michelin's Trendy Drivers movement, which crowdsources ideas and provides funding for them.  Currently, Bikesphere is not available for sale, and Michelin has not yet given as to when it might be.

I Am A Robber And A Loser. But Do I Deserve This?

I'm all for trying to reform and rehabilitate offenders--until, of course, the offense is against me.  Then I want to throw the book at the offender!

All right, that's an exaggeration--but only somewhat.  Even the most fervent advocate of capital punishment does not believe it should be used against, say, thieves.  (At least I hope and assume that's the case!)  But, hey, when someone steals from us, especially something we love and depend on--our bikes,  that person becomes Jack The Ripper, John Dillinger and Willie Sutton all rolled up into one.  And we want to see that person punished--and get our bikes back.

Now, of course, we have different ideas as to what constitutes appropriate punishment for a bike thief.  A relative of mine believes that "we should do like they do in Saudi Arabia" and cut off the hands of thieves.  

(By the way, that practice, as barbaric as it is, actually isn't as common as my relative and others seem to think it is.)

Of course, I don't advocate anything like that.  At least, I haven't favored it since I calmed down from the last bike theft I suffered.  And there are some punishments that I think are too extreme even for bike thieves:

Now, I don't read Portuguese, but I understand enough French, Spanish and Italian to figure out that the 17-year-old boy's forehead tatoo reads something like, "I am a robber and a loser."  The AP translated it as "thief and loser", but the tatoo artist fancied himself as a bit of a poet:  "ladrao" rhymes with "vacilao", which is why I chose "robber".

The "branding" was indeed done by a 27-year-old tatoo artist, one Maycon Wesley Carvalho dos Reis. (Say that three times fast!) His friend, 29-year-old bricklayer Ronildo Moreira de Araujo, caught the boy trying to steal a bike in a city near Sao Paolo, Brazil.  When de Araujo and dos Reis were arrested, they said they were trying to teach the boy, and all thieves, a lesson.

The boy has been unnamed because Brazilian law prohibits the press from identifying minors.  Jurisprudence in the land of Ordem e Progresso also defines torture--the charge against de Araujo and dos Reis-- as a "heinous" crime, meaning its perpetrators cannot be released on bail. 

They were caught thanks to someone who captured them on a cellphone video when they apprehended the teenaged would-be thief.  As for that boy:  Volunteers have set up an internet funding page to raise money for his tatoo removal.

Now, I think what those men did was just a bit much.  Just a bit.  And I suspect that I'll feel that way--at least, as long as I don't lose another bike of mine to some thief! ;-) 

A Trek Through The Heat Wave

The weather has been so strange this year.   February was warmer than April (or so it seemed), and after a spell of summer-like heat and sun in the middle of last month, skies turned gray and the air as chilly as that of early spring.  Now we are experiencing a heat wave:  For the third day in a row, the temperature topped 90F (32C).  

So I packed a mini-picnic lunch and rode to the most logical place:  the water--to the ocean, to be more exact.  I took a familiar route down to Rockaway Beach and along the south shore of Queens and Brooklyn to Coney Island, and along the Verrazano Narrows and East River back to my place.  In all, I did about 85 kilometers of riding.

And I took my winter-project Trek for the ride.  I've made a couple of changes on it, both of which turned out for the better.

For one thing, I converted the double chainring setup to a triple.  Actually, the crank is made for triples, but I had originally used  "Gran Fondo" 46/30 gearing on it, with a 46 in the middle position and a BBG bashguard/chainguard replacing the outer chainring.  

After a couple of rides, I remember why we used to ride half-step gearing.   If you ride, say, a 12-25 or even a 12-27 nine-speed cassette, the differences between the gears aren't nearly as great as they are on almost any five-speed freewheel, except for the "corncob"  (a.k.a. "straight block) ratio--which, at my age and given the fact that I'm long past racing, I will never use.

As it happens, I've been riding a 12-25 nine-speed on Arielle, my Mercian Audax.  On the other hand, the Trek now has a 13-26 five-speed freewheel, with between-gear gaps nearly twice as wide as those on the nine-speed cassette.  So, the 46 tooth chainring gives a 3.54 ratio (or, a 95.5 gear), while the next cog--15 tooth--provides a ratio of 3.06 (82.8).  I find ratios in the 3.2 to 3.4 range very useful--at least, that's what I often ride on Arielle (48 tooth chainring with 15- or 14-tooth cog).  

Now, I know the Trek is inherently a heavier bike with somewhat more relaxed geometery, and that I've added racks and fenders to it.  Still, I missed having gears in the 3.2 to 3.4 range.  So, I added a third chainring to the front:  a 42 tooth in the middle, with the 46 tooth in the outer position.  

Now it will just be a matter of re-acclimating myself to more frequent front shifts than I've become accustomed to making.  On Arielle, and even on Vera, my Mercian mixte (which has a 46-30 setup), I almost always ride the larger chainring.  

The other change I've made to the Trek is the brakes.  The Weinmann 605s, especially with the Mathauser Kool-Stop pads, were fine.  But I got a good buy on a lightly-used set of Weinmann Carreras.  I noticed the difference (also with Mathauser Kool-Stop pads) immediately:  The Carreras have a firmer, more positive, feel.  I think it's mainly a result of their beefier arms.  Next to the 605s, they're a bit clunky. But the Carreras have a nice finish, which looks especially good next to the hammered fenders, I think.

I may make one more change to this Trek.  I like the way they look with the Velo Orange Porteur bars, but I get the feeling the bike is really made for dropped bars.  And, now that Helene is gone, I've thought about returning the Porteur bars to Vera.  While Vera's been fine--not surprisingly, a bit more aggressive--with dropped bars, I liked her ride with the Porteurs.  And I liked the way she looked with them, too!

Then I have to name the Trek.