Posts tagged “dahon”  

The Mobile Social SXSW is tomorrow and of all the MoSos we do, this one is El Guapo, the Mucho Moso, where we do bike culture Texas style. The crew at Social Cycling ATX is leading the ride with ride guides. They’ll make sure you all get to Mellow Johnnys for the party and have a fun, safe time.

Quick access to the details

Scan this code for quick access to the MoSo details. You need a wristband or SXSW badge to get into the party. Get a wristband from one of us at the start of the ride.

The Route

There are turnoff points for those that want to ride shorter. The route is 14 miles and it’s a relaxed, cruiser, fun ride, no-dropping-anyone pace. We stop at red lights and don’t block traffic.

Meet the Bike Map Makers

Google is riding with us and at Mellow Johnnys to show you their Bike Maps. You’ll know who they are because they’re wearing these shirts.

Vacation time in the Bahamas over Xmas 09. Rode there with folding bikes from Dahon and Brompton.

Watch now on YouTube or download and sync to iTunes, your iPod, iPhone. Subscribe to the Huggacast Feed for more episodes.

iPhone

iPhone users can download and watch now and access our Huggacasts via the iTunes Store on a Wi-Fi or cellular network.

The S&S coupling joins and splits the top and down tubes of a road bike like the Modal.

This hinge folds and unfolds a Dahon

It’s expected that Apple will reboot the publishing industry today with the release of a tablet computer. It’s likely a better Kindle in form and function that also runs web applications. Expect a one more thing announcement regarding software and I suspect that’ll include proxmity (geocoded photos and videos). More on that below.

The context to the unrelenting hype about a tablet (Mac fans have wanted another one since the Newton) is the Apple Store and buying and/or subscribing to magazines, blogs, and papers. Where this potentially matters to those of us with bikes is more mobility and I hope another generation of related apps. Whether in your jersey pocket or mounted on your bike, the iPhone is more ubiquitous than ever in our sport and rides.

While I doubt it’s usefulness as a bike computer, I do see the iPhone as a dashboard. For those of us that are connected online — arguably overconnected — we can ride and check in with the office and riding buddies. We’ve been discussing “urban mobility” for years at Intel events, SXSW, Webvisions, and our Mobile Socials. There’s a mobile connectivity thread in our community that’s also driven by the fact us bike geeks are also gadget geeks. In the next month, we’ll have the Reecharge on test to charge our iPhone while we’re riding around. Presumably we could pull a tablet out of messenger bag too and plug it in to the Reecharge battery at a coffee shop while we read a tablet version of Road Bike Action.

The iPod lead to the iPhone and then to follow-on touch-screen devices from Google. We hope the innovation from Apple leads to related innovation from bike computers and related fitness apps. What we’re thinking is we’re out on a ride with a small dongle capturing data. Finish the ride, sync to a tablet or phone, and upload the data to a mashed up Latitude-type community. Want to compare your old-fat-guy time on the climb to your skinny-climbing bro? Click a button to overlay your friend’s ride. For bloggers, we could cross-reference that ride to all photos and videos we shot.

After 10:00 AM PDT today, we’ll know more.

How about you readers? Do you want a tablet from Apple or content with being retro in Tweed?

Pam was just riding along and suddenly she’s got a fixie — no freewheel. Upon further inspection, we discovered a spoke had broken and the spoke remnant was lodged in the cassette forcing it to turn around with the cranks.

Then we got into the real story, which was she sprinted up a cobblestoned climb in downtown Seattle with a 30 pound backpack affixed to the rear rack! Pam’s power, intense climbing grade, weighted rear, and cobbles all led to a broke spoke, which in turn made her Dahon into a fixie (for a while at least).

Mark V we need you to repair this soon. Thanks.

We took the Dahon Biologic iPhone mount with us to the Bahamas and who better to test it on a Dahon than a teenager who wants to listen to her tunes on an Island ride?

Initial results were disappointing because she used her iPod Touch, which is much thinner than an iPhone. The welded touch-sensitive membrane wasn’t close enough to the front of the Touch to allow her finger to swipe or touch the interface. Every bump she hit in the road triggered the Touch’s shake-to-shuffle feature and her iPod was frustratingly shuffling the whole ride. If she were to use it again, I’d add a pad underneath to push it close to the membrane.

Traveling with the Brompton and Dahon Mµ SL on this trip to the Bahamas, using Dahon’s Airporter cases.

Kept the weight under 50 pounds for each bike and didn’t get charged extra by the airlines. Before the trip, Dahon sent us the iPhone Mount and we’ll post on that soon.

Mathowie wrote, “whenever I’m in downtown Portland, I kind of wish I had a bike to get around, especially if I dropped my truck into a long term parking lot. Plus it’s small enough to fly with, so I’ve got a travel bike as well.”

Uploaded by mathowie | more from the Bike Hugger Photostream.

Replaceable derailer hangers are engineered to break, to spare the derailer, and this one did in an S&S travel case. Can’t imagine the forces within the case to do that, but break it did. Sheared right off. Discovered this back home from the Mobile Social Worldwide.

Besides dings and an ever-developing travel patina, a broken derailer hanger is a new occurence. This was on the Dahon Mu SL we took with us. I suspect it’s because the wheels and tires weren’t there to protect it. The Dahon isn’t intended to break down fully like an S&S — you fold it in 1/2 into a large case. With the recent crack down on luggage by the airlines and a very long trip, we packed the Dahons in cases I knew would pass through baggage.

Cost to repair is about $15.00 USD.

Yamashita Park is in Yokohama City Japan and a lovely place to ride a Dahon. Mark V has toured Japan.

Uploaded by owenfinn16 | more from the Bike Hugger Photostream.

Dahon’s view of the Mobile Social Interbike in Vegas. We rode the Strip from the Sands to Mandalay Bay and into a VIP Tent.

We just finished the Mobile Social Worldwide and our next one is in Austin for SXSW.

Those of us that travel with bikes know it’s an arms race with the airlines — how much they charge came up earlier this year when Pam and I got popped $175.00 per-bike-one-way by Northwest Airlines. As Mark wrote in response to our trip

Ask about and everyone has a tale of how a friend of theirs flew a bike for $5 blah, blah, blah…. Let me tell you, there was a period of time where I logged 100,000 frequent flier miles over two years. I know about flying with a bike … nothing beats the S&S system for flying a 700C wheeled bike,

We know how to fly with bikes too and got charged on that trip because we flew with Scicon cases that say, “bicycle” and are in the shape of a bicycle. Normally we fly with S&S and also with Bromptons and Dahons. The advantage of all of those folders is that they either go into a case that squeaks under the airline surcharge for oversize baggage — pack it light to keep it under weight — or go right into the overhead.

Until recently that is.

Forgot the lock for a quick store run, so just folded the bike up in a cart and shopped. No one seemed to notice. I was ready if they did to say, “found it on Aisle 3, dunno.”

Uploaded by Hugger Industries | more from the Bike Hugger Photostream.

The DJs of the Sun will lead the ride from the Sands, mixing up a lounge-like, mellow vibe for the peloton and rocking during the Mobile Social Interbike schwag-fest. They joined us earlier the year in Austin for the MoSo SXSW. They roll with a Voltaic System on Dahon bikes.

The popularity of the iPhone has lead to a flood of cycling-related applications, many of which would perfectly convert the iPhone into a GPS-mapping, route planning powerhouse—if only there were a good way to mount your phone to your bike without exposing it to the elements or worrying about it falling to the pavement and shattering.

Thanks to Dahon, it’s now possible to mount the world’s most functional phone to any bicycle and keep use it without fear of it dropping or getting soaked. The company’s new BioLogic bike mount for iPhone and iPod touch completely encases the phone in a waterproof shell. Unlike most traditional waterproof enclosures the BioLogic has a welded touch-sensitive membrane for a front panel, which allows the phone to be used even when encased. The mount allows the case to be pivoted 360-degrees for use in either portrait or landscape mode.

Combined with their new ReeCharge system (formerly FreeCharge), which pulls power from a bike’s generator hub to charge electronic devices, the new BioLogic mount can even work as part of a charging ecosystem. Ride your bike to work while you record your personal best time and have your phone completely juiced up for the rest of the day.

The case will be available from dealers in January for $59

The IOS XL and FreeCharge is generating considerable blogosphere buzz on bike, gadget, and tech blogs. Dahon just uploaded video of the FreeCharge system charging an iPhone.

Working now with Dahon to have a mobile charging station at the Mobile Social Interbike.

This is freakin’ genius. Dahon will introduce the BioLogic FreeCharge, a device that connects to any dyno hub on the market to charge your iPod, iPhone, GPS unit, or other small electronic item through a USB port. The BioLogic FreeCharge siphons off juice from your generator hub into a high-capacity battery, which in turn supplies steady current to your electro widget. Thus the FreeCharge protects your electronics from the wildly variable output of the dyno hub. The FreeCharge uses a silicon casing to secure the unit to the bike and provide sealing to the charger.

An iPhone takes about 3hrs to reach full charge, so it’s not like you could fully charge it while on your lunch break, but the BioLogic FreeCharge would allow you to fully use your device all the time while you ride. I could see how the FreeCharge would be the item to have for touring riders next year. And Dahon will include this item standard on two bikes, the Ios XL and the Speed TR. I imagine stepping out of an airport or train station, unfolding my bike and popping my iPhone onto the FreeCharge so I can continuously use the GPS ap without killing the battery.

The BioLogic FreeCharge will be also be available as a separate unit for about $99 next March.

Dahon’s new IOS XL won a gold in the Eurobike Design Awards. The IOS XL features integrated ights, pump, and phone charger. Road.cc previewed the high-tech folder last month. Dahon also won an award for a new folding helmet. I was just commenting on the need for a travel helmet.

Some of you may have seen me take a few laps on the Dahon Mu EX between races at the Ballard crit this weekend. While I was doing that, a real folding bike race was going on in London -- the annual Smithfield Nocturne.

Photo: Moff.

Also see the Brompton World Championships.

Readers know that we're fans of Dahons and folding bikes in general. We've ridden them all over the Pacific Rim in our travels and hang with the Dahon crew when we're in Taipei.

I suspect Dahon heard our insistence that they lighten up their bikes, cause they built a super light one, and equipped it with SRAM Red components.

I first rode the Mu Ex during SXSW and took it with me to Portland. A pleasure to ride, the bike is responsive, fast, and performs.