Can Someone Build One Of These For The MBTA

The bicycle barometer takes data about the weather, the status of the tube lines I use to get to work, and whether my local station is open or shut.

It then reduces all that data down to a single value and displays it on a dial with a bike sign at one end and a tube sign at the other.

For example, if it is raining a bit the dial will move a bit towards the tube sign, but if the tube is suffering delays, it will move a bit back in the other direction.

Different data points get different weightings. E.g. snow is more important than a bit of drizzle; the tube station being shut trumps everything.

It is built using a Nanode and an old clock I found at a flea market. The data comes from the Met Office’s Datapoint API and Transport for London’s line status and station status API’s.

(I’ll make the code available once I’ve cleaned it up a bit, follow @richardjpope for updates.)

Via Thanks Oisin for the tip.

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Cardboard Bike

Pretty awesome! Final cost 9-12$ per bike…plus a lot of labor. More info here.

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It Came From The Night

Wow….even in total darkness this guy was sparkling.

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It Starts With Cycling

So I was getting some thai food today. Messenger bag on, helmet on, sweaty from riding around. The lady who works at the restaurant and I are friends, she chats with me, gives me free stuff sometimes, I buy lots of her food, its a great relationship. So we start talking about biking, and I mention I might ride out to P-town this weekend. Without batting an eye she looks at me and goes, “are you gay?” No pause, no big deal, just a simple honest question. I told her the truth, and we kept talking about other things.

I didn’t even think about it until I was getting ready to leave and the older gentleman next to me turns and with a nervous laugh goes “can you even ask people that?” I didn’t know what to say, so I went “sure its 2012.”

As I was leaving I thought to myself, that asking if someone is gay should be like that, it should be like asking them if they like milk or soy in their coffee. There is absolutely nothing wrong with being gay, so what’s wrong with casually dropping a question about it into conversation? It was refreshing and kind of awesome that this lady either didn’t know it was supposed to be “a big deal” or she just didn’t care. Either way, these awesome conversations always start with cycling.

I cant count the number of amazing, in depth, mind blowing conversations (about a million topics) that have started with two people talking about bikes. Its like bicycles are the universal conversation solvent. All conversations can come from a base of cycling….or at least it seems that way.

Have you had any interesting conversations that started off talking about bikes and ended up some place else?

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The Bikeyface Guide To Being A New Biker

Once again Bikeyface has crafted a wonderful and informative comic. Here is a taste.

Get the rest here at her amazing site.

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This Is…Holy Crap This Is Amazing

This has got to be the craziest, most elegant solution I have ever seen to this problem.

This weekend I finally solved a particularly tough chain tension problem that I’ve been having on my winter commuter/guest bike with the addition of a “ghostring” or “ghost ring” or “ghost chainring” (I’m unsure of what the proper name for it is, if there is one). The idea is simple, but when first presented with it any well-seasoned cyclist will surely look askance at the contraption. I’m here to say: so far, so good!

GHOST RING!

More here.

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Lucas Was Just Lost

In relation to this

Seems Lucas was just trying to get home on some flats and took a wrong turn…

Also anyone who thinks this guy is “giving us all a bad name” should read this. No one in a car, or out walking, worries about “giving all of us a bad name” so we shouldn’t either, and we shouldn’t be held to that double standard.

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Seriously Why Are You Reading This Shlock

When you should be frantically waiting for the next post on this blog….

My new favorite cycling blog is Another Bike…so good.

Click here to see the rest!

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