2 Wheels Maybe

I've been piecing together a ratty little street trials bicycle lately. And, yes, I know it's a waste of time. Unlike the bikes I to ride to work, a street trials bike is not a hyper-efficient way to get where you're going. It's a way to stretch what you can accomplish. When I was a kid, the bicycle was everything. I raced BMX on the weekends and I rode to school most days. And I got to explore our dusty Texas town. It was freedom. My only mistake in biking back then was in wishing for a car. Fast-forward forty years. I still love riding. It's still freedom. (It's vastly better than driving a car.) But there's less exhilaration, fewer wheelies, fewer jumps. Enter youtube and a Scottish guy on a bike. In all the websearches about bicycles I ran across Danny Macaskill's Long Way Home . With Danny's astounding bike accomplishments and Dave Sowerby's video production skills, I found myself mesmerized. I still find myself mesmerized. And ...

Juiced Bikes UDK 350/500 I've been a fan of the UDK for years now. When I first started checking it out, it was cutting edge and it had an incredibly long range when compared with anything else on the market. Also, it was originally offered in a non-electric version. Back then it was the only bike in the Juiced line-up. The UDK was and is a very accessible, tough, and useful cargo bike. But things have changed a lot over at Juiced, and the UDK has not kept up with the times.  The Summer 2018 Juiced offerings (Man, that's a bargain on the OceanCurrent! More on that later) The other Juiced bikes show a lot of advancement - torque sensors and pedal assist and lights and other stuff that makes an e-bike a more practical and enjoyable ride. I've watched and waited for Juiced to update the UDK. Last week, I fiinally saw the Juiced UDK I've been hoping for! (But it didn't come from Juiced!) Pure Cycles Capacita (on Indiegogo) Pure...

This post is brought to you by our local bulletin boards! So, you find yourself in Lubbock with a bike, but you want to be around more like-biked people? Weekly: Joy over distance or speed - sounds like my kind of biker gang! Every Thursday night a group gathers at J&B Coffee (26th @ Boston) and goes for a ride. Monthly: Bike to the arts! What could be better? (Maybe bike to the donuts?) On the Saturday after the monthly First Friday Art Trail, you can join the ride to see what you missed the night before. It starts at the LHUCA (511 Ave K) at 10am. If you're reading this in the week it was published, the next ride will be this Saturday, so air up those tires and be ready! Wanna race? Okay, it's not Lubbock, but it's not that far away... Yes, I know, I'm not much of a racer type, but I've been itching to try one of these. And Grizz and I have the parts lying around to throw together a vintage road bike and (Who kno...

Microbus that doesn't burn gas #1: This one's easy. It does not run at all. But it gets a lot of smiles and stories and photos. And you can enjoy it too. This one is overflow seating at Yellowhouse Coffee here in Lubbock. It's a pop-top. You can sit in it with your friends and talk about how cool it is to hang out in a 45 year-old bus without having to insure it and keep it tuned. I have to admit, it's the coolest outdoor seating venue in Lubbock. (Grizz and I have talked many times about how cool it would be to electrify it, but it'd be a darn shame to take it away from all the smiling people who hang out in it.) Microbus that doesn't burn gas #2: This one's less easy, but oh so tempting for retro-eco dorks like me. This one is electric. The conversion work is all done, but it does need batteries. (They all seem to need batteries.) Find it on Albuquerque Craigslist Relatively speaking, this one is a steal. I say that because a...

Let's start with the boat. [Yes, I know - it does not have wheels, but this is some seriously retro-cool low-carbon transport. Also, it does have pedals AND you can get it as a pedelec! So it belongs on 2Wheels Maybe - right?] Generally, 2Wheels is not a place for those of you looking to spend the big bucks on green transport, but we make exceptions when we run across something extraordinarily cool. You may remember the Budnitz titanium electric bike or the Morgan EV3 .   Well, another one popped up this week - the Beau Laker Pedal Boat.   The TreeHugger Article   Lloyd Alter over at Treehugger posted an article about this really beautiful water strider for two. Our staff is absolutely smitten! While it would not make much sense in this dust bowl, it would sure be nice to cruise around in more waterful places.   At first glance, it looks like a 1950's Chris-Craft wooden boat , but when you take a closer look you see that it's sm...

I got to ride it a few miles last Tuesday, and I was reminded how an e-bike can be a wonderful thing when you're facing a Lubbock summer. It was 99 degrees outside. I was riding into a 15 mph wind. And I was travelling 15mph. And it all felt great! Other than the PAS not working, I knew it was finally, truly, an e-bike I could ride. So I took it for a ride on Wednesday, and it was once again pretty darn cool - for about half of a mile. And then the battery died. Actually, it still had voltage (38 volts) but the amp-hour capacity was depleted. In real-world terms, my salvaged battery cells aren't up to the job of hauling me and the bike more than a few miles. In West Texas terms, they were rode hard and put up wet before I got 'em. So, I ended up ordering a small stack of these from IMR Batteries . So, after the new cells arrive, it's time to rebuild the battery pack (again).  The battery pack folly list: $80 worth of used cordless ...

Okay, maybe conquer is a little overboard, but Two Xtracycles Are for Sale and Another One Vacations in New Mexico doesn't have quite the same ring, so let's just focus on the Xtracycles. Xtracycle 1: An Edgerunner for sale in Albuquerque This one is being regretfully re-homed because its family is too. So, why am I including it here? You have to read the ad. There are some Craigslisters who rise above the usual details, price, and pics. This is definitely one of those. Check it out! Superheroes Don't Get Gas! What can you haul with a cargo bike? Apparently two kids and two more bikes - superhero indeed! Xtracycle 2: A Radish with Wheels The Radish is an interesting piece of Xtracycle history. Back when Xtracycle was still offering their original add-on cargo bike kit - the FreeRadical, they also offered the Radish complete bike for those who weren't into the whole DIY approach. Back in the day, they were about $1200, ...