Photo credit: DuCross / Foter / CC BY-NC-ND

A company called Orfos has come out with bike lights that are so bright, the surround your bike with light. Great for ensuring that drivers see you and cruising around on dark, country trails. Pretty rad, amirite? Here are the details from the article on C|Net:

The Orfos Flares create their powerful glow, which the manufacturers claim can be seen for a full 360 degrees, in a unique way. They have nine half-watt LED bulbs embedded in clear silicone to create a powerful diffuse light that makes the red light equal to 300 lumens, or as much as a car’s taillight, and the white light equal to 500 lumens, as much as a car’s daytime running lights, according to the manufacturers. Speaking of running lights, the manufacturers of the Orfos Flares say they’re powerful enough to be seen even in daylight, so they give you an extra chance of being spotted on a gloomy morning by drivers who might not have had their coffee yet.

Sounds awesome. However they don’t come cheap. A set of a red and white light is $229. Ouch. However, if you bike in an area full of drivers who are too obtuse to look for bikers, or on trails that aren’t lit, you might want to consider investing in a set of these. I gotta admit, I am sorely tempted here. I sorta like the idea of blinding drivers with my sweet sweet headlight.

The post Coolest Bike Lights Ever! appeared first on Bike Jax.

When I first started riding my bike for transportation, I wanted to find as much information on biking as humanly possible. I mostly found bike maintenance advice (Sheldon Brown’s site is The Place for this), but most of what I was really looking for was located, well… here, there, and everywhere. I found a ton of great local info from Bike Jax, lots of advocacy inspiration from Mia Birk,Copenhagenize and Taking the Lane, and fashion inspiration from Cycle Chic.  Living in Jacksonville, I didn’t have many bicycling role models, but I started following good examples through blogs like Girls & Bicycles,  Lovely Bicycle,  and Knitting Lemonade. In these blogs, I saw positive examples of people who integrated bicycling into their normal lives, refusing to be grouped into a fringe category.

Blue’s Everyday Bicycling effectively puts together in one source, all of the information on using a bicycle for transportation, information that took me hours and weeks to find on the internet, and months and years to figure out through experience. Furthermore, Blue suggests point by point, that if one wants to effectively adopt bicycling as a form of transportation, that it’s possible to integrate it into your life without having to buy a fancy-schmancy bike, or change what kind of clothes you wear.

Through my years of research on bike-related matters, I’ve stumbled across more than enough cycling lit that is highly opinionated without offering fact-based data to prove points, and some writers tend to use a tone that talks down to women or novices. Blue does none of that, and the tone of the book is quite welcoming, while maintaining a down to earth approach of explaining things that newbies won’t know, like the pros and cons of different styles of cargo bike, or that it’s OK to ride a bike with your normal, everyday clothes.  Blue also touches on a few musts, and stresses that following rules of the road in your community and having lights at night are essential survival tools. She touches on helmets for half of a page, offering some facts, mentions that she wears one, and then leaves the reader to do some research on their own, which is a wonderful way for anyone to formulate their own opinion on a topic that is heavily debated, and typically fueled by more emotion than fact.

Everyday Bicycling might not make a good kickstand, and it does not come with a bike, but is a treasure trove of information that will help anyone kick the car habit by integrating the bike into every day life in a practical way. It’s a must for adults who haven’t been on a bike for a long time, anyone who wants to start commuting, and anyone who wants to start riding bikes with their family.

Everyday Bicycling can be purchased here, and will soon be located in the Main Library downtown on Laura Street.

The post New Book by Elly Blue appeared first on Bike Jax.

I recently took a tour of the amazing manufacturing plant of Fat Sands out of Deerfield Beach, Florida. Their production facilities are amazing and their gear is perfect for cruising around all the various terrain Florida has to offer. From sandy beaches to the treacherous glades, these fat bikes do it all.

Components of the Factory

I met Tommi, our beautiful and gracious host on the showroom floor. She showed me the various models and customization options available to all consumers. Customers can choose from a variety of colors, frame sizing, and accent details. The bikes retail somewhere between $500 and $800 depending on the options selected.

We then moved to the back of the building. The warehouse is filled with a variety of machining tools and work benches. There was also an enormous machine that I could not recognize. Tommi told me it was an industrial water softener. Because of all the iron and uneven pH levels in the water around the Florida coast, an industrial water softener is essential to the manufacturing process. During the welding process, if the water is not balanced and has a controlled iron content, the metal can warp.

Industrial water softeners are very specialized products and Fat Sands had to have theirs custom built by Robert B. Hill Co. out of Minnesota. The water softener itself is made up of boilers and has tons of pipes and valves sticking out every which way. Because there is so much going on in the factory around them, the commercial water softener has to be explosion proof. It is a pretty crazy contraption.

Pretty crazy stuff! Photo courtesy of Hillwater.com

I am sorry to bore you with this, but I had never seen anything like this. After the exposition on the water softener, Tommi guided me through the various tools they use. Other than the array of welding and molds, because the bikes are made out of aluminum, most of the equipment is fairly recognizable to anyone who has been in a bike shop.

Finally, an employee, whose name escapes me, showed me how their infamous tires are made. Despite the size, there was nothing really novel about the wheels. Anyone who has put spokes on a wheel knows this process. Still though, it looked much more difficult because the wheel itself is large; while only 26″, the wheels width is 4″.

Test Drive

After the tour, I took one of the bikes from the showroom on a little test drive. The fat wheels really do make all the difference and I was riding through sand no problem. I had tried other fat bikes before, but I really liked the smooth tires on the sand. The other fat bikes I have ridden were largely for snow.

Salsa mukluk, better for the snow.

Overall, I was surprised at how light the bike was. This is a benefit for a beach cruiser. I have to give a big thanks to everyone at the factory for showing me a wonderful time and I strongly encourage you to check out their stuff.

The post Fat Sand Bikes Industrial Tour appeared first on Bike Jax.

Grant Petersen has strong opinions on all things bike-related, and is not shy about voicing them. For some people, it’s an immediate turn-off. Personally, I research the heck out of everything (to the point where I’m sure it annoys close friends and family), and I greatly appreciate his thorough, straight to the point musings on all things bike. For the sake of full disclosure, I agree with much of GP’s point of view, and would identify as a subscriber to Grant Petersen’s “cult” or whatever more pleasant word you’d like to call it.  I have forever valued function in addition to a very specific style aesthetic when it comes to my bikes. In fact, I own a Rivendell Atlantis, a bike I pined over for many years and recently acquired from Harris Cyclery, the ultimate candy store for practical, beautiful, bikes on the US of A’s East Coast. But– back to the book.

I ordered Just Ride from my favorite place to bike to in the Urban Core, the local book seller Chamblin’s Uptown, and picked it up mere day or two after placing my order. The folks that work there are AMAZING, and the coffee and food at the Uptown location is tasty, local, and veggie friendly if that is your thing. Just Ride is also available at multiple branches of the Jacksonville Public Library; thank you for stocking cool books, JPL!

Just Ride covers the basics for anyone looking to get into riding a bike– bike fit, maintenance, rules of the road, gear, and how to practically outfit your bike for camping, everyday transportation, or commuting. Peterson strips down the knowledge he’s accumulated for years, and pours it into this book with vivid descriptions that don’t go over newbies’ heads. I appreciate this down-to-earth approach at explaining things, because it can be difficult to get just the facts from most places. Petersen explains why bike fit and bike maintenance are important, and that it’s important that your bike can do what you  need it to do (ie, carry library books or groceries home vs. competing in a peloton), but stresses that you needn’t spend an arm and a leg on a bike in order to enjoy it thoroughly.

In much of Just Ride, GP refers to the “unracer,” which at first was puzzling to me, but I think I know where Grant is coming from.  I was once new to bicycling, and when I look back to that time, all I knew about bikes were that people raced them.  It’s what I noticed on TV and on the street. The impression that gives is that one needs an uncomfortable race bike, spandex shorts, and a ton of  accessories to get into cycling, and the media and bike shops sometimes feed into that impression. I know now that the grand world of bicycles is vast and diverse, and I went through a heck of a lot of bicycles figuring that out. Since much of the bike-diversity isn’t readily available in books, magazines, shops, or even on the street, I had no clue there were other options until I scratched underneath the surface of bicycling.

I’m thoroughly excited by the recent rash of books aimed at using a bike for transportation, and Just Ride is no disappointment. If you’ve read much on the Rivendell Blug, some of the info in Just Ride will be familiar to you– but there is some new info in it, and if someone is just starting out on a bike, it’s a great find! Petersen’s book is aimed squarely at those who are new to the world of bicycles, and assures them that racing and all of the crap that goes along with it isn’t necessary– just throw a leg over your bike and have fun riding!

The post Just Ride by Grant Peterson appeared first on Bike Jax.