By Michael van Vliet | July 31, 2012
As a follow up to yesterday’s post about the seriously fast MLS Gravity Bike, here’s a bit downhill excitement by Brian and Terry of Werehaus. The video shows them bombing down Conzelman road outside of San Francisco. They’re both riding BMX bikes and one of them is riding brakeless. If you watch to the end you can probably figure out which one.
[ Via Take Over LA]
tumblr
emailBy Michael van Vliet | July 30, 2012
Aerospace welder and general speed freak Jeff Tiedeken has used his metal working skills to construct the ultimate gravity bike. This hill bomber is as close to a motor-less cafe racer as it gets. With its forward leaning seat configuration and cafe racing handle bars, the MLS Gravity Bike is a streamlined bullet coming down the hill. Its custom frame is constructed from 4130 steel and features a single-sided fork and rear end. Critical braking power is provided by a pair of Avid Elixr hydraulic discs.
As for a top speed, the bike was recently taking out by Kyle of Trackosaurus Rex, and hit 50 mph, although on the right hill the bike could hit 70 mph easy.
To check out some more shots of the bike you can view Jeff’s flickr page.
[ Via Cycle Exif]
By Michael van Vliet | July 27, 2012
The Buijtenkitchen is a mobile restaurant that looks to bring the kitchen right to the source: the farm. This expandable culinary space is the creation of Dutch design collective Studio Elmo Vermijs and is designed to be towed by trailer from farm to farm, chasing whatever is in season. The Buijtenkitchen is centered around large wood burning stove, but comes stocked with all the amenities of a modern kitchen.
Buijtenkitchen hopes to reexamine the relationship we have with our food. What do we mean by local? What type of cuisine can be created using just one source? The closeness of its farms and town centers, make Holland the perfect place to experiment. Setting up such a mobile kitchen on a 2000 acres factory farm would probably be less attractive.
[ Via Fast Company]
By Michael van Vliet | July 26, 2012
From Here to There is a video series from Dutch surf company Protest, that spotlights five professional surfers as they travel on their own personal journey from here to there. Whether it’s a search for solitude, winning a contest, or attempting to connect with their location around them.
This first episode follows surfer Yannick de Jager, who developed his skills early in life along the Netherland’s North Sea coast. He searches for his “there” while traveling from location to location, competing in international contests, and learning to take his surfing to the next level. The series casts an interesting light on the type of conditions and environments European surfer must contend with.
Music by Future Islands – Inch of Dust & Vireo’s Eye
By Michael van Vliet | July 25, 2012
To start, we would like to thank every single one of you who took the time to share your pictures with us. We received a tremendous amount of submissions, far more than we had initially expected, and we enjoyed looking through every last one of them. So thank you.
After reviewing all the submissions came the painful task of whittling down the list to the 10 finalists. As previously stated, the decision process was carried out very democratically, with everyone in the Aether main office huddled around a large monitor casting their votes. There was a fair deal of debate and differing opinions and unfortunately many very excellent photographs did not make the final cut.
Click more to see the 10 finalists and head over to the Aether Facebook Page to Like your favorites. The picture with the most Likes by midnight on August 1st wins the grand prize: a fully loaded Aether Travel bag.
By Michael van Vliet | July 24, 2012
Half dirt bike. Half mountain bike. All electric. Stealth Electric Bikes are the highest powered, most rugged electric bikes on the market. They are powered by a direct drive brushless DC hub motor and all the mechanical pedal power the rider can give it. The bikes have only one moving part between the motor and the ground increasing control, reliability and efficiency with virtually no sound emission.
In order to comply with US speed restrictions, their Bomber model offers two different performance modes: Slow and Fast. Slow mode limits the motor to a street legal 20 mph with 750 watts of power, while Fast mode unleashes the motor’s full 4500 watt output and can reach speeds up to 50 mph. I’m sure nobody ever leaves it in Fast mode “accidentally”. Nobody.
To learn more about Stealth Electric Bikes check out their website:
www.stealthelctricbikeusa.com
By Michael van Vliet | July 23, 2012
When hiking a mountain there’s usually only one goal in mind, the summit. The stunning vista and singularity of a mountain’s peak is what draws people. However in reality, the top is only the halfway point and the long walk back never has same exciting thrill as going up.
However, the German company Bergmonch wants to offer hikers something else to look forwards to on the way down. They’ve designed an integrated collapsible bike system that allows you to hike up a mountainside and bike down. The lightweight system folds down into a rucksack, allowing hikers to climb using both hands. Once at the top, the pack unfolds to create a rugged trail scooter that can be used to zip back down the hill. Riders can stand or knee depending on the conditions.
For more information about the Bermonch hike and bike system you can visit their website. www.bergmoench.com
By Michael van Vliet | July 20, 2012
It’s always a treat to find a well-made, beautifully shot travel video – even if it is a little old. Back in 2010, German filmmaker Vincent Urban went on a trip with two of his good friends through South East Asia. They had a Landrover Defender 110 shipped over in a container and spent the next 2 months driving through Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, and Laos. Armed with DSLRs, they took some fantastic footage and edited them into a five part series. This is the first episode, but if you would like watch others you can check them out here.
Episode 2 – THAILAND
Episode 3 – LAOS
Episode 4 – CAMBODIA
Episode 5 – THAILAND / REPRISE
[ Video by Vincent Urban]
By Michael van Vliet | July 19, 2012
Retrofitted shipping containers is old news, retrofitted used dumpsters is the wave of the future! For their Foundation Projects, Rikkert Paauw and Jet van Zwieten set out to transform dumpsters into functional public spaces to show that urban waste can be recycled as construction material. Using old dumpsters for kiosks shows we can be doing a lot more with what we throw away.
The team took the dumpsters to three different neighborhoods in Utrecht and used them to collect materials, which consisted of typical trash items and some donated wooden waste. After collecting the building supplies they took a week to design and construct the structures. Each of the buildings is designed to have a specific function depending on its location. One was designed to be a mobile bar, another an information kiosk. After construction was completed, the structures were moved to the center of the city for a special outdoor event to showcase their functionality.
The Recykiosks are extremely portable and be placed almost anywhere and have a unique installation-art look to them. Hopefully we’ll be seeing some around Los Angeles soon.
[ Via Looks Feels Works]
By Michael van Vliet | July 17, 2012
A while ago Jeff Waldman was awarded a grant from The Awesome Foundation to hang swings throughout the city of Los Angeles. The goal of the project was to bring the greatest feeling of joy to the most people for the least amount of money. However, the LA trip was really just a preparatory exercise for his future goal: bringing swings to developing nations.
After running a very successful Kickstarter campaign, he was able to raise the money to travel to Boliva and continuing spreading his swings of joy. He plans to edit together a full documentary film about the trip, but for now he has released a trailer to show a little bit of the work he’s done.
