Kona says 'Hello Africa!'

image by DragonWoman

Kona has been given and accepted the task to design a robust bicycle for traveling the rough terrain of southern Africa.

This design and manufacturing task is part of the BikeTown Africa program , run by Kona, Bicycling Magazine and Bristol-Myers, that will help health care workers treat HIV and AIDS patients in remote locations in Botswana.

Kona will design and manufacture 200 bikes to be used within the program. Key design features are simplicity, robustness and maintainability.

Keep track of the progress over at the newly launched Kona BikeTown Blog.

Check out the press release over at Bicycling Magazine.

Less Is Too Much -- Last Prophecy

Last Prophecy

I almost had an Epileptic Seizure when i got this link from a friend today. It might be old news since the creation above won the Lowrider Bicycle of the Year Award in 2004, but it's an amazing view and read.

Strange Bikes #2

The Bicycle Forest :: Treadmill Bike

decisions, decisions... Modern life can be hard on you sometimes. Should I Stay or Should I Go, Should I Run or Should I Bike? Modern technology sometimes tries to relieve us by merging products into the most amazing combinations. Behold the creation above!

Strange Bike #2 is the Treadmill Bike

Cannondale's Amazing Invention

Cannondale's new product line of cycling apparel based on TrapTek(TM) technology has been recognized as one of 2005 coolest inventions by Time Magazine, in their annual "Most Amazing Invention of the Year" issue.

TrapTek's technology is a activated carbon fiber made from coconut shells. Cannondale utilizes this in their "Quadtex Carbon TM" fabric, which is used in their L.E. Carbon Collection of apparel.

The advantages of the new invention is better moisture wicking (45% better than current materials) and the ability to cool when warm, and warm when cold. Another great thing is the fabrics ability to reduce the Synthetics + Human Sweat odor to practically nothing by trapping the odor while working out.

Is this a Wool-Killer? Not sure but it sounds like it. I'm currently into wool since it already got most of the characteristics of the above material. But cycling clothes in wool are expensive and hard to find. At least here in Sweden.

I will definitely feel this out when it hits the stores.

Beautiful Headlamp Pictures

Text in Swedish, Pictures in RGB

JojjeM, member of the Swedish mountain bike community HappyMTB, took his camera with him the other night and took some stunning long-exposure pictures in one of Sweden's Dark Forests.

check em out...

Play It Safe, The Swedish Way

The Swedish Road Administration (SRA) announced the winner of it's Bicycle Helmet Design Contest yesterday.

The winning contribution, out of thirty contestants, is a creation called "Hat Trick" made by Johan Birger, Gert Hanner and Esa Ervast from Avalon Industrial Design, Helsingborg, Sweden.

The jury's motivation is:

The winner has managed to reduce the size of the helmet by utilizing the properties of a multitude of materials. The helmet is only 15 mm thick with a shock absorbing layer of elastic foam material. Its design also makes the helmet better at cooling the wearer than traditional cycling helmets.

The helmet is very nimble and simple but still fulfills the current security standards. It gives the owner a multitude of choices when it comes down to looks and style by allowing different covers without the end result being overburdened. Hat Trick manages to free the bicycle helmet from the design related issues that keeps many people from using a helmet today.

Some example covers:

Well the covers gives me some flashbacks to the 60's when the Automobile Helmet was in style. But the stripped down version looks pretty cool IMHO. Today's helmet are way to big sometimes and I will for sure check this out when it hits production. A guy on the Swedish bicycle community www.happymtb.org has tried the prototype and was very pleased with it.

Check out some of the other contestants here (page in Swedish).

Dr. Dew Test Log

Dirt Rag Forums - Dr. Dew Test Log

Looking for a good commuter bike? As a proud owner of the 2003 edition of Kona's Dr. Dew I would warmly recommend it as Your Weapon of Choice.

Still not convinced? Check out Jeff Guerrero's, art director at Dirt Rag Magazine, Test Log of the 2006 edition of the Dr. Dew.

To the Log...

Zimbabwean Bicycle Boom

Business | Reuters.co.za

It's hard to draw any conclusions about the effects that the high oil prices will have here in Sweden and the rest of the western world. But it sure has an alarming effect on bike prices in Zimbabwe.

The price of a bike in October was almost twenty times what it was a year earlier, as Zimbabweans frustrated by chronic fuel shortages opted increasingly for pedal power.

The 1,838 percent inflation in the two-wheeler market pushed overall annual inflation last month to 411 percent, the Central Statistics Office said on Thursday.

Read more over at Reuters

Rack 'Em Up!

Commute By Bike has posted an excellent review of a bike rack system I've been eyeing out for some time. It's the Allen Racks 144a model that has been scrutinized and in very good way.

Really useful review if you are shopping for a carrying solution for your bike(s). Make sure you check out the other reviews by Commute By Bike.