One thing we were certainly reminded of as a result of last week’s tragic aftermath from Hurricane Sandy was that power is fleeting. We depend on so many devices but getting them juiced up can be quite a challenge when the grid goes down.
Eton, the maker of numerous hand cranked survival radio, has a hand powered charger for smartphones. The Eton Boost Turbine features a 2000 mAH lithium-ion battery pack, durable aluminum body and a built-in hand turbine power generator. The crank can be used to juice up the battery, which can then power devices via a Micro-USB DC input.
For a day’s hike in the woods there is still much to bring – but hardly the right bag for the job. Many large packs are overkill, and the smaller packs still mean jamming things in the pockets or worse having the hands filled!
The Dutch love their bicycles, and they don’t stop riding for much. Because many residents don’t own cars they depend on the bikes to get them where they need to go all year round. That means riding in the rain, which we’ve seen firsthand and it didn’t look like fun. But it also means they need to ride in the winter, and that can be dangerous.
The problem with many fitness and athletic products is that there is little that can be done with the material once it breaks. Some products can be recycled – such as metal bicycle frames – but all too often the broken parts and equipment is simply abandoned or tossed in the trash. For surfers this is a problem because even when thrown in the trash broken boards can end up as floating garbage.
Bamboo is a great material as it is fast growing, sustainable and can be crafted into a seemingly endless amount of products. We’ve seen bamboo bikes, clothing made of bamboo ash and even a ski pole made of bamboo. But for the 2013 snowboarding season CAPiTA’s created the new DBX board that features an RFC sustainable bamboo dual core, which promise to offer softer flex making for an easy, forgiving rides in the powder.
When dropping $70,000 on a bicycle you’d think it would come with a frame made of gold or perhaps diamonds on the handlebars. The Thonet concept bicycle has no such as features and it is made of wood not gold. But the bicycle, which was designed by London architect Andy Martin, utilized steam-bent technology that has been used for a century and a half by the Thonet Chair Company.
As our bicycle editor can attest babies do something very annoying – they grow very fast and this really doesn’t stop as they age. That means replacing clothing, shoes and a whole lot of stuff. But it also means that things like bicycles can become “small” pretty quick.
While the snows aren’t quite as prevalent as they once were on Mount Kilimanjaro, we think Ernest Hemingway might be excited to hear that Trek Bicycles’s Trek Travel team is looking to bring 20 cyclists on an epic fundraiser next February and March that will include the first-ever bike ride permitted on the African continent’s tallest peak.
Sylvester Stallone may have played Rocky Balboa but the Rocky S2V Provision ($600 MSPR) is a coat that his other signature character would likely wanted to have while evading authorities. This coat can shedding moisture during cold, snowy weather while keeping heat locked in – which no doubt John Rambo would have appreciated – but we think he’d have really liked the integrated survival kit that is included that will have wearer’s ready for just about anything. 
Made in America isn’t the only feature that SustainU is talking about, in its new deal with Eastern Mountain Sports. Sustainability is another aspect that the company is proud of. SustainU is making garments made from 100 percent recycled materials manufactured in the USA.
At this week’s Interbike we’ve seen bikes made of steel, titanium , aluminum and of course carbon fiber, not to mention bamboo. We’ve heard about bikes made of wood and now Izhar Gafni is working on a bike made of recycled cardboard.
Bamboo is one of the fastest growing plants on earth and while it is typically associated with hot tropical regions this grass actually can be found in diverse climates including mountain regions. Still it probably isn’t typically found on the ski slopes but Soul Poles is looking to change that.