Evolving Consumer: Happiness through shopping - electronics & fitness

Get Pumped Up

BlueAnt is looking to pump it up with its new wireless multi-sport headphones that promise to deliver unrivaled HD audio in what is billed as an “Aussie design.” The PUMP HD Sportbuds are IP67 waterproof certified and can be immersed in up to 3 feet of water for up to 30 minutes. The Bluetooth earbuds further features a military-grade, rugged design to protect the premium audio components – which include 12.5 mm diameter drivers, Mylar composite diaphragms, Neodymium magnets and overhung voice coils – from rain, dust, debris, sweat and can be rinsed off post-workout without fear of damage.

These were developed in Australia over a three year period in coloration with extreme athletes and performance fitness enthusiasts. The result is the PUMP, which promises deep, thumping sound that is designed to let the beat set the pace.

BlueAnt PUMP Official Website

Big Sticks

Winter should be on its way out, but for skiers this just means it is time for spring skiing and if you’re going to go – go big or go home. The Big Stix 122, which feature a wood core combined with ABS sidewalls to provide balanced flex, are designed to provide big fun in what has been an epic winter.

Fischer Sports Big Stix 122 Official Website

Sail or Fly?

The Flying Phantom is a sailboat that apparently lives up to its name. Launched earlier this year at the Paris Boat Show, this $40,000 catamaran will likely be used in a number of sailboat races in 2014. The Flying Phantom can get up on its foils in wind as low as seven knots sailing downwind, and upwind if the speed is above 10 knots. According to the makers its maximum speed has hit 33 knots, but it could easily reach 45-50 knots in the right conditions. Video after the jump

Better Caliber of Hobo

This economy certainly has left some to do more with less. Case Knives even introduced a liner of so-called “Hobo” knives including the Camo Caliber Hobo. While it isn’t designed for an upscale hobo, it does offer a blade, fork and spoon in a single package. So perhaps it is for the upscale hobo – one who also desires a bit of camouflage.

Case Official Website

Six More Cities Get Green Lanes

PeopleForBikes – formerly Bikes Belong – has selected six more cities for its Green Lane Project. The bicycle advocacy group will conduct a two-year program to build protected lanes in six new U.S. cities including Boston, Denver, Indianapolis, Pittsburgh and Seattle. This follows the original Green Lakes Project that brought lanes to Austin, Chicago, Memphis, Portland, San Francisco and Washington, D.C.

Green lanes are on-street lanes separated from traffic by curbs, planters, parked cars or posts intended to help organize the street and make riding a bike an appealing option for more people.The six cities, which were chosen from more than 100 U.S. cities that submitted letters of interest for the program, will receive financial, strategic and technical assistance to create the lanes.

Green Lane Project Official Website

AA Thinks Bikes

The British AA – equal to America’s AAA – has launched a Think Bike campaign that will provide drivers with stickers that could placed on sideview mirrors to remind them to watch for bikes.

BikeRadar reported that the campaign was launched after an AA survey of more than 17,500 drivers found that 93 percent sometimes found it hard to see cyclists and more than half admit to being surprised when a ‘cyclists appears from nowhere.’ Perhaps this program could eventually come to America.

[Via BikeRadar: AA launches Think Bikes sticker campaign]

Weekend Reading List (03.22.2014): BikeRadar on YouTube, Total Madness, Famous Falls

BikeRadar on YouTube

httpv://youtu.be/EKPrSw5xF7k

BikeRadar launches new-look YouTube channel
Eagle-eyed viewers will have noticed that our YouTube channel has been overhauled and that content is cleaner, slicker and sharper than ever. Not seen it? Head to the channel right now to check it out. Continue reading Weekend Reading List (03.22.2014): BikeRadar on YouTube, Total Madness, Famous Falls

Marin Museum To Feature Historic Bike Collection

There is no denying that Marin is a big part of the history of the bicycle, and the Marin Museum of Bicycling will display a selection of bikes from the Igler Collection with pieces dating back to the 1860s. The Igler Collection will form one of two permanent displays at the museum, while the other will be the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame.

Among the collection is an 1868 “boneshaker” velocipede from the first bicycle builder, Ernest Michaux of Paris. The collection also includes an 1880s Coventry Rotary tricycle, the design that held human-powered speed records until improved high-wheel bicycles, such as the collection’s 1886 Rudge, were able to break the records. The collection also features a 1898 Pierce shaft-drive bike, which was that company’s top model until it launched its Pierce Arrow automobile. The Marin Museum of Bicycling, which will double as a cultural center for Marin cyclists, expects to open its doors to the public later this year. Museum construction is underway in downtown Fairfax at 1966 Sir Francis Drake Boulevard.

The Marin Museum of Bicycling Official Website

The Shark is Ready to Ride

We’ve seen a lot of interesting bike saddle designs, and lately it has been about changing the profile of the seat. This has included making seats with slots and even holes. The Shark saddle from Essax goes the opposite direction and adds a fin that riders will sit on.

The fin (as seen above) will apparently find a place. The company says this fin will help evenly spread a cyclist’s weight onto the sit bone. We’re not sure we want to be the ones to test it out – and we think we’ll wait to see what people have to say!

Essax Shark Official Website

The Buddy Gives Back

Next week Buddy Bikes will provide 10 bikes to special needs children as part of the The Michaela Noam Kaplan Great Bike Giveaway. This online contest is organized by The Friendship Circle, a non-profit organization. The third annual contest is currently in progress and has already surpassed the previous contests in donations, prizes and applicants. In 2013, 29 adaptive bicycles were awarded to the contest winners; so far in the 2014 contest, 76 adaptive bicycles are included in the prizes, surpassing the organizations goal to give away 75 bikes.

Entrants submit a photo of their child and a short description of their need for an adaptive bicycle and obtain 50 nominations before the contest ends on March 25, 2014 at 11:59 am (Eastern Standard Time).

The Michaela Noam Kaplan Great Bike Giveaway Official Website

Infinity Plus One

We are in a minimalist world and it is evident by the Infinity Pedal from MöBIUS CYCLING. We’ve seen other clip-in cycling pedals that are just an axle but most require a bit of training and practice to get used to – however, the Infinity Pedal is much like any other step down clip-in pedal. It just happens to be round.

For this reason it appears that you don’t need to align the pedal to clip-in. Just step in or step on and clip. For those looking to cut down on weight the Infinity is about as light as they come. The titanium version of the Infinity Pedal, which is being developed via a Kickstarter project, weights just 190 grams.

This design features just one moving part and is designed to be easily maintained and rebuilt. That could allow it to be a pedal that could last until infinity and beyond. Video after the jump

Rack It Up

Buck Wear has introduced a new shirt to support breast cancer research. The tongue-in-cheek pink shirt is part of the new pink “Save the Racks” series of shirts and hoodies. According to Buck Wear, any huntress can show her support in style, and the shirt is available in both Light Pink and Hilconia, while the design features a trophy buck so cleverly and carefully illustrated strictly of the iconic pink ribbon logo recognized around the globe as the symbol for the fight against breast cancer. The words ʻHunt for a Cureʼ tie both passions together for a perfectly matched message of hope.

Buck Wear Official Website

WTB Launches New Saddles

At the Taipei International Cycling Show earlier this month WTB launched a new mountain bike saddle, the High Tail, which the company said is designed to give increased rear tire clearance on full suspension 650b bikes. It features a distinctive cut out at the rear to allow the extra tire clearance, making it ideal for downhill and other large wheel off-road bikes.

WTB Official Website