Bike Valet For Your Living Room

Let’s face it, if you love your bike you probably could look at it all day. Some bikes not only look like fine art but come darn close to costing as much! And yet, many times bikes are leaned against the wall, or hung upside down from hooks that could just as easily be used for a ladder in the garage.

If that’s outrageous, and you know you want to show off your bike, consider the Bike Valet, and over-and-under cantilevered mount that uses gravity to keep the rear end of the bicycle’s top tube resting on the upper surface, which in turn has the front end swing up and press against ht underside of the other arm. The bike is firmly held in place, and while it will work with unique tubing of carbon fiber frames, it does require the traditional diamond design – thus an old-school “girl’s bike” won’t hang so neatly. Video after the jump

Underfuse Adds a Pocket to Workout Attire

In an effort to provide fit and performance, many workout clothiers forget one thing, we have devices we take along on our run. Kickstarter project Underfuse is a pocket you can attach to your workout gear with an iron.

Underfuse is a performance iron-on pocket sized to fit a typical iPhone or other smartphone, plus an ID or keys, so you can bring it along on your workout. The pocket attaches to any garment on three sides, making it stable and secure for your device. The maker suggests you attach it to tight-fitting clothing such as a form-fitting top or compression shorts that hug your body. If you iron this pocket on to a pair of loose gym shorts, your phone or other pocket contents will jiggle around when you move.

As this is a Kickstarter project, Underfuse is looking for people to pledge money. For an $8 pledge, you get one Underfuse, for $20 you get 3 Underfuse pockets. Other pledge packages apply.

Underfuse on Kickstarter

Kammok Gets Kickstarted

One of the new Kickstarter programs we’ve seen recently that got our attention was the light-weight camping hammock called Kammok. Designed to comfortably sleep one person, this hammock is made of incredibly strong yet very breathable diamond rip-stop nylon fabric called LunarWave. It is super soft, water resistant and only weighs around one pound, making it easy to bring along. Sleeping while hanging from the trees certainly could beat trying to sleep on the hard, cold ground. Video after the jump

Rugged Crate for Your Camera

There are plenty of rugged point and shoot digital cameras on the market, and these can survive in very harsh environments, but what if you need to bring along your digital SLR camera? These tend to need a little more protection. Fortunately a new Kickstarter project is working on the Cam Crate, a hardened case that will protect just about any full sized DSLR along with its lens.

The case is made out of a hard, molded plastic, while the inside features soft foam to ensure that the camera can survive those bumps in the roads and even a toss or two. The container features a water seal and latch, and reportedly floats. The Cam Crate is still in the development stage but it could be ideal for adventure travelers and those who want to bring their SLR into the wilds. Video after the jump

Building a Better Bike Light

What’s the one thing that comes standard on a bike? Reflectors. Yet many of us remove reflectors to shave weight, reduce drag and remove encumbrance. You can add a light to your bike. But we’re waiting for a better solution that effectively lights the road, alerts traffic to our presence and has a decent battery life.

Revolights might be our solution. This Kickstarter project is a set of front and rear lights installed on the bike’s rims. When turned on, the LED lights glow white in the front and red in the back. The lights are coordinated to your speed, so while they flash, the lights are in sync with the ride and serve their purpose of making you visible, and lighting the road ahead.

Revolight Official Website
[via CNET: Revolights inventor lights the way for safer cycling]

Electric Commuter Bike Could be Game Changer Says Designer Gabriel Wartofsky

What is holding back bicycle commuting in the United States? Washington-born designer Gabriel Wartofsky has suggested that it is the lack of options available. To this end he has been working on an electric assist bike that could help users get to the nearest transit hub or final destination sweat-free, grease-free, and without a hassle.

Video after the jump

An “Open” Solution to Measuring Your Heart Rate?

The idea of measuring a person’s heart rate using an optical pulse sensor is certainly not a new concept. Shine a light source through a fingertip or an ear lobe and the light either bounces back to the light sensor or it is absorbed by the blood. The number of times that the light is bounced back is the sensor is the number of time that your heart is beating or your pulse rate. It is pretty simple, so why are we still using heart rate monitors with straps that wrap around our torsos? Why can’t the average athlete clip on an optical sensor to an ear lobe, have their heart rate taken using an optical sensor and have that information transmitted (maybe via BlueTooth) to a recording devise with a digital display? That may all change with a new open-source optical heart-rate pulse sensor from two Physical Computing professors at the Parsons the New School for Design.

Yury Gitman and Joel Murphy have recently achieved, and far exceeded, their fund raising goal of $3000 using KickStarter.com to mass produce their new optical heart-rate pulse sensor, the Pulse Sensor. The new Pulse Sensor, along with the processing software, plugs right into another open-source item – the Arduino  platform. Their new sensor is currently being marketed to students, artists, athletes, developers or anyone else looking to develop a device to record a heart rate.

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