Maker Faire - What a blast!

The Maker Faire was awesome again.  It is incredible to see all the amazing things that people come up with.  There is so much to see.  It is a bit overwhelming.  Most of the time, we flit from booth to booth, like gnats with ADD.

Next year I think I need to accept the fact that I won't see the whole thing, and spend more time at the individual booths.  One of the coolest things about the Maker Faire is that the guy who came up with the idea is right there, talking about his (or her) creations.  They did a great job, I should thank them for that.

So to all you awesome makers out there, Thanks!

Now here are some pics:



And a Video:



One of the coolest things was running into old friends there.  It is pretty awesome to see a familiar face in a crowd of 50,000.  I hope to see you there again, next year.

Response to automobile-centric design

Corbusier's Villa Savoye is notable because it was designed exclusively for cars at a time when not everybody had one.

Things have changed since then.  Today nearly EVERYTHING is designed for cars. We don't even notice how much of an impact they have on how we live.  For instance, 1/4 of my home is devoted to the garage.  1/2 of the area of any retail establishment is required for parking.  A significant fraction of a city is devoted exclusively to cars.

As a design exercise, I'd like to consider how the built environment would change if we put an equal effort into design for bicycles.

Where to begin?  An internet search for bike storage.  Here are some of the best results I found:

 http://www.re-nest.com/re-nest/shelving-storage/a-green-search-the-best-indoor-bicycle-rack-026165

http://www.remodelista.com/posts/storage-inside-bicycle-storage-roundup

http://www.flickr.com/photos/fastboy/287650174/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/toomanybicycles/258520950/in/set-72157594433824691/

Honestly I'm a bit disappointed in these.  You can either hang your bike on the wall or hang it from the ceiling. 

I want something more.  I spend a significant amount of time and money on my bike.  I think it's a thing of beauty.  I'd like to store it in style.  Perhaps put it on display when I'm not riding it.  I think there's a lot of potential for innovation here.  What if the bike replaced the fireplace as the focal point of a living room?  A hook shaped wall hanger just doesn't cut it anymore.

Got any ideas for better designs?  Tell me about them.  I'll post my own ideas in future blogs.

I built my first bike!

In glorious 3D
Check it out!


Here's the link.
I've been wanting a decent road bike for a SketchUp project, and I couldn't find a match in the 3D Warehouse.

SF Bike Expo - Highlights

Honestly, the San Francisco Bike Expo http://sfbikeexpo.com/ was disappointing. It felt like a flea market rather than a convention. I would have liked to see new developments, serious custom bikes, and more of the stuff on the fringe. The Maker Faire is much better event for unique bike stuff.

There were a few displays that really caught my eye.

Wooden Bikes - a new take on an old material.

• Renovo http://www.renovobikes.com/ - engineered hardwood bicycles that you can park in your living room.
• Bamboo bikes - there were a couple companies showing off their bamboo bikes.
  

Bike Apparel - most biking clothes are garish and unflattering. They are fine tuned to serve a single purpose, racing, and while they do that well, they seem inappropriate for the other 99% of the time. It was nice to see some clothing with some style.

• Shelia Moon -http://store.sheilamoon.com/
  
• Outlier - http://outlier.cc/
  

Bilenky - http://www.bilenky.com/ - this was the reason we came to the expo in the first place. They do two really cool things:

1. They retrofit bikes with Bicycle Torque Couplers (BTCs) which allow any bike to be disassembled.
   
2. They build special custom tandem bikes where one rider is upright and the other is recumbent. This Viewpoint model can be adapted for special needs riders. We've ordered one and should get it around the middle of February. I'll post pictures when they are available.