Al's Blog-o-Sphere

So, my LED flagpole turned out so well, I’ve decided to see if others would like one as well. I’ll try a limited run and see if it’s practical to produce for sale to my fellow ‘bent riders.

GREAT NEWS! I have completed a batch of Pixel Poles and am ready to sell them. They will be available in  my Tindie store in a matter of days. What is Tindie? It’s a place for makers to sell their crafts. Everything you’ll find there is tech stuff and the site handles the transactions and keeps things safe. Kind of like Etsy for Geeks. Click the badge below to go to my store.

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This project has grown. See this page for more details.

I’ve been spending a huge amount of time working on the weather station and I needed to take a break. The Weather station is coming along nicely, but I’m waiting for a few more parts. I decided to work on another project.

A while back, I picked up a strip of RGBW leds in the Neopixel format. We used them to develop some code and ended up putting some Neopixel bars on the Warlocks 2017 robot as signalling devices. So I had a meter of 30 LED/m Neopixels on hand. I had an idea that I wanted to put them on my recumbent trike, but hadn’t decided how to go about it yet.

I’m not a big fan of flags on trikes, or any bicycles. I don’t buy the conventional wisdom that “You’re so low to the ground. Nobody can see you.” That’s a cop out and blames the cyclist for the motorists shortcomings. If you can’t see a low bicycle, how can you see the lines on the road, and why did you slam on the brakes and put your car in the ditch when a cat ran across the road? So, I’ve decided flags are ineffective and not worth the bother 90% of the time. Increasing your visibility by positioning in the road and with bright warning lights are more productive.

But I did have a couple of fiberglass bicycle flag poles kicking around.

So, if flags are meh, but lights are good, why not fill a flagpole with lights? Challenge accepted. Continue Reading…

Well, it’s spring and the temperatures are finally inching upwards and a young man’s thoughts turn to … cycling!

Actually, my thoughts have been lingering on cycling quite a bit, thanks to the internet and postings from friends who live in warmer climates. I am just a little bit jealous of those who ride all winter. Actually, we have had a relatively mild winter and I kicked myself for having put away my bikes so early several times. But I’ve brought one of my bikes, the Tour Easy 2-wheeled recumbent out to the garage and am getting it ready to ride while I plot my plan of attack for the Expedition trike next.

Last year sometime, I spotted a neat product on Kickstarter. It was called the RapidoPro pump head for bicycle tire pumps. The name later changed to TaggioPro. It promised a better way of attaching a tire pump to your bike tires. Like building a better mousetrap, many have tried and many have failed. Continue Reading…

I recently went on a group ride called “Slow Roll” in Buffalo. It’s a weekly ride that begins at a different point each week and goes through varying parts of the city. The Buffalo ride goes on Monday evenings.

I heard about the rides earlier this summer, but it didn’t hold a lot of appeal to me. I was surprised to read later that one of the rides had attracted over 1300 riders. Hard to keep something that big quiet.

This is what their website says they are about:

Founded in Detroit, Slow Roll is a group bicycle ride that meets every Monday night and has expanded into a Global network of community rides. Each week we meet at different venues and take a unique route throughout the city, including all the major and minor neighborhoods that we are so proud of. Slow Roll is for everyone; all ages, all skill levels and every type of bike is welcome. Bicycle through Buffalo with 500 of your new best friends! Our slow pace keeps the group safe and gives riders a unique perspective of our great city and its neighborhoods. Minors under 18 must be accompanied by a parent/guardian.

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