It’s that time of year again; pumpkins and apple pies and costumes abound. In light of the oncoming Halloween holiday, and for the sake of honoring it in an environmentally-conscious and bike-related way, we thought it’d be nothing short of perfect to show you what one amazing designer can do with a ton of old bike tubes.
The photo at the top of this post caught our attention on Klean Kanteen’s Facebook page, and took us to Ecotuerre, where we quickly learned more about what we were looking at. The costume above is a modern rendition of a Joan of Arc Suit of Armor, fashioned with a papier-maché bodice covered by woven inner bike tubes.
We’re betting this isn’t something just anyone could make as a costume at home, but it got us thinking: What kinds of things could you make with old bike tubes? Let us know in the comments section below!
Imagine a bike that costs $20; is made entirely out of cardboard; is waterproof and fireproof; and that is as strong as any bike you’d want to ride. Now, watch the above video and see it.
According to a Reuters article, 50-ear-old Izhar Gafni is the man behind this brand-new bike, which is now in line to begin undergoing mass production in just a few months. Of course, it took Gafni a year and a half of testing, trial and error to create the prototype we see today. From the article:
“‘When we started, a year and a half or two years ago, people laughed at us, but now we are getting at least a dozen e-mails every day asking where they can buy such a bicycle, so this really makes me hopeful that we will succeed,” he said.”
What do you think of the cardboard bike? Would you buy one and, more significantly, ride it? Let us know what you think!
Castle Valley Overlook on Upper Porcupine Singletrack
It has been a very busy but extremely productive event season for the Osprey Packs bike crew. We spent much of the summer traveling thousands of miles in our Sprinter van to attend bike events throughout the country and provide attendees with the opportunity to browse and demo Osprey cycling packs. This past weekend our event season came to a close with one of our favorite events. Outerbike takes place in Moab, Utah, just over 100 miles from Osprey world headquarters in Cortez, Colorado.
Outerbike is one of our favorites for many reasons; the spectacular location in Moab, the awesome team at Western Spirit that organizes the event, the amazing participants from around the world, and the opportunity to get some end of the season rides in before snow starts flying. This year marked the third annual happening of Outerbike and it was the best yet. Temperatures were in the 70s with sunny skies and light breezes each day, which provided absolutely perfect riding conditions. There were plenty of demo bikes to keep participants busy on the trails and out of lines awaiting a ride. Osprey had a very successful event, sending out a record amount of demo packs and raising funds for the Moab Trail Mix. Moab Trail Mix has been responsible for most of the new trails that have sprouted up over the past couple of years and reviving Moab as the mountain bike mecca. Extensive new trail systems such as the Bar-M network, the Klondike Trails network, Magnificent 7 and Pipe Dream are well worth a trip to Moab if you haven’t been recently.
The 2013 line up of packs in the Osprey cycling line were very well received by all. This is great news for us as the participants of Outerbike are dedicated cycling enthusiasts and their feedback means a lot to us. With the largest concentration of customer interactions coming first thing in the day and repeating at the end of the day, we were fortunate enough to get a few spins around the local trails ourselves. Here are a few pictures from a fabulous weekend:
Castle Valley Overlook on Upper Porcupine Singletrack
The pump track provided fun for all
Bike CS guy, Justin Novak on Burro Pass
Bike Sales Manager, Patrick Piller enjoying some of the new trails
Unwinding at the Niner-Shimano-Poison Spider party
To enter, follow the instructions on the flyer pictured above. That is: 1. Print the flyer out. 2. Spend at the very least 5 minutes cleaning up your environment (street, gutter, riverbank, beach). 3. Have someone take a picture of you holding your sign and your garbage up for all to see. 4. Like 5 Gyres on Facebook and share the contest link (encouraging friends and family to do so as well!) 5. Email your photo to betheseachange@5gyres.org with the subject ’5 for 5 Gyres’.
Do the above and you could not only win some awesome prizes, but help 5 Gyres and the cause to clean up our environment immensely. The contest runs from October 3rd through November 6th.
Interbike is one of the world’s largest bike industry gatherings; a two-day affair that consists of not only panel discussions, seminars and clinics, but also a humongous showcasing of the best bike gear, apparel and accessories out there. It’s only natural, then, that Osprey attends every year to present our awesome bike packs to the bike industry world.
This year, we showed off our Spring 2013 collection, including the second generation of the Raptor 10 pack with the new Osprey reservoir. Watch the above video for a demo from Jeff Fox on the newest Osprey bike packs we have to offer!
