Free Republic

The man who invented the foldaway Brompton bicycle has been honoured by the Duke of Edinburgh at Buckingham Palace for his lifelong obsession. Andrew Ritchie invented the diminutive bike in 1979 and has been tweaking the design ever since. After collecting the Prince Philip Designers Prize, Mr Ritchie said he was not finished yet and was still thinking about how to make the bike lighter. The portable bike folds down to barely bigger than its 16 inch (35cm) wheels. In a brief speech Mr Ritchie thanked some of his early financial backers, who had each invested £100 in the scheme....

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – The beer bike will ride on in Amsterdam. The outsized bikes, seating groups of people around a central bar, are something of a fixture in the city's center. .. ... They will, however, need permits from the various city boroughs, and those permits are likely to come with restrictions on hours of operation and requirements for a sober driver. While non-drinkers already typically steer the bikes, their size has also been an issue .. One of the better-known operators, PartyFiets.nl, offers two-hour tours on bikes that seat up to 22 people and carry 30 litres (7.9 gallons)...

On another spectacular day here, the first family hopped on bikes for a beach-side ride in Aquinnah, a town on the southwestern tip of Martha's Vineyard, and a tour of the island's famous lighthouse. Dressed in a dark shirt, Obama rode ahead of the group, which included Michelle (in an orange tank top), Malia (in a pink capped-sleeve shirt) and Sasha (wearing a bright yellow T-shirt and turquoise shorts) as locals gathered along Lobsterville Road to snap pictures. Also in tow: Eric Whitaker and his family, Obama's brother-in-law Konrad Ng, and a phalanx of helmetless Secret Service agents -- also...

OGDEN -- Was it a friendly group bicycle ride through downtown Ogden or a confrontational melee that included obstructing traffic, assault, obscenities and alcohol? Depends on who you talk to. Numbers vary from 35 to 70, but a large group of cyclists, referred to as Critical Mass, was taking a monthly ride to celebrate cycling and assert their rights to the road on Friday when Ogden police say things got out of hand. Four individuals were arrested on charges of disorderly conduct, failure to disperse and public intoxication. Matt Hasenyager, owner of Skyline Cycle and one of the bicyclists, said...

SEATTLE -- An Everett mother says she's outraged over a weekend protest full of naked cyclists. The group was riding along the Seattle waterfront Friday night wearing nothing but smiles to expose some of the dangers they face. But not everyone was smiling. "I looked and there were naked men with their genitals hanging out," said Marcy Hayes, who was there with her 6-year-old daughter Ashland. "I'm yelling at my daughter to look away." Hayes says she and her daughter walked out of the Seattle Aquarium and right into the path of a pack of cyclists and all their nakedness....

The Thai military on Thursday destroyed a suspicious motorcycle left unattended near the venue of a high-level Asia security meeting after security personnel suspected that explosives were loaded in the vehicle. After destroying the motorbike with high-pressured water cannon, security officials found no explosives in the motorbike, Thai Army Lt. Gen. Khanit Saphithak said. Khanit said the motorbike was left unattended for an hour in the prohibited area near the compound of Laguna Holiday Club, where delegates from North Korea and Laos are staying, and 300 meters away from the main entrance of the Sheraton Grande Laguna, where foreign ministers...

Waffle Bike is a fully weaponized waffle making device complete with call to prayer public address system. It’s also the name of a short film—documenting the bike’s maiden voyage in search of chickens, naturally, to lay the eggs for the batter. In Waffle Bike, a perfectly clipped narrator chirps out Waffle Bike’s features, which include a Honda Harmony en2500 generator, a 9-inch Norweigan waffle maker, a small refrigerator up front, a tape deck (which plays through three 8-inch, 25-watt, all-weather trumpet horn speakers made in China), and two 12-gauge homemade shotguns. The film is charming and disturbing and funny—and the...

A man who rode his bicycle 180 miles to have sex with a Scranton teen he met on the Internet will serve one to four years in prison, a judge ruled Wednesday. William Wagner, 26, 414 Battery Drive, Havre de Grace, Md., met the 15-year-old girl through the social networking Web site MySpace. In June, he biked to Scranton to meet the teen. In February, Mr. Wagner pleaded guilty to unlawful contact with a minor. He slept at Pine Brook baseball field, Sanderson Avenue and Green Place, while he was in Scranton. He took the teen to the baseball field...

Thousands of bike riders are shedding their clothes in the hopes that they can get us all to stop and think about the negative effects that cars (and the pollution they create) have on people and the planet.

A federal prohibition on the sales of new and used mini dirt bikes has impacted every original equipment manufacturer (OEM), dealership and repair facility for 85cc, 70cc, 65cc and 50cc displacement mini bikes. This targets an entire industry of age 12-and-under motorized recreationalists that accounts for a conservative number of 50,000 young athletes nationwide. The Consumer Protection Safety Commission (CPSC) introduced a broad sweeping stay (prohibition) with the Feb. 10 release of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) of 2008, which impacts a large spectrum of the economy, not just mini bikes. The intent of the act is to...

A 6-year-old Arizona boy was grounded by his mother after he was hit by a police car while riding his bike, MyFOXPhoenix.com reported. Recently released surveillance video of the Nov. 2 accident shows Jason Justice and his sister Jessica riding their bikes through an apartment complex parking lot.

Bad timing, and perhaps some bad judgement as a man from Nixa who had just bought an old gun at a local garage sale rode home on his bicycle with his new purchase shortly after 8am. But someone saw him riding in front of the junior high school and became concerned. As a precaution, the district put the Junior High, Century Elementary, and Thomas Elementary on lockdown. But when the man's son in law called the KTTS Studios to tell us what was going on, we asked him to call police, and he did. The schools resumed normal operations a...

acclaimed designer and motorbike fanatic have joined forces to create the ultimate purring machine. Designed in the shape of a jaguar car logo with an exclusive 'CAT 1' numberplate, the one-off creation is already turning heads. Acclaimed designer Lee J. Rowland teamed up with motorbike fanatic Barend Hemmes, from Bermondsey, South London, to create the super-sleek, 6ft long bike The exclusive design is made from parts of a classic 1,200cc Buell 97 S3 Thunderbolt bought off ebay. It is more a cruiser than a racer, reaching speeds of 50mph. Mr Hemmes, 36, said he came up with the idea when...

John Edwards once said there were two Americas. He was right. Pretty sure I know which one I want to live in.

MISSOULA, Mont. -- Jim Litz is accustomed to pedaling past 300-pound black bears on his morning commute to work. “I’ve come close to them this time of year,” Litz said, clutching his side and grimacing. “I know bears. The entire creek bottom is just hammered by bears. That’s the beauty of living here. But typically, they’re crossing the road and I have plenty of time to avoid them.” That wasn’t the case during Litz’s Monday morning ride down Bear Run Creek Road, up above Miller Creek. The 57-year-old man passes slender serviceberry branchlets and dogwoods festooned with bear feed, and...

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- A bicyclist was killed early Thursday morning after being struck by a car on the Outer Loop near the I-65 interchange. Police said the driver of a Honda Accord appears to have been following a tractor-trailer headed westbound in the left lane. The driver apparently tried to go around the truck by switching to the right lane, which is where the bicyclist was traveling. The cyclist died at the scene. Detectives are trying to determine who's to blame. "Heavy traffic. If it's true that the person was following too close, that's another contributing factor that can cause...

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., rides past pedestrians on a bike ride in Chicago, Sunday, June 8, 2008.

Electric bikes are becoming an increasingly intriguing option for commuters who live relatively close to work or for avid outdoor enthusiasts. As battery and motor technology forges ahead, the speed and range of ebikes surges with it, as evidenced by the new Electric Motion Systems E+. Although DOT requirements force a road-going electric bike to twenty miles per hour, tops, the E+ is actually capable of thirty when traveling off the beaten path. With no pedaling at all, the E+ can manage twenty miles on a single charge of its 36 volt nickel metal hydride pack, which is mounted...

Injury accents bike-car tensions Wednesday, April 23, 2008 3:21 AM By Aaron Beck and Tim Doulin The Columbus Dispatch David Krohn knows all about the tensions between bicyclists and motorists sharing the road. A run-in with an angry group in a car Friday left him with a broken jaw and a gash in his head. "They think we're supposed to be on the sidewalk," he said. Proper pedaling * Bicyclists must follow the same traffic rules as those driving motorized vehicles, including stopping at stop signs and red lights and observing the speed limit. * Bicyclists must ride in the...

Whoever coined the phrase "it's just like riding a bike" probably never switched motorcycles. Even experienced riders can be wobbly on an unfamiliar bike, according to a recent study from the Progressive Group of Insurance Cos., a motorcycle insurer. Progressive reviewed nearly 2 million motorcycle insurance policies over a five-year period and found that riders who switched to different types of bikes were nearly 70% more likely to crash than riders who kept the same bike. The study also found that riders of cruiser bikes, such as Harley-Davidsons, who switched to high-performance sport bikes like Suzuki GSXRs were 3 1/2...

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The officer, whose name was not released, was on his way to assist another officer with a disturbance about 5:30 p.m. when his bike was clipped by a sport utility vehicle. ............... It was unclear whether the driver of the SUV would be cited.

Heard the one about the cyclist who rode his bike at 130mph? He must be on drugs - right? Wrong. Instead of EPO, nandrolone or a host of other illegal stimulants, Austrian rider Markus Stoeckl used a Chilean ski slope with a 45 degree drop to get up to speed. The 33-year-old broke the world record for downhill series mountain bikes by clocking a speed of 130.7mph (210.4km/h) on the La Parva run in Chile last Friday. Stoeckl, nicknamed 'Hercules', had to hold his breath for the 40-second trip to prevent the visor on his helmet from steaming up. 'At...

Rest day today.

A cyclist was transported to a hospital with minor injuries early Thursday morning after colliding with a deer in a secluded area of Walt Disney World property, according to officials. Jeffrey Norberry, 56, of Windermere, was taken to Celebration Hospital after the incident happened at about 2:50 a.m. on Floridian Way near Cast Drive, officials said. According to a Florida Highway Patrol report, Norberry was traveling eastbound on Floridian Way, and a deer was running westbound when they collided head-on. Norberry flipped over the bicycle's handlebars and the deer after the impact, the report said. The deer fled the area....

No racing today.

MALIBU, Calif. (AP) -A tip for all potential arbitration witnesses out there: Never take the mike after Greg LeMond. The three-time Tour de France winner stole the show at the Floyd Landis hearing Thursday during a short, explosive bit of testimony filled with talk of sexual abuse, blackmail and backstabbing that led to the on-the-spot firing of Landis' business manager. It was Landis who asked for this hearing to be public, though he couldn't have expected a scene like this to break out. And though it's hard to know what impact these blockbusters had on the arbitrators, it will be...

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - A gang stripped a South African man before supergluing him to an exercise bicycle while they ransacked his house, according to a report Thursday. SAPA news agency said the attackers, dressed in suits, hijacked a man in his 50s and forced him at gunpoint to take them to his home in Johannesburg. "The victim was then forced to strip, after which he was superglued to the seat of an exercise bicycle, his hands were superglued, as were his feet and then his mouth was superglued shut," SAPA quoted Mark Stokoe, a spokesman for emergency services Netcare 911,...