The foldable scooter becomes anti-DWI tool.

Via: The Albuquerque Tribune By Erik Siemers

"The Barley Room Bar & Grill offers a service in which General Manager Phil Lovato will ride around on a motorcycle that might look at home in a three-ring circus.

As funny as that might sound, it isn't meant to be amusing.

"Our main goal is to make sure people stay safe," Lovato said one day last week as he folded a circus-clown-size motorcycle into a package the size of a large suitcase.

The Northeast Heights restaurant sees the tiny motorcycle as an innovative way to help its patrons get home with their own vehicles and, most important, without driving drunk.

Here's how it works: The motorcycle, once folded, is placed in the trunk of a bar patron's vehicle. A member of the restaurant staff drives customer and car home. Once there, the Barley Room worker unfolds the motorcycle and drives it back to the restaurant.

The customer ends up home safe without driving drunk and the vehicle parked in the driveway rather than at the bar.

The Barley Room, 5200 Eubank Blvd. N.E., charges $20 for the service, which has been available for about a month. That covers maintenance costs for the restaurant's single motorcycle, although owner Scott Bollinger said staff wouldn't turn away customers who can't afford the fee.

"A lot of people just don't want to leave their car (at the bar). That's the main thing we offer," Bollinger said.

"You can get home safe for a relatively small cost compared with the cost of a DWI, and your car is in the garage."

The Barley Brigade, as Bollinger calls it, was born out of the restaurant's quest to find a more efficient way to help patrons get home safely.

Bollinger said the Barley Room always offered rides home to customers in need. But that often meant using two staff members — one to drive the customer home, the other following behind.

"Resources-wise, we were losing two people who could be in the bar observing other customers, making sure people weren't overserved," Bollinger said.

Bollinger's wife and co-owner of the restaurant, Jamie, searched for solutions online and came across a similar program in Los Angeles called Home James. Other large cities offer similar programs, all using a tiny Italian foldable motorcycle made by DiBlasi Industriale that costs about $2,500.

Jim Valentine, chairman of Folding Motorbike Inc. in Atlanta, which imports the motorcycles from Italy, said about 30 companies have sprouted across the country that use the bikes for anti-DWI services.

One of them, Zingo Transportation Inc., is owned by Valentine, who has expanded the business by offering franchises in Florida.

Rachel O'Connor, New Mexico's DWI czar, lauded companies like the Barley Room for seeking solutions to the state's drunken-driving problem.

"I think it's great that bars and restaurants are looking at creative ways to partner with us in reducing DWI," O'Connor said, "as long as people understand that you still can't overserve."

Bollinger said the $20 charge isn't for driving the patron home but for the cost of riding the motorcycle back — a nuance he said helps the Barley Room avoid being subject to a chauffeur license or other regulatory issues facing taxi drivers.

The Barley Room checks first to see that the patron's vehicle is covered by an auto insurance policy, Bollinger said. The restaurant's staff are covered by an auto insurance policy while driving the motorcycle, he said.

The Barley Room's drivers are required to have a motorcycle license. They're also given a test to check their competency on the bike and are required to wear a helmet, gloves and protective eyewear while driving back, Bollinger said.

The rides are generally limited to about a five-mile radius. Barley Room drivers are instructed to return using less-traveled side roads, he said.

Bollinger said restaurant staff will suggest the service to customers who appear as though they might appreciate it.

But this week the staff has begun putting postcards on restroom display boxes, and the bike is parked outside the restaurant next to a large sign advertising the service. The company also is working with an Albuquerque liquor distributor to create small displays to place on tables, Bollinger said.

"The main idea is to get them to see it as they're walking in," Bollinger said.

Bollinger sees the Barley Brigade as a business model he hopes to expand citywide under a company he formed, Rough Riders LLC. He envisions the service being successful in places such as Nob Hill.

"Obviously, we'd like to get the idea and run with it. I think it's good for everyone," said Bollinger. "We're not trying to capitalize on it. We're just trying to get a more working model for us going and then try to expand it."

For now, though, he's testing the waters at the Barley Room with a single motorcycle. One recent Saturday, Lovato said the service was used five times between midnight and 2 a.m. Sunday.

"The cool thing is, it's usually not just one person (using the service)," said Lovato, who has been one of the Barley Room's main drivers. "It's a few people in a car."

The motorcycle in cinema-Godspeed You! Black Emperor.

Via Snowblood

"Youth culture? What's that then? Nowadays, you might consider youth "culture" to be represented by the surly, be-hoodied creature sitting next to you on the bus, swearing at some unknown caller on his mobile phone while simultaneously swigging from a bottle of alcopop and smoking a joint. Kids these days, huh?

Fine, except the problem is by no means a new phenomenon. Ever since teenagers found themselves a voice (and found they could piss off their elders by aping the behaviour those same elders indulged in in their youth) society has been bemoaning the fact that, well, kids these days are just so out of control.

Which brings us nicely to Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Mitsuo Yanagimachi's debut feature and, of all things to feature on this site, a documentary. Although filmed over 1975-6, a time when in Europe disaffected youth was starting to gain its true voice of revolt in punk, GY!BE feels almost timeless - it could have been filmed twenty years earlier or later. It charts the life of young men in their late teens or early twenties, all members of the Black Emperor motorcycle gang, a grouping which desperately wants to shock by showing its swastika logo but which at the same time, with its hierarchical structure, its fund-raising drives, its determination not to be seen as a bunch of gangsters or junkies, desperately wants to find its own semi-conformist niche.


The group is in crisis - its numbers are dwindling, the regulars showing up to its regular club meetings are shrinking alarmingly, yet the grandees have such a sense of tradition (derived from all 8 years of the club's existence) that they feel they just cannot allow the Emperors to die gracefully. Sure, the sense of adventure, of rebellion, are still there, but it's well reined in. Confrontations with the police are usually ineffably polite; drug use is pretty much frowned on; they don't even speed all that much. Maybe it's indicative of Japanese society at the time that the Black Emperors are far more restrained in their behaviour than the British mods and rockers were in the fifties and sixties. That said, most of the activities of the Emperors seem to be riding motorcycles about in large groups and goofing off in the way that teenage boys always seem to do, talking up their achievements, miming to pop records, pretending to be anti-establishment.

In the first few minutes of the film, we see the Emperors' clubhouse, their Hanaya, as a swathe of members introduce themselves to the rest of the group and the camera. Already you can smell the machismo, the pervasive stench of excessive testosterone, as each talks himself up. They say they're jobless, homeless – yet it's Yanagimachi that proves otherwise by depicting these some of these kids' family lives. And it's hugely noticeable that the only women to feature in the movie are the Black Emperors' mothers. No girlfriends.


As things move on, it becomes clear there's no central driving narrative to GY!BE. The closest Yanagimachi comes to one is his long conversations with Decko, one of the Black Emperor grandees, who's about to appear in court for being with a group that smashed up a taxi. His parents are clearly at their wits' end with their pocket rebel of a son, to the point that Decko's dad, sick of being made to write countless apology letters to the police, has had him arrested for hanging around with some no-good hoodlums. Nevertheless, despite the bravado Decko really, really doesn't want to go to jail and virtually begs his mum to accompany him to court. This is the side of Decko that, you can't help but feel, would really quite like to conform, even if only to get himself out of trouble. However, when we see him emerge from the court hearing, devastated at the prospect of losing his licence for 125 days, he's resolutely parent-free and runs straight into the metaphorical arms of another Emperor. Still, you can't help but wonder how much he is in thrall to his parents.

Once this central narrative concerning Decko semi-resolves itself, Godspeed You! Black Emperor does start to wander. There's only so much riding about on motorcycles in the middle of the night that you're able to watch without some degree of overkill setting in, and while Yanagimachi knows it's a powerful image, it's just about the only powerful image he has at his disposal. You can't help getting the feeling that he wanted to show much more, but was stymied. If the Emperors are such a tough gang, why don't we get to see a ruck, rather than the odd minor run-in with the police? And, if these Bousouzoku motorcycle gangs are truly a gateway into the Yakuza, why is that barely hinted at? Granted, ostensibly they do fashion themselves as a "touring club", rather than full-out gangsters, but you can't help wonder if that's just a front for the film makers: we see a little defiance in front of the police, we hear about how liars are punished by having their eyebrows shaved off, how punishment beatings are common. Only once do we actually see this alleged brutality, when one member has embezzled funds he raised on a fund-raising drive, and even this just amounts to random slaps in front of everyone in the Hanaya.


In the end, though, really this is a movie about young guys riding motorcycles, no more, no less. The latent cool factor is high, but palls after a while: Wild Zero, or even Easy Rider, this is not. Grainy, technically flawed and woefully low-budget, it's irritating in places, and could do with losing ten minutes or so to tighten up the pace a little. Certainly towards the end, the documentary starts to wander and you wonder if the last few scenes are just padding designed to bump the movie up to the required running time of ninety minutes. Nevertheless, as a reminder of classic teenage rebellion, of the sheer joy that can be gained from riding a motorbike round with two hundred other people next to you, of a now semi-extinct phenomenon, of just being young, Godspeed You! Black Emperor cannot be recommended highly enough."

Jay Broemmel's Dragon Bike.

Via Gizmodo:

"The "Dragon Bike" is the latest creation from famed bike artist Jay Broemmel—and it would undoubtedly turn some heads if you were to ride it down the street. Broemmel even added some special touches in the form of Blue LED headlight eyes that move when you turn the handlebar and a jaw that bites down when you squeeze the left brake."

The rider within.

A Lego minfig on his bike as seen through the eyes of an x-ray machine-Via Legoblog

Cafe Racer of the week: Batgirl.

Via 1966 batfan.com

The prop department at Foxmotorcycle from Yamaha for the creation of Batgirl's bike. Studios did all the customizing on it. When looking at the fiberglass work done on the faring and rear section, doubtful that Fox did the moulding, painting, work themselves. We are unsure of who made the custom parts but understand it they completed the assembly on the Fox Studios Lot.

It was told to me that possibly Gene Winfield, did the body work. It had an electric starter but was a bit too big for Yvonne to handle according to Batgirl herself. There was only one made as opposed to all the other bat vehicles, it was never shown outside the studio on tour."

The unmolested Yamaha YDS-5E-before Batgirl.

According to Yvonne on the Batgirl cycle, " I guess they decided that since I was an inveterate motorcycle rider I would want something that had a lot of zip . But they gave me one that actually had more zip than you need, because you can always undercrank when you shoot and they always undercranked when we were supposed to fly out of scenes. I didn't need anything that big and it weighed too much. If I got it more than just a few degrees off center, I'd have to drop it and pick it up because I just couldn't wrestle it back. But they did do a good thing. They gave me an automatic starter. My own personal bike had a kick starter and I told them that often I'd try to kick it and it'd kick me, and did they really want to see all this on film? so they said that I'd have an automatic starter and I just just punched a little button and it was wonderful.

All good things must come to an end, the series ended and the motorcycle was to be sent back to Yamaha. A cause of concern was that the bike was slightly different ( unrecognizable) than when the studio received it. Not a problem, Yamaha said they would accept it in a modified condition. When returned to Yamaha, still the Batgirl cycle, Yamaha was informed of the many legal requirements to show the motorcycle if it was done for profit.

The show's producers wanted it to be shown as they got a piece of the pie, as did Licensing Corporation of America and National Periodical Publications. From the looks of things it appears that it was a ton of red tape to show the bike publicly without having to pay an arm and a leg and Yamaha just didn't want to fool with it. In 1969 Yamaha came out with a completely redesigned line of cycles making the YM series of their bikes history. What did Yamaha do with it ? The old story goes or did one of the VP's of Yamaha give it to their daughter as a present so she could pretend to be Batgirl.

We may find out someday but for now its still a mystery of the final resting place of the famous purple frilly motorcycle"

A childs first Ducati.

Via Yahoo Shopping

"Exactly the same as a real Ducati motorcycle. The new Ducati Monster of Peg Perego will make the joy of little children, and of mothers and fathers, too. 2 speeds = 2 1/2 & 4 1/2 mph. 1 driving wheels. High performance: Smooth surfaces, up moderately sloped hills, and on bumpy paths made of grass, gravel or dirt. 2 speed forward plus reverse. Removable training wheels. Key activated electronic ignition and engine sound effects. Push-button horn and headlight. Realistic twister grip accelerator with separate brake pedal. Adult activated high speed lockout. Working kickstand. Includes rechargeable 12-volt (8Ah) battery and charger. Ducati Corse Licensed Product. Made in Italy. 2 AA batteries required for lights and sound."

Bruce Gray's EZ rider chair.

"The "EZ Rider Chair" is a unique functional art chair sculpture constructed from various motorcycle parts by Bruce Gray. This one is in a private collection. Variations on this theme are only limited by how much you wish to spend, such as including a custom gas tank or even a complete engine of your choice."

Brucegray.com

deviant Art: MeltingIce.

MeltingIce's CG model made for his school an animation in Cinema 4D challenge project

American Sidecar-The film.

(you tube link)

Welcome to the crazy, high-speed world of Sidecar Racing. American Sidecar- the edgy, indy-style, short documentary looks at the unusual characters behind the world's fastest two-person sport on asphalt.

Given Designs Ducati Tractor Concept.

First established in 1998, Given is a design agency based in Italy. Specialising in creating and communicating clear, compelling brand and designs across all medias. This concept was developed (and with a great deal of humor behind it) for the "Design your Dream Ducati" contest. It is-as they-say only the beginning, and we can hardly wait to see the future farmers carving serpentine furrows with this amazing vision.

Slide show.

Some slippery fun Via leblogmoto.com

Michael Chen's safety sleeves.

Via newlaunches.com

"Cyclists by far have way less safety devices for themselves. Automobiles on the other hand have countless safety devices to keep motorists safe. What’s with the partiality I wonder. Making stuff to keep cyclists safe just makes sense as for one they are a lot more vulnerable if an accident does take place and also with this whole world going on this “keep the world green” trip, cycling is becoming the environmental friendly thing to do. Anyhow, the point of this article being that the shortfall of the safety devices for cyclists inspired Michael Chen, a student of the London School of Design to invent a jacket he calls the Reactiv (no the absence of an e there is not a typo). Basically what this jacket does is uses an accelerometer to track movement and also has LEDs on the sleeves that change colours depending on the cyclists actions. For example green is for acceleration, red for braking and flashing amber for turns.

The design has won a James Dyson Award from the James Dyson foundation for inspiring design innovation. The Reactiv jacket is only a concept at present, but Chen hopes to make a reality in production."

Eric Staller's Roly-Poly.

Via Eric Staller.com

"ROLY-POLY is a 2m (6') diameter ball covered with 600 electro-luminescent strips that can be computerized into an almost infinite array of patterns. Underneath the ball was a 3-wheel battery-powered golf cart. At night, the lights give the illusion of a ball rolling down the street with no apparent driver or means of propulsion. The ball gives off a beautiful blue glow."

Fool throttle.

(you tube link)

Created by Reelworks animators and directors Todd Hemker and Morgan Williams in an era of rampant road rage, Fool Throttle is a cautionary tale about how aggressive behavior on the road leads to a no-win situation.

Gallery: Boso Bikes.

Via Grand JDM

"A bosozoku ( literally "violent running tribe") bike seems to follow quite a rigid formula. It has to be an older bike, preferably from the late 70s, and usually about 400cc. Then you have to have a really dramatic queen seat with a really high backrest like a 70s sissy bar, with medium-height ape-hanger bars"

The steamped.

Via Makezine

" My SteamPed started life as a Motobecane Moped which I obtained in a non running condition but with all the parts intact. I eventually want to build a steam car and decided this would be a good way to get my feet "dry" with steam land vehicles... With 650 F steam, the SteamPed will cruise at 20 MPH. In the interest of longevity, I run it at 500 F and get 15 MPH."

Game On: The Galbadian Motorcycle Soldiers.

(You Tube link)

The Galbadian Motorcycle Soldiers - from The Final Fantasy VIII game series.

"Galbadian soldiers tend to be the physically weakest of the organized military forces in the world, because they rely almost exclusively on guns and machines. In general, a Galbadian is a poorer soldier than any other recognized national force, at least individually. However, the Galbadian army is extremely large, and very well organized. Galbadian motorcycle solders pull off group maneuvers well, and their officers are well schooled in tactics that help them overwhelm better equipped and trained forces. Ten Thousand Galbadian soldiers is a serious problem. Multi-tens of thousands of them is a nightmare."

When is a motorcycle not a motorcycle-or even a car?-Mazda Motonari MX

Via streamr

"The 2057 Mazda MotoNari RX is not so much a car you drive as a mobile suit you wear. Once the driver dons the MotoNari RX, he and the car become virtually indistinguishable. A suit worn by the driver is one interface through which the MotoNari RX can be controlled, while acceleration and turning are handled by two "armrest mounted control points". Handling appears to be influenced also by the driver's own body, which can lean into turns like a street luge racer. Mazda claims four omni-wheels can turn the MotoNari RX in any direction.

The Future According to Mazda: Cars in the future will be designed by Michael Bay and will look like limbs that have been blow off of a Transformer. The Mazda MotoNari RX, for instance, was inspired by Megatron's foot."

this looks like a job for...

Batman (and robin) on his Penny Farthing-from The Daily Batman

The art of Terence Ross.

Via Terence Ross-Speed Still:

"Blame Jacques Henri Lartigue. It’s all his fault.

I can’t exactly remember the first time I viewed his famous photograph of the French Grand Prix in 1912, (you know the one, oval shaped rear wheels, the blurred background ripped back at a 45-degree angle.) No, I can’t say exactly when I first saw that image but it certainly left its mark.

Ross's inspiration: Lartigue's 'Grand Prix de Circuit de la Seine'

I’m not sure what it is about all the photos taken on those big old plate cameras of cars moving at the turn of the last Century but they all seem to capture the frightening yet exciting sense of speed so well. More accident than planned? I like to think that the Lartigue photograph was a combination of a great eye and a sharp brain.

That single image is always the first one I think of when people ask about my obsession in searching for speed in my work. As for the first time I tried to capture fast movement in one of my sculptures? I admit it not to be an accident. I’ve spent a fair old time (like every other artists) searching for a unique style. So have I achieved it?"

(Thanks to Toybot studios for the tip!)

Via mediaincanada.com via Honkytonk Dragon

"To create buzz for the Vespa S model- a replica of a classic '60s Vespa, with square mirrors and headlights - the Toronto-based Canadian Scooter Company has commissioned eye-catching cutouts. The life-like Vespa-heads are decked out in retro-cool attire like Converse and other in-again brands to play on the notion that it's hip to be square.

The images will be affixed, like wallpaper, at eye level on buildings around Toronto, Montreal, Calgary and Vancouver. There are four different Vespa-heads in total; they'll appear either as singles or more intimidating "gangs."

"They're unbranded to create curiosity and intrigue," says Glen Hunt, creative catalyst at Toronto-based Dentsu Canada, who adds that the images were done by Toronto-based guerrilla artist Faux Reel. "The idea is to bring something attractive to the locations - it's more like art, so people appreciate it." Hunt describes Faux Reel as "the Banksy of Canada," referring to the renowned British graffiti artist. Street teams will be handing out Vespa-head buttons, too, to further leverage the concept.

Vespa is also working with Toronto-based prodco Crush to do a 40-foot outdoor projection of an interactive Vespa-head that turns around to check out and double-blink at passersby."

The Triobike.

Via Metaefficient:

"Straight out of the heart of Copenhagen, comes the Triobike, an innovative cargo bike, that can transform itself into a regular bike and a stroller. It’s no surprise that this bike comes form Copenhagen — the city is filled with urban bikers. With the Triobike, you can transport your kids to school in the cargo bike, then, instead of riding the cargo bike around all day you just pull out a front wheel from under the cargo bay, put it on the front forks. You can then ride a regular bike or use the cargo section as a stroller."

arvo's perfect creation of Tetuso's often unseen bike from "Akira" via clockworkmachina

At last-a Vespa without the blue smoke.

Via Makezine:

"Portland scooter enthusiast Jake Stept has converted a Vespa into an EV and even built super-bright LED headlamps for it. He documents his efforts on the V is for Voltage boards."

External link: The Rezistor - World's quietest Vespa

The Cult of the Ton Up Boy-pt2.

(you tube link) -via the brilliant OttoNero
Music: "Beat Girl" by john Barry

Virgin Limobikes.

What is Virgin Limobike?

"It’s a passenger motorbike. Based in London, it provides the quickest and one of the most glamorous ways to get from A to B. Celebrities use it, business people use it, in fact people from all walks of life use it, whether it be to get to the airport quickly regardless of how bad the traffic is or to glide from one end of London to the other.

We use Yamaha FJR1300’s (with ABS) which have been fitted with a rear seat back to give passengers total confidence while on the move. They have been fitted with an Autocom intercom and phone so you can talk to the rider in transit and even make and receive phone calls. The bikes are serviced and maintained to the highest degree.

They are also fitted with a rear seat rack to carry luggage; normally we recommend that we can carry a small to medium sized suitcase.


Our riders are all IAM qualified (Institute of Advanced Motorcyclists) and more importantly have at least 10 years experience of riding through London’s traffic. They have been described as “having the savvy of a courier combined with the courtesy of a chauffeur”. All have a very good knowledge of London and its environs and will tailor their riding to each individual passenger’s experience or requirements during the trip.

Passengers are provided with everything they may need on the back of one of our bikes. We carry Arai SZ open faced helmets, Hein Gericke protective and weatherproof clothing (including gloves) and for those ladies who wish to wear a skirt, we provide a Tablier ( a waterproof blanket). Obviously there are many occasions when we take bike novices so do not worry if you fall into that category - we have an intercom so at any point in the journey you can talk to the rider."

VirginLimobike

NVIDIA Motorcycle Casemod.

Via Gizmodo:

"There are roadwarriors with their ultraportables and then there's master modder Dennis Ilyin, who took computing on the go literally with this ambitious motorcycle casemod. While the two-wheeled computing wonder lacks an engine, it more than makes up for it with massive LED-lit water tanks and what's sure to be ample processing power. The compu-bike was part of an NVIDIA-sponsored modding contest"

Japan gets Apartments for Motorcyclists Only.

Via Trendhunter:

"The Japanese love their motorcycles, and property is at an ultr-apremium, so a huge percentage of the population lives in apartments. The small-space restrictions considered, it only makes sense to have an apartment designed for motorcyclists only. The JaThe NE complex consists of eight apartment units, all of which have space for indoor storage, accessible from the street."

My postcard collection: "Mysterious Dave stands up the bullies"

Designed by John Stalin, for the Artist Rifles, London. Printed in 1983

Julien D`HOKER's scooter concept.

From design.site

The motorcycle in cinema-Megaforce.

(you tube link)

Wiki:

"Megaforce is the name of an action film made in 1982 directed by former stuntman Hal Needham. The film starred Barry Bostwick, Persis Khambatta, Michael Beck, Edward Mulhare, Evan C. Kim, and Henry Silva.

The film featured a "phantom Army of super elite fighting men whose weapons are the most powerful science can devise", including realistic 3-D holograms and combat vehicles such as a motorcycle called the "Delta MK 4 Megafighter" equipped with missile launchers. The movie included extremely unrealistic scenarios such as those motorcycles (and dune buggies) with missiles that destroyed main battle tanks. The dune buggies, "megadestroyers" or "megacruisers", also had lasers that could destroy a tank in a single shot. In the film finale, the main character's motorcycle activates small (~2 ft or 0.6 m) fold-out wings and flies.

It was also made into a computer game most notably for the Atari 2600. It is being re-released on the Xbox 360 via its Xbox Live Arcade download services sometime in 2007.

A sequel titled Deeds not Words was considered, but it was scrapped due to poor performance of the original film.

The never-released Hotwheel of the flying bike.