bikes

Introducing the self-inflating bicycle tire

PumpTire has developed the world's first self-inflating bike tire, which actually takes in air and inflates to ideal pressure as you ride. This won't keep you from ever getting a flat or anything, but it could spare you a lot of tedious adjusting and checking of tire pressure.

Musical GPS lets you steer your bike without looking at a screen

It's hard enough to look at your GPS and at the road while you're driving, but on a bike that split second of inattention could easily lead to injury. So Dutch researchers, who know from biking, have developed a music-based navigation system called "Oh Music, Where Art Thou?" It's a smartphone app that lets you navigate by following a strain of music through the streets. If the sound seems to come from the right, you go right; if it comes from the left, you go left. (Hopefully there's a needle-scratch feature for missing your turn.)

Ice-cream-selling bike vendors run wild in Portland

Visit a park in Portland, and you could find a nice vendor biking around, hauling a cooler of ice cream. But this isn't any ice cream. It's illegal ice cream, and the people who are selling it are thumbing their nose at the law that is the Portland Parks Bureau. 

You’re supposed to pay $120 each month for a permit to sell ice cream in the parks, and these lawless vendors just aren't buying them. It annoys the people who sell legal ice cream, and the parks people. But are they going to crack down? 

Just shut up and love this bicycle mustache

"Oh, there's no way I'm that much of a hipster," you say. "Sure, I like to bike to my community garden to pick up some herbs to go with the eggs from my rooftop chicken coop while listening to Dave Roberts' latest music recommendation, but ironic facial hair for a bike — it's just a […]

Leave a love note for a sexy bike

Ever see a bike on the street that had your heart going pitter-patter? Sarah Raz, of the Adventure Cycling Association, knows where you’re coming from: "I can't even tell you how many times I've seen a beauty of a bike, hand built or all vintage, parked near the post office or my grocery store, and I've just had to leave a love note," she writes.

But there's a quick fix for this uncontrollable urge!

Helmet laws get in the way of bike-sharing programs

Bike-sharing systems are popping up in cities all over the world, but they've yet to take hold in places where bike helmets are mandatory. Is it time to change the rules?

Bike-shares save lives

A new study has found that Barcelona's bike-share program, Bicing, prevents 12 deaths per year. That may not sound like much in a city of 1.6 million, but it sure seems like a big deal if you're one of the 12.

Critical List: Shell spills oil in the Arctic; the Northwest Passage opens

A Shell oil platform in the Arctic is leaking oil. The company won't say how much but will say that the spill is under control.

The Interior Department is looking into treatment of Arctic scientist Charles Monnett, who is under investigation for his work on polar bears.

Why real world fuel efficiency is so much lower than fuel efficiency standards.

Critical List: Bachmann goes after Pawlenty on cap-and-trade; a bubble shield for wind turbines

At last night's Republican debate, Michelle Bachmann tried to stake Tim Pawlenty on his support for cap-and-trade.

The EPA wised up and banned DuPont from selling Imprelis, the herbicide that was killing trees.

San Francisco could require businesses to let bikers bring their ride inside.