Summary
[Attoparsec] occasionally rides a bicycle for transportation, but with the major downside of doing this in North America, a place where bicycle infrastructure is generally neglected. From snow removal, maintenance, separation from cars, or even existing in the first place, the places bicyclists use are generally last to be cared for. One of these deficiencies is landscaping maintenance, with plant growth routinely extending into travel ways. Rather than continue to get hit in the face by tree branches, [Attoparsec] took matters into his own hands, or in this case, head. Since he’s riding down the bike path anyway, the original thought was to add a trimmer to the front of the bicycle. This has a notable downside of being dangerous to others, so instead he added a string trimmer to his helmet. The electric trimmer was scavenged from an old handheld landscaping tool, with a 3D printed mount designed in CAD to cleanly mount to his bicycle helmet. It’s wired to a control on the handlebar, so when a branch is coming up it can be activated by hand and then pruned without much thought other than properly aiming one’s head. By most measures this eccentric contraption seems to work quite well. There’s not enough torque to affect the rider’s head in any negative way, the strings are long enough to reach far enough to trim the leaves and branches before they can impact the rider’s face, and it’s safe for other users of the bike path. [Attoparsec] calls this “guerrilla urban landscaping”, a bit different from other forms of guerrilla gardening we have seen before. Bikers may have a “right” to be on the road, but all in all they are a massive nuisance. From holding up traffic, because they are going well under the speed limit, to their flagrant disregard for stop signs/stop lights. I can’t drive on a bike path, so maybe they shouldn’t ride on the road. Here in Europe I blatantly disregard most “laws” when riding a bicycle. Try to stop me ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) Riding on a sidewalk (among pedestrians) – sure. Even if I’m doing mere 15 km/h it’s usually faster than car traffic which is stuck on a series of red lights. So much for green wave automated traffic flow management system blah blah blah. Riding across pedestrian crossings – sure. In theory there’s a fine for doing that. In practice there’s no crime if you don’t get caught. Ignoring red lights (on pedestrian crossings only) – sure. Unless there’s a heavy traffic, I don’t see a point in wasting 2-5 minutes every time I need to cross the road. Look left, look right, if there’s no one coming, you can go. Not using helmet – sure. I’ve been riding bicycles for the last 30 years. The only notable cycling injury I suffered was hitting a sharp corner with underside of my knee when I was 10 years old. Use common sense, avoid car traffic and you don’t need to be a mushroom-headed regard. Toppling over electric scooters – sure. It’s always fun to block the sidewalk for everyone else 😛 You can get angry, call me stupid, lawless or evil, I don’t care. Cities in Europe are dense, often centuries old and were not designed for cars so being agile on a bicycle is a natural choice. I will only drive my car if the distance is above 5-10 km. “Not using a helmet …” No brain I’d wager An amusingly madcap idea, pun intended. No doubt the sort of thing I’d have done when I was younger, if motor and battery technology had allowed for it back then. I doubt our local law enforcement would look too kindly on it here though. I’m thinking add a tilt switch to turn it off in the event of a crash and a switch inside or just use the buckle as a switch so it’s off when you remove it. Maybe a distance sensor so it automatically spins up to trim anything that comes within a foot, perhaps a filter that makes sure it only chops green things. Just waiting for Collin Furze to make a petrol version, maybe an RC nitro engine. In my state cyclists only need to slow and yield at red lights and stop signs. It makes it very easy to get across town without ever putting your foot down once if you plan the route correctly. Visit the netherland, and you will see how bycicles can be nicely integrated into traffic and how it transforms transportation then. (But, yes, we still have an occasional ass on a bike who thinks they own the road, but most are well behaved) Went there on vacation with my wife last year. We parked our car in a lot at the edge of town (Middleburg) then rented bikes (there’s a rental place right at the lot.) We rode bikes all over for the week we were there. Obviously tourists. We’d be riding along, trying to keep up with traffic, and a bell would ring behind us: little old lady in dress and hat, wearing high heeled shoes, puffing a cigarette, on an old three speed bike, zipping along faster than we were, ringing the bell so we’d get out of her way. We took a longer tour around the area one day. Out through the country side, and around behind the dike. I hear this whining sound coming up from behind, and some laughing little kids. Dad on an electric cargo bike, with the kiddies in the cargo box, standing up and having a good time. Dad passes us, and the kids are hollering “sneller, sneller!” Right behind them is Mom on a three speed bike, just pedaling along and keeping up. On the same tour, we stopped to let what looked like a school class on an outing go by us. We’re standing there, waiting as about 40 kids with some teachers pedal by. Behind them there’s this little old grandpa. Not part of the outing, but just out for a ride and got stuck behind the kids. Dude’s in a suit and tie, wearing dress shoes and a straw boater hat, puffing on a big ole cigar, just taking a relaxing ride through the country side. The streets and bicycle paths make it much easier to get around on a bike there than where I live in Germany. The riders also follow the rules there better than they do here. Trust me: the bikers don’t want to drive on the roads, but they just don’t have any other option sometimes. A bike lane does not take up much room and makes it more pleasant for both drivers and bikers. As a dutch guy, biking in a foreign city makes me fear for my life most of the time. Sometimes they do ride on the road when there’s a better option available. There are several places around where I live in Germany where there are bicycle paths connecting small towns. If you take the highway, you are going to be climbing some big, steep hills on your bicycle and holding up traffic. If you use the bicycle path, there’s a nice, level ride. No cars, no hillls, and not any longer. Guess which route the bike riders take. Outside of that, there are paved farm roads running beside many highways. Almost no traffic, goes the same place as the highway, perfectly legal for the bikes to use. Bike riders are up on the highway, blocking traffic. I’m all for bicycles. The Netherlands has a wonderful bike path system. Some of the riders (at least where I am) need a swift kick in the seat of the pants. I need one of those for these countless situations when a car driving person is interfering in my right oft way or an elderly person is blocking the street wis his big car at 10km/h in a 30km/h zone.