Tootfinder

I never thought I’d be a person who wore hi-vis clothing but biking home after 5pm has me contemplating it…
#bikeTooter

Having not written anything about my #tricycle project in months, I've now written two posts in two days. Here's the first:
#BikeTooter
Rethinking the tricycle drive train

Rethinking the tricycle drive train
I've been rereading my posts on design of a tricycle, and especially this one; and I've been looking again at this picture, of Seventy Seven's removable front subframe which carries its front wheel, steering, and transmission systems; and I've been thinking. This will be a short post documenting my thoughts.

It would have been some great weather for a day in the mountains. But I decided that I wanted a very relaxed day with reading on the couch.
After lunch I thought that I should really utilise this wonderful weather, even though It took me quite some mental effort to get out.
But it was worth riding a little loop in the neighbourhood.
#BikeTooter

My new favorite response to "I never see anyone using the bike lane" comments:
"That's because bikes don't get stuck in traffic."
#bikeTooter

I've seen people attach pool noodles to their bikes in order to ensure that car drivers pass them within a safe (and often legally-required) distance.. But I think I prefer this person's prybar attachment. 🫡
#BikeTooter

I just learned about rain ponchos for cycling and... what?
#biking #bikeTooter

Great bike ride today! We do a group ride the last Sunday of each month. Three different groups start from different places around the city and converge on a spot and we hang out for a bit then all ride back from whence we came...
#BikeTooter #ScrappyHour

Today has been mainly about stripping down my favourite mountain bike for repainting and renovation.
#BikeTooter

The view on the way to work along the Oak Leaf Trail is lovely at some spots...
(Though stopping for the photo I got attacked by bugs, which is not great.)
#biking #bikeTooter #mke

Crazy Rocketman: JET POWERED BIKE vs E-BIKE RACE !
#biketooter

Over the weekend I came close to joining these two sections of where I've ridden my bike! The square on the bottom is where the bike shop is where I got my new bike a month ago. Might be a project for next weekend.
#biking #bikeTooter

Burlington publishes a PDF of both sides of the foldable cycling route map (same one given away at community centres and street events) - it was last updated in 2022.
* #BikeTooter #OnPoli

my wife made up a bike joke.
Q: "why did [the professor] ride her bike with loose brakes?"
A: "it never stopped her before!"
(so i tightened up her brake cables) #BikeTooter

Whew! Mistakes were made, but I got the dashboard of the Beat Bike put together. I can now pedal to set the tempo while I live program the drum machine. (No video of programming yet because I had to hold the phone up high!)
#bikeTooter #diy

Nasty headwind home 💨
#cycling #biketooter

Also... why!?! Well, I like to make weird stuff.
I plan to take this to Maker Faire Milwaukee... and maybe ride it around the neighborhood!?
And I gotta say, pedaling while programming a drum machine is a trip. I used to do it just sitting at a desk but hey, exercise while making beats? It's a win-win!
#bikeTooter

That's why we can't have nice things
#biketooter

I just hear a guy talking about his vintage 1987 bike build… I guess I’m vintage too… not sure how I feel about this.
#BikeTooter #vintage #bike

I helped the local alpine club with some filming today in the mountains. Followed by some trail marking.
Came home and did a nice bike ride.
I'll try to cut the film stuff later.
#cycling #BikeTooter

We broke a pin in a chain link on a bike ride today. Never had that happen before. The chain was getting kinda old so it'll probably be replaced (not patched/shortened).
#BikeTooter

Technically I got this bike last month (August 31st) but I just hit 300 miles during a lunch time ride at work.
I'll add another 6 miles getting home just to make it legit 300 miles this month.
The best thing about this ebike is that I can ride and ride and ride and my 55 year old bum knee doesn't make me pay for it later.
#bikeTooter

The current "bike to work" carry is a milk crate zip tied to a rear rack. I gave it a nice paint job and did a little cutout right behind the seat. There's a piece of foam in the bottom to prevent rattling (I toss my lock back there) and the bungee holds my backpack in place securely.
#biking #bikeTooter

Wuhu! Nice #afterwork #cycling. But I admit that I underestimated how quickly it is getting dark already.
But it felt sooo good to get on the bike.
#BikeTooter

Drum & Bass on the Bike Barcelona
Very nice
#DrumAndBassOnABike #biketooter #Barcelona

You want infrastructure to last? Don't paint it on. Build it in. #BikeTooter

I haven't actually written a new blog post about the #Tricycle project, but I have greatly amended and extended the last one.
#BikeTooter

Whooo! I should hit 300 miles on the new bike within 30 days of owning it.
#ebike #biking #bikeTooter

Would you ride this?
#BikeTooter #bike #vintage

Structured training outside is stupid.
#biketooter

I wrote about my (continuing) adventure trying to make a working MIK adapter plate for my bike...
https://rasterweb.net/raster/2025/10/26/aventon-level-3-mik-adapter-plate/

Aventon Level 3 MIK Adapter Plate
DIY quick release for some (but not all) racks...

Um, sir, I think there's something wrong with the way you've laced your wheel spokes?
#BikeTooter

I've just bought test materials to evaluate the relative strengths of a flax/balsa sandwich composite versus a carbon/Nomex (aramid) sandwich composite.
Yes, I know the carbon/Nomex will be stronger, but would the flax/balsa be strong enough for my #Tricycle project?
#BikeTooter

#goodmorning! We just decided to do a morning loop as it will very likely be too hot after work.
Tomorrow is a bank holiday. So it's the end of the week already
#cycling #BikeTooter

Pan Yay! Got the Ortleib panniers and wow are they nice. Bonus that my backpack fits nicely in one of them.
#biking #bikeTooter

Part of the bike lane "slalom course" on Hampton Avenue on my ride to work...
The freeway entrance ahead is closed but honestly I don't know what good putting these in the bike lane does besides get in my way.
#biking #bikeTooter

Couple of pics from yesterday’s Purbeck ride. Really enjoyed the morning shower dodging. Must get the mountain bike out more often
#cycling #bike #biketooter

I had to switch to the milk crate on the back of the bike today to deliver a large package at work, so no "bike light box" today, but I also need to not do a long ride after work as sunset is at 5:56pm today.
Maybe I'll rig up a temporary bike light at work... we've got all the parts!
(I did fix the bike light box but it's at home.)
#bikeTooter

"Young boy cycling alone near traffic in Dundee identified"
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c986ylmjr21o
> Members of the public contacted police after seeing the child riding without a helmet near traffic

Heading to another ghost ride today, to pay respects to another fallen cyclist.
Today we honour David Alexander Wilson Niblett.
#biketooter #ghostride #ghostbike #memorial #oakville

I found out one of my neighbors has an Aventon Pace (either 500.3 or 500.2) and said he loves it. Good to know. He got it at Erik's Bikes, which is where I hope to get one at some point.
#biking #bikeTooter #ebike

I wrote up another post about trying to map all my bike rides... This time I explored gpx.studio
#bikeTooter

SPAIN, DID YOU THINK THAT WAS IT?!
Drum & Bass On The Bike heads to MADRID this SUNDAY 26TH OCTOBER starting at 14:00HRS from PLAZA CIBELES, Centro, 28014 Madrid.
#Madrid #DrumAndBassOnTheBike #biketooter

The first actual physical part for my #Tricycle project has arrived today. This is an axle — actually a Cannondale Lefty axle — and it's nominally the front axle, although it doesn't really matter which axle it ends up being because they will all be identical.
#BikeTooter

I made some progress modeling a NeoPixel bike light I've been working on...
#3DPrinting #bikeTooter

First day without rain.
Right after work we brought our car to some maintenance and drove back by bike. Well not the direct way, but a fun way 😊
It felt really good!
#cycling #BikeTooter #getoutside

I hit 1,000 miles today, which was my goal for 2025. Some of it was on a bike/trainer in my basement during winter, and this month was mostly on a (borrowed) ebike, and the rest was all on my old Trek 7200.
At some point I need to return the ebike and I'm hoping I can get my own before 2026 so I can make commuting to work by bike a normal thing.
#bikeTooter

Drum & Bass On The Bike heads to the BARCELONA this SUNDAY 19TH OCTOBER starting at 14:00HRS from ARC DE TRIOMF, Ciutat Vella, 08003 - Barcelona.
#barcelona #biketooter #cycling

If anyone's been following my progress on the #tricycle project, I'm currently drooling over the very adjustable recumbent ergonomic rig shown in this video. I'm wondering whether I can make myself something even nearly this adjustable!
#BikeTooter

Today's ride to work... I had to stop and adjust my DIY pannier bag and it's not great. (I forgot to attach the bungee that also locks in the hooks.) I may look at getting some Ortleibs since everyone seems to love those.
#biking #bikeTooter

This looks pretty cool...
"What Rides at Night: Queer, Feminist, Fantastical Bicycle Halloween Stories"
#bikeTooter

What Rides at Night: Queer, Feminist, Fantastical Bicycle Halloween Stories
When the veil thins, the bicycle revolution rises. Thirteen new, original, spooky stories for the thirteenth volume in the series!  Gather ‘round,...

One thing I wasn't ready for on the bike commute was the bugs. Riding next to the river in summer is wonderful, but now when I head home the bugs are out, and they are tiny little bastards that fly into my face and my arms and get stuck on me. I do not love it. Hoping this works.
#biking #bikeTooter

I went for a short ride today, and every now and then I would hear this weird “cling clang” sound, but I couldn’t figure out what the hell it was. I even stopped twice to investigate. It wasn’t constant though, just intermittent. Urgh!
Got home, took a photo, and then figured it out. Sigh…
#biking #bikeTooter

I would like to proudly announce that I fixed the noise coming from my right crank or pedal.
I took the crank set apart, applied some grease, and applied a lot of Loctite.
Let's see how long this lasts.
#biketooter #FahrradBubble

I cannot tell you how many squirrels have run out in front of me while biking this week, but the number is greater than 3 and it's only Wednesday.
Have you ever hit a squirrel or other animal on your bike?
#bikeTooter #biking

I made some progress on the Beat Bike!
The magnet mounted on the wheel passes a reed switch which is sensed by the control box (with a Raspberry Pi Pico) and then triggers the drum machine to step through the programmed sequence.
Still a lot of work to do, mostly mounting everything onto the bike, and some more code to write, but the proof of concept is all good.
#bikeTooter

Bike Stats for mid-October... It's starting to get a little dark out when I bike home from work... may need to up my lighting game a bit.
#bikeTooter

I left a little early this morning and took a more relaxed ride to work and still had time to get an extra mile.
I may try to get in a few extra miles on the way home as well.
#bikeTooter

Do you ride your bike outdoors in the winter?
#bikeTooter #cycling

Ohh, bikerouter.de is super cool!
#biking #bikeTooter

bikerouter.de
▶ Der wahrscheinlich beste Fahrrad-Routenplaner der Welt! Kostenlos und datenschutzfreundlich. Gravel, Rennrad, MTB, City, Long Distance, Trekking uvm.

Well, a little success, a little failure.
The box with a NeoPixel matrix on the back and a USB battery inside (and a microcontroller) works great!
But I did not bungee it to the bike rack so it flew off, hit the road, the lid broke off, and the MIK adapter also broke.
I bungee corded it into place and it's good now... but the box is busted so I'll have to come up with another solution.

Today's "how not to lock up your bike" photo... (And yes, the seat got stolen, though the bike did not!)
#bikeTooter

When is your (outdoor) cycling / biking season?
#cycling #bikeTooter

My bike to work route...
#bikeTooter

Bike Commute to Work
How did I get here?

I’m not saying I’m the first person to ride the entire length of the new protected bike lane on Lisbon but there’s a good chance I am… (I had to carry my bike across a dozen gaps because it’s not all connected yet!)
#biking #bikeTooter

If you lock up your bike indoors (garage or home) what do you lock it up to?
I think a friend of mine locks his up to four other bikes but let's pretend that's not an option for everyone. 😅
What large, heavy, or structural thing do you lock your bike to in your garage or home?
#BikeNitePQ

Me: Hey, we could ride those bikes!
Partner: They’re locked up.
Me: Are they, though?
(That was last night. There were two bikes there. Note that we are on an island, there’s only so far a thief would get. There are tons of unlocked bikes around. I’m sure the owner just went for a ride. Still a funny photo though!)
#bikeTooter

I did a two mile bike ride this morning on this old sküle fixed gear(?) cruiser which was all I felt like doing. Pedal was wonky, not a smooth ride. Nice to get out though… the place we are staying has a bunch of bikes for use.
#bikeTooter

I got this bike 12 days ago and just hit 100 miles. If I can keep commuting to work that's about 13 miles each day of riding a bike instead of driving a car.
#biking #bikeTooter #ebike

I biked over to the giant hole in the road (caused by the flooding last month) during lunch yesterday. Still a hole.
#bikeTooter #hole

In today's episode of "How Not To Lock Up Your Bike"...
#bikeTooter

I did not make any good progress on my project to read GPX data with Python today. (Trying to read speed.) May need to just read it as XML.
There are a bunch of nerds who do Python and bikes though, so someone might have the code example I need.
#biking #bikeTooter

Since it was raining I spent some time in the garage doing a handlebar upgrade. Went with a bars that are slightly more swept back than the stock Aventon Level 3 bars. I just wanted a little more upright riding position. Pretty easy swap, took about an hour, may have lost one little tiny screw.
#bikeTooter #aventon

I wrote up a post about swapping the handlebars on my Aventon Level 3 ebike...
#bikeTooter

Aventon Level 3 Handlebar Upgrade
Getting a better grip on things...

I am using Strava now, but only because it's a way to get my data from Apple Health to flow to other places. Right now Wandrer and Squadrats pull data from Strava, and Strava gets the original data from Apple Health. The world is complex and silly sometimes.
#bikeTooter #biking

Sooo, I rode the ebike this morning, did my longest ride, in minutes and miles. Burned tons of calories, so yeah… ebike means more exercise, not less.
#biking #bikeTooter #ebike

It's crude, but I separated all my bike ride GPX files from the huge pile of files and loaded them all into gpx.studio to show where I've rode my bike in the last 20-ish months.
#biking #bikeTooter #geo

I just submitted my first request to the city to clean up a bike lane. I chose "Miscellaneous Street Maintenance" because I could not find anything that was a better fit.
#bikeTooter #mke #milwaukee

I guess I should have got a cargo bike. (Kidding!) I had to bring a few packages to work today so my DIY pannier got a test... seemed to work fine.
#biking #bikeTooter #ebike

Sigh, well I was feeling good about getting an ebike but I stopped by a local shop and the model I was looking at is pretty much sold out everywhere. They do have newer models ($more expensive$) and some other modes so I may need to do up that whole spreadsheet of features to compare things.
#bikeTooter #biking

I watched a video where someone talked about a huge snowstorm and how people started calling the city to clear the bike path and the city was like "Um, we don't clear the bike path" and I guess a bunch of cyclists were doing in on their own because the city wasn't doing it.
And then after all the requests from people, the city started doing it. 😜
#bikeTooter

Probably not news to urban cyclists but parking lots are a game changer! Places I thought I could not bike to are accessible where parking lots are all connected, or right next to each other with a bit of grass between them.
#bikeTooter #biking

I did a 21 mile bike ride today. Along the way I saw a turkey, found a good pair of scissors, discovered Hidden Lake, and stopped to see Mama Rosa at Firefly Grove Park in Wauwatosa.
#bikeTooter #biking #mke

I did a 21 mile bike ride today. Along the way I saw a turkey, found a good pair of scissors, discovered Hidden Lake, and stopped to see Mama Rosa at Firefly Grove Park in Wauwatosa.
#bikeTooter #biking #mke

Gosh, can you tell when I switched to an ebike and started riding to work?
#biking #bikeTooter #ebike

Someone said there’s a huge difference between going 20mph and 28mph on a bike. I completely agree.
#biking #bikeTooter #ebike

Secure bike parking at work… the ride in today was the fastest yet, despite the terrible winds! I attribute the short time to good luck in crossing busy roads and not having to wait multiple minutes to cross.
#biking #bikeTooter

Damn, this ebike things is actually pretty cool. I did my normal ride in the cemetery without using the motor and my stats are pretty damn close to my acoustic rides.
I’m probably going to have a lot to say about it this week.
#biking #bikeTooter

The other fun part of my ride today was when a guy had to wait an extra 10 seconds for me to go through an intersection before he could make a left turn.
He yelled "Get on the sidewalk!" and while I was tempted to yell "I'm in the bike lane!" I just sort of laughed it off.
#biking

Blah. Rain today so I did not bike to work. Not quite ready for that... I have to take the car tomorrow as well due to a doctor appointment. Hopefully I can bike on Friday!
#biking #bikeTooter

The three things that make bicycle route planning most difficult where I live is freeways, railroad tracks, and rivers.
#biking #bikeTooter

I love finding weird stuff while out cycling… this pry bar isn’t as good as the bag of cash I found once but it’s a close second!
#bikeTooter

Went to the bike shop last night (the family owned shop where I know the guy) and he showed me a flyer I made like 35 years ago and said it's been on the wall there for decades!
#bikeTooter

I really gotta get around to installing Fittrackee one of these days...
https://docs.fittrackee.org
@…

After 15 minutes of messing around with maps I've gone from "It's impossible to get there by bike!" to "Hmm, if I avoid the super-busy roads, cut through these parking lots, take a two mile detour... I think I can get there!"
#biking #bikeTooter

First (real) ride on the new bike. So chuffed! Also, found a dollar on the way home so yeah, biking really pays off!
#biking #bikeTooter #mke

Today’s ride for Scrappy Hour was 7 miles out and then 7 miles back! The hills killed me. 😢
#scrappyHour #biking #bikeTooter

Another win for the Ortlieb panniers. This 8"x8"x8" box is one of the things I thought might be difficult to bring to work via bike but one box just fits.
It's rare I need to transport two boxes this size but worse case I've still got the rack and could zip tie the crate onto it again.
(The other pannier holds my backpack.)
#bikeTooter

My current bike stats... on my way to 1,000 miles this year. (And hopefully many more!)
(code is here: #bikeTooter

Bikes with tiny wheels always look so weird to me. (I mean weird as a 6 foot tall adult. I rode 20" BMX bikes when I was a kid.)
Do these 20" bikes feel like riding a "normal" bike? Is it weird? Is it just me?
#biking #bikeTooter

I made some progress on mapping all the GPX files of my bikes rides for 2025... though it looks like I am still getting some walking data mixed in, so I'll need to fix that.
The cemetery paths are interesting! There are two paths I guess I never rode down in 2025. Weird.
#biking #bikeTooter