Bikes

Wood has been used in bicycle construction since the early 19^th century when this mode of transportation was invented. As the decades went by, construction materials for bikes changed from wood to various metals and alloys. But wooden-frame bikes are now making a come back and becoming more and more popular. But unfortunately for most people, they are a bit out of our price-range with a single complete bicycle costing a few thousand dollars.

If you don’t care for the eco-friendliness and ride characteristics of a wooden-frame bike, Rob Pollock has just the thing for you. The New Zealander has pretty much spent his entire life in the automotive industry, panel painting and repairing cars. And over the years, he has also applied faux wood finishes to a number of cars. A few years back, his son Aaron suggested that he apply the same technique to bicycles which resulted in a new business venture, Rob’s Woodgrain Bike Frames. The average time frame to apply a “woodgrain finish” to a bike frame generally takes between seven to 10 days.

A customer will send Rob Pollock a frame and a fork. Rob will then

Today is a special day here at Unfinished Man’s worldwide headquarters, because on this day we’re writing about a Harley-Davidson motorcycle, which doesn’t happen too often.  Today is the exception and not the rule, so I’ll keep my opinion about their products to myself and don’t expect too many more HD related posts in the near future.

The famous American motorcycle company started way back in the early 1900’s when the world had no colors and everything was black and white.  Back in 1901, William Harley was designing small engines to put on pedal bicycles and later joined forces with his friend, Arthur Davidson, to produce

Alright, I’m all for that environmentally friendly mumbo jumbo talk but only to a certain extent. Sometimes these folks let their creative juices over flow and take things too far. How far you ask? Well, allow me to introduce you to the “Frii” Concept Bicycle that is made out of recycled plastic.

This is the creation of a design student, Dror Peleg, over at the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in Jerusalem. I give him an “A” for the idea and his spirit and dedication to be part of the solution to the overflowing landfills. But he gets a “D” if not “F” on the design of the Frii Concept Bicycle. Instead of using 3D printing technology, Peleg opted out for the injection molding which is widespread in Israel. Injection molding is widely used to make outdoor furniture (tables, chairs) to things such as storage units.

“…that’s not a knife,… that’s a knife…” (Crocodile Dundee reference) is what popped in my head when I saw a picture of the all-new Triumph Tiger Explorer XC 2013 motorcycle.  The “XC” is based on a regular Tiger Explorer but with added bits and pieces which make it look tough and worthy of the aforementioned Crocodile Dundee reference.

Normally I prefer to ride and write about sports bikes but that Triumph Tiger Explorer XC is such a cool looking off-road adventure bike, I just had to share it with our viewers.  I can see this bike featured in “around the world…” type adventure documentaries.