Down in the Bicycle Forest, something stirred

It can’t be the last day of November; did someone break into my house and steal some days from my calendar?

It used to be there were not enough hours in the day, now this has escalated to not enough days month, or worse not enough months in the year.

Meanwhile there are others in this world who seem to have too much time on their hands; like the people over at The Bicycle Forest. Otherwise, how would they come up with such brilliant concepts like the Treadmill Bike? (Left.)

Now they have this really cool (Or is kewel.) Bike Cad program so you can design your own bike.

And it’s free. Personally, I do not need free stuff to steal more of my time; what I need is more free time, period.

Therefore, I pass it on and let you play with it, as you obviously have more time than I do, otherwise you wouldn’t be reading this blog when you should be working. (If you are not at work, there must be something useful you could be doing.)

Moreover, my design program in my head still works, and mine works at any time so I can multi-task while riding my bike, driving, listening to my wife, etc.

One of the things you can do with Bike Cad is explore “toe overlap.” Judging by the number of times the subject gets Googled, and people arrive here, some are convinced that it is: (a) a design flaw, (b) something bike manufacturers do to save money, or (c) something bike manufacturers do just so people can fall down, then sue their ass.

Some also think this is something new; however, it has been around since the 1970s. Ever since, we stopped building bikes with those horrendous 2 ½ or 3 inches of fork rake. The cure is to go back to those long curved forks, and bikes that handle like a fucking wheelbarrow.

Now, thanks to Bike Cad, no one has to take my word for it. They can find out for themselves that toe overlap is unavoidable on smaller size frames. If you happen to find a cure for this non-problem, don’t send it to me, send it to Richard Sachs as I’m sure he would appreciate it.

Seriously, Bike Cad does seem to be something useful that will bring hours of fun. As for me, I have too much fun already, and not enough hours.

Comments

[Tim]

Dave

Bike CAD is much more than something to play with. The free version gives everyone a taste of what it can do. The purchased version though is a fantastic tool for designing frames and is very good value. The support from Bicycle Forest upgrading the program is also excellent.

I have been using it now for about two years and of course now can't imagine doing without it.

Bicycletim

[mander]

"bikes that handle like a fucking wheelbarrow"

Ho ho! I like the attitude Dave. Nice post as usual.