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Review: YouTube-Ready Video Camera Gets the Goods

Kodak takes another stab at video with the Zi6. It's YouTube-ready, handles still shots nicely and USB plug delivers instant upload and edit.

01.11.2008 05:00:00 - Wired: Top Stories

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Gallery: Homemade Motorized Bike Pays Tribute to Motorcycles of Yesteryear

: Photo: James Hough

James Hough is a lawyer by profession but a gearhead at heart. He’s always tinkering with engines and building things from scratch. About a year ago, he combined the two passions to create the Houghmade Cycle Works 71, a motorized bicycle that pays homage to the racing motorcycles of the early 20th century.

"I had been looking for a project and saw online that someone had put an engine on an old Schwinn," Hough says. "I was inspired by that and thought it would be a fun project, an outlet for my desire to build. I thought it would be fun to ride around the neighborhood and to run errands. The 100-plus mpg didn't hurt."

Click through the gallery to check out the tech behind this cruiser on steroids.

Left:

Hough drew inspiration from the board-track racers that sped around steeply banked wood tracks called motordromes — especially the 1911 Harley Davidson "Silent Grey Fellow" and the leaf-sprung Indian motorcycles of that era. The Houghmade bike's gas tank copies the tank found on the 1919 Excelsior OHC that some consider the most advanced motorcycle of its day.

: Photo: James Hough

Like most projects, the Houghmade Cycle Works 71 took longer and cost more than expected. "I started in August of 2007 and expected it to be done in a month," Hough says. "However, as time went on, my vision of what I wanted became clearer. I wanted something special."

Hough spent 13 months and "somewhere around $1,000, give or take," on the project. Future plans include better brakes — drum brakes from a moped or disc brakes from a mountain bike — and perhaps a chain guard. "I do not see it as a safety issue, because my cuffs are nowhere near the drive chain," Hough says. "I purposefully left the chain guard off both sides because board-track racers did not have chain guards."

: Photo: James Hough

Hough modified or made many of the parts on the bike. The handlebars were formed from old plumbing pipe, and the headlight is a railroad lantern. He's fitted it with a speedometer and electric lamp that uses a 3-volt flashlight bulb and two batteries. "I will probably install a more robust lighting system inside the current headlight housing, though I have no intention to ride at night," he says.

: Photo: James Hough

Hough sweats the details, going so far as to install a manual oil pump and fabricate an air-filter housing similar to those the board-track racers used. Houghmade Cycle Works is a play on words, and the model number he assigned the bike — 71 — refers to the year he was born.

: Photo: James Hough

Though the final product looks seamless, underneath it's a Frankenstein of disparate bike parts.

The project all started with a Huffy "Santa Fe" beach cruiser Hough found at a flea market for $25. The only things left from that old clunker are the frame, stem and seat post.

The Husky wheels sport white Kenda tires. Pedals from a Free Spirit that Hough road in junior high turn a crank set taken from a kid's bike of unknown origin. The springer fork is from an old Schwinn.

: Photo: James Hough

The seat is an "eBay special" Hough re-covered it with goatskin. The front and rear leaf springs are ornamental and don't actually provide any suspension damping, but the style is spot-on.

: Photo: James Hough

But how fast is it? Although the speedo maxes out at 50 mph, Hough says the Houghmade Cycle Works 71 won't go that fast. "It runs smooth," he says. "I cruise around at 25 to 30 mph. It tops out around 40, but that's really pushing it. At 25 to 30 mph, it really feels like highway speeds, and I love every minute of it."

: Photo: James Hough

The bike sports a half-gallon fuel tank bonded to a fiberglass shell that replicates the shape of the fuel tank on a 1919 Excelsior OHC. It's enough to go about 50 miles. Hough is toying with the idea of fabricating a tank out of sheet metal. "This project has done wonders for many of my DIY skills," he says, "Why not more sheet metal skills?"

: Photo: James Hough

The heart of the bike is a Honda GHX50 50cc engine mated to a Grubee Skyhawk II transmission. Hough spent a little more than $400 for the drivetrain, which is mounted to the Huffy frame with a Grubee engine mount. The bike is street-legal in Indiana and doesn't require a license plate or registration. "I have ridden it to work," he says, adding that it's a 32-mile round trip. "I stick to back roads and try to do my riding away from traffic. I try to ride two or three times a week for fun."

01.11.2008 05:00:00 - Wired: Top Stories

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Bicyclists Show Off Their Two-Wheeling Tattoos

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Some hard-core bicyclists sport enough ink to give the Hells Angels a run for their money in the tattoo department.

From stark, black-and-white symbols to colorful skin-art standbys like flaming skulls and comic-book characters, you never know what will show up on the arms and pedal-pumping legs of bike fanatics.

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Sean McKinney, of S&M Bikes, has the company logo tattooed on his wrist. He had the skulls added to the logo for effect.

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The number for "4130 Chromoly," a steel alloy containing chromium and molybdenum that is commonly used in bike frames, is tattooed on the right shin of Dave Harris, 34, of Binghamton, New York.

"It is my metal of choice," said Harris, who is a welder for FBM Bike.

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Matt "The Beard" Bischoff, owner of Cincinnati's Failure Bikes, has a tattoo inspired by bike rider Tim "Fuzzy" Hall on his inner bicep.

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A lost bet led to the tattoo on the thigh of Zack "Catfish" Yankush, of Dayton, Ohio. The artwork shows fellow BMX rider Alan Cook doing a back flip over his wife.

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Brian Osborne, 31, of Louisville, Kentucky, has sprockets tattooed on his right arm. "BMX," said Osborne. "What more can I say?"

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The Silver Surfer rides a Schwinn Black Phantom on the forearm of Jason Faircloth, 35, of Marin County, California.

"My buddy had a really cool Silver Surfer tattoo, but it seemed kinda poseur for me to get," said Faircloth, who works as a product manager for Marin Bikes. "I'm not a surfer. I'm a biker."

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Brad Cider, 30, of Thousand Oaks, California, has a tribute to his riding partner NJJ tattooed on his chest. Cider is a sales rep for Pronghorn Racing.

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World Bicycle Trials champion Vittorio Brumotti has a tattoo commemorating his favorite rider on his chest.

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A bicycle tire bursts out of a flaming, winged skull on the thigh of Denver resident East Foster, 39.

"I didn't have anything to do with it," said Foster. "I gave a friend free rein and this is what he came up with. I think it is perfect."

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Ryan Sher, 28, of Portland, Oregon, is brand manager for Subrosa Bicycles. He has the skull-and-snake emblem from the company's Malum bicycle tattooed on his forearm.

While he makes the designs for the bicycles, they don't all end up as tattoos on his body.

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Michael Sean Moore of Santa Cruz, California, and an employee of bike shop Calfee Design, has the word bicycle tattooed on his forearm.

"So simple," said Moore.

See also:

• Wired.com Readers' Best Geek Tattoos
• Geek Ink: Comics Fans Show Off Tattoos

01.11.2008 05:00:00 - Wired: Top Stories

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Video: Wingsuit Cliff-Jumpers Take Off

This is either the stupidest or the coolest thing someone could ever do. Or possibly a combination of both. Watch Wingsuit cliff-jumpers take off!

01.11.2008 00:35:00 - Wired: Top Stories

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New York Coder Charged With Helping TJ Maxx Hacker

The 25-year-old is charged with conspiracy after allegedly producing a packet sniffer customized to steal credit and debit card numbers.

01.11.2008 00:33:00 - Wired: Top Stories

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Bogus Robocall Tells Floridians They Can Vote By Phone

The residents of Broward County, Florida, have recently received misleading robocalls telling them that they can vote by phone on Election Day, according to a report in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel on Friday. This call is one of several dirty tricks being pulled off in the last days of the 2008 election.

31.10.2008 23:37:00 - Wired: Top Stories

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How to Descend a Mountain on a Bike

There's nothing like whipping down the side of a mountain on two wheels, and it's an especially pleasant reward after the hard-fought climb to the top. But it's a feat as dangerous as it is fun. Here are our tips for keeping the rubber side down — and keeping out of the ER. Got extra advice? Edit our How-To Wiki and share your knowledge.

31.10.2008 22:45:00 - Wired: Top Stories

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Miyamoto Struggles to Sell Inscrutable 'Wii Music'

Nintendo's new music game isn't the wildfire hit everybody expected. That's because it's nothing like Rock Band and Guitar Hero — and that's not necessarily a bad thing.

31.10.2008 22:44:00 - Wired: Top Stories

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Twitterers Stage Mock Martian Invasion a la 'War of the Worlds'

A blitz of tiny messages document an extraterrestrial rampage in real time. Orson Welles would be so proud of the microblogging tricksters.

31.10.2008 22:05:00 - Wired: Top Stories

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VCs Put the Brakes on Early-Stage Startups

Venture capitalists claim the money is still flowing in Silicon Valley, but entrepreneurs say it just ain't so. The only companies that are getting money right now are big, established businesses or startups founded by repeat entrepreneurs. In Silicon Valley, the so-called center of innovation, it now takes more than a good idea to raise a buck.

31.10.2008 20:44:02 - Wired: Top Stories