Fun & Games

The latest DIY ideas, techniques and tools for bikes, rockets, R/C vehicles, toys and other diversions.

Building Bikes “From Steel”

California filmmaker Michael Evans likes to capture the beauty of workflow, what a craftsperson looks like when he or she is deep “in the zone” of their process. This video features the smooth moves of Sean Walling, owner of Soulcraft, a custom steel bicycle frame shop in Petaluma, CA. It documents Sean in the workshop […]

Scratch Built Palisades Muppet Theatre

Scratch Built Palisades Muppet Theatre

“Some people have too much time on their hands!” That’s a frequent, snarky comment we get after we post a project with an intense level of dedication to something as seemingly frivolous as Lego spaceships, highly detailed gaming minis and terrain, dioramas, dollhouses, or in this case, desktop Muppet theaters. But those who say such […]

Belt-Driven, Hubless Rear Wheel Bicycle

Belt-Driven, Hubless Rear Wheel Bicycle

The aim was to use a hubless wheel to create a compact bicycle, with the benefits of a large wheel and belt drive.Hubless wheels have appeared in bicycle concepts already, and were first invented by Sbarro. However, few concepts have made it to prototype and when only used for aesthetic purposes, the disadvantage of extra cost out weights the visual gain. Lunartic uses the hubless for a reason; to house the working parts, reducing the wheel base but not sacrificing conventional riding geometry. Lunartic is supposed to be as compact as possible without folding or being awkward to ride, however there is the potential for the front wheel to fold up into the rear or for that space to be used for a laptop back, motor or dynamo.

Old Bike Refresh

Old Bike Refresh

There are a lot of old, broken down bikes out there — we have at least one in our garage. It’s a good bike. It’s a little beaten and bruised, a little rusty, but a quick strip-down, a few fresh coats of paint, some lubrication, new tires, maybe a new seat, and it’d be back […]