My name is Matt and I have recently joined this forum to talk / share info about CycleHack and our up and coming Vancouver Event.
CycleHack is a global movement that is tooling up citizens to take a pro-active, DIY approach to reducing the barriers to cycling. Each year they host a CycleHack Event which runs in cities all around the world. This is a well organised global hack event which looks to build both digital and physical prototypes that tackle a wide range of cycling barriers. Check out the website, where there is a short film from the 2014 event that was hosted in Glasgow, Beirut and Melbourne.
In June cities all around the world will be hosting their own CycleHack Events, and I am looking to build a small team of people how are interested in helping coordinate the Vancouver component of this global movement.
At the moment we are still in the early days of organising and building momentum. We are looking for an ideal venue to host the the event, and although we have a few ideas, we wonder if VHS would be an ideal location.
VHS would be a good venue for a in person meeting, but we donât have a huge amount of space for bikes and our space is not set up for bike repair. Come down on any tuesday night after 7:30 for our open house and check us out.
Have you contacted Maker Foundation? (I use to be on the BoD) They put on Vancouver Maker Faire and other events around Vancouver. Maybe they could help you find a good venue and help promote your event.
âWhy does our society view pedal bikes as something infantile or for poor people? Donât pretend you donât know this is a thing just because you donât carry such prejudices I know what demographics Iâm seeing out there. Itâs something that should change, after all there are no such stigmas about motorbikes being infantile are there? Oh wait, those have a whole other set of stigmas donât they? Anyways bikes are wonderful this view of pedal bikes being a thing you grow out of needs to change.
I like bikes.
Wanna ride bikes?â
-Me
â20 pounds of steel and rubber can turn a semi-fit shmoe into a creature that can run a horse to death.â - Not me
Given their incredible utility perhaps its the fear of being pasted by a four-wheeler that is a barrier to cycling so Iâd like to myself employ some more methods that improve my visibility, after all it seems bikes make you invisible.
Hi funvill, thanks for your reply. It would be great to come by the space and see it, so Iâm glad t hear you have open house evenings - thats great. In terms of a venue for the event, we are not really looking for space for bikes, more of a multi-functional, open space where people can get creative, prototype and present ideas. This video should give more a sense of the event.
As for the Maker Foundation, I have not yet been in touch but it has been on my to do list for a while. Do you have a contact email address for someone specific I could get in touch with, other than their general contact email?
Hey alchemistletoe, thanks for your reply and great comments / observations on cycling culture and barriers.
I totally agree with your thoughts on stigma and how cycling can be perceived, and I am looking forward to what ideas can be prototyped at CycleHack 2015 to help overcome these. And as for your visibility barrier - I am particularly interested in how being hi-vis can be de-stigmatised and made âcoolâ
Using EL wire on frames and wheels is already something thatâs being done. Thatâs on my list. Itâs now available in any decent electronics store and of course in the vending machine at the hackspace.
Recently someone asked me to find a way to make fashionable reflective designs using stencils specifically for cycling safety I just found out the keyword I needed was retroreflective, like the type they use on street signs.
There are textile bands of reflective material that people use around their ankles and are sometimes sewn into work clothes as armbands but the availability of this material only in narrow bands seems pretty limiting as far as making it fashionable. If retroreflective paint could be pasted on freeform or stenciled then you have something that could be fashionable and safe. I know you can probably get it in sticky sheets but this isnât practical for textiles that have to be washed and might not hold up in the rain.
I found a reflective paint supplier but their standard MO is bake on, and that doesnât work for clothing so Iâm awaiting a reply from them about textile applications.
Hey there, Yes applying reflective surfaces to textiles is something that I
was asked about on the run up to the 2014 CycleHack Event and I wasnât able
to find a supplier of a material that can be applied to textiles in a
fashionable way, that is different to ordinary hi-vis.
If you get a reply, I would love to know what their answer is.