Handle bar mod

[Shakey]

I am trying out a handle bar modification inspired from the youtube videos of the 'Sofabike #1' & Sofabike #2.
I saw these videos a year or so ago & thought that the bar configuration was interesting & worth a try.

I took a set of almost straight bars from a wrecked bike, filled them with sand, heated & bent each arm about 45 degrees. I know this is not the proper way to bend handle bars but it is what I could come up with for a test.
Then I removed the original bars, & turned the riser(?) backwards & upside down with the new bars angled up. You grab them from the bottom, palms up.
I took it out for a short test drive. It did feel a bit weird for a bit, but that feeling passed pretty quick. I did feel that they could be a be narrower.

Since these pictures were taken, I have done a better job routing the cables, moved the brake levers & shifters closer to the middle, cut 3/4" off each end, added grips & the light.

Just got back from a longer ride & I did notice a few things.
The mirror is closer to my eyes which gives a better view behind.
The view in front is also much more open.
It seems to me that I really do have more power climbing. (which doesn't really help me out much 'cause I tucker quick)
It might be a bit more areo because my elbows are relaxed & tucked in by my sides.

Didn't really have any trouble steering with the new bars but I will need a few longer trips to see if they are comfortable in the long run. So far, it's good.

 

[marshall2389]

That is a sweet looking modification. That would be great if you could get a picture of you in the seat!

 

[Shakey]

marshall2389 wrote: That is a sweet looking modification. That would be great if you could get a picture of you in the seat!

Thanks Marshal, feels good so far, I did make a little video of the test drive.

[flash=480,385]http://www.youtube.com/v/rcrIAdNGGhk?fs=1&hl=en_US[/flash]

 

[WhiteSilvio]

Shakey wrote:

marshall2389 wrote: That is a sweet looking modification. That would be great if you could get a picture of you in the seat!

Thanks Marshal, feels good so far, I did make a little video of the test drive.

Hi there Shakey,
Interesting mod to the handlebars, but what I am interested in is what sort of helmet mounted video camera are you using??
A picture of the unit on the helmet would be good.

What battery life and storage capacity does the camera have?

All the best, and I agree life is too short for traffic!
John.

 

[Shakey]

Hi John, it is a pretty pricey & sophisticated setup

The camera is an MD80 Mini DVR (probably a clone) from ebay. There are dozens of sellers that look like they all have pretty much the same thing starting at about ~$12 US
It is 30fps 720x480 & a remarkably good picture for such a little camera. It does get a bit laggy in low light. It does not seem to gracefully close the file & shut down when it runs out of battery/space, so you end up with a corrupted file quite often. It is possible to set the date but it does frequently revert back to 2008 for no apparent reason. <shrug>$15</shrug>

It uses a up to either an 8gig or 16gig MicroSDHC depending on which set of instructions you read.
Make sure you get at least a "class 6" card or else there are reports you will get a slow frame rate.
I have a 4gig & seem to get about 40~50 minutes on that. The files get large quite quickly. Kind of wish I had an 8gig.

The high-tech mounting system is Velcro with sticky tape on the back. I stuck the "hooks" on my helmet & wrapped the "fuzz" around the silicone case that came with the camera. I have the clip on strap looped through my helmet as a safety line.

I am also using a 15mm wide angle lens from DealExtreme. The lens has a magnetic base to attach to the camera. The sticky tape backed mounting ring that came with the lens did not fit the 'nippled' lens so I countersunk the back of a washer & hot melt glued it to the camera. Then I coloured it black with a sharpie.

The total cost for the camera, MicroSDHC, wide angle lens & Velcro was about ~$46 CAD.
cheers
Richard

 

[WhiteSilvio]

Hi Shakey/Richard,
Thanks for the speedy reply and the detail, including photos, of the reply. I'm impressed!!

I'll take a little time to study the setup. I've been considering some kind of helmet mounted video camera, and your setup looks the goods. And should be relatively inexpensive, as you point out.

I'm thinking that there wouldn't be too many cameras that would record for much longer than an hour or so without some fairly reasonable battery and a good sized memory card, but then I can't imagine that lengthy videos would be of any interest to anyone other than the rider, and even then a lot of the footage would be edited out!

I notice in the ads, in the "technical description", that it says something about "one button press" recording. Does that mean that it turns on and starts shooting with just one button?

Thanks again,
John R.

 

[Shakey]

Hi John/WhiteSilvo
There are 3 buttons on the camera. Power, start/stop record & mode.
There are a couple of tiny little lights that tell you what it is doing but they are difficult to see in bright light, so often it is just a guess if you have actually turned the thing on or not.
The instructions have obviously been through a translator so there is a bit of guess work on how to actually use it. Search MD80 in YouTube, there are quite a few reviews & a few instructions posted about it.
cheers
Richard

 

[Shakey]

I changed the bars back to the originals tonight. I did a few test rides totalling ~50km.
While I could get lots of power from the \_/ shaped bars, it wasn't really all that helpful in the long run because I can only generate that much power for a really short time.
They were not quite as comfortable as I had hoped either, not bad, but not that great either.
~~ live & learn I guess.

 

[John Tolhurst]

Shakey,
thanks for doing that research, I have watched closely and appreciate you telling the story so clearly.
John Tolhurst

 

[marshall2389]

Shakey wrote: I changed the bars back to the originals tonight. I did a few test rides totalling ~50km.
While I could get lots of power from the \_/ shaped bars, it wasn't really all that helpful in the long run because I can only generate that much power for a really short time.
They were not quite as comfortable as I had hoped either, not bad, but not that great either.
~~ live & learn I guess.

Thanks for trying! That was a great idea; too bad it didn't work out as well as it looked like it might.

 

[Shakey]

John Tolhurst wrote: Shakey,
thanks for doing that research, I have watched closely and appreciate you telling the story so clearly.
John Tolhurst

Your welcome John & marshall2389. And thank you John for designing the bike, great job.
I have been doing a little rethinking about the angle & I think that a sharper angle might be better, somewhere about 60~70 degrees. When I get a little time & will get the torch out & bend the bars a little farther & see how they feel.
I will keep you posted.