Wheelgirl

Bring the Bass: Stereo Systems on Your Bike

OK, I love to listen to music on my bike. I've been commuting to work lately on a fixed Nishiki Colorado with a $9-dollar Sony transistor radio in my coat pocket, and it makes me really, really happy. There is something to listening to music through the air versus through ear buds.

Here on the West Coast, I've seen Soul Cycle Slim bikes and Soul Cycle Mobile Audio bikes sporting their down low glow neon under lights around the Oakland, Berkeley, and San Francisco streets and at Bay Area bike events. (They also make bikes that can power blenders.)  The music usually contributes to the up-beat atmosphere of the two-wheeled festivities, and the neon glow coming from the bike means everyone can see you at night.

But these guys from Queens, NY, take listening to music on your bike to a new level of complication. Like the extreme music car hobbyists who push car stereo systems to rocket launcher decibel rates, the stereo bike guys, with Guyanese and Trinidadian backgrounds, bring the bike & music hobby from their respective countries to Queens. One guy had his bike stereo system measured at 150 decibels. (According to the car stereo decibel drag racing hobbyist article, "a 747 taking off on a runway 300 feet from you is about 120 decibels".)

 

Photo 1 & 2 of the Soul Cycles lifted from the RockTheBike site.

Photos 3 & 4 and text lifted from the New York Times Online:

(Photo 3) "The motocross bicycle of Stephen Sonnylal, 17, at left, bears a 200-pound system with a 50-CD changer. It has 3,000 watts of power and cost $800. "People say, 'It's the next best thing to having a system in a car.' But it's better because you don't even have to roll down the windows," said Nick Ragbir, 18, right."

(Photo 4) "Mr. Samaroo's sturdy Mongoose supports a system with four 12-inch speakers that can handle the 5,000 watts. He's co-owner of a business called Legal Intentionz that mounts stereos on bikes."Photo: Tyler Hicks/The New York TimesArticle and more photos Photo: Tyler Hicks/The New York Times

Does This mp3 Player Make My Butt Look Fat?

You are a cycling freakazoid. Your friends keep wondering if they should initiate an intervention. You have gone to bleeding-edge stupid light-weight componetry because you can. You have traded in your fat watch. You have shaved off all of your body hair. Your head is clippered daily. (Oh yes, girls can do the self-imposed sci-fi convict look, too.) Now, it is time to trade in your chunky boat anchor of an mp3 player for this $39.00, 2 GB, 12 grams skinny minny USB Chocolate mp3 player. (Specs after the jump.)

In case you are wondering, a 1 GB iPod Shuffle weighs 15.6 gms and costs $79, according to Apple tech specs.

(I am not sure that the Chocolate USB mp3 player is a brand new product, based on post comments on other sites. The navigation icons alone are worth the price.)

http://usb.brando.com.hk/prod_detail.php?prod_id=00359

Cycling Music and Resetting The Insignia Pilot 8GB MP3 Player

Ok, I got gadget fever today, and I went to Best Buy to get the Insignia Pilot 8GB MP3 player, since I had been playing with the demo a week ago. (Insignia is a trademarked label of Best Buy.) The Pilot has a crazy list of features (listed at the end of this post) that I wanted inside of one very, very light, Bluetooth enabled media player, so I could ride the rollers with Bluetooth headphones on, keep the device away from perspiration, and not have to constantly stare at and reposition white wires.

As importantly, the Pilot doesn't use any special software. (I did not open or install the included CD.) You plug the Pilot into the USB port on your computer. It shows up on the screen like an external drive, and you drag and drop your happy stuff onto the device. You can record songs from Raima Radio and drag them into your device. You drag and drop your vacation photos. Perfect. Easy. Foolproof. Almost.

While experimenting with the voice recording feature, I stuck a headphone jack into the mic jack, talked into the ear bud and froze the thing. Not really sure why, it was probably a coincidence. But I hate when you get something new and almost destroy it. I pressed all of the possible button combinations for 5 minutes. Nothing could make the screen unfreeze. I couldn't turn it off. I didn't have the patience to wait until the battery went dead. I didn't see any reset button. In that I could either take it apart or go back to Best Buy. I took it apart.

Here is how you can reset the Insignia Pilot if the screen freezes; get it to work again and probably void your warranty.

Need New Music for the Rollers? Record Int'l Internet Radio to mp3 with Raima Radio

I was up too late playing with this new toy, an app called Raima Radio.
You can record internet streaming radio stations from around the world to mp3s. The interface it pretty intuitive and easy to use. I have XM radio's Delphi, and I like it, but it is too heavy to carry on rides. So, I do the mp3 to iPod shuffle cycling music thing. But I need some new tunes. Raima Radio has come to my musical rescue.

You may have to click on a bunch of different stations, since many do not open for some reason. But if you are patient, you can find a good one, and you can record immediately or schedule recordings of anything playing on the internet radio stations in the search results. There is a drop-down menu for different types of searches, such as station name, genre, country. If you right and left click your mouse buttons,  you should be able to figure out how it works. Click on the Wrench to see or change the default settings or the directory where the newly recorded mp3s are routed.

I went on the Raima Radio user forum and poked around, and I get the feeling the whole app has been created and iterated by one or maybe a few people who are really making an effort to resolve any technical issues users might have (firewalls, formatting). So give her, him, them a break. It is free. Good effort. Thank you for not crashing my machine and for letting me listen at 1 am to monster truck pull event announcer voices talking in Italian between trance tracks.

So far, Raima Radio is an easy way to grab some rapid tunes for those of us who pedal better when we are listening to senseless, crazy fast, club, techno, trance, rock, house, funk music stew. (Record some Charlie Parker or Glenn Gould tearing it up for your recovery ride.)

http://www.raimasoftware.com/

http://www.redferret.net/?p=9361

Shred in the Silence of Your Own Home

There are millions of gadgets for practicing guitar. Now there is another one, the Amplug from Vox.

Basically, for $70, you plug your headphones into this device, and then plug the device into your electric guitar. You can shred like a circus freak in the silence of your own home. It comes in 3 flavors: classic rock, AC30, and metal.

Or you can place a mic in a trash pail and taking your guitar up two flights of stairs or amp a hacked Playskool toy and wake up every pre-schooler in your apartment complex again.

From the Vox site:

Plugs directly into your guitar—a great-sounding headphone guitar amp that gives you serious sound fast.

Available in three styles: VOX AC30, Classic Rock, and Metal.

AUX in jack lets you jam along with your CD/MP3 player.

100% analog circuit faithfully simulates the response of the original amps.

AC30 emulates the AC30 top boost sound of a vintage VOX AC30.

Classic Rock gives you the great high-gain sound of a UK-made 100W amp.

Metal delivers the explosive roar of US high-gain metal sound.

Up to 15 hours of battery lifewith the supplied AAA batteries

Power supply: two AAA batteries

Battery life: with alkaline batteries: approximately 20 hours, with zinc-carbon batteries: approximately 7 hours.

Dimensions (W x D x H): 86 x 80 x 31 (mm), 3.39" x 3.15" x 1.22"

Weight: 40g /1.41oz. (not including batteries).

Included items: two AAA zinc-carbon batteries

http://www.voxamps.co.uk/amplug/