Rock The Bike: BLOG
Pedal Powered homecoming at USC
A growing number of students are considering how their values meet up with the production style of campus events. At USC the Environmental Student Assembly wanted to showcase that big events can be green events. Rock The Bike was up to the challenge. One of the cool things that the student organizers contributed was the ‘sponsorship’ of individual bikes by campus organizations. Note the signs on handlebars… Campus orgs got exposure in exchange for providing volunteer pedalers. No power outages all night (except when we tried to plug in a fog blaster 😉 ).
Activist rapper Boots Riley’s spoken word at the People’s Climate Rally Oakland, Rock The Bike’s biggest event ever.
Thanks to the 350.org Bay Area and System Change Not Climate Change organizers, volunteers, and attendeeds, and Rock The Bike crewmembers who came together for the People’s Climate Rally this past September 21 on the shores of Lake Merritt in Oakland. A major highlight of the event was Boots Riley’s spoken word and song during the peak of the event when at least 2500 people were in attendance. Skip ahead to 5:15 to hear the poem (warning, language!) Check out the awesome dance moves of the pedaler on the Tree during the song Ghetto Blaster (at 3:12). It’s inspiring to hear an activist talk about people power while using a people-powered PA system.
In this second video, Rock The Bike’s Fossil Fool induces an outage in order to reenforce the message of people power:
It was our largest audience size to date by more than double, the previous being the 2013 San Francisco Bicycle Music Festival in Golden Gate Park at about 1000.
The crowd size meant lots of new information to take in about live sound. (more…)
Old and new Fender Blender Pro seatposts. If your old one is causing your seat to slip back, we want to get you a new one.
We are offering a free upgrade to anyone whose Fender Blender Pro seatpost looks like the one on the left and is experiencing seat slippage:
Old seatpost on left doesn’t hold angles well.
The issue is that the older style, sold in 2012 and 2013, can lose the knurling that holds the seat angle you set. Once it has slipped a couple times, the problem gets worse. Even if you tighten its bolt with good torque, your seat may slip back and up, looking like this:
The seat should be flat, not pointing up like this.
The new seatpost has better clamping force and more pronounced ridges that hold angles better. Check it out:
The new seatpost (on right) has better grip on angles.
To take advantage of this offer, call us at 888-354-BIKE (2453) or email us through the contact page.
Using Pedal Power with larger crowds.
From our vantage point the events world seems to be ever growing, and out of passion for spreading our bike message and in the interest of providing the best gear we can to our customers, we continue to test our activities with larger crowds. In this post we’ll share some of what we’ve learned about bringing Bike Blending and Pedal Powered music to larger events.
When we work at this scale we now go through a complete process that includes applying for a temporary health permit (ideally 2-3 weeks ahead of time to avoid late fees). The Health Permit process will vary in different cities, but in Oakland, it involves bringing a 3-bin wash station, a hot water insulated jug, enough cooler space to separate servable ice (ice that goes in smoothies) from the ice used to keep other ingredients cold. The enclosed tent shown above is also required. It also helps draw attention and support the beautiful hand-sewn sign.
Above: we set up our smoothie booth at the Maker Faire in San Mateo. Our crew of 3 served about 400 smoothies in 7 hours. Above: Carolina gives the ‘countdown’ to a teenager, encouraging him to crank out 5 more seconds of high energy pedaling.
Across the Bay, our crew of 4 entertained thousands of runners at the finish line of the SF Half Marathon, with a 5-bike, 4-speaker sound system.
Moberi entrepreneur survives Shark Tank, reps Human Power
Ryan Carpenter gets the Sharks pedaling healthy smoothies as he pitches his Pedal Powered smoothie carts on National TV.
“No,” said Ryan “that’s the beauty of it!”
Well said!
Having produced large smoothie booths at events ourselves, we know that Bike Blending doesn’t hold you back from quenching the thirst of a crowd. You just need to have an efficient system, a good team, and plenty of spare pitchers. Although Ryan didn’t lure the Sharks into making an investment, he successfully defended Pedal Power!
Wonder what those smoothies taste like? Visit Moberi in Portland OR. Or use our map to find a Fender Blender in daily use closer to you.
We’re moving! Open house April 3. (Reprint of National newsletter).
It is with great hope and excitement that we invite you to the Open House of our beautiful new headquarters in the Golden Gate District of Oakland, CA. The occasion will also mark the celebration of our 10th Birthday. Â We have been in business since September 2003 and are in our 10th year of providing products and services that combine our love of bikes, music, the earth, food, community, and education.
As our new decade begins we continue taking part in the environmental transformation and awakening happening right now on the planet. How can we resist environmental degradation and transition to a sustainable future? What types of changes do we need to make? We believe that our offerings are helping everyday people ask and answer those questions with joy, humor, and physical involvement. (more…)
Chobani Team USA Spin Class video going viral. Here’s our behind the scenes look.
With viewcounts racking up, Chobani’s Team USA Experience is officially going viral. 30 everyday athletes are introduced into a new environment and invited to pedal to power an incredible spin class that unfolds before them with live music, interactive LED art, and a huge hillside projection. Rock The Bike produced the Pedal Power Spin Class system and the interactive lighting: per-bike LED strips that responded to individual pedaling effort, and a 16′ LED mandala. The 4-speaker sound system was the same we use at our Pedal Powered DJ events and medium-sized concerts. You can see the all important Pedalometer (the light tube that shows pedalers how hard to pedal) and two of our generators: the Generator Pro and the Generator Wheel and stand combo.
Here’s a Behind-the-Scenes look that shows our experience of producing the Spin Class. You can follow the captions and dialogue to see how we recognized and overcame one of our main technical challenges: too much power. (more…)
Brainfood promotes Nutrition and Health with a Bike Blender
A look at the workshops the Community MVPs have done with Brainfood‘s very own bike blender.
As the President/CEO of Youth Service America said, “The smoothie tasted even better knowing that I contributed to it.”
Brainfood is a non-profit youth development organization in Washington, DC. Using food as a tool, Brainfood builds life skills and promotes healthy living in a fun and safe environment. They are using the Fender Blender Universale Stationary Kit for their workshops.
Highlights from Ecochella at UCLA
Ecochella was a student-produced live music event on the UCLA campus that was completely bike-powered thanks to our Pedal Powered Stage. We drove down to LA in a loaned pickup truck, carrying with us a 12-bike system ready for an audience of up to 1000 students.Â
The size ended up closer to 500, but the cool part was how engaged those students were. We had solid Pedal Power, great music, and a climactic all-up-front closer, the Dustbowl Revival. Hats off to student organizer Rachel Woods-Robinson for wanting to bring a human powered concert to UCLA. Check out the videos below.
Many colleges and Universities produce some type of Spring Fling concert on campus. By involving Human Power, the campuses can take advantage of a huge learning opportunity. Above, a dynamic sign shows how much Wattage has been generated by students so far.
More photos here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rockthebike/sets/72157633641398367/with/8813100129/
More videos:
