Customizing a Mundo with bamboo running boards
It’s easy to customize a Mundo. We used a jig saw to attach bamboo running boards for a dad in San Francisco. The oval holes allow straps to pass through for securing loads.
See the full How-To documentation on Flickr. Please note it is no longer necessary to use self-drilling screws into the Side Loaders of the Mundo, as the Mundo now has threaded customization points.
Here’s the finished product, with a child seat for his daughter:
Rock solid for passenger transport
The beefy steel tubing and integrated rack design of the Mundo makes it easy to carry friends, kids, and spouses.
The top surface of the Mundo requires some padding before it’s passenger-ready. A trail blanket would do nicely.
Highlights from 2010 Earth Hour community party
Thanks to the fans, roadies, bands, Market Bar, and the city’s Neighborhood Empowerment Network.
El Arbol had its Pedal Powered Stage debut. My cousins were crawling all over it. Here my 220 pound cousin Jonah and a girl pedal power stereo right while two other girls play on other parts of the tree.
Five of us handled the late afternoon gear haul mission. Jeff and Geoff high fiving on 3rd. It was a pretty easy haul. No real hills.
Hauled the pedalometer on a newly fiberglassed El Arbol.
Roadie and bandleader Justin Ancheta’s helped me with the flberglassing alot over the past week so that the Arbol would be in shape for the gig.
Loading up Guella’s gear at Audio Box studio.
Rock The Bike roadies Kai, Geoff and Jeff, and Guella’s lead singer Dave on the way to the gig.
Setting up the gig at Market Bar. Photo: Kai.
Guella rocking out under pedal power. Two of our best generators, the Electric Mundo and the Electric Fender Blender Pro (at stage left) powered all of the band’s instruments, the mixer, one JBL PRX, and lighting.
Big ToDo puppeteers treated us to a bike rap!
Late night gear return mission. Aufdencamp surfs in the distance as Leif tows two Fender Blender Pros behind a Mundo.
Read MoreThanks Urban School!
We had a blast last night at the Urban School, pedal powering their first dance of 2010. Thanks to Lucy, Lucas, Catherine and all the students and teachers.
As with any Rock The Bike event, we invite people at the event to pedal. The kid in the foreground is pedaling the Choprical Fish, which is powering the lighting at the dance.
Justin’s pedaling the Mundo 1000 during the sound check, one of our two bikes equipped with our Grasshopper generator system.
Despite their abundance of energy for gogo dancing and freaking, the Urban School students were a bit hesitant about joining in the pedal power effort. I felt good that we had shown up with a 6 person crew, including Adam, Masha, Hugh, Justin, and Ally. But we were doing 90% of the pedaling. Normally, the GP (general public) does more like 40-50% of the pedaling. I tried pulling students in and there were a few cool students who kept pitching. But honestly the freaking on the dance floor was so prolific, that it was obvious that’s where their minds were. So after a while, I stopped walking out into the crowd using a Down Low Glow like an airport landing guide, and just pedaled. I thought back to David Butcher and how he holds it down at festivals, pedaling away on the Prime Mover. I found new time trial position I liked on the Fender Blender Pro, and entered a crank, sprint, lactic acid! cycle. Out of saddle sprint! Lactic acid. Two students get on, both girls. I adjust the seat for one of them and the indicator on our inverter already drops into the red.
“Pedal hard! Go for it. ”
I look around for crew and don’t see any one. The LED is floating in the red, occasionally hitting blinking red. I know I’m going to need to save this party. I hate having to be intense with the pedal power coaching, but I was yelling, “Pedal, Pedal, Pedal!” every time I saw that blinking light. I was trying to get in a hamstring stretch, but I kept having to coach the girls on the bikes. And my communication with the DJ wasn’t to the point where I could make eye contact with him. He was killing it anyway, and I liked the fact that we were driving the PRX hard. Screw the stretch. I tap out with one of the girl and go into another sprint on the FB Pro.
Justin’s back! The other girl taps out and we bring the LED back to orange, and green. It was kind of like that all night. Three electrics would have helped, but really we just needed more from the students. I think some type of introduction would have helped. The students probably didn’t know what the function of the pedal power bikes was, other than to climb all over them and have a blast. No, they knew, but the hormones were too strong. Freaking trumped!
Rock The Bike has left the building.
We only brought one of our PRX speakers this time. The other is in the shop on a pedal power integration project.
See more photos from the night on Flickr.
Read MoreHow to surf a Mundo
Here’s a very clear demonstration of the technique.
See how the calf muscle hooks the front of the saddle? That’s how you control the bike. The rear foot plants forward of the axle.
Read MorePastana Surfs Valencia as Rock The Bike crew roll from Bike Expo to nighttime gig at Baobab.
Of the three in our crew that can surf Mundos only Adam Pastana has the sense of foundation that allows him to dance while surfing. We were on our way from the SF Bike Expo to power the Genie and yours truly at Baobab Village last night.
My parents have told me to take this off our homepage and focus on selling the Down Low Glow.
I think it’s rolling street theater and an absolutely stunning breakthrough in rocking the bike (lowercase). It’s inspiring to me, so I hope that, despite the obvious safety considerations, it’s inspiring on some level, to you too.
Besides that, this brief video shows three of our most important products in action: firstly the Mundo, which we already knew was stiff as a tree trunk and danceably strong, is apparently a great handling surfing bike too. A bike this rigid and predictable is going to be reassuringly stable when you carrying a passenger or a serious load.
Adam’s not only surfing the Mundo, he’s also carrying 30 pounds on one side of the bike in a GoGetter bag while towing a 75 pound Electric Fender Blender Pro from one event to another. Two other bikers pass on the right, with the Down Low Glow providing excellent Side Visibility; one is towing a racing bike on a Mundo.
So you see, it’s not just a video, it’s how we put our gear to the test, week in, week out. If you want to buy your bike products from some place where they all drive to work and click the mouse all day, go right ahead. But if you’re looking for people who ride, who push the envelope, who break and fix things, people you can trust with gear recommendations, you’ve found the right place.
Welcome to Rock The Bike.
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