ReidCurry: HPV and PUMA Research Project

Welcome. All you have to do is post information about bikes in this blog. Use the search function. You will be suprised by what you find.

Roles are: Author, Editor, Contributor, Editor, Subscriber… if you register provide some contact information and interest in this subject in the profile section.  Doing otherwise is a strong indication of “other” interests, but lurkers are welcome.

The blog offers the potential to develop sufficient original content for a decent d-base backed website for memberships, subscriptions, transport rentals.   The draft website is here.

The 12 inch Gyrowheel is designed to replace the front wheel of any standard 12 inch kids’ bike.

Have a look….

Will the plug offered here replace the pump?

Pump a bike not gas….
Can you pump a PUMA?

The Flushing Meadows Corona Park Strategic Framework Plan

The following is available at www.nyc.gov/parks See FMCP section.

Site Analysis (PDF, 1 MB)
Conceptual Framework, Part I (PDF, 4 MB)
Conceptual Framework, Part II (PDF, 5 MB)
Vision and Goals, Part I (PDF, 15 MB)
Vision and Goals, Part II (PDF, 8 MB)
Appendix, Part I (PDF, 1.5 MB)
Appendix, Part II (PDF, 565 KB)

This 1,255-acre park has historical, recreational, and environmental significance. The former dumping ground labeled a “valley of ashes” by F. Scott Fitzgerald in “The Great Gatsby” has become Queens’ largest park, and one of New York City’s flagship parks.

Flushing Meadows Corona Park is historically important not just to New York, but to the entire country. In the 1930s, in the period’s largest reclamation project in the United States, Robert Moses converted the swampy area into a 1,200-acre fairground for the 1939 World’s Fair.

The fairground-turned-park hosted its second World’s Fair in 1964. The structures that remained from the two fairs became the foundation for the growing park, and the Unisphere–left from the 1964 Fair and recently designated as a city landmark–has become the park’s well-known symbol.

For the five-year span between 1946 and 1950, the first United Nations assembled within the park. Two professional sports facilities are located within Flushing Meadows Corona Park: Shea Stadium, home to the New York Mets, and the USTA National Tennis Center, available for public play and tournaments. Both are historically significant. Two World Series championships, the Mets 1969 and 1986 victories, took place at Shea Stadium. Since 1978, the United States Open tennis tournament has been held at the USTA National Tennis Center.

The current shape of Flushing Meadows Corona Park is an oval stretching from Flushing Bay to Union Turnpike. Within the park, there are many places for relaxation and recreation. Among the 124 acres of natural areas are Flushing Creek and Bay, Willow Lake, and expanses of meadow and marshland. Meadow Lake–the 84-acre manmade, freshwater lake–is New York City’s largest lake.

Cultural institutions in the park are plentiful, appealing to a wide variety of interests. Today, the New York Hall of Science, a relic from the 1964 World’s Fair, houses a hands-on science and technology museum. Fine arts exhibitions, performances, and films are presented at the Queens Museum of Art. The visual arts center also displays the world’s largest architectural model of an urban area. Those who are theatrically inclined can attend a variety of professional and local performances at the World’s Fair Theaterama in the Queens Theater in the Park. Animal lovers can enjoy the exhibits of North American animals in natural settings at the Queens Wildlife Center. The adjacent Children’s Farm features domestic animals. The 39-acre Queens Botanical Garden is filled with garden displays and tree and flower collections.

Want more FMCP fun? View the park slideshow.

Originally uploaded by reidcurry

Developing Website Copy

Meadow Lake (see www.lightwheels.com)
An internatinal conference on Human-Powered Transportation

• Designers/Builders/Users and Hobbyists of nontraditional, electric-assist and other human-powered bikes, trikes and boats.
• Companies who are making these vehicles available to the public…
• Advanced design, all-weather, all-terrain, multi-passenger, human powered transport for land and water.

Meadow Lake at Flushing Meadow/Corona Park (FMCP), Queens, NYC.
Site of the 1939 & 1964/5 World’s Fairs

 The Meadow

Meadow Lake is an 84-acre, man made body of sparkling, fresh water is NYC’s largest lake.  As a popular spot for boating, fishing, crew, and sailing; the water keeps splashing with scores of recreational activities that fill the surrounding athletic fields, bike paths, a model plane facility and picnic areas.

The Valley

The Hudson Valley is one of the most pleasant, picturesque and natural environments in this part of the world. Small towns and numerous farms, gentle hills and lots of fresh air make it a great area to get some relief from the hustle of the city. Two major rail systems, Amtrak and the MTA’s economical Metro North Harlem line and two hours the world becomes the City of Hudson or TenMile River/Wassaic. A long standing system of access by rail.

Lightwheels has acquired added properties strategically-located in this region. 

Contact with over a score of businesses and institutions in the region suggests interest in cooperating through the offer of resting places and access to bicycle equipment, especially electric-assisted models. We envision ‘lightwheels” as a regional alternative transportation  network.

It is our intention to rent alternative vehicles at one location and drop them off, or acquire fresh batteries, at another. Rest and re-charge stations are being located from 5-20 miles apart to suit both novices as well as experienced riders.

This enterprise began in the summer of 2008. The Hudson Valley and adjacent Berkshires are renowned for their beauty and cultural attractions from Tanglewood to historic Shaker communities. There is no better way to experience them than on a sturdy human-powered vehicle (with a little help on some of those hills from an electric-assist motor) on these fragrant back-country roads.

Expressions of interest in this project from those who might like to participate, both vehicle providers as well as possible individual riders or their sponsoring groups, are welcome.

Federal law HR 727

Some years ago in a small airfield near Albany, representatives of a half-dozen different State agencies, from DMV, DOT etc. convened to test ride the first serious attempt to combine the virtues of lightweight human powered vehicles, bikes, with small battery-powered electric-assist motors, produced by the Ford Motor company and called, “Think” bikes.  Much of what was supposed to be done decades ago was not done.  If not now when?

This get-together was gave State officials test ride opportunities to experience alternative categories of vehicle and suggest new forms of administrative jurisdiction.   After each had taken a short spin around the track they were polled, in turn, and all opined that their various agencies and departments should have no part in regulating what was essentially a bicycle, especially at the slow pace that these machines were capable of achieving.

A few years ago, officials from the Federal government also examined these devices and determined that they should fall under the jurisdiction of the Consumer Product Safety Commission, rather than any Motor Vehicle laws given their small scale, slow speed, and minimal impacts. This was made official in Federal law HR 727.

Many people regard the bicycle as one of mankind’s most beneficial inventions. For 100 years it gradually became more efficient, while changing minimally. About 20 years ago the bicycle went through a dramatic step with the introduction of durable and urban-friendly mountain bikes with their upright riding posture shock absorbers, and beefier tires that hardly ever went flat, rendering our not-perfect streets survivable and the journey much more comfortable.

It is time now for the bike to complete its leap into full utility. We need stability, weather protection, and multi-rider capacity, etc. But all this adds significant weight and has heretofore not been a practical possibility. With the introduction of lightweight lithium ion batteries and the addition of a helper-motor to common bicycles the next step in the evolution of this invaluable device has arrived. As the least negatively impactful and most economical element in our multi-faceted transportation world these steps are long overdue and an important hedge against $5 a gallon gasoline, rampant obesity and already strained family budgets.

The special importance of these developments to the transportation disadvantaged and disabled is also a factor here.  Better and more widely used electric bicycles will inevitably lead to better wheelchairs too and a large proportion of the general population who won’t ride ordinary bikes out of fear that they may tire too quickly or find that nearby hill too steep to climb will finally be able to enjoy the healthy exercise and recreational pleasures available here.

We congratulate the State Senate for enabling us to move forward on this vital public issue at this time. By encouraging the further evolution of these vehicles here, perhaps New York can once again become a center of transportation development, as it was with the Erie Canal and the New York Central in times gone by, through the proliferation of new human-scale transport options.

It is gratifying that the New York State legislature is proposing at this time to bring our regulations into line with this Federal law, as 37 other states have already done. The need to expand our citizens’ access to more economical and healthier means of getting where they are going is critical at a time when our very survival much less future prosperity is threatened. This official recognition of the conclusions reached on that little airfield some years ago could not come at a better time.