Soda can stove extravaganza – Capillary Hoop Stove

I'm a big fan of DIY alcohol stoves. They're cheap, lightweight, efficient, and not terribly difficult to make. Until now I've used different iterations of Mark Jurey's Penny Stove. It's based on an air intake loosely covered by the penny in the middle and six jets on the outside. Alcohol poured into the middle primes the stove and once that has been used up the stove draws air through the center and starts the jet burn.

Old version of the penny stove, using the no longer available Heineken cans

In a discussion about coffee-making setups, someone mentioned a Japanese maker of a different type of soda can stove, the “capillary hoop stove.”

I spent a lot of time watching tetkoba's videos, and the both the design and the craftsmanship are amazing. By virtue of the capillary force, the jet burn starts almost immediately, and amazingly the stove stays cool to the touch. Today I bought a sixpack of V8 cans of the right size and will try to build a CHS myself. To be continued!

“First insure your bicycle, then study the map” – 1897 Montreal Bike Map

I just came across this awesome 1897 bike map of Montreal on reddit. Back then, Montreal had not yet encountered the automobile -- only in November 1899 did Ucal-Henri Dandurand drive the first car in Montreal. As you can see on the upper left of the map, the dotted lines represent "good roads," whereas the solid red lines are just "roads." It would be fun to do an overlay of the present-day bike network and the cycling roads of 1897...

Source: BANQ

And another tall temptation – Schwinn Voyageur 650B conversion

After the tall Boulder custom I linked to last week I discovered this pretty 63cm Schwinn Voyageur 650B conversion on Craigslist. This is more in my price range and seems like a great opportunity to give the 650B thing a try. The front geometry isn't low-trail (as far as I can tell) but maybe Soma will soon deliver on their promised low trailer conversion fork. I think if this bike hasn't sold by the next time I'm down in Madison the next time won't be able to resist.

(c) Craigslist poster

Happy International Women's Day!

To all the woman cyclists and cycling women out there: Happy International Women's Day 2014!
A few topical links:

• Lovely Bicycle on the bike as a tool to get away from racists and sexists
• Some coverage of the recent Women's Forum at the National Bike Summit
• And a shout-out to the Woman/Trans/Queer shifts that happen every second Wednesday at the Flat Bike Collective!

Tall bike (no, not that kind)

Once I'm rich (in other words: never) I'm going to get a bike like this beautiful custom Boulder Bicycles All-Road. The owner is almost as tall as me (198cm/6'5.5") and the frame size is 67cm. The wheels are 584mm (650B) and they don't look disproportionate to me.