Slack Randoms: Universal Grip Heaters, Viral Tattoos & Chaotic Council Meetings
We use Slack as our workplace communication tool at Pinkbike and we have a #randoms channel which we use to share an assortment of videos and stories from all corners of the cycling world and beyond... We thought a couple of the moments from the past week were too good not to share with a wider audience, so here are some of the highlights.
A Chaotic Viral Council Meeting from the UK
This video of a Handforth parish Council meeting has taken the UK by storm this week. During the meeting, which took place on 10 December, Jackie Weaver had been called in to host and "support" councilors after fractious previous meetings. She emerged a stoic hero after the meeting descended into name-calling, shouting and eviction. It really has to be seen to be believed.
You can watch extended highlights of the meeting, here.
Universal Heated Grips
We've seen a fair few attempts at producing heated grips throughout the years, including some homemade-hacks from pros, but the problem has always been that you can very rarely find a heated version of your favourites. Yes, your hands may be warmer than Bernie Sanders in knitted mittens but if you're trying to cling onto cheap rubber with an unfamiliar tread, you may well be better off with frozen fingers.
That might all be about to change thanks to Polar Plug. Polar Plug is a rechargeable heated handlebar plug that sits inside a standard bicycle handlebar and provides up to four hours of heating at 40°C. As it slots in your handlebar like a bar end, there's no need to change whatever grip you currently run.
At the moment, Polar Plug is on Kickstarter and the pre-order pledge amount is $99, with retail price expected to be between $150-200. More info, here.
When Your Mini Flip is too Mini
BMX rider Schalk Vermeulen posted this video of himself going a bit too mini on the mini flip.
Jeff Lenosky Hits the infinity Skinny on a Scooter
SpaceX SN9's "Rapid Disassembly"
SpaceX conducted a 10 km test flight of their SN9 prototype vehicle on February 2. This flight was supposed to be a repeat of the largely successful SN8 test flight, with some possible minor flight profile changes, but the landing didn't quite go to plan. This video from Tim Dodd, an enthusiastic amateur astronomer best shows off what Space X has called a "rapid disassembly".
The lift-off is at 4:24:00 but it all starts to go wrong at 4:29:00.
When You Absolutely, Totally, Completely Refuse to Unclip for a Gate
Watch the full video of Alex Howes (EF Pro Cycling) being interviewed by Scott Piercefield on a fixie while climbing over 3,600 feet on Colorado Highway 103 to Echo Lake, here.
A Full Send Horse
A Viral Tattoo With a Mistake
![photo]()
A gold star to whoever spots the mistake on this tattoo first.
Excavators 'Dancing' to an Orchestral Version of Metallica's Nothing Else Matters
Bertrand Ostiguy Inc, in Quebec, have picked a novel way to advertise their skill with excavators - ballet dancing. Julien Ares, the filmer and nephew of the owner, told Montreal's CTV News, "We did a Zoom for Christmas and the idea came about doing some dancing excavators. We just laughed at this but we were thinking about it all night. At the start I wanted to do something that was slow because excavators are really big and can't make really fast movements."
According to Metal Hammer, the version of the song comes from Finnish cello band Apocalytica.
A Trials Bike Prank
400 [Failed to load instagram embed] https://www.instagram.com/p/CHQDJzbCSEY/?maxwidth=1000
A Chaotic Viral Council Meeting from the UK
This video of a Handforth parish Council meeting has taken the UK by storm this week. During the meeting, which took place on 10 December, Jackie Weaver had been called in to host and "support" councilors after fractious previous meetings. She emerged a stoic hero after the meeting descended into name-calling, shouting and eviction. It really has to be seen to be believed.
You can watch extended highlights of the meeting, here.
Universal Heated Grips
We've seen a fair few attempts at producing heated grips throughout the years, including some homemade-hacks from pros, but the problem has always been that you can very rarely find a heated version of your favourites. Yes, your hands may be warmer than Bernie Sanders in knitted mittens but if you're trying to cling onto cheap rubber with an unfamiliar tread, you may well be better off with frozen fingers.
That might all be about to change thanks to Polar Plug. Polar Plug is a rechargeable heated handlebar plug that sits inside a standard bicycle handlebar and provides up to four hours of heating at 40°C. As it slots in your handlebar like a bar end, there's no need to change whatever grip you currently run.
At the moment, Polar Plug is on Kickstarter and the pre-order pledge amount is $99, with retail price expected to be between $150-200. More info, here.
When Your Mini Flip is too Mini
BMX rider Schalk Vermeulen posted this video of himself going a bit too mini on the mini flip.
Jeff Lenosky Hits the infinity Skinny on a Scooter
 | I went to Florida to ride bikes and the first clip I got was riding the infinity skinny on my Turboant scooter |
SpaceX SN9's "Rapid Disassembly"
SpaceX conducted a 10 km test flight of their SN9 prototype vehicle on February 2. This flight was supposed to be a repeat of the largely successful SN8 test flight, with some possible minor flight profile changes, but the landing didn't quite go to plan. This video from Tim Dodd, an enthusiastic amateur astronomer best shows off what Space X has called a "rapid disassembly".
The lift-off is at 4:24:00 but it all starts to go wrong at 4:29:00.
When You Absolutely, Totally, Completely Refuse to Unclip for a Gate
Watch the full video of Alex Howes (EF Pro Cycling) being interviewed by Scott Piercefield on a fixie while climbing over 3,600 feet on Colorado Highway 103 to Echo Lake, here.
A Full Send Horse
A Viral Tattoo With a Mistake
A gold star to whoever spots the mistake on this tattoo first.
Excavators 'Dancing' to an Orchestral Version of Metallica's Nothing Else Matters
Bertrand Ostiguy Inc, in Quebec, have picked a novel way to advertise their skill with excavators - ballet dancing. Julien Ares, the filmer and nephew of the owner, told Montreal's CTV News, "We did a Zoom for Christmas and the idea came about doing some dancing excavators. We just laughed at this but we were thinking about it all night. At the start I wanted to do something that was slow because excavators are really big and can't make really fast movements."
According to Metal Hammer, the version of the song comes from Finnish cello band Apocalytica.
A Trials Bike Prank
400 [Failed to load instagram embed] https://www.instagram.com/p/CHQDJzbCSEY/?maxwidth=1000
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Must Read This Week
Instead, it’s too far up the crank, and the toe clip lines up with bottom of the crank.
1. It looks like it was drawn by a third-grader?
2. The quill stem is dangerously adjusted well past the minimum insertion line.
3. It looks like both crank arms are on the non-drive side.
4. The chain looks to be going over an axle instead of a FW.
5. The toe clip on the bottom pedal is on backward.
6. The spider arms of the drive side crank aren't equally spaced.
7. For some reason all of the crank spider arms line up with the downtube, seat tube, and chainstay.
Any chance he said "Give me something badass, I'm in a biker gang"
Just when 29" ers were becoming normal, we now have to make the decision to downsize to a 1"er
C'mon bike industry, get it together
When you get boost or non-boost axle-width depending on the air temperature.
However, those oldies are the only ones that can be arsed to do this kind of stuff. Same everywhere. And we wondered why our park renovation was crap
Got it.
Fixed.
When you take your fingers off the bar to use the brake/clutch, the leaver is cold and you bring that back to the bar. Always have a cold left hand from clutching!
You need monster heat to regain it quickly to the point the grip is too hot.
Secondly, they only warm your palms. The exposed side of the hand stays so.
Surely it would be just easier to use heat packs or heated gloves??
(Would not be without mine though
He's claiming 4 hours. So that's 4.6Watts per grip... very hard to see how that would provide any noticeable heating effect.
Yeah, right. Not all grips have bar end plugs. My favorite grips are DMR Deathgrips and I'm not about to swap them out.
I'm trying to figure out how well this heated plug would work. Considering cold weather conditions, heating up the alloy bar/carbon then having to heat up the grip then through your gloves.
Would it even warm your hands by that point?
Upside down pedal.
Oh, and the whole dropout mounted to nipple thing.
This makes me smile.
Apocalyptica is a Finnish symphonic metal band from Helsinki, formed in 1993. The band is composed of a trio of classically trained cellists Eicca Toppinen, Paavo Lötjönen, and Perttu Kivilaakso (all three of whom are graduates of the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki), and jazz drummer Mikko Sirén.
Making it universal by bar-end plug: Why did it take this long? What an idea.
WHY THE DOES IT COST THAT MUCH?
*shows himself the door*
www.pinkbike.com/news/carrera-release-new-bike-with-heated-grips.html
; )
wake up riders this is not Eastenders or Coronation St. the topic should be BICYCLE ONLY.
how about a morbid discussion about E-Effen-Bikes.
It even came with a warning that included "Council Meeting". And you still dove in.