How To Shoot Amazing Nature and Extreme Sports DSLR Videos - Tips from Devin Graham

Everything I know about building a DIY steadicam is now is in this new guide. Learn how to get amazing cinematic video with this cool gadget that you can build using parts from your local hardware store.

If you don't like the material, no worries. I'll give your money back and you get to keep the guide. Guaranteed!

	Printable PDF document Instant Digital Download 60 Days Money Back Guarantee  Prompt Refunds No Questions Asked One Time Payment/No BS 2 FREE Bonuses: How To Build a DIY Camera Slider 3 Ways To Get Clients as a Videographer (you'll be surprised to find out what the first method is...)

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Would you like to learn how to shoot DSLR videos from a pro?

I know I would. So let's learn together from Devin Graham - famous for his awesome nature and extreme sports videos on YouTube (watch them below).



He's gonna release tutorials and behind the scenes videos on his new YouTube channel. So subscribe and keep yourself informed about the tricks he pulls to film and edit all his videos.

How To Write Gear Reviews

What's your most important duty once you get a free piece of gear to review?

You may think it's putting up a banner for the sponsor on your blog. Or maybe do an unboxing video. But the all you have to do is...

DIY Gimbal for DIY Steadicam or How To Build the Perfect Camera Stabilizer

Test Video - Shot with My DIY Steadicam


Everything I know about building a DIY steadicam is now is in this new guide. Learn how to get amazing cinematic video with this cool gadget that you can build using parts from your local hardware store.

If you don't like the material, no worries. I'll give your money back and you get to keep the guide. Guaranteed!

	Printable PDF document Instant Digital Download 60 Days Money Back Guarantee  Prompt Refunds No Questions Asked One Time Payment/No BS 2 FREE Bonuses: How To Build a DIY Camera Slider 3 Ways To Get Clients as a Videographer (you'll be surprised to find out what the first method is...)

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Since I'm no longer selling the DIY Highball steadicam, you may wanna check out these other camera stabilizers. Click on any picture.
Check out the stabilizers on Amazon Canada, Amazon.UK and Amazon.DE.
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Update: There's a new article where you can learn how to build a GoPro steadicam - it works with compacts and DSLRs as well. Watch the videos below to see my new glidecam design.





This article is part of a series that teaches you how to make your DIY steadicam.

The pictures below and the above construction scheme show you how to make a gimbal for your DIY camera stabilizer. But as simple as it may look, the reality is it's a painstaking work that needs lots of attention to details if you want to get that smooth video footage.

Why am I saying this? Well, I wasn't able to get the steadicam to work properly with this gimbal design (which was inspired by YouTube user realbugger - watch his clip below). What I mean is this: I didn't execute the work perfectly and I accumulated small errors here and there that ultimately made it impossible for me to balance the glidecam...



I'm currently working on another design (I dropped the cube idea) which includes some machinery work (also a two piece top plate for placing the camera on - sliding in two directions for fine tune balancing). The point is the cube and ball bearings gimbal work fine if you execute it right. Just as realbugger shows you in his clip - even though he admits he went through trial and error before reaching the final version.

How to make the gimbal

You need a wooden cube and a drill with a spade drill bit and a regular bit: the spade to drill holes for the bearings and the regular one to drill the gaps for the bolt heads and the hole for the threaded bar that goes through the cube.

I had the cube made by a friend of mine who runs a furniture business (he has the proper machinery for this kind of work, lathe and all). And I recommend you do the same - look for a local workshop that can do it for you. They have special drilling machines where the piece is being held in a vise and the boring is much more precise. A specialized shop can usually do it better than you and as long as the cost is not prohibitive, you should give it a shot.

The cube has to be perfect in all aspects:

• each set of faces have to be parallel 
• respect the 90 degree angle on each corner
• each hole must be perfectly centered on the face
• each pair of holes must perfectly aligned so that the skate bearings will be parallel and centered on an imaginary line that passes through them (see the infographic above)

Pass a bolt through each of the bearings on which the gimbal handle will be attached. In my case, the gap wasn't large enough to accommodate the bolt head so I cut it off with a hack saw, leaving just a thin piece (see pic above).

Add a self locking nut on the bolt and tighten it. Now the bearing spins on the bolt. Add some resin glue on the bearing and inside the hole and slide the bearing in the cube. Use a ruler to make sure the bearing is aligned with the surface of the cube.

Do the same with the rest of the bearings. One pair of bearings shouldn't have any bolts in - those will hold the main shaft of the whole rig. Let the glue harden over night.

Make a frame out of flat stock for the handle. Drill it accordingly on the lateral ends to be placed on the gimbal. Also drill a hole for the handle.

Take a PVC 90 degree elbow and heat it above an open flame. Force the bearing in while the pipe is still malleable. Bent the margins as to hold the bearing inside - let it cool down and you're done! Don't forget to prepare the bearing beforehand (slide in on a bolt and add a locking nut).

Assemble the gimbal and you're good to go.

Now just add the main shaft along with the upper and lower weight plates and you've got yourself a new stabilizer. That's the easy part - the hard part is shooting and editing interesting videos. :-)

Add duct tape on the bar for a close fit. I used 8 mm thick threaded bar (50 cm long) and bearings with 22 mm exterior diameter and 8 mm interior diameter.

You don't wanna tighten the bearings too much on the threaded rod. Actually leave a tiny gap between the bearing and the two nuts tighten against each other that act as a stopper. This grants a free spin of the bearing.

You can also use locking nuts to hold the gimbal in place but the thing is it's hard to thread a locking nut 20 cm on the bar. If you want to move the gimbal higher or lower on your rig (depending on the camera you're using) it's easier to loosen the nuts and then spin then by hand (you need pliers to hold the rod if you wanna do that with the locking nut).

Notice my previous DIY gimbal in the background. The main advantage with it is that it "auto" adjusts since it has 3 concentric PVC rings - you can't go wrong with it.

However, professional camera stabilizers have a 3 axis gimbal where the movement on each axis is done via a ball bearing which means everything is much smoother. That's the goal you want to accomplish with this design (and with the one I'll be releasing soon).

And there you have it - a DIY glidecam to shoot movie like scenes that'll impress your friends. You'll also get tons of attention whenever you're out shooting videos (people coming to you asking What's that?) :-)

See the full batch of pictures with my project here.

Why this didn't work for me

Firstly, I didn't ask my friend to drill the wooden cube as I show you in the infographic above (see top of this post). So each hole was deeper than it should have been.

Because of that, my bearings weren't exactly resting on anything. They were only touching the lateral walls of the bore so my only solution for fixing them was to add the resin glue.

I tried to have them parallel with the faces of the cube but what if each set of faces weren't parallel? Or what if each pair of holes wasn't perfectly aligned nor diametrically opposed? Maybe there were small imperfections in the cube itself which led to other minor imperfections in placing the bearings which also cumulated with...

Bad placement of bearing in PVC pipe handle. The bolt sticking out of the bearing was sightly tilted, which means the bearing was tilted within the PVC handle, etc.

I should mention the metal frame of the handle was imperfect as well. There was more weight on one arm which also caused imbalance and the bends were incorrect: one arm was lower than the other. The two arms weren't within the same mathematical plane.

The funny part was I only became aware of all these issues after I assembled the stabilizer and tried to balance it for more than two hours without any success.

Conclusion

At this point I'm pursuing another design but I may come back to the cube since it's kinda cute and easy to implement. And now I know what I did wrong so that's a valuable lesson about physics and the principles behind this type of gimbal.

I'll be experimenting with custom manufactured pieces coz I want to achieve the best performance possible. Mostly I'm curious if that's the key to perfect balance and optimal work flow when actually shooting video.

Over to you

• Did you build a camera stabilizer?
• Do you think it's worth the effort?
• What other tips can you suggest for a minimalist DIY steadicam design with maximum functionality?http://www.highballblog.com/2011/07/how-to-edit-gopro.html

How To Carry Your DIY Steadicam for Your GoPro HD Camera

Test Video - Shot with My DIY Steadicam


Everything I know about building a DIY steadicam is now is in this new guide. Learn how to get amazing cinematic video with this cool gadget that you can build using parts from your local hardware store.

If you don't like the material, no worries. I'll give your money back and you get to keep the guide. Guaranteed!

	Printable PDF document Instant Digital Download 60 Days Money Back Guarantee  Prompt Refunds No Questions Asked One Time Payment/No BS 2 FREE Bonuses: How To Build a DIY Camera Slider 3 Ways To Get Clients as a Videographer (you'll be surprised to find out what the first method is...)

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Okay. Now that you've built your own DIY steadicam, you also need to carry it around. Shooting that smooth video is a difficult thing to do, ain't it so?

As any serious amateur filmmaker you need to have a backpack with the rest of your gear, such as:

• sandwich
• water bottle
• sunglasses (you wanna look cool, don't you?)
• lip balm...

If you're out in the city or on the mountain (during a light trekking tour) you may wanna have your camera stabilizer ready at all times. You wanna shoot video and capture precious moments just as they happen.

So, here are two ways of carrying your glidecam, using your backpack as the central support piece:

1. Strap your cam stabilizer under the chest belt of your rucksack.

This is particularly advisable when you're on rugged terrain (steep slope, scree and boulders, etc.). The chest strap allows you to hold the rig relatively firmly.

Unclip the quick release buckle when you wanna capture footage.

2. Hang the glidecam in the plastic ring, on the shoulder straps of your backpack.

On flat terrain or where there are no obstacles. Most of the modern backpacks have the semi round plastic rings on the shoulder straps.

Just take the glidecam out of the ring when you wanna shoot.

Of course this works if your design is somewhat similar to mine. If not, you can adapt your design and add a bolt just to be able to hang your stabilizer. Do that only if you think is worth it.

I personally enjoy both these methods as it takes the weight off my arms when there's nothing to be captured on film. I basically carry the system on my shoulders and have it ready at all times (it only takes a fews seconds to have the whole thing rolling).

Cheers!

How To Coil a Climbing Rope - Video

Forget the classic way of coiling a rope! Here's a new twist on the subject from Brant - a tree climber from Pennsylvania.

Read the original article on how to coil a climbing or mountaineering rope on Brant's rope access blog.

Download this free climbing T-shirt design

Cheers!

New River Gorge Base Jumping or How To Base Jump Off a Bridge without Getting Fined

Here's a fun way to base jump off a bridge without getting a fine: participate in the Bridge Day extreme sports event - held every year in Fayetteville, West Virginia- USA.

Bridge Day is the largest extreme sports event and the largest gathering of BASE jumpers in the world, held on the third Saturday in October every year in Fayetteville, West Virginia, USA. More than 450 BASE jumpersfrom 10+ countries and 40+ US states will leap from the bridge, hundreds of rappellers will descend on fixed ropes, and up to 200,000 spectators are expected to attend this year's Bridge Day on Saturday, October 16, 2010.

The New River Gorge Bridge, 876' tall and the world's second longest single arch bridge, is the launch point for at least six hours (9am-3pm EDT) of legal, safe BASE jumps.

Source: http://www.bridgeday.info/

Bridge Day Base Jumping Video


Oh snap! Some guys open their parachute during the last seconds...







If you're not into base jumping then you can enjoy long abseils from the bridge down into the New River Gorge.

Did you know that the general public can get on a rope and zip off of the New River Gorge Bridge during Bridge Day? For the 7th year in a row, the Highline is back. There’s no experience necessary to get on the Highline (but you should sign up early). It stretches 600 feet down over the gorge from the beams of the bridge, and the public is invited to play.

And the Highline isn’t the only way to leave the bridge. Teams from around the world have come year after year to rappel and ascend on Bridge Day. The art of the rappel really comes to life in the shadow of the bridge.

It’s a wonderful blend of fearlessness and physics. People on the rappel lines are riding down -and up- ropes all Bridge Day long. As BASE jumpers whiz by at the mercy of gravity, those on rappel control their experience with friction.

Source: http://www.officialbridgeday.com/bridge-day-rappel

So, whether you want to participate or just watch, don't forget to go to Fayetteville next year!

Download this free skydive T shirt vector

Information submitted by Brant Dempster who's into tree climbing and DIY projects. Check out his rope access blog.

How To Rappel or Why You Need To Spread Your Legs (Not in a Nasty Way)

The abseil is perhaps the best part of climbing. It's the reward after the strenuous effort of reaching the top. It's what people who didn't do it think climbing is all about - it's the fun stuff.

However, if you want to enjoy the full pleasure of rappelling you must spread your legs... Oh yeah!

Let's talk geometry and make this sound more complicated than it really is. In other words, let's mathematically demonstrate why you need to spread your legs while rappelling. (I do get pretentious and overly scientific sometimes.)

You'll knock yourself out (literally) if you don't spread them
If you've tried to abseil down a rope and kept your feet close together you may have swung either to the left side or to right side, hitting your shoulders against the rock face. This happens for a very simple reason: when your feet are close they act as a single point of contact.

So one point consists of your feet on the cliff and the other point is your anchorage point where the rope is tied - it can be a chain lower off in a route, a tree on the cliff, etc. Now, imagine a line between these two points - this is the axis around which you swing when you have your feet too close (so close that they act as a single contact point).

Why is that? Because two points determine an infinity of planes. As you can see in the image below, the two points are contained both in plane A as well as in plane B. And between these two planes there is that infinity of planes that we've just mentioned above. Rotate either of the planes around the axis made by the two points and you got yourself a new plane.

The axis is represented horizontal but in a real life rappel sitaution this axis is vertical.

Three points determine a single, unique plane
If your legs are spread and your feet are far apart, you enter a new, stable situation. The point on your harness on which you have your descender (abseil eight, Grigri, Reverso, etc.) is a distant corresponded of the anchorage point. That's why we'll consider the third point (see picture below post title) to be on your harness belay loop.

Photo credit: www.supertopo.com

So yes, rappelling with your legs spread gives you more stability. It's a no brainer but the simple geometry lesson is supposed to make you understand the basic principle behind this stability.

There can only be just one plane which contains any three given points in space. Your two feet and your descending device create that plane, preventing you from swinging sideways.

As a beginner climber you will always be tempted to hold both your hands on the rope when you are being lowered by your partner (in top rope climbing for instance). So the usual thing you do when you begin to swing sideways - coz you keep your feet too close to each other - is to grasp even tighter that rope and just wait (or maybe close your eyes and scream as well) to... BANG! You hit the wall with your hip, shoulder and say to yourself: Gee, climbing is dangerous...

Don't feel embarrassed. We all went through it. :-) Remember the three points of contact rule, spread your legs and you 'll be fine.

So, did you enjoy your first abseil? What about your geometry classes?

Marketing Idea for Outdoor Retailers and How You Can Get More for Your Money

Whether you're a mountain gear shop owner or simply an outdoor enthusiast, this article can either increase your sales or respectively make you shop more often, getting a surprise gift for your sweetheart each time you buy a piece of outdoor equipment from your favorite store.

So, if you run an outdoor store, keep reading. This might improve your business.

If you're a mountain sports addict, keep reading. And educate the owner of the local mountain shop to implement this simple and yet effective marketing idea described below.

When was the last time Marmot or The North Face wrote you a check?

There's a high chance you're not a sponsored athlete so I guess the only person who writes you checks is your employer. You're not the only one.

But why should The North Face write you checks?

Well, they should do this because each time you buy their apparel or gear you become one of their marketing agents. And they are aware of that more than you are. Whenever you’re wearing their jackets, you’re basically a walking advertisement for their brand. And if you are a strong athlete this means you are also influential within your circle of friends, making them more likely to buy the same brand of gear.

Yeah but doesn't this happens with all things we buy: cars, bikes, shoes, etc?

Yes.

And now let’s look at it from a retailer's perspective who has a commercial interest in every effort he/she does. The smart thing to do is to combine the seller's interest with the buyer’s interest.

Each time a customer buys a Gore Tex jacket, for instance, the retailer hopes at least one of his friends will see the jacket and come to the shop to buy one for himself/herself. Nothing new here. This is the case for each purchase we make. So for each client satisfied the seller hopes for favorable word of mouth that will (hopefully) bring in more clients ready to spend their cash.

Positive word of mouth comes from great service, great product, good price/value ratio, incredible warranty terms, awesome return policies, convenience of shopping (either online or in brick and mortar stores), fast shipping, the politeness of the salesman, etc. Now, considering all the above factors are equal for all outdoor retailers, then it should make no difference from where you buy your gear.

But what if for each sopping spree greater than say $120 you get a gift?

Not for you, but for a person of the opposite sex.

And now here are the benefits both for the client and the retailer:

• The client will be pleasantly surprised; this is something unexpected but desirable at the same time.

• The business becomes viral by word of mouth; the client will tell at least his friends about receiving the unexpected gift. He would have told them about the jacket anyway or they would have noticed it but in this case he (the client) will intentionally bring up the subject. Word of moth on steroids as Gary Vaynerchuk says. 

• With each client, the business reaches another potential client; the friend who will receive the gift will be aware of the company and he/she will be enticed to buy a product just to see what gift he/she gets for his/her sweetheart. And hey, if there is no sweetheart in the picture then the gift may be an incentive to start a conversation with a possible partner:

Hi, Jane! I got this lady climbing T-shirt as a gift when I bought my waterproof jacket. I’d like you to have it. You don’t have to kiss me or anything… (blush)

• The client receives gratification by giving the gift to someone else; the surprise gift encourages social interaction and friendship. I personally am happier when I give than when I receive.

• If the gift is not entirely in accordance with the current lifestyle of the receiver then he/she might give it to someone else (thus spreading the word even further) or he/she will become open minded towards practicing new outdoor activities (climbing in our example).

What this gift giveaway marketing thing says is this – The retailer should share a small part of the profit with the client. The seller rewards the customer for the purchase.

Not only the client but his/her friend as well. And rightly so. Coz what's better? To make 10 sales with $50 profit per sale or to make 20 sales with $40 profit per sale?

Why would this work? Coz nobody’s doing it. Well…nobody except Zappos.com which is perhaps the most loved e commerce website in USA (or in the world?!). They offer free shipping both ways for any purchase, that's how obsessed they are with customer service. For example, if you wanna buy an item that is no longer in stock, they will check out other websites that have it and redirect you there. They wanna help you so much that they risk loosing you to the competition. That’s solid! But they actually win more doing this. More on this inside the book Delivering Happiness written by the CEO of Zappos, Tony Hsieh.

And if all of a sudden every mountain shop in the world starts doing it then we’re all winners.

It can be done in various ways:

• Buy a bike and get bike jersey for free (a lady jersey if the buyer is a guy or vice versa)
• Buy a pair of winter boots and get a pair of sandals for your lady. Sandals should be cheaper outside the hot season so the retailer could afford the extra expense plus they will get tons of publicity – sandals in the middle of the winter?! This is outrageous! Yes it is and everyone will find out about it.
• Buy a backpack and get a trekking T-shirt for your boyfriend.

The T-shirt gift may be the best solution as it is a universal piece of clothing that everyone loves to wear. Especially if the printed design says something about the person who wears it. You can have a design for each outdoor sport.

A funny climbing T-shirt creates a conversation much easier because it’s always in full sight unlike other possible gifts. T-shirts can be worn almost everywhere - and unconventional people will always wear them exactly where it is inappropriate, capturing attention.

You (the retailer) should respect two conditions for the full effect of this tactic:

• The gift should always be a surprise. No advertising whatsoever about this! The only person allowed to spread the word is the surprised customer.
• Each gift should be destined to a member of the opposite sex. If the buyer is a lady then the gift should be for a man, etc. In other words, give away gifts that will be given further as gifts.

Of course there will be people who’ll try to get as many gifts as possible. But as long as the company knows that for each X amount of dollars spent by the client they can give away a free T-shirt this shouldn’t be a problem. In fact, it can be valuable advertising at the expense of one T-shirt for each sale. And if people are buying expensive gear just to get T-shirts then there's not much to complain about.

What about you? What else do you think outdoor retailers should do to keep us as clients?

How To Share and Manage Your GPS Tracks

Breadcrumbs is the first web application of its kind, where you can manage GPS tracks, photos and videos in one place - it can be thought of as Flickr for GPS tracks.

What you can do with Breadcrumbs:

Relive your adventure: Breadcrumbs brings together photos, videos and GPS tracks in one quick and easy process and the 3D playback function brings the track alive.
Edit and manage: The application comes with a suite of tools which lets you edit and manage your GPS tracks, photos and videos. These include:

• Automated geotagging of photos.
• Track editing tool to correct GPS points.
• Add information to your adventure to help tell the story, such as show where you ate your lunch or spotted some wildlife.

Organize: It offers a rich set of tools to help you manage trails.
Share: Breadcrumbs makes it easy to share your adventures, with options including a public page for each track and direct integration with Facebook.

Take the tour and learn more about Breadcrumbs here.

How To Get a Job at Specialized - The Bike Manufacturer

If you've dreamed about working at one of the best bicycle manufacturers out there then here's what you need to know and have in order to land a job at Specialized:

• An innate understanding about bikes and cycling - If you're not a hard core bike geek, you may struggle a bit to fit in at Specialized...
• Education is of value but it's not an end-all to getting a job.
• A passion for the Specialized brand, for riding, understanding the retail setting. If you've worked in a bike shop and know what the consumer wants that's the equivalent of a PhD. 
• Keep your cover letter short, succinct, catchy, and try to highlight your passion for bike retail and your previous related experience (if that's the case). 
• Be well prepared, get familiar with culture and the athletes. 
• If you're in for a marketing position, be creative and bold - come up with ideas for ads, make your own presentation, send them your YouTube videos (related to biking of course). In other words, go there and dazzle them!

Other reasons to work at Specialized include:

• Incentives if you ride your bike to work.
• A van that allows you to keep your monthly commuting expenses below $40.
• An in-house gym with all the fitness machines you can think of.
• Free bagels on Fridays - a nice environment where you can meet the rest of the team and get social (live, one on one, or one to many - not through a screen like on Facebook).
• You can bring your pet. Wow! Now that's new on the market. If your dog or cat or lizard is well behaved then they can be part of the Specialized team.
• And let's not exclude the Specialized Lunch Ride (watch video below). 

Paolo Bettini - 2008 Specialized Tarmac SL2 Commercial


So, want to have a job at Specialized? Click here to find out more.

How To Install The New Firmware on Your GoPro HD Camera (Video)

Step 1 - GoPro HD Firmware Update - Download and Transfer (watch video)



Step 2 - How to Install Firmware



Exciting news for outdoorsy people: The GoPro guys released a new firmware for the GoPro HD camera (v02.05.11) that adds new functionalities to your sports cam.

If firmware sounds strange for you (as it did for me) then let's call it software. What this means is that you can now enjoy new menu features on your camera just by installing the new version of the firmware (why didn't they call it companyware or, if the company is big and has a bunch of old men dressed in expensive suits as execuives, corporationware?).

What you need to do?

Visit this page and enter your name and email address in the form at the bottom of the page. They say the email address in needed for support purposes (as if they are going to know when you're in trouble - perhaps they'll email you first). Oh well, you'll be on their email list so you'll be notified when a new companyware is released.

After downloading the zip file to your computer follow these instructions.

What are the best new features?

One Button Mode

One Button Mode simplifies recording video and photos with your HD HERO. With One Button Mode, your camera will start recording video or photos automatically when you power the camera 'ON' and will only stop recording when you power the camera 'OFF'. The shutter button is deactivated in One Button Mode. You can only turn the camera on and off, making it the perfect setting for loaning it to friends or newbies.

Upside Down Mode (UPd)

Now you can take videos and photos with the camera mounted upside down without having to rotate the files later. In UPd, all videos and photos will be saved to your SD card right-side up.

Enjoy outdoors!

How To Do the Bunny Hop - Trial Bike Video

The bunny hop - probably the most useful bike trick ever.

Here at Vito Sport, we like to recommend all of the useful tips every mountain biker should know. And one of them is the bunny hop. Looking back, we see it as one of the first things most riders learn, sometimes even before the ability to conquering wheelies. And what’s best about them is that they get you out of trouble – constantly! It allows you to cover ground fast, efficiently and safely at speed.

The proper bunny hop is learnt on flat pedals - you don’t pull up on the pedals to lift the rear wheel; instead you only push back on them.

As you approach your obstacle to hop, lean back and pull up and back on the handlebars. As you do so, stand tall and extend your legs to help pivot the bike on the rear wheel - further pushing the front wheel up. As the wheel comes up, you need to move your weight forwards and start flicking your feet back to scoop the bike up.

This motion is the one thing that takes a while to perfect, so practice over something soft and moveable before you try logs!

As the rear wheel starts to come up, tuck your legs up underneath you and extend your arms in front of you to get maximum extension of the bunny hop - then start to release and prepare to absorb the landing.

Sounds complicated, but really it’s quite easy. You just need to get the hang of it first.

In our opinion, it is an easy skill to learn, a little trickier to master, but the best skill you can have. For more tips, check out Vito Sport. Or to see trials biking in action check out Animal Relentless at Newquay.

Guest post by Vito Sport - a mountain bike and trial bike dedicated website. They also organize events all around UK. Take a look, jump on board and enjoy the ride!

How To Protect Your Bike from Thieves without a Cable Lock - 3 Fast & Easy Tricks

How do you protect your bike from thieves when you only enter for a minute in a shop to buy a bottle of water?

While the advice below consists of building psychological barriers against thieves (it's not a guarantee against bike theft), it's definitely worth following. You've got nothing to loose. Oh yes...you have - your bike. 

Here are a few tips that will help you prevent you bike from being stolen (without using a chain or cable lock):

1. Turn your bike upside down. If you enter in a shop for a minute or two and you don't want to lock your bike then you can simply turn it upside down. This may look as your bike is there for repair and thus the owner (you) may be nearby. That's exactly what you want the thief to be thinking: that you may come back unexpectedly and plus if he wants to steal the bike we would have to make an extra effort to put the bike on its wheels. That is precious time when he's basically uncovered. If you appear he'd have to drop the bike and run.

But let's say he managed to turn the bike, got on the saddle and he's ready to roll away with your bike - or let's say that for some reason you thought it's silly to turn your mountain bike upside down so the thief had no barrier in getting up on your bike. Well, he's in for a surprise coz you've been wise enough to...

2. Take the chain off or switch gears (the wrong way). As an extra precaution you can take the chain off the chain rings. Now, the thief won't be able pedal so he'll be in a funny situation... Another thing you can do is to switch the gears from the handlebar levers but without actually having the chain move. This way, when the thief tries to push on the pedals, the chain will jump five sprockets and two chain rings  with a "crank!" noise - the perpetrator may loose his balance or, even better, the chain may get locked between the chain rings.

3. Place a small lock on your brake disk. If your bike is equipped with disk brakes then  you can add extra security with a small door lock which you can insert into the ventilation holes of the disk. The wheel won't rotate much and your man is stuck again. This idea was suggested by a fellow mountain biker, Robert Lazar, the guy behind the Critical Mass movement in my home city.

Of course this does't prevent you to turn the bike upside down. In other words, if you wanna keep your bike take at least any two anti theft measures.

If you do wanna use a lock then have a look at the video below and follow these three rules:

1. Use strong chain locks or horseshoe locks (stiff U shape metal frame) that have the Sold Secure rating. Don't get impressed by thick cable locks - they have a thick housing made of plastic but inside it's just a thin cable...
2. Always use two locks (if you don't have long chain lock) and make sure you lock both wheels and the bike frame.
3. Take off all bike accessories like: front light, rear lamp, pump, water bottle, cycle computer, repair kit under the saddle, the spare tube, even the saddle if it has a quick release lever.

Video taken from here.

Keep cycling and wear your helmet!

8 Rules To Follow for Your DIY Survival Kit

This is a guest post by Casey Fiedler who writes on how to find adventure in modern life. Check out his blog at Contemporary Adventures.

What should you put in your survival kit?

This question pops up all the time across the web. I’ve spent time in the outdoors, in wilderness survival classrooms, watched what YouTubers and professionals alike have to say on just about anything that could go in a “Survival Kit”, and I’ve done my time in the bush practicing extended survival techniques. 

The one thing I always notice is people’s tendency to over pack and over-list “necessities”. A list of survival kit necessities should be just that – necessary. I’m not going to tell you what to pack; any search engine result will have a list of possibilities. The intention of this article is to help you choose what’s worth it, and what isn’t. 

By following these simple rules, your survival kit will become smaller, lighter, more efficient, and more likely to keep you alive!

Here are 8 rules to follow when putting together your own survival kit:

1.     Make it yourself. Never buy prefab kits from the local outdoor store because, most of the time, they’re overpriced, over packed, poor quality, and don’t even contain the real necessities of a survival kit. The sardine can above looks sexy but that's not necessarily helpful...

2.     Keep it small. This rule is a little flexible. For example a survival kit that would be stored in the trunk of a car could be much larger and heavier, opening up more options for content choices. Backpackers and outdoorsmen, however, need to have a lightweight, small, easily portable kit that won’t burden their movements in the woods. Become proficient with a few items, know what you need, and pack only the necessities. It’s a survival kit, not carry on luggage.

3.     Complement your own abilities. Not all survival kits should be identical. If you’re the worst fire starter since the beginning of man, then keep a couple good fire starters in your kit. If you can start a fire in the pouring rain with just the hairs off your back, then go easy on the fire gear. We all have our strong suits; know yours well and pack as little as is necessary to compliment your level of proficiency. This will keep the kit size small and efficient.

4.     Keep the environment in mind. If you’re heading into the desert, you’re going to need to take some very serious water and shelter considerations. If you’re heading into the Arctic Circle where it’s light 24/7, maybe you can take the flashlight out to lighten the load and open up space for cold weather necessities.

5.     All items must serve double duty. If there is something in your survival kit that does not have more than one use, take it out! In order to effectively reduce pack size and increase efficiency, your survival kit items must pull double duty.  A couple exceptions might be water purifying tablets and ferrocerium rods (metal match). Take string or wire off their cardboard tubes and wrap them around the base of your canteen to save space. Pack each progressively smaller item inside the last, kind of like a Nesting Doll effect.

6.     Be frugal. This might qualify more as a personal rule, however I suggest you all consider it very carefully. Survival has become a niche cult sort of topic lately and manufacturers are loving it! Remember, the people who make survival kits for retail sale have one main goal: profit! Let’s consider this: your goal is to stay alive, their goal is to make money… those two don’t fit well together. Make your own kits and save money where possible, not everything is a scam, but no production kit will ever match the quality of a personally tailored survival kit. However, it’s not always about saving money, being frugal with your survival kit can often bring benefits by forcing you to make some of your own gear. Make your fire starters by dipping cotton balls in Vaseline; you don’t need to spend money on fire starters.  Make your own flint striker (okay, I’m a Blacksmith, not all of us are) unknown to most people, quartz rocks and various other minerals strike sparks just as well as flint! Find ways to complete your kit on your own.

7.     Test each item. Take your kit into the woods for a day, weekend, or week and practice using it! You can’t just expect these items to light a fire for you, collect all the water for you, or catch animals for you. It takes a lot of skill to start a fire with natural tinder in blowing wind, to carve each component of a figure four perfectly, or to capture an animal using an improvised trap. Practice makes perfect, and if an item in your kit doesn’t belong or doesn’t perform its duty you’ll quickly find out.

8.     Include one major item for each priority. Start off by putting in one item to get you each of your survival priorities. If you don’t know these, learn them! They are: Fire, Shelter, Water, Food, Signaling. The order will change from situation to situation. However, food always comes after water because it takes water to digest anything you eat. If you’re not taking in water, eating will dehydrate you and kill you faster than not eating at all. Once you’ve included one good item to help acquire these life-sustaining elements in a survival situation, go ahead and add some complimentary items to your kit as you see necessary to fill in the gaps. My list of important items might go like this:

• Pocket Knife
• Magnesium Fire Starter (or Bic Lighter…)
• Potable-Aqua tablets
• Whistle
• String and wire for snares and traps
• Trashbags - Two or three trash bags take up VERY little room or weight and can waterproof a shelter, make a poncho, windproof you, collect water, purify water, and perform just about every other survival duty in a pinch.

It’s not too hard to start getting ideas for items to include in a survival kit. 

The more you go out and practice with these, the more confident you will feel with your ability to survive in wilderness. You’ll see that a list of more than ten or fifteen items will be all that you rely on in the wilderness. Only you can choose which items are necessities. Tailor your kit using these rules and it won’t fail you in the wild!