Thursday, April 18, 2013

Build a Better Mousetrap

     I met Mike Thielvoldt at the Carnegie Hill Climb, he is an inventor and entrepreneur.  His company, Jackrabbit Devices, makes a throttle control for hill climb bikes called The Trigger.
























     Mike's device eliminates the twist grip and replaces it with a "trigger" operated by the index finger . Mike says the trigger lets the index finger work through a natural range of motion and keeps the rider from dropping the shoulder.

     His display is quite convincing.  He has a handlebar mounted like a chin up bar, he then invites people to do a pull up and work the throttle at the same time.  I have to admit that the Trigger works.

Mike seems like a nice guy, he is clearly proud of his invention and has an excitement about his product that's infectious.  Mike's web site is www.jackrabbitdevices.com.

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Hill Climb









It's been a couple of years since I went to the hill climb at Carnegie SVRA (State Vehicular Recreation Area).  Carnegie is located off Hwy 580 west of Livermore, California.  I noticed that the bikes had changed some from the last time.  There were more water cooled sport bike engines stuffed into hill climb chassis.




































You might think that a hill climb is about motorcycles and a hill, but you would be wrong.  It's about nice people, dogs, kids, cute girls and families, all having fun.