Use Your Head While Trimming Trees

The problem of neglected bike path maintenance just got creative. A cyclist named Attoparsec rides through North America, where bicycle infrastructure is notoriously neglected—snow removal, repairs, separation from cars, and yes, landscaping care routinely fall behind. Tree branches routinely extend into the travel way, creating a hazard. Rather than wait for city landscaping crews, he took the solution literally into his own hands—or his head. Hackaday reports that Attoparsec mounted an electric string trimmer to his bicycle helmet, salvaged from an old landscaping tool and attached with a three-D-printed mount. He wired the trimmer to handlebar controls so he can activate it as branches approach, clearing the path ahead by aiming his head. The eccentric solution works remarkably well: the trimmer has enough power to cut through branches and leaves but not enough torque to affect his head's balance, and the cutting strings reach far enough to clear obstacles before they make contact. He calls it 'guerrilla urban landscaping'—a rider's DIY answer to infrastructure neglect.

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