Hands Free Kit For Your Bicycle?

from the how-about-not-taking-your-phone? dept

Wed, Feb 18th 2004 12:25am — Mike Masnick

I do quite a bit of biking, and only if I know I'm going for a really long ride do I take my phone along - just in case something goes wrong and I'm unable to fix things. However, when I do bring it along, I always turn it off and shove it the under the seat pack. It seems that others prefer to use their phone while riding. We've all seen mobile phone hands free kits for cars, but now, mobile phone carrier Orange, in the Netherlands, is offering a free bicycle to new customers with the purchase of a special hands-free kit for bikes. The bicycle even has a built-in battery charger for the mobile phone, so you can keep on talking as long as you pedal fast enough.

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5 Comments

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Derek Kerton (profile), 18 Feb 2004 @ 12:25am

Holland Is Special
Mike, Holland is definitely a special case, and it makes sense for Orange to introduce this product there. Holland rural and especially urban areas are criss-crossed with a network of bike roads that rivals many countries automotive roads. The bike roads are often entirely separate from the car blacktop, have traffic signs, lines painted for flow control, etc. Most importantly, they are well-used.
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dragos, 18 Feb 2004 @ 5:50am

No Subject Given
Bikes are fairly common as a mean of transportation within the city in Netherlands, Germany or Denmark. As such the kit might be quite an useful tool for people finding bikes as a part of their daily living. Otherwise, perhaps it would be just a fashionable accessory.
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Luke Kanies, 18 Feb 2004 @ 6:43am

Lots of Ride-and-Talk in Holland
When I was in the Netherlands in the fall of 2002, I saw many people talking on cell phones on their bicycles. Of course, riding a bike in Europe (especially in the Netherlands) is a completely different experience than riding one in the US -- the Netherlands has separates lanes and lights for bikes.

I would expect this to be a big hit in Europe, especially in the Netherlands.
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Anonymous Coward, 18 Feb 2004 @ 9:28am

No Subject Given
How long before using cell phones gets banned, like using cell phones while driving is banned in some places? :)
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DV Henkel-Wallace, 18 Feb 2004 @ 12:49pm

Dangerous too
I had an accident while talking on my phone and biking. I was almost killed. I certainly don't do it any more!
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