Datamining my own site for feedback

One of the things I do is see what kinds of statistics I get this blog. I see what search strings people use to find it, how many page loads I get, what promotion methods work, etc. One nice thing about this is that my traffic is steadily increasing. More and more users find my site every week. Another result is that my blog is most definitely a bike blog with a side of politics rather than the other way around. Almost all of my hits come from people interested in cyclists, though there are a number of political readers.

Recumbent cyclists are a core readership group for me. I see lots of raptobike, lowracer and velomobile hits on my site. One interesting thing I noticed is that I had a number of people hit my site where were searching for "Raptobike Weight". That makes sense but it floated near the top of my statistics yesterday so I wanted to answer it directly.

What does a Raptobike weigh?

• Stock a raptobike weighs about 29.5 lbs or 13.4 kg.
  Weight savings can easily be found in a carbon seat, a lighter set of wheels, and lighter tires.


• My Raptobike hasn't yet been built up as it is in the process of shipping but I choose all of the above areas to focus on as well as brakes, chainrings, pedals, and the chain. I will be weighing it when the build is complete. I did add weight by choosing a Rohloff hub but I expect to come in around 26-27 lbs (12 kg)

Other interests I see seem to be bicycle hacks and homebuilt accessories. As I do more in this area I will document each step and the cost of my projects. I will also document the trip I make to the OHPV Human Powered Challenge in May. That should have a lot of velomobile, lowracer and homebuilts. There will be a lot of electric powered bikes and vehicles there as well so I should have a lot of material to write about in May.

I will continue to cover politics since it is fun and interesting as well. If there are any topics you want to see me cover, let me know. I may listen.