State of the Bike address - what is the current user experience?

Bike Outliner
1

Hi All - I’ve supported Bike from the get-go, as I was an avid Taskpaperer and personally happen to love @jessegrosjean ‘s code and architecture style.

Accolades aside, I tend to get busy in other apps and return to Bike after months-long intervals, and in the interim Bike makes massive leaps (takes long rides?)

Question - where do I go about catching up on interim feature adds and refinements? What is the typical user experience like today? I tried scanning the release notes but found that an inefficient and non-intuitive manner to catch up.

I gather there’ve been great UI changes, addition of a calendar, more scripting abilities, markdown improvements like native .md support, and many more. I’m excited to delve back in and use Bike, just need to get a handle on what’s doing these days. What kinds of errands are you running on your Bike? Does it ride alongside gObsidian? What apps are you importing/exporting to, and are you using Bike to keep tabs on outside data, URLs, and so on? Does anyone have a video of what they’re doing? Would you like to try?

Thanks for any and all responses! Punniest post gets a badge lol

PS - the online “Using Bike” manual seems pretty solid, is it relatively current?

2

What is the typical user experience like today?

I think Bike 2.0 (Preview) is definitely read for daily use, I just keep missing cutoff points for the final 2.0 release.

Question - where do I go about catching up on interim feature adds and refinements?

Here’s an in progress “What’s new” (compared to Bike 1.x) page from the in progress 2.0 user guide:

- **[Sidebar](using-bike/using-sidebar.md)**: Use the sidebar to navigate. You can also pin rows and save filter queries to the sidebar for quick access.
- **[Inspector](using-bike/using-inspector.md)**: Use the inspector for details and specialized views. By default it shows a calendar, but extensions can add their own views.
- **[Filtering](using-bike/outline-filtering.md)**: Instantly filter your outline to show matching rows. Want to see only unfinished todos? Bike can do that and much more.
- **[Row Attributes](using-bike/row-attributes.md)** - Add attributes to your rows, such as `@priority : 1`. Filter by attribute and display in badges at the end of the row.
- **[Attachments](using-bike/attachments.md)** - Drag and drop file attachments into your outline. They are embedded, traveling with your outline document.
- **[Themes](using-bike/using-themes.md)**: Themes set fonts, colors, and more. Backed by a programable style system that you can also plug into with extensions.
- **[Markdown](using-bike/bike-markdown-format.md)**: Bike Markdown stores your outline as a native nested Markdown list. Easily round trip your outlines through markdown tools.
- **[Keybindings](using-bike/commands-explorer.md)**: Set custom keybindings using the  Commands Explorer. Get fancy with multi-stroke chords, or just set a few keys to your favorite commands.
- **[Accessibility](using-bike/accessibility.md)**: Navigate and edit your outlines with assistive technologies. Bike now works with VoiceOver.
- **Writing Tools**: Bike's editor now works with the macOS Edit > Writing Tools system.
- **[Interface Explorer](using-bike/interface-explorer.md)**: Customize Bike's interface. Add commands to the toolbar and statusbar. Organize views in the inspector.
- **[Calendar System](using-bike/using-calendar.md)**: Open the inspector and double-click a day. Bike takes you to that day's row, creating it if needed. The calendar is an extension that ships with Bike.
- **[Command Line Interface](using-bike/command-line-interface.md)**: Access Bike from the command line. Run commands, automate tasks, observe queries, and integrate with other tools.
- **[MCP Server for AI agents](using-bike/using-mcp-server.md)**: Connect AI agents to Bike for advanced automation and assistance.

I think that covers the major new features/systems.

PS - the online “Using Bike” manual seems pretty solid, is it relatively current?

Not really, this one is still 1.x only. On the other hand this version of it is more updated for Bike 2.0, but it’s missing some of the more recent features. I’m working on final 2.0 version currently, but haven’t published it yet.

Does it ride alongside gObsidian? What apps are you importing/exporting to, and are you using Bike to keep tabs on outside data, URLs, and so on?

I believe if you save your outline using Bike’s markdown format it should work well save to an obsidian vault… I haven’t actually tried that though. But generally Bike’s markdown outline format (based on nested lists) should allow good integration with many markdown based tools, and ideally without the need for any import export. (outside data, I’m not sure what you mean exactly, but yes links. Also maybe attachments?)

Ha, I’m afraid I’m not well equipped to get the badge! Next time I’ll get my wife or kids to respond and they are quite punny.

1 Like
3

Thanks @jessegrosjean !! This is great. Loving all the progress, and that the features have made little to no impact on the clean UI!!

Started using alongside Obsidian vault and smooth so far. There is one hiccup on heading creation - Bike doesn’t appear to recognize h2 or h3 etc heading types.

Say I’m working on a file “input.md” on the Bike side as well as Obsidian side.

  1. Bike side - If I create a heading in Bike - press #-space and the grey line type indicator changes to Heading - very nice.
  2. Bike side - if I enter “##” or “###” etc - Bike doesn’t recognize an h2 or h3 heading type from this. I can go over to obsidian, delete the leading “\” and the line changes to a heading. Returning to Bike, I see that the line type has changed to “Heading”. Also nice.
  3. Obsidian side - if i create an h2 or h3 type heading, returning to Bike I see that the latter has correctly identified the line as a heading. Nice.

It would be nice to have Bike recognize/distinguish h1/h2/h3/h4/h5/h6 headings, I think.

Another small issue - if on Obsidian side, I enter any text after having left 2-3 blank lines above that text or heading I just created, Bike doesn’t see them. I assume this is a by-product of how Bike considers each line to be a standalone unit, which on the Obsidian side appears to be denoted by a leading backslash.

I am unsure with how to deal with the unrecognized line breaks. Bottom line though, i had just wanted Bike to run this .md file which would sit on my desktop as a sidecar input notepad to Obsidian, so these behaviours don’t impact me negatively.

Barring these two minor observations, Bike and Obsidian appear to be working very well in tandem!

1 Like
4

I’ve posted in progress Bike 2 guide here:

1 Like
5

I have to say, with the addition of markdown rendering and export options, Bike has steadily been replacing my interface for how I collect notes. I run a daily log in Bike (powered by the new calendar) to jot down my progress and tasks. Under each day, I’ll make a node for various projects I’m working on and mark those as headings so that I can quickly filter through my entire 2026 timeline with the new outline filter via keywords (e.g. ‘fragments’ or ‘XYZ music score’ or ‘[book name]’). I find checklists work extremely well in Bike because it’s easy to hide what you don’t need, and easy to zoom into a small chunk and work on that, get everything else out of the way.

I am not using custom attributes extensively because filter does 90% of what I need it to, and I don’t want to think about that too much. The only exception is where I keep more specific project .bike files separately and link to them from my daily logs, I’ll use @resource="bike-doc" so I can find them more easily.

I still use Obsidian and other apps in places where I need something that supports tables, visuals and iOS support.

2 Likes