Egger's Lunch Ride "Cheater" bike...a road version of the Shiv
I have mentioned Robert Egger, Specialized’s Creative Director, a few times in the past. He has worked at Specialized since 1987, and in that time has created some pretty interesting concept bikes (like the one at the bottom of this post from a 1992 issue of Bicycling Magazine).
In their Google + stream, Byron from Bike Hugger just posted a few pictures of Egger’s personal “lunch ride” bike, which looks a lot like a road version of the Shiv. I wonder if this is version of the Shiv road prototype that eventually became the Venge, or just a bike that Egger built to help him keep up with the young, fast guys on the famed Specialized lunch ride. Either way, it looks fast. As Byron commented though, it is not a bike you would “want to be next to in the peloton when the wind changes.” True, but with a bike like this, he should be riding off the front anyway.
Update: See more pictures on the Specialized Facebook page.
Update to the update: Neil Browne shared his thoughts about this bike in an interesting post yesterday.
Another Egger creation, as seen in a 1992 issue of Bicycling Magazine
Posted in Road.
Tagged with aero, road bike, Shiv, Specialized.
By James Thomas
– January 25, 2012
I am WAY overloaded with projects at the moment, so the links and topics that I have been meaning to post lately have been backing up. I won’t get to them all today, but I want to take a quick break from the madness and quickly pass along a few of them.
Core77 posted an interesting video of RTM carbon fiber manufacturing at TIME’s factory near Lyon, France. I thought the entire video was interesting, but particularly enjoyed seeing the individual strands of carbon woven into loose sleeves at the beginning.
The Left-handed Cyclist is the name of a new blog that I encourage you all to check out. “Reflections on the potential of human power for transportation” is the blog’s tagline, and it looks like a great place for thoughts and news about all types of human powered vehicles.
You have seen many different designs for hanging bikes on a wall, but The Bike Valet, by artisan furniture maker and product designer Steven Tiller, is a bit different. It is designed to be mounted to a single stud, and features two integrated hooks for a helmet, bags, etc. See the video, and learn more on The Bike Valet Kickstarter site.
I mentioned my affinity for vintage bike posters in a recent post. As part of Bikefest 2012, the city of Melbourne, Australia is hosting the 2012 UCI Track Cycling World Championships and is looking for a “vintage-style” poster design to promote the event. The top prize is $1,000 and four finalists will receive $500 each, so you might want to out your graphic design skills to work. Read more at Desktop magazine.
Speaking of Australia, Gus Duncan has been building wooden bikes on the Gold Coast for years. He is currently on a ‘sabbatical’ in Tokyo, and is riding his latest creation all around the city. He hopes to have a production bike available later this year, so stay tuned for more from Gus.
This Swedish plan for a superhighway for cyclists is definitely interesting, but the last paragraph of the article is what really grabbed my attention. Perhaps if Sweden goes ahead with this project, America will revive its superhighway system for cyclists. I won’t hold my breath…but I would love to see it happen in my lifetime.
The Londonist reports about a graphic designer who has created a new take on cycle route signage for the city.
Finally, I’ll mention this MTB-styled quadricycle that was posted at the recumbent blog. They point out that the project was “a collaboration between Mexican students of Mechanical Engineering and Industrial Design at UNAM (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México) and German students at TUM (Technische Universität München).”
Posted in Concept, MTB, Road, Student Design.
Tagged with carbon fiber, HPV, manufacturing, quadricycle, storage, TIME, wooden bike.
By James Thomas
– January 24, 2012
If you have been reading this blog for a while, you know that I have a weakness for time trial bikes. Like almost every new time trial machine, the new Cervelo P5 looks fast… even sitting still (and I am sure that it is a very fast bike with the right motor). What’s different about this bike though? Cervelo points out on their website four features that define the P5. I won’t rehash all the marketing copy here, but the hydraulic brakes by Magura are certainly one interesting detail that is generating a lot of attention. More interesting to me though is the fact that this frameset design exploits a few UCI loopholes quite nicely. Velonews has a great article about the P5 that explains how Cervelo engineers used the UCI rules to work to their advantage. Through the use of “gussets” that support the frame tubes, “the P5 actually has a 6:1 ratio, yet it still abides by the UCI’s 3:1 rule.” That 6:1 airfoil profile can be found on the version of the bike that is UCI legal, but there is another tri specific version (seen in the pictures here) with a fork design that completely ignores the UCI rules.
The fact that this bike is specifically geared toward the triathlon market is the main point that interests me about it. In a post last summer about TJ Tollakson’s bike, I said:
“Perhaps the results of an athlete like TJ Tollakson will get the big players in industry to think about developing more triathlon specific bikes that don’t comply with the UCI’s restrictions. After all, as long as there are triathletes choosing to ride old Softrides and Zipps over new Shivs, P4s, and Time Machines, there seems to be a market.”
This a great example of a bike designed and developed with that market in mind, and I suspect that we will see many more in the near future. As long as triathletes don’t have to comply by UCI rules, why shouldn’t bike companies give them the products that they want?
If you are interested in reading more about the P5, check out these recent posts at Slowtwitch, Road.cc, and BikeRumor.
Posted in Road.
Tagged with Cervelo, racing, time trial, triathlon.
By James Thomas
– January 19, 2012
I saw Margus Triibmann’s Tulip Fun Fun bike rack yesterday, and mentioned it on Twitter and Google+ saying, “This is a clever bike rack design. I’d be interested to see how it holds up over time in an urban environment though.” A few people replied with concerns about the security of a flexible bike rack, which is made from steel cable covered with a rubber hose material. I can certainly understand the durability and security concerns, but I really do like the idea behind this design (despite the use of a flimsy cable lock on the top tube in the photos). As the designers’ site points out, “Tulip Fun Fun provides freedom to choose the way and direction of placing the bike. The fixing place of the bike is not uniquely determined hence it is suitable for fixing bikes with different height and different type of frame.” There may be another advantage to the flexible design though. One common way to break a U- lock is to leverage it against the rack using a crowbar, or even with the bike frame itself, until it snaps. As Barry McCauley commented on Google +, this design could render that approach useless. Assuming the steel cable inside is sufficiently thick; I don’t think it would be any easier to saw through than a hollow steel tube either.
Design Milk posted this Columbus steel porteur bike, which was a collaboration between designer, framebuilder, and California College of the Arts professor Nicholas Riddle and San Francisco-based product and graphic design firm Shape Field Office. Overall, the bike looks very nice, and the details are well thought out. I like the use of the triathlon style brake levers to work with the swept back handlebars. The quarter and cork bar plugs on the tubing of the removable front rack are a nice touch too. Check out photos of those details and more on Shape Field’s website.
Posted in Commuter, Concept, Utility.
Tagged with bike racks, porteur, utility bike.
By James Thomas
– January 17, 2012
I am traveling for work this week, and my schedule has been pretty hectic. I don’t have much time to post, but I do want to quickly pass along a few links.
The custom track bike you see here was sent to me by a reader (actually by a reader’s girlfriend). It reminds me a bit of an old 90s Kestrel 500 SCi frame, without that unsightly appendage for the front derailleur.
I have posted a few times in the past about luminous paint for bicycles. Now you can check out this Instructable on how to paint a self luminescent bike at home.
The City of Bordeaux has invited well known industrial designer Philippe Starck to design “the bicycle of the future”. I am not so sure that Starck will be able to live up to that task, but his concept designs are always interesting. I’ll look forward to seeing what he comes up with in this case.
This “Drive Less, Bike More” poster caught my attention last week. I love both the message and the design.
Graphic designer Michael Mulvey also has an interesting poster series based on the Steve Jobs quote that “the computer is like a bicycle for our minds”. He has already reached his fundraising goal on Kickstarter, but check out his page there to see the design and find out more.
Speaking of bike posters, I am a big fan of vintage bike art (as you could tell if you looked at the walls for my workshop). Riding Pretty recently shared a few old bicycle company advertising posters as well as a newspaper from the early 20’s. It’s a great collection, so check it out!
Keeping with the vintage theme, this old photograph of a man on a water trike with a sail is definitely worth a look.
Finally, I want to mention this competition to design the Breakaway from Cancer® ‘Most Courageous Rider jersey’ that will be used in the 2012 Amgen Tour of California. If your design is selected, you will win a trip to the AToC, and you will get to present your jersey in a podium ceremony. Sounds pretty cool, so download the templates and get to work on a design
Posted in Concept.
Tagged with bike art, fixed gear, graphic design, links, track bike.
By James Thomas
– January 12, 2012
I finally had a chance to review this site’s stats from 2011, so it’s time for another year end recap post. Continuing the trend from 2009 and 2010, Bicycle Design’s traffic seems to be growing slightly. Google Analytics reports just over a million total pageviews (1,138,282) for the blog during 2011 from 191 different countries. The top referring site for the year, sending nearly 40% of all visitors, was still the old BicycleDesign.blogspot address, which now redirects to the new URL at bicycledesign.net. Apparently, old links to the site are still sending a significant amount of traffic… or maybe there are just many readers who still have the old site bookmarked. Beyond the redirects from the old Blogger site though (and not including traffic from Google, Facebook, or Twitter), the top 15 sites which referred traffic to Bicycle Design in 2011 were:
- BikeRadar
- London Cyclist
- Gizmodo
- Fat Cyclist
- MocoLoco
- Interbike Times
- Wired
- GizMag
- Urban Velo
- BikeRumor
- BikeForums.net
- Instructables
- EcoVelo ( a great blog that ended in 2011 and will be missed)
- People for Bikes.org
- Bicycling Magazine
The 15 most viewed posts in 2011 were also interesting to review. About half of the most popular posts from 2011 were actually older posts from 2010 (it is good to know that people are still reading some of those old posts). In order, the most viewed Bicycle Design posts for the year were:
- Shimano Alfine 11-speed
- Specialized McLaren Venge
- Rael: a road bike concept by Evan Solida
- The Smart ebike by Hussein Al-Attar
- Diesel/ Pinarello urban bike
- Learning bike concepts from TrekWorld 2012
- SR Suntour Swing Shock
- Picchio carbon bicycle by Nicola Guida
- Batavus BUB review
- Is TJ Tollakson the Graeme Obree of triathlon?
- Trimtab 3×3 recumbent trike
- E-bikes from Lexus and VW
- Forzer off-road handcycle by Marius Hjelmervik
- Urban Arrow- an electric assist bakfiets design
- Drymer: a Dutch electric assist trike
It is not too surprising that e-bike posts were popular again this year, though they did not dominate the list as they did in 2010. Overall, it seems like a good variety of bike (and trike…and quad) catagories showed up in the top 15 most viewed posts from 2011. But enough about the past year; now it’s time to see what 2012 will bring in the world of bike design. Whatever happens this year…look for it here.
Posted in Commuter, Concept, E-bike, Road, Utility.
Tagged with blog, links, New Year's.
By James Thomas
– January 4, 2012
I am back at my desk catching up after a great Holiday break. I have been on the internet very little in the last 2+ weeks, so I have a lot to share…once I get through some of this email. For now, I want to quickly point you to this interesting chromed Biscotti single speed from the folks at Vanguard. The recycled bike, built from a N.O.S. 1970’s Bridgestone frame, was recently featured at CycleEXIF. At first glance, the old dual top tube design reminded me of the Torker BMX bike that I rode (and loved) in the early 80s. Actually, I still own that old bike, and my son rides it occasionally these days.
Posted in Commuter, Road.
Tagged with recycling, singlespeed, urban bike, vintage.
By James Thomas
– January 3, 2012
I took time off from work last week to spend with my family, so I didn’t get a chance to post again after Monday. This week will be more of the same, so I want to take a minute to wish all of you a happy holiday season. The seven meter tall Christmas tree pictured here, made from recycled bikes and parts, was installed last year in Sydney, Australia by CMA Recycling. It took eight weeks to design and build and was left in place through the month of November. See more images at Oddity Central (via the Public Bikes Facebook page). To see an even bigger Christmas tree made from bikes, check out this one from Bicycling Colorado (via Bike Shop Girl).
I’ll be back at year’s end with a 2011 wrap up post (similar to this one from last year). Until then, enjoy the holidays and get out on your bike a bit. That’s my plan for the week at least.
Posted in Uncategorized.
Tagged with bicycle Christmas tree, Christmas.
By James Thomas
– December 26, 2011
In 2009, I reviewed the book Smart Move, which features pictures and descriptions of the 200 or so unique bikes in Michael Embacher’s collection. As an addition to Smart Move, and the later book Cyclepedia, Embacher is releasing an interactive iPad app, produced by Richard Loncraine and Patrick Uden. The app, which showcases the entire collection, will be available in the Apple app store starting tomorrow, but you can see a preview video now that shows the look and feel of it. Read more about the cyclopedia app at Road.cc, BikeBiz, and The Literary Platform.
Bike Art- bicycles in art around the world is volume one in a series by Kiriakos Iosifidis. The book features all types of artistic work inspired by the bicycle. According to the author, “it is a collection of colourful bicycle graffiti, paintings, remarkable bicycle designs, complex constructions, and various types of bicycles one can find on the streets around the world. More than 250 international artists, illustrators, painters, sculptors, industrial designers, photographers, and organizations present their works of art and give us insight into their personal views and relations to these charming two-wheeled vehicles.” Find out more, and see a few images from the book here.
Bicycle Life with Kawaii Girls is a completely different kind of bicycle art book. According to the website Halcyon Realms, it is a “collection of gorgeous art work from some of the top manga artists and illustrators working in Japan right now as they pay tribute to the popular bike culture in the country.” Read more and see images from the book at this Halcyon Realms post. Cyclelicious also has a recent post about this book. Thanks to Murray Breen for the tip.
I mentioned Thomas Yang’s bicycle art pieces and t-shirts recently in a post. His latest limited edition print called “Go With The Wind” is now available on his website.
Victor Coreas is another graphic designer who has created a series of bike related posters. You can see one of his designs here. Check out his site to see more.
Finally, I want to mention the book I am reading right now… Italian Racing Bicycles by Guido P. Rubino. The large format hardcover book covers the history of 40 Italian brands, many of which have been around for well over 100 years. I am about halfway though the book at the moment, and I am really enjoying it so far. Look for a full review here soon.
Posted in Uncategorized.
Tagged with art, bike art, books, posters.
By James Thomas
– December 19, 2011
Torkel Dohmers' ThisWay concept bike- winner of the 2008 design competition
It has been a while since the first design competition that I staged here at Bicycle Design. The “Commuter Bike for the Masses” competition at the end of 2008 took quite a bit of time to organize and administer, but it was a lot of fun to see, and discuss, the many creative entries from readers of this blog. If you missed that competition a few years ago, see these older posts about the 6 finalists, and the overall winner. You can also check several posts with the tag “commuter bike design competition” to see many of the other competition entries that we received.
Now that time has passed and I have started to forget the difficult parts of staging a juried competition, my thoughts have turned to running another one here at Bicycle Design. This time though, I would like for the design target to be a bit more focused than it was last time. I have a few ideas, but before I divulge those, I want to pose the question to all of you who read this blog regularly. What do you think would make a good topic for the next design competition here? Leave a comment, and tell me what specific product category or area within the cycling industry you think needs to be addressed from a design standpoint. I am open to suggestions, so now is your chance to shape the direction of the next competition.
At this point, I am just beginning to kick the idea around. Once I decide on a good topic though, I will assemble another jury of talented designers and figure out another great prize for the winner. I am looking forward to the 2012 competition already, so share your ideas now.
Posted in Commuter, Concept.
Tagged with contest, design competition.
By James Thomas
– December 12, 2011
Photo credit: TOSHIFUMI KITAMURA/AFP/Getty Images
The crew at Bike Hugger spotted an interesting concept bike that is currently on display at the Tokyo Motor show. Earlier this year, you may have read about the Yamaha PAS e-bike line, which the company developed specifically for the Japanese market. This new “PAS With” concept e-bike looks completely different from those welded aluminum frame models though, with a futuristic frame made from…carbon, plastic, sheet metal, bondo…who knows what? My assumption is that the prototype was created for the purpose of drawing attention at the show, and will not hit the market as shown… but again, who knows?
If anyone has more information about the Yamaha “PAS With”, leave a comment to fill me in. If nothing else, I am glad to see an electric bike drawing attendees’ attention from the cars at an automotive show.
Update 12/14: I’m passing along a bit of additional information about this concept bike. Thanks to Taku for this comment:
PasWith folded via http://www.yamaha-motor.co.jp
“I couldn’t find any info regarding a release date. One interesting thing is that this power-assist bike uses a motorized hub in the front. This probably explains that cable in the front.
There’s a promotional video on YouTube, but it doesn’t have any technical information on the bike. You can see the guy folding it though.
The link in the article points to Yamaha’s PAS site for currently available models and has no further information regarding this model. But their ‘special’ site developed for the Tokyo Motor Show has a small blurb, and more importantly a few more pics (The PAS With is like a 1/4 of the way down).”
Posted in E-bike, Tradeshows.
Tagged with auto show, concept bike, E-bike, electric bikes, Yamaha.
By James Thomas
– November 30, 2011
Image via BikeHugger.com
It is Cyber Monday today, so that means that you should all immediately stop reading blogs like this one and start buying lots and lots of stuff, right? OK…I am not really serious, but if you are planning on buying any bike related gifts today (for yourself or others), I hope that you will consider clicking through the links on this site. When you purchase through affiliates like Jenson USA or Eastern Mountain Sports, a small portion of the sale goes to support this website. The same is true any time you make your Amazon purchases through the Bicycle Design store. Those are just a few examples, but if you like the content here I encourage you to support all of the companies that advertise on this site and allow me to keep it going. I certainly don’t expect to get rich with this blog, but I do enjoy writing it, and every little bit helps.
Speaking of stuff you can buy, I’ll point you to the “Schindelhauer Ludwig Xiv Cs Elite Touring Bike”, which you can read more about at Bike Hugger. It is not a bad looking bike, but at first glance it appears to be an aluminum framed urban fixie or single speed with flat bars, disc brakes, and deep V rims. Closer inspection reveals a Rohloff hub and other details that warrant a higher price than one might initially guess…but $18,000…really? I am at a loss for who exactly they think might actually purchase a bike like this. Though I am certainly not the target customer, I can sort of understand the target market for an overpriced (and over the top) Gucci or Fendi bike, but this clean, urban 5 figure bike has me at a loss. If you have that kind of money to spend on a minimalist urban bicycle, why not commission a framebuilder to create something that is truly one of a kind…or as Byron says in a comment on his post, why not just go with a Civia with a Rohloff. That way, you can save several thousand dollars to blow on another bike like this one.
Posted in Commuter.
Tagged with overpriced, rohloff, urban bike.
By James Thomas
– November 28, 2011
That is NOT where the lower jockey wheel should be
It is almost Thanksgiving, and I am busy this afternoon trying to wrap up a few projects at work so I can spend the rest of the week with my family. I don’t really feel like doing a design related post today, so bear with me while I “think out loud” a bit and ask you all for a bit of feedback.
Thanksgiving this week means that it is also the middle of cyclocross season, and you can see from the attached photos that my cross bike is not exactly running smoothly after a mechanical mishap in a race a couple of weeks ago. I have another derailleur in place at the moment, and the bike is temporarily rideable again, but the shifting is far from ideal. The old 9-speed Ultegra that has been on that bike for a while has served me well, but the levers are now missing shifts occasionally and it is time for a drivetrain upgrade. I have been considering a few options, so allow me to outline them for you.
Time for a new cassette as well
Option 1- Buy another 9 speed Ultegra rear derailleur on eBay. That is an easy and cheap option and would work fine until the Ultegra brifters finally stop working altogether. I’d rather try something new though, and this option doesn’t provide that.
Option 2- Use the old 9 speed Dura-Ace 7700 group that I already have on a different bike. I was planning to sell an old Cannondale frame that I have with those components, but it would be easy to just switch them over to the cross bike. This was my first thought, but I am not really sure that I want to go that route. It might be better just to sell that bike as planned and try something different on the cross bike.
Option 3- Replace the components on my road bike with SRAM Force or Red and pass down the Ultegra 10 drivetrain to the cross bike. I could also build up the cross bike with new SRAM parts (option 4), but either way I would face the same dilemma…mixing STI and Double Tap on the various bikes that I ride.
Currently, my wife has a SRAM equipped road bike and for quite some time I have been thinking about trying a SRAM grouppo on one of my bikes. I haven’t done it yet though, mainly because I currently have three bikes set up with Dura-Ace and Ultegra components. I don’t want to “make the leap” with my road bike, commuter bike, and cross bike all at once, so I guess that brings me to my question. How many of you have multiple bikes with different shifting systems? The few times that I have ridden bikes with SRAM double tap levers, it has taken a little while to train my brain not to instinctively shift with the brake lever. I wonder if I would ever get used to having a road bike with SRAM shifters and two other bikes with STI. Would I start missing shifts on the cyclocross bike as I try to double tap a Shimano lever? I don’t know, but I would love to hear from any of you are currently riding both. If you switch back and forth on a regular basis, let me know how it works for you.
…and in case I don’t get a chance to post again this week, I want to wish all of my US readers a happy Thanksgiving. Make sure that you get out and ride after the big meal on Thursday.
Posted in Road.
Tagged with cyclocross, Shimano, SRAM.
By James Thomas
– November 22, 2011
The Sprinter by Jesse Meyer- via SRAM.com
SRAM’s pART PROJECT is a great idea to benefit a very worthy cause. As the SRAM website succinctly explains; “Artists transform bike parts into art. The art is auctioned off. The proceeds help people in need through World Bicycle Relief.” Well known artists were picked by Milwaukee based artist Terrence Coffman and SRAM Marketing Chief David Zimberoff. Each participating artist was given a box of 100 parts from SRAM, and challenged to make something from it. You can see all of the resulting sculptures on the pART PROJECT page…and you will soon have an opportunity to bid on one if you are interested.
Moving Constellations by Carolina Sardi- via SRAM.com
On Wednesday, November 30th at 6:00 pm CST, a gala pART PROJECT exhibition and auction will be held at Gallery 1028 in Chicago. The cost to get in the door will be $134, the exact amount needed for World Bicycle Relief to donate one bicycle that will change a life.
You can see three of the art pieces in this post, but you should check out SRAM’s website and find out more about each of them. If you are in Chicago, I encourage you to attend the event as well. It sounds like a fun night…and World Bicycle Relief is definitely a cause worth supporting.
Design for a Planet by Mark Castator- via SRAM.com
Posted in Uncategorized.
Tagged with art, SRAM, World Bicycle Relief.
By James Thomas
– November 18, 2011
So…what do you do when those 4” tires on your Surly Pugsley just don’t seem wide enough anymore? You have no choice but to built your own monster bike like the one show here (found via Marcus Santiago on Google +). If those tires don’t seem wide enough, you can always use a dragster tire in the rear…just make sure you have the legs and the gearing to start it rotating. And of course, there is always the tractor tire option for those who think that car tires are a bit too wimpy.
Also by way of Marcus Santiago is this video of trials rider Martin Ashton doing some pretty impressive trick riding on a Raleigh Avanti Team Carbon road bike. Notice that he is in the drops most of the time too…pretty impressive! I just wonder if a single frameset was used throughout the video. Regardless, I wouldn’t try this at home with your $5,000 race machine.
Here is a use for a vintage bike that you have probably never seen before. Benjamin Bullins used one as a sink pedestal in a custom bath installation. Pretty cool…and the use of the basket as a spot for towels is a nice touch! Via re-nest.
VeloNews is posting excerpts from the book Italian Racing Bicycles this week. I love this picture of Professor Dal Monte holding the original drawing of his design for Francesco Moser’s hour record bicycle. The VeloNews piece doesn’t go into much detail…but this picture alone gives me reason to pick up a copy of the book.
Speaking of books, the Bicycle Portraits project is almost headed to print. As their website explains, “Stan Engelbrecht & Nic Grobler have spent the last 2 years cycling over 6000 kilometers to collect over 500 portraits of everyday commuters throughout South Africa.” You can see one of the portraits here, and many more on their Kickstarter site, where you can pre-order the complete set of 3 books.
The San Francisco Bike Expo 2011 took place last weekend, and Cyclelicious has some pictures from Saturday’s Pedal Savvy bicycle fashion show that are worth checking out.
Finally, I want to mention the limited edition line of bike themed t-shirts and posters by Thomas Yang. As the name of his website implies, only 100 copies of each design will be released. A couple of the designs are already sold out, but check out the site to see what is available. Nice work, Thomas!
Posted in Concept.
Tagged with Africa, books, fashion, home decor, homemade, Italian bikes, links.
By James Thomas
– November 16, 2011
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