Comments on: More bikes in design magazines

By: A new bike rack design | Bicycle Design

A new bike rack design | Bicycle Design — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 01:03:09 +0000

[...] have mentioned the inverted-U bike rack design on the blog at least a couple of times before. In the NYC racks competition post I [...]

By: The new bike rack design for NYC | Bicycle Design

The new bike rack design for NYC | Bicycle Design — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 03:26:05 +0000

[...] park only two- exactly the same number as a 2-foot wide inverted U. I don’t mean to single out the ribbon rack again, but I do believe that the flexibility of a smaller 2-bike rack design is a benefit to architects [...]

By: bikesgonewild

bikesgonewild — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 23:30:00 +0000

…of a bigger concern than most engineering foibles, which could be countered, are the prices…starting @ 7,500 simoleons for the pedal /electric is steep but $17,500 for the pi ‘x’ is another story…a 40cc 4-stroke & a 48v electric motor w/ regenerative braking will give you a lotta mpg but w/ no suspension, ouch…
…$17,500 is enough long green to buy a nice buell or ducati & although they leave a bigger carbon footprint, & aren’t as economical, the pi is still hard to justify…how much self amortizing can you handle ?…

…next time i go into town, i’d like to stop in & check out their set-up…electric bikes are kind of a guilty pleasure if you’ve ever ridden one…newbie on his ‘nago has gotta pedal REAL hard to get away & yer not even sweating…

…anyway, on a similar electric note is that china is now concerned about the many millions of electric bikes being sold & the resultant lead pollution that is occurring…i assume that can be countered by the various newer forms of batteries now being utilized…

…it isn’t always practical, in this day & age, but nothing beats pedaling…

By: Art

Art — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 14:00:00 +0000

I can’t see nearly enough detail on those photos to say that the brake would fail quickly. There’s no reason why a fork can’t be designed to handle the load. Reverse mounting is going to cause long term durability issues with the caliper body, but I can’t say how long. The stresses could however be drastically reduced by using a larger rotor.

By: bikesgonewild

bikesgonewild — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 22:42:00 +0000

…design w/o regard…i was seized by the cool, curved organic look…

…i see the pi-bike as an interesting but hugely expensive design exercise but certainly not garbage…you’re absolutely right as regards the front brake mounting the way it stands, but there are no insurmountable problems that couldn’t be re-engineered, as the fork, like the frame is a fabricated aluminum piece…

…i was immediately reminded of the confederate motor (cycle) co.’s ‘wraith’ which features that same large diameter, curved backbone…but w/out suspension considerations here, the logical design conclusion was to extend the curve down to each dropout…

…anyway, at 8g’s, i’m not expecting the pi to be my new town & grocery bike, but i do like the look…

…art, unfortunately, as we all know, “being blindingly obvious” is often neither the foremost nor the final conclusion to many ideas…even good designers have the occasional “doh” lapse…

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 17:38:00 +0000

I don’t think so. They obviously wanted the arc of the fork to look the way it does.’Patent Pending Arc’ you know. Look at the front caliper set up… it’s terrible in a number of ways. It would fail quickly.

By: Art

Art — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 17:31:00 +0000

bikesgonewild:
The stapler reminds me of a story from back in the days when the striking pads were on the insides of match books. An obvious fire hazard. After months spent trying to figure out a safer solution, a major match company put up a sizable cash award for ideas. At that point, a lone visionary walked in and simply told them to move the pad to the outside of the book. Being blindingly obvious is the mark of all good ideas.

Anonymous 10:50:
I believe the idea of the front brake on the Pi bike was to keep the braking moment from trying to eject the wheel from the dropouts. This is a very real risk, as the average consumer isn't going to be big on checking their skewer before every ride. A good idea in theory, but I also wouldn't want to try it with standard sized post bolts.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 15:50:00 +0000

The Pi bike is garbage. Look at that front disc mount! They simply took a (cheap) raked fork, turned it around, clamped a (plastic) shroud around it and what did they get? Man instead of the rotor forces pushing the caliper into the fork, and away from the bolt heads, the two bolts now take ALL on the heavy forces. That would fail quickly. At least you would look cool with a smashed face.

Design Without Regard.

By: bikesgonewild

bikesgonewild — Sat, 10 Nov 2007 04:15:00 +0000

…absolutely, patrick, ab-so-lutely, as soon as i noticed castellanodesigns, i was agreeing w/ you, before i even finished reading…ya, the simplified application of a complicated thought process is fascinating…

…the lightweight shaped stays compensate for torque twist while offering a ‘balanced’, aligned vertical compliance, utilizing as you mentioned, the metals natural properties…a multi-faceted creative solution…

…i don’t know john well, but we’ve talked through the years at events & beyond his obvious intelligence, he’s a very genuine person…

…briefly back to the stapler…i’m glad you’re familiar w/ that one…
…it made a real impression on me although i’ve seen more “impressive” functional designs…

By: patrick

patrick — Sat, 10 Nov 2007 02:52:00 +0000

bikesgonewild,

I totally agree with you on the stapler example. The result was truly form following function.

Something in the bike world that I have always thought was a good example is this:

http://www.castellanodesigns.com/fango.html

The non-standard look of the chainstays is due solely to their role in creating a solution to a problem; providing a light weight, very low maintenance rear suspension system. To me, the “coolness” of this frame is the way that the specific properties of the material are used by the engineer to create the solution. Kind of the opposite of designs where I think the “icing” is considered more important than the “cake”.