Comments on: Prelude: a bicycle for the non-enthusiast

By: ian

ian — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 16:42:52 +0000

the first 30+ years of the car’s existence they were considered toys with no value. many minds of the day mentioned the car as a passing fad and a play toy for the rich, while regaling the bicycle as the transportation wave of the future. it wasn’t until cars were successfully mass produced and marketed the every man that they became commonplace. i agree that bicycles need that same marketing to gain mass appeal and a big way of doing that isn’t integrating everything…its making them cheap and sturdy with lots of optional accessories. people LOVE buying accessories and personalizing their stuff. it allows people to feel like their mass produced bike that everyone has is different.
bicycles started being looked down upon after WWII because many people saw them as european. cars were aggressively marketed to the middle class as american and patriotic. they also became more and more necessary as americas populations shifted to the suburbs where bicycles were all but useless as real transportation and became relegated to children’s toys. Schwinn understood this and focused its marketing on children with crap bikes like the varsity and the stingray which had junk parts and were cheap to make but looked really cool.

By: ian

ian — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 16:24:19 +0000

mag style wheels have much lower strength to weight ratio than tangential spoked wheels. spoked wheels aren’t weak because of the spokes themselves or the weight the support, but because they are often poorly built. a properly tensioned 32 spoke wheel is more than adequate for heavy duty trail riding, a well build 36 spoke wheel, laced 4 cross can easily support a tandem team that would crush a mag type wheel and is well overbuilt for city riding. mag wheels also transfer bumps and road vibration to the rider better which counteracts any suspension effect the larger tires provide. the solution is handbuild wheels and reasonably wide (38mm+) tires. not mag wheels and huge tires. the former is lighter, stronger, and offers a smoother ride while the latter is weak for its weight and not as smooth…

By: Pulse urban concept bike from Teague | Bicycle Design

Pulse urban concept bike from Teague | Bicycle Design — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 03:02:37 +0000

[...] I want to quickly point you to the Pulse urban bike concept by the designers at Teague. Like the Prelude concept bike that I posted not long ago, this design features a luminescent frame. “Dana Krieger, Industrial [...]

By: jerry'sdaughter

jerry'sdaughter — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 14:08:23 +0000

I am no design expert but here are my comments as a cyclist.

I use my hybrid bike for multiple purposes - recreational trail rides, local errands, and commuting. It serves these purposes reasonably well, though isn't well outfitted for commuting. Your idea of built in lights is great. A horn loud enough to be heard inside vehicles and over traffic noise by pedestrians would be good.

Here's my plea as a rider who shops for clothes in the petite section and who needs a step through frame - either redesigned accessories that can fit the frame size or small step throughs made so standard accessories (saddle and handlebar bags, water bottle holders, etc) fit.

By: aleix

aleix — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 11:23:50 +0000

Hi there,

In 2005 I designed a similar set of ideas and actually shared with the community. It's not so nice to pick up the ideas of someone and create that same thing….well…I guess we all get inspiration from the rest…but it's not bad to recognize or reference other works.

I had uploaded a more detailed visuals before….but removed them from the net. If anyone is interested I can provide them in this blog…

http://www.coroflot.com/public/individual_file.asp?individual_id=46288&portfolio_id=1595056&

I guess we all move on…

cheers

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 21:56:07 +0000

Spiny Norman has some good points.

Riding in the city (with street-lights), I thought a 3W incandescent was good enough. When I got a job that required ~2-3km of highway driving, I found I could not see debris until it was already too late to avoid them. I then bought a dual-bulb 6W halogen system (12 watt max). That was much better.. while the battery lasted. You start running into the issue where you have to square the power output to double the illumination

I suspect the batteries used in the design are NiCd, and are used for voltage regulation. That is, unless the inherent voltage regulation of the dyno-hubs has improved over the years.

Also, I vote for full fenders as well!

Regards,

James Phillips

By: Anna

Anna — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 13:47:57 +0000

You should go to a big Dutch bike shop and get some ideas.... the Dutch are doing just about all these things right now! Check this website out for some inspiration - http://www.gazellebicycles.com.au/

By: C

Sat, 06 Jun 2009 23:52:44 +0000

" Cars are also not sold by a retailer. That means, this can't be the problem."

Except that cars have been around for decades now and are already widely accepted. Bikes are not. Big difference. The acceptance of the car as a part of everyday life took very little time and there wasn't really a period where cars were perceived as being toys with no practical value. That's not the case for bikes which most adults do perceive as being solely for recreation.

By: Charlie

Charlie — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 17:30:28 +0000

@Dirk:

I'm not actually against internal cable routing in general. Just wanted to point out that the reason for it given in the pdf is bogus. I did bypass it in my winter bike that is exposed to extremes of salt spray and it was helpful in that case. But in general it's not a problem either way.

You asked what I like about Dutch bikes:
-Practical provisions, such as lights, fenders and rack are integrated in the design, not afterthoughts or kludges.

-Low maintenance, largely because of the internal gearing and full chaincase; often hub brakes--features shared by this design.

-Designed to to ridden in street clothes.

-Many now have stems that allow adjusting the handlebar position in two axes with no tools. That's a move in the right direction at the same time that the rest of the industry has moved away from adjustable fit by adopting the threadless headset/clamp-on stem system.

-Designed to last forever, unlike my Al MTB frame that cracked after less than a decade of regular use on a short commute.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 14:27:19 +0000

I like the light concept but they need to be brighter . And let's get real no fenders and a lame storage rack , hardly a useful neighborhood bike . Still a well thought out bike that needs some design tweaks .

Some things any bike for the non enthusiast needs ,

Reliability ,can you leave it outside all year and then jump on it and ride away ? Computers and cars were mentioned .

Can you see it .Lights , lights , lights ....

You need to be able carry about a bag or two of groceries as needed . Nobody may do it , just think they can .

Tires casual cyclists are amazed that you have flat tires on bicycles . Think about it motorists hardly if ever change a tire . I drive A LOT " don't want to " and if I change a tire once every five years it's unusual . A friend who went on a charity ride went into shock when he had a flat .

Turn signals would be good as most of the motorists have no idea what a hand signal means .

Fenders and chain-guards , places or ways to hook on stuff as needed . Water bottle or a travel mug for the morning cup of Joe / Tea.

Keep it affordable max of $500 as dedicated cyclists we think nothing of spending thousands on a bike that we have to work on before and after each ride .And yet you can buy a used car for less and not mess with it to drive to the Deli .

Comfortable !Easily adjustable .

Most people don't live where it's flat it needs gears .

Style , needs to look nice .

A good marketing campaign .After all look at all the people that got conned into buying Hummers probably the least useful , gas wasting polluting transportation there is and it's ugly !

Random Ray