Year: 2007
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Off to Brasstown Bald
Last year, my kids and I really enjoyed watching this stage of the Tour de Georgia. Here we are stopped by one of the many waterfalls along the hike to the top. This year, the Brasstown Bald stage falls on a school day, so I will be there with just my youngest (this is his…
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An urban bike concept from Cannondale
Like the Jackknife design, which I have posted before, this is a commuter bike concept from a graduate student at Elisava Design School in Barcelona. Unlike the Jackknife, which relies on future technology to work, Cristian Ciuraneta Catalan designed a bike that is based on current bicycle technology. This bike features mountain bike geometry and…
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A bit more from Sea Otter and a couple design jobs
Yesterday, I noticed this picture of an interesting Specialized Globe electric bike prototype on Bike Commuters. I have seen similar details on a few of Specialized’s previous concept bikes, so I am guessing that Robert Egger was the designer behind this one as well (correct me if I’m wrong). Anyway, Check out the Bike Commuters…
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A quick post today
SRAM just officially launched their new Power meter equipped crankset at the Sea Otter classic. An SRM crankset doesn’t come cheap, but this integrated, low q-factor design from SRAM makes sense if you need to measure power output. Read more about it here and here. Okay, that was a rushed post. Why? Because I am…
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A high tech helmet and other student designs
I saw this student helmet design yesterday on Spare Cycles. The Pulse helmet concept, which features a Bluetooth headset and mp3 capabilities, is a finalist in the Australian Design Award’s student category sponsored by Dyson. It looks nice and I like the idea of integrating lights into a helmet that is aimed at the commuter…
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Do you want to listen to these guys (and gal)?
Wait, don’t answer too fast. If you are interested in the design of bicycles, you probably really do want to hear what they have to say. If you live anywhere near Kohler, Wisconsin, you can get the chance at the upcoming IDSA Midwest regional conference (register here). On Friday, April 20th, the Trek Bicycles industrial…
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Atlas bikes
A reader, Mike, left a comment not long ago about the Atlas bike that he rode in India. His comment about those “heavy, slow, indestructible” utilitarian bikes prompted this post. For those of you who are interested, here is a picture that Mike sent me of the bikes to which he was referring. Read a…
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Trikes and Macs
I followed a link from designboom this morning to find these great shots of tricycles in Beijing. Since I mentioned utilitarian bikes around the world in a recent post, I want to pass these pictures along. If you are interested, you can also find a few of my own pictures of Chinese bikes and tricycles…
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Friday links
I am in a hurry today, but I want to quickly pass along a few links of interest. Check out the Trek Lime blog for an interesting podcast. Trek used Solidworks software in the development of the Lime, so the folks at Solidworks talked to Trek’s senior industrial designer Hans Eckholm about the design of…
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What kind of bikes can change the world?
I was going to post something else today, but an anonymous comment left in response to my last post got my attention: “The Bicycles that can change the world are not made of carbon, do not have aero spokes, do not have 10 speed drivetrains. More likely, they are closer to the Atlas bike I…
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Toy bikes?
I like to receive comments and email from readers, so I it is not my intention to pick on anyone, but something in a recent email struck me as funny. I got a message from a reader who said he likes the blog, but not all the “impractical toy bicycles” that I have been posting…
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Should designers stay away from bicycles?
“Sometimes I wish designers would stay away from bicycles”. Certainly I don’t agree, but “someone” posted that statement on the Core 77 discussion forum. Actually, the comment was left a long time ago in response to a thread that I started in an attempt to generate a few concept submissions to bicycle design. In recent…
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The Wild Buffalo and more on Coasting
This concept bike is not new, so some of you may have seen it before. A reader, Brian, sent this image to me and I knew I had seen it somewhere before. This bike, designed by Jason Su and called the Wild Buffalo, won 3rd place in the 2004 Taiwan International Bicycle Design competition (for…
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The Electrobike Cometh
Note from James: This is Michael Downes’ second submission to Bicycle Design (wow, he is on a roll). If you are new to the blog and don’t know who Michael is, read the profile about him that I wrote last February. Since that time, Michael has left his position at Giant Bicycles to work as…
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Coasting follow up
I just found out today though a Technorati link that Raleigh has a blog. Great, I am always glad to see new blogs from bike companies. Check out their post from yesterday for additional links about their Coasting bike and the Shimano Coasting concept in general.
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IDEO’s Coasting design
As you probably already know from reading this blog, I am a big fan of new designs that target those who don’t already ride a bike. When Shimano came out with the Coasting group last year, I couldn’t wait to see new designs emerge that were based around the group. I think the Trek Lime…
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Lots of Links
A lot of great bike design content has popped up on the web in the week or so that I haven’t been posting. I won’t elaborate, but I want to quickly pass along a few of the interesting things that I have seen lately. First, of course, is The North American Handmade Bicycle Show, which…
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In Praise of Powergrips
Note from James: This is the long awaited first post from guest contributor Michael Downes. His timing couldn’t be better since I am too busy to post anything right now (I’ll probably be back at the end of this week). I really enjoyed reading this post, and I think you will too. Thanks Michael. The…