Bicycle Design

Author: James

  • "Innovate or Die"

    This sounds pretty interesting. Specialized recently launched the “Innovate or Die” contest on YouTube, which challenges participants to create a machine that “transforms pedaling energy into a new and useful purpose”. To enter, you, and up to 4 other design team members, can post a video of your machine before December 15th. The winner will…

  • How did I miss this?

    A recent Treehugger post pointed to the Momo Design City bike, which somehow I missed seeing until now. The titanium and carbon city bike received a silver designation in the Eurobike Awards 2007 (you can also see the designs that received gold awards this year here). The Momo Design bike looks very slick and features…

  • 2 years old

    Really, 2 years? Wow. It is hard to believe that it has been that long since the day I started this blog on a whim. At the time, I never would have imagined that I would still be blogging about bike design two years later, but here I am. In September of 2005, I had…

  • 6 questions for Chad Lockart, Sr. Designer at Trek

    When I mentioned the Fisher Simple City bike a couple of weeks ago, I said that I would follow up with more information about the prototype. It took a while for me to get around to it, but I finally asked Chad Lockart, Sr. Industrial Designer at Trek, a few questions by email about the…

  • A belt drive singlespeed

    Belt drive bikes are nothing new. Archibald Sharp mentioned belt and steel band driven bike transmissions in his 1896 text “Bicycles and Tricycles”. I haven’t talked much about belt drive, but I have mentioned bikes on this blog before that use a belt instead of a chain. I know about some of the problems historically…

  • Remember these? Sweet Wings

    As you probably know from a fairly recent post, I have been digging through some of the stuff in my bike room lately. Last night, I came across my old Sweet Parts catalog from the mid nineties. Man, I absolutely loved those Sweet Wings cranks when they first came out, which probably explains why I…

  • Wages in China

    A reader, Patrick, pointed me toward an interesting article in the New York Times about wage increases in China. The article uses the Dahon bicycle factory in Shenzen as an example. It starts out by mentioning one worker who is making about 25% more than he was at the beginning of the year through a…

  • Slipstream jersey design contest

    You might be wondering if this is going to be an actual design related post, or just a thinly veiled attempt to force you to view another one of my US Pro race pictures. I guess the answer is a little of both. My 9 year old commented while we were watching the time trail…

  • US Pro race photos

    It has been a great weekend of racing here in Greenville. For those of you who are interested, I have uploaded some of my photos from the road race and the time trial to a Flickr set. This shot shows Levi Leipheimer charging solo toward the finish line to claim the stars and stripes jersey…

  • Jackknife 2.0?

    Earlier this afternoon, Cyclelicious posted about a Cannondale prototype from Eurobike that looks a lot like a chain drive version of the foldable Jackknife concept bike. You can find out more about the prototype on the Cyclelicious post and also see the prototype here, here, and here. I am hoping to find out a little…

  • Eurobike and more

    Eurobike is underway right now, but I am not paying as much attention to it as I would like (I am busy at work and also kind of focused on what is coming up in Greenville). If you are looking for pics from Eurobike, Fritz has posted a great list of bloggers who are covering…

  • Concept Bicycles Flickr Pool

    If you read this blog and also have a Flickr account, don’t forget about the Concept Bicycles pool that I started not long ago. So far, only two other people have submitted designs to the pool. The Luxo bike light sketch (pictured here) by Flickr user f9593n was the first image in the group, other…

  • Race weekend is coming

    I haven’t mentioned it yet this year, but I am once again excited about the USA Cycling Championships that will be taking place right here in Greenville, SC this coming weekend. Just like last year, I will be riding in the Palmetto Peloton Project Ride, which will take place on Sunday, the same day as…

  • 3 practical bikes

    There is no doubt that we are going to see many more commuter/ shopper oriented bike designs on the market in the near future. In just the past few days, I have run across the new designs that are pictured here. Expect to see many more as tradeshow season approaches. The Soulville from Masi is…

  • 1000 Limes

    As many of you know, bike advocacy is important to me and I mention it here from time to time. Last time I posted specifically about advocacy, I happened to mention Trek President John Burke’s speech at the National Bike Summit. In the comments section, a reader took issue with Mr. Burke’s speech, saying that…

  • Design For Development

    Design For Development is a Canadian nonprofit group that develops design concepts that aim to improve the living situation of those residing in developing companies. Currently, the group is working on bicycle ambulances for use in sub-Saharan Africa. Patty sent me the information about this group, so I’ll let her tell you a bit about…

  • Big Wheels

    In the past few days, several readers have pointed me toward a recent Gizmodo post about a monocycle replica from 1873. The replica, which was handmade by a man in Spain, features a 6.16 foot diameter wheel. The workmanship is very impressive and the machine itself looks like it would be a lot of fun…

  • Inside Trek

    Guy Kawasaki recently toured the Trek facility in Waterloo Wisconsin and posted about his visit. With Michael Sagan of the Industrial Design Department as his host for the day, he apparently had a great opportunity to peak into the product development process at the company. Pictured here is part of the product development area, where…