People People’s Ultraminimal ‘Spiran’ City Bike
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Last we heard from People People, we took a look at their ‘invisible’ speaker; the Stockholm-based design studio has since come out with several modern, minimal variations in highly competitive product categories, including headphones and a pocket watch. Their latest project is an update to yet another widely-used but largely undifferentiated product, the bicycle, and once again, People People strip the product to its essence and proceed to improve it with just a few signature details.
Taking inspiration from the iconic Kronan city bike—a workhorse despite its weight—the “Spiran” is “the sleeker and younger sibling of Kronan that moved into the city,” and its name is a reference to that of its beloved predecessor: “Kronan is Swedish for ‘Crown,’ and Spiran means ‘Scepter.'” Besides its clean lines and slim form factor, we were impressed with the integrated lock (sketch below; GIF after the jump); the premium materials and belt drive are also intended to maximize its utility with minimal maintenance.
We had the chance to talk to designer / People People co-founder Per Brickstad about the “Spiran”:
To what degree is the Spiran is a successor to the Kronan, and to what degree is it a departure?
Per Brickstad: Kronan is based on old Swedish military bikes. Its sturdy, simple, rugged, reliable functionality has gone straight into the Swedish customers’ hearts since it was introduced back in the 90’s. The values listed above would probably in themselves be enough for a successful product, but I’m as a designer very fascinated by the way Kronan as a brand was so easily accepted as an obvious, unobtrusive instant design classic. People actually think it’s a 120 year old brand rather than 20 years. In the same way Spiran takes inspiration from old Swedish postal bikes, and old porteur bikes in general, combined with inspiration from the more recent fixed-gear city messenger. These bikes were all made to transport things through a city, and are therefore the obvious inspiration for a modern city version of Kronan.
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