Hasta La Ideas

A few weeks ago, we took a look at the ‘work’ of Ines Brunn, a German expat and trick-cyclist extraordinaire who has currently set up shop (literally) in Beijing. And while Prolly documented a fair share of gorgeous vintage steel in the People’s Republic, it turns out Reuters TV beat him to the punch with this report from January of this year:

Ok, so the reporting is rather superficial—agency dude owns 30+ bikes; small-wheelers are setting up shop—but frankly any interest in cycling is good interest.¹ While the automobile remains the status symbol par excellence in China, the purportedly growing appreciation of the bicycle is certainly a step in the right direction, and I must say I concur with Yu Yiqun’s comment: “For people who don’t understand bikes, they ask, ‘Are you out of your mind?’ You could buy a car for the price of this bike. But we just have different ways of looking at things.”

Those definitely ain’t RMB… (photo via GoatLegSF on Flickr)

Not that even a highly coveted Gios (or Colnago, Tommasini, etc.) will ever have the same cachet as a Ferrari or Maserati, but at least it’s a far more practical way to navigate a city during rush hour.² Case in point, this 2011 Streetfilms short on “The Biggest, Baddest Bike-Share in the World,” in Hangzhou, China, which puts our almost-launched CitiBike to shame:

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UPDATE: Streetsblog has more from today’s press conference with Deputy Mayor Howard Wolfson and DOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan.

After all of the drama with the delayed launch last year, I could hardly believe it when I spotted a Citibike crew installing a bicycle share station around the corner from my house last weekend, and it seems that fellow transit enthusiasts also noticed the shiny new fixtures. Brooklyn Spoke posted their initial thoughts on the signage (with plenty of photos), while Streetsblog notes that “at the rate of eight station installations a day, it would take a little more than five weeks to put in the 293 stations that will form the first phase of the bike-share network.”

I’m also interested to see that this area is considered Bed-Stuy; image via Brooklyn Spoke

Over this past weekend, I’ve been seeing the telltale solar arrays throughout Fort Greene / Clinton Hill, each a beacon for a row of pylons, roughly the length of a bus stop, that will soon be home to squadrons of public bicycles. In fact, on my morning commute today, another crew was installing a station near on ramp of the Manhattan Bridge, at the corner of Sands St and Gold St—a major cycling thoroughfare where I happen upon cars and trucks idling in the bike lane at least once a week.

The station map, for better or for worse, looks like a yellow cloud over the entirety of Manhattan below 60th St and a veritable pizza slice of Brooklyn.

Traffic patterns aside, I’m curious as to how they arrived at the pricing structure—specifically, I’m concerned about the lack of a single ride option. The pricing starts at $9.95 for a 24-hour pass with unlimited 30-minute rides, adding incentive for residents to spring for the far more economical $95 annual pass, but the cost-benefit analysis for a single trip inevitably favors alternatives: subway, bus or foot, which come in at a fraction of the price even for a round-trip journey. I suppose the logic is that the annual pass will pay for itself even for moderate and/or seasonal users (i.e. $95 = ten days, or four weeks at $25/per), but only time will tell.

We’ll find out soon enough: As of this morning, Citi Bike is open for registration, with additional perks for “Founding Members.” Sign up here—by some estimates, new members are signing up at a rate of three per minute.

UPDATE: No word on launch date, but it’s slated for May.

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Design Yuhan Zhang imagines cities in 2030 being so congested they require multi-layered transportation systems that divide routes between pedestrian, commercial, and personal use. The system closely resembles a beehive, where individuals serving various tasks can use designated vehicles to get around and complete their missions. At the center of the hive, automated vehicles are dispatched directly to customers. For example, the Beetruck here is a programmable rental truck that’s perfect for transporting cargo.

Designer: Yuhan Zhang

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Yanko Design
Timeless Designs – Explore wonderful concepts from around the world!
Yanko Design Store – We are about more than just concepts. See what’s hot at the YD Store!
(Human Hives of the Future was originally posted on Yanko Design)

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It’s a car, it’s a yacht, it’s a plane…it’s Poursuivreve!  A vehicle aimed at challenging our concept of how to get around both practically and aesthetically.  The Poursuivreve’s stylistic call back to old time race cars, combined with its modern cockpit-like frame make it a sight for all generations and its aerodynamic angles and lipo battery-powered system spell its environmental premise.  With the Poursuivreve you can ride in style while saving the planet.

Designer: Yutong Wu

–
Yanko Design
Timeless Designs – Explore wonderful concepts from around the world!
Yanko Design Store – We are about more than just concepts. See what’s hot at the YD Store!
(Past, Present, Future Car was originally posted on Yanko Design)

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Over the past few days, we’ve seen the majority of the winners for the International Bicycle Design Competition (IBDC) 2013: the first 12, who won an invitation to a design workshop in Taiwan, and five more who won a bit of cash in addition to the invite. Without further ado, here are the judges’ selections for the top five prizes: Each of the designs seen here were deemed worthy of a very respectable 100,000 TWD prize (about $3,350).

ubqo sixty60 | Mountainbike Frame
Marco Giarrana – University of Design and Art, Basle, Switzerland

The ubqo sixty60 is a frame with strong, clean, independent lines that covers a wide range of uses. It eliminates the only real weak points of virtual pivot designs: it replaces two small linkages, which are exposed to extremely high loads, with large excenters, which can resist the loads much better and exhibit durability and stability. With its round-edged carbon profiles, the ubqo sixty60 is ready to tackle any terrain.

What the judges had to say: “It is a different frame design that is just like a universal adjustment for bikes of the newest generation.”

– I’m not sure exactly what’s going on with the points of articulation for the rear suspension, but it looks vaguely hubless to me.

The Glow Rider | Light System
Kuang-Chung Hao, Yi-Ching Lin & Yen-Liang Chen – National Taipei University of Technology, Taipei, Taiwan

Bicycling in the dark can be extremely dangerous. The Glow Rider is a flashing light, a taillight and a projection light all in one. The Glow Rider is mounted on the rear fender; it acts as a high-powered taillight. At a flick of the switch, the Glow Rider projects a bright beam of light onto the rider’s back. This creates a larger lit surface area, which makes the rider significantly more visible in the rain or dark.

What the judges had to say: “The idea is applicable to potentially any bike. Though we think about the future, bikes are also about encouraging sustainability. The idea is self-sustainability and it’s a good marketing point.”

– We’ve seen lights that project images on the road, but this fender-mounted ‘bat signal’ is an interesting twist. Combine with retroreflectivity for maximum effect (i.e. Nike Vapor Flash).

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