Bicycle Design

Mohsen Saleh’s RWS recumbent

James Thomas — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 18:37:57 +0000

Mohsen Saleh, a design engineer living in Milan, Italy, has been working on a rear wheel steering recumbent bike design (in his spare time) for about a year. In a recent post on his blog, Mohsen explained his three main objectives for the project:

To eliminate the long chains used on current recumbent bikes
To eliminate interference of legs with the steering front wheel
To design a recumbent bike with more potential for use in urban environments (a bike that is easier to stop and start, considering constant traffic interruption in cities)

Just recently, he built his first prototype of his design, which in addition to rear wheel steering, features a planetary hub gear in the front wheel. Check out his post for more information about the bike and its transmission, and see this video showing the prototype construction and the steering and gearing systems at work. You can also find additional photos of his prototype here. Prior to his RWS bike design, Mohsen worked on a lean steer trike with a similar planetary gear system, so take a look at his post about that project as well.

As you probably know, designing a stable rear wheel steering bike is a difficult task, and Mohsen covers a few of his design challenges in the post. He points out that his prototype, while rideable, is a bit wobbly, and he lists a few known issues that he wants to fix with his next design. He is also looking for feedback from anyone with experience designing a RWS bike. If you wish to offer any input that might help him with his second prototype, leave a comment here, at his post, or contact him through his blog.

US readers, contact your Representative today

James Thomas — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 14:24:37 +0000

I have a backlog of design related topics that I have been meaning to discuss here at Bicycle Design, but those posts are going to have to wait… at least one more day. This morning, I want to take a minute to mention the American Energy and Infrastructure Jobs Act, which was proposed yesterday in the US House of Representatives by Congressman John Mica of Florida. In his announcement, Mica said, “This bill will put Americans back to work rebuilding our roads and bridges and developing new sources of low cost energy.” OK, putting Americans back to work sounds good on the surface, but how does eliminating the already miniscule percentage of funding going toward bicycle and pedestrian projects further that goal? As US Secretary of Transportation Ray Lahood’s Fast Lane blog pointed out last year, “bicycle projects created nearly twice as many jobs per dollar spent than typical road projects.”

Highways and Transit Subcommittee Chairman John J. Duncan of Tennessee went on to say, “These jobs will also greatly improve highway safety. Highway fatalities have steadily declined in recent years, and the funding provided in this bill will work to continue improving safety.” Again, that may sound good as a soundbite, but he failed to mention the fact that, while car deaths have dropped, pedestrian and cycling fatalities have INCREASED in recent years. The press release states that this new bill does not contain any of the numerous “earmarks” that were found in SAFETEA-LU. I assume that Transportation Enhancements and Safe Routes to School, two programs that would both be eliminated under this bill, are two of the earmarks to which they are referring. If they really want to address the issue of wasteful spending, the House Highways and Transit Subcommittee should look at the indirect and hidden costs associated with our automobile centric system (the most heavily subsidized transportation system in the world). Ken Kifer, who was tragically killed by a drunk driver while cycling in 2003, wrote a great piece on his website discussing the true cost of automobile use. More recently, an article in the New York Times yesterday provided an economist’s perspective on the issue of traffic congestion. We are facing a transportation problem that cannot be solved by building more and more roads just for cars, but that is exactly what this new bill aims to do.

The League of American Bicyclists states that this bill would “reverse all the progress we have made in the past twenty years.” That is a bold statement, but not one that is off the mark. The Highways and Transit Subcommittee will vote on this bill tomorrow morning before a full House vote soon after, so it is very important that you voice your opinion today. The LAB, America Bikes, and Transportation for America all have links that you can use to contact your contact your Representative. Congressman Tom Petri of Wisconsin will offer an amendment that restores funding for Transportation Enhancements and Safe Routes to School programs, but it won’t pass without strong support from cyclists all across the country. Take a minute right now to let Congress know that you care about bicycle transportation. As the LAB mentioned in their call to action, this is as urgent as it gets!

A couple of folding bike concepts

James Thomas — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 18:07:35 +0000

For his thesis project at the Academy of Art in San Francisco, Industrial Design graduate student Ramon Hung designed the Velo Chic folding bike, which is specifically aimed toward women living in urban areas. On his portfolio site, Raymon points out that:

“In America, women comprise only 25% of bicycle riders. The main factor that leads to this gender gap is that the industry trend of bicycles continues to focus on the existing bicyclists and ignoring the needs of the non-riders.”

That theme of bikes designed for the large “blue ocean” of current non-cyclists has been discussed on this blog many times, starting with a guest post by Mark Sanders several years ago. The topic always generates an interesting debate about what (if anything) can be changed on a standard traditional bicycle in order to better appeal to those who do not currently ride at all. In this case, Raymon chose to target the subset of urban women within that blue ocean, and I am curious to hear your thoughts about his solution. Check out the additional renderings, sketches, and prototype photos on his website, and let me know what you think.

Another interesting folding bike concept comes from Philip Crewe. He designed the bike a while ago, but just recently built a ridable prototype. The concept is based on a full size frame, with an S and S style coupling on the downtube and two hinge joints on the top tube. I am not sure if a similar concept has been tried before, but it seems like a simple solution that works pretty well. Check out his video on Vimeo to see the bike in action.

Velo Chic spotted via Design Buzz

Robert Egger’s lunch ride bike

James Thomas — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 22:57:02 +0000

Egger's Lunch Ride "Cheater" bike...a road version of the Shiv

I have mentioned Robert Egger, Specialized’s Creative Director, a few times in the past. He has worked at Specialized since 1987, and in that time has created some pretty interesting concept bikes (like the one at the bottom of this post from a 1992 issue of Bicycling Magazine).

In their Google + stream, Byron from Bike Hugger just posted a few pictures of Egger’s personal “lunch ride” bike, which looks a lot like a road version of the Shiv. I wonder if this is version of the Shiv road prototype that eventually became the Venge, or just a bike that Egger built to help him keep up with the young, fast guys on the famed Specialized lunch ride. Either way, it looks fast. As Byron commented though, it is not a bike you would “want to be next to in the peloton when the wind changes.” True, but with a bike like this, he should be riding off the front anyway.

Update: See more pictures on the Specialized Facebook page.

Update to the update: Neil Browne shared his thoughts about this bike in an interesting post yesterday.

Another Egger creation, as seen in a 1992 issue of Bicycling Magazine

Carbon manufacturing at TIME and assorted bike links

James Thomas — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 18:22:54 +0000

I am WAY overloaded with projects at the moment, so the links and topics that I have been meaning to post lately have been backing up. I won’t get to them all today, but I want to take a quick break from the madness and quickly pass along a few of them.

Core77 posted an interesting video of RTM carbon fiber manufacturing at TIME’s factory near Lyon, France. I thought the entire video was interesting, but particularly enjoyed seeing the individual strands of carbon woven into loose sleeves at the beginning.

The Left-handed Cyclist is the name of a new blog that I encourage you all to check out. “Reflections on the potential of human power for transportation” is the blog’s tagline, and it looks like a great place for thoughts and news about all types of human powered vehicles.

You have seen many different designs for hanging bikes on a wall, but The Bike Valet, by artisan furniture maker and product designer Steven Tiller, is a bit different. It is designed to be mounted to a single stud, and features two integrated hooks for a helmet, bags, etc. See the video, and learn more on The Bike Valet Kickstarter site.

I mentioned my affinity for vintage bike posters in a recent post. As part of Bikefest 2012, the city of Melbourne, Australia is hosting the 2012 UCI Track Cycling World Championships and is looking for a “vintage-style” poster design to promote the event. The top prize is $1,000 and four finalists will receive $500 each, so you might want to out your graphic design skills to work. Read more at Desktop magazine.

Speaking of Australia, Gus Duncan has been building wooden bikes on the Gold Coast for years. He is currently on a ‘sabbatical’ in Tokyo, and is riding his latest creation all around the city. He hopes to have a production bike available later this year, so stay tuned for more from Gus.

This Swedish plan for a superhighway for cyclists is definitely interesting, but the last paragraph of the article is what really grabbed my attention. Perhaps if Sweden goes ahead with this project, America will revive its superhighway system for cyclists. I won’t hold my breath…but I would love to see it happen in my lifetime.

The Londonist reports about a graphic designer who has created a new take on cycle route signage for the city.

Finally, I’ll mention this MTB-styled quadricycle that was posted at the recumbent blog. They point out that the project was “a collaboration between Mexican students of Mechanical Engineering and Industrial Design at UNAM (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México) and German students at TUM (Technische Universität München).”

Cervelo P5- rules are meant to be broken…or at least bent

James Thomas — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 18:15:42 +0000

If you have been reading this blog for a while, you know that I have a weakness for time trial bikes. Like almost every new time trial machine, the new Cervelo P5 looks fast… even sitting still (and I am sure that it is a very fast bike with the right motor). What’s different about this bike though? Cervelo points out on their website four features that define the P5. I won’t rehash all the marketing copy here, but the hydraulic brakes by Magura are certainly one interesting detail that is generating a lot of attention. More interesting to me though is the fact that this frameset design exploits a few UCI loopholes quite nicely. Velonews has a great article about the P5 that explains how Cervelo engineers used the UCI rules to work to their advantage. Through the use of “gussets” that support the frame tubes, “the P5 actually has a 6:1 ratio, yet it still abides by the UCI’s 3:1 rule.” That 6:1 airfoil profile can be found on the version of the bike that is UCI legal, but there is another tri specific version (seen in the pictures here) with a fork design that completely ignores the UCI rules.

The fact that this bike is specifically geared toward the triathlon market is the main point that interests me about it. In a post last summer about TJ Tollakson’s bike, I said:

“Perhaps the results of an athlete like TJ Tollakson will get the big players in industry to think about developing more triathlon specific bikes that don’t comply with the UCI’s restrictions. After all, as long as there are triathletes choosing to ride old Softrides and Zipps over new Shivs, P4s, and Time Machines, there seems to be a market.”

This a great example of a bike designed and developed with that market in mind, and I suspect that we will see many more in the near future. As long as triathletes don’t have to comply by UCI rules, why shouldn’t bike companies give them the products that they want?

If you are interested in reading more about the P5, check out these recent posts at Slowtwitch, Road.cc, and BikeRumor.

Tulip Fun Fun rack and the Shape Field bike

James Thomas — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 18:07:24 +0000

I saw Margus Triibmann’s Tulip Fun Fun bike rack yesterday, and mentioned it on Twitter and Google+ saying, “This is a clever bike rack design. I’d be interested to see how it holds up over time in an urban environment though.” A few people replied with concerns about the security of a flexible bike rack, which is made from steel cable covered with a rubber hose material. I can certainly understand the durability and security concerns, but I really do like the idea behind this design (despite the use of a flimsy cable lock on the top tube in the photos). As the designers’ site points out, “Tulip Fun Fun provides freedom to choose the way and direction of placing the bike. The fixing place of the bike is not uniquely determined hence it is suitable for fixing bikes with different height and different type of frame.” There may be another advantage to the flexible design though. One common way to break a U- lock is to leverage it against the rack using a crowbar, or even with the bike frame itself, until it snaps. As Barry McCauley commented on Google +, this design could render that approach useless. Assuming the steel cable inside is sufficiently thick; I don’t think it would be any easier to saw through than a hollow steel tube either.

Design Milk posted this Columbus steel porteur bike, which was a collaboration between designer, framebuilder, and California College of the Arts professor Nicholas Riddle and San Francisco-based product and graphic design firm Shape Field Office. Overall, the bike looks very nice, and the details are well thought out. I like the use of the triathlon style brake levers to work with the swept back handlebars. The quarter and cork bar plugs on the tubing of the removable front rack are a nice touch too. Check out photos of those details and more on Shape Field’s website.

An interesting track bike and assorted random links

James Thomas — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 12:54:18 +0000

I am traveling for work this week, and my schedule has been pretty hectic. I don’t have much time to post, but I do want to quickly pass along a few links.

The custom track bike you see here was sent to me by a reader (actually by a reader’s girlfriend). It reminds me a bit of an old 90s Kestrel 500 SCi frame, without that unsightly appendage for the front derailleur.

I have posted a few times in the past about luminous paint for bicycles. Now you can check out this Instructable on how to paint a self luminescent bike at home.

The City of Bordeaux has invited well known industrial designer Philippe Starck to design “the bicycle of the future”. I am not so sure that Starck will be able to live up to that task, but his concept designs are always interesting. I’ll look forward to seeing what he comes up with in this case.

This “Drive Less, Bike More” poster caught my attention last week. I love both the message and the design.

Graphic designer Michael Mulvey also has an interesting poster series based on the Steve Jobs quote that “the computer is like a bicycle for our minds”. He has already reached his fundraising goal on Kickstarter, but check out his page there to see the design and find out more.

Speaking of bike posters, I am a big fan of vintage bike art (as you could tell if you looked at the walls for my workshop). Riding Pretty recently shared a few old bicycle company advertising posters as well as a newspaper from the early 20’s. It’s a great collection, so check it out!

Keeping with the vintage theme, this old photograph of a man on a water trike with a sail is definitely worth a look.

Finally, I want to mention this competition to design the Breakaway from Cancer^® ‘Most Courageous Rider jersey’ that will be used in the 2012 Amgen Tour of California. If your design is selected, you will win a trip to the AToC, and you will get to present your jersey in a podium ceremony. Sounds pretty cool, so download the templates and get to work on a design

2011 recap for Bicycle Design

James Thomas — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 18:16:44 +0000

I finally had a chance to review this site’s stats from 2011, so it’s time for another year end recap post. Continuing the trend from 2009 and 2010, Bicycle Design’s traffic seems to be growing slightly. Google Analytics reports just over a million total pageviews (1,138,282) for the blog during 2011 from 191 different countries. The top referring site for the year, sending nearly 40% of all visitors, was still the old BicycleDesign.blogspot address, which now redirects to the new URL at bicycledesign.net. Apparently, old links to the site are still sending a significant amount of traffic… or maybe there are just many readers who still have the old site bookmarked. Beyond the redirects from the old Blogger site though (and not including traffic from Google, Facebook, or Twitter), the top 15 sites which referred traffic to Bicycle Design in 2011 were:

BikeRadar
London Cyclist
Gizmodo
Fat Cyclist
MocoLoco
Interbike Times
Wired
GizMag
Urban Velo
BikeRumor
BikeForums.net
Instructables
EcoVelo ( a great blog that ended in 2011 and will be missed)
People for Bikes.org
Bicycling Magazine

The 15 most viewed posts in 2011 were also interesting to review. About half of the most popular posts from 2011 were actually older posts from 2010 (it is good to know that people are still reading some of those old posts). In order, the most viewed Bicycle Design posts for the year were:

It is not too surprising that e-bike posts were popular again this year, though they did not dominate the list as they did in 2010. Overall, it seems like a good variety of bike (and trike…and quad) catagories showed up in the top 15 most viewed posts from 2011. But enough about the past year; now it’s time to see what 2012 will bring in the world of bike design. Whatever happens this year…look for it here.

An interesting vintage singlespeed

James Thomas — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 15:03:17 +0000

I am back at my desk catching up after a great Holiday break. I have been on the internet very little in the last 2+ weeks, so I have a lot to share…once I get through some of this email. For now, I want to quickly point you to this interesting chromed Biscotti single speed from the folks at Vanguard. The recycled bike, built from a N.O.S. 1970’s Bridgestone frame, was recently featured at CycleEXIF. At first glance, the old dual top tube design reminded me of the Torker BMX bike that I rode (and loved) in the early 80s. Actually, I still own that old bike, and my son rides it occasionally these days.