Love+Sprockets | NYC Cycling Info

Bixi Urban Bike Sharing Service Coming to North America

jibbajabba — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 12:43:24 +0000

Springwise reports on a new urban bike sharing service coming to Montreal from Bixi, which is scheduled to launch in April, 2009 with 3,000 bikes in 300 locations across the city.

Bixi follows the standard bike sharing principles: users take a bike from a stand, ride it to where they want to go, and drop it at another stand when they're done. To make the concept even more attractive to users, bikes will be equipped with RFID tags so that users can track availability online; real-time information is beamed to the web from the system's solar-powered bike stands.

Users will pay a membership fee of CDN 78 for one year, CDN 24 for one month or CDN 5 for one day. The first half hour of every trip is free, rising to CDN 12 per hour for extended periods of use. The aim is to encourage short trips, and fees compare favorably with the price of a monthly bus pass (CDN 66.25).

Light Lane

jibbajabba — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 12:31:56 +0000

This is a design concept for a product that projects a bike lane around your bike for night time cycling. More on this concept:

"A close brush with a distracted driver is enough to intimidate the most avid bikers from riding at night. The problem isn’t just about visibility, as safety lights are effective at capturing the attention of a driver. However, these lights are typically constrained to the bike frame, which highlights only a fraction of the bike’s envelope. Bike lanes have proven to be an effective method of protecting cyclists on congested roads. One key is that the lane establishes a well defined boundary beyond the envelope of the bicycle, providing a greater margin of safety between the car and the cyclist. Yet, only a small fraction of streets have dedicated bike lanes, and with an installation cost of $5,000 to $50,000 per mile, we shouldn’t expect to find them everywhere anytime soon. Instead of adapting cycling to established bike lanes, the bike lane should adapt to the cyclists. This is the idea behind the LightLane. Our system projects a crisply defined virtual bike lane onto pavement, using a laser, providing the driver with a familiar boundary to avoid. With a wider margin of safety, bikers will regain their confidence to ride at night, making the bike a more viable commuting alternative."

Found via Dustbowl.

brightbike

jibbajabba — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 12:08:41 +0000

Bright Bike from Michael Mandiberg on Vimeo.

brightkite is a project to produce a DIY reflector kit that covers your bike in retro reflective vinyl, a material produced by 3M that looks clear in daylight, but white when headlights reflect light off of it. See the video above for a demonstration.

Underground, Automated Bike Parking in Tokyo

jibbajabba — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 02:37:56 +0000

An automated parking service in Tokyo takes commuters bikes and slides them into a robot-controlled underground parking area. Apparently 90% of commuters take mass transit in Tokyo and 30% of those people use bikes to get them part of the way to their destination. New York City needs to find a way to give people incentives to get more cars off the road. Ideas like this would make it much easier for commuters to park their bikes away safely.

CityRacks Design Competition Winners Announced

jibbajabba — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 13:26:59 +0000

The winner of the CityRacks competition for outdoor and indoor categories have been announced.

The design of Ian Mahaffy and Maarten De Greeve (Bettlelab), based in Copenhagen, Denmark, was selected as the first-place winner in the outdoor competition that attracted over 200 entrants from around the world. Their design was one of ten prototypes installed and tested at Astor Place since September 30. DOT intends to use Mahaffy and De Greeve’s design as the new standard bicycle rack installed on New York City’s sidewalks. The jury also recognized second-place winner Andrew Lang and Harry Dobbs of London and third-place winner Ignacio Ciocchini of New York. Mahaffy and De Greeve will receive a $10,000 prize courtesy of Transportation Alternatives, Dobbs and Lang a $3,000 prize and Ciocchini a $2,000 prize.

Resource Revival Cycling Gifts

jibbajabba — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 13:29:07 +0000

Custom engraved green gifts, eco-friendly corporate gifts, promotional products & event awards made from recycled bikes.

Nike Concept for Cycling Sunglasses

jibbajabba — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 18:29:05 +0000

Crunchgear posted some concept drawings for Nike sunglasses that could provide improved peripheral vision to cyclists. There's no indication that these will actually be produced, but they could be very useful for urban cyclists.

YAKKAY Bicycle Helmet with cover

jibbajabba — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 15:53:19 +0000

YAKKAY makes a solid skate-style helmet with a covers that make the helmet resemble a number of lids including a military cap, bucket cap, and simple skull cap. Reminds me a bit of equestrian helmets.

Finalists in the CityRacks Design Competition

jibbajabba — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 12:40:11 +0000

Finalists in the CityRacks lock competition have hit the streets in selected locations. I think the Y rack is the most practical, although isn't ver different from the racks we have now, in terms of basic concept. The extended ascenders of the Y make this design a lot more accommodating though, and that's a great thing. Would have been nice if these were red to match the I Heart NY heart color.

I wonder how the paint on these things will wear, however, as they chip over time. Ugly as they are, the silver upside down Us we have now take wear very well because they're not painted. The newer black Us look terrible and are often loose enough to pry off the sidwalk. Hopefully they'll not miss that important feature of the rack--it has to stay attached to the ground to be useful.

Rapha

jibbajabba — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 12:45:54 +0000

Rapha makes exceptionally stylish, fine, tailored, clothing for cyclists. I like the all weather knicker/shorts.