Cycle design project.

[wafflycat]

To ask the OP a question if I may.

There seems to be a lot of design students being given 'design a better bike' as their project. Is there some sort of thing in academia at the moment where the folk setting the projects *think* a bike is an object in need of major design renovation? Are the folk setting the projects actually cyclists? My gut feeling is I doubt that they are. Thing is, as has been said here, as a form of transport the bicycle is about as well-designed as you can get. It's been refined, added to, taken back to basics.. added to.. etc. over the years so that there really is a bike for all types of cycling need already available. You want the basics - get a fixie. You want to go fast on the roads - get a road bike. You want to tour the word - get a tourer. You want to basically pootle - get a hybrid. You want to go reallly, really fast - get a recumbent racer. You have balance problems - get a trike.. Even if you're looking at getting something bombproof for third world use - it's already taken care of - look at Hero Bikes in India. There's even a bike to provide emergency shelters.. http://www.tonystrailers.com/mobileshelter/

But in order to not be totally negative, how about thought given to alternative materials used to build a bike in order to lower its (already low compared to motors) carbon footprint, increase durability and recycleability? Then again..

http://www.calfeedesign.com/bamboo.htm

Spend time having a serious look on the web at all the different uses a bike and its associated bits have already been put through. You never know, you may come up with a better way of doing something.

 

[Archie_tect]

Take a lateral look at pneumatic tyres for general road use.

With the pressures used in modern tyres the original comfort benefit of the pneumatic air cushion has been virtually eliminated... but we still use air filled tyres and have to suffer p**ctures. What's the point of pneumatic innertubes these days with all the faff involved?

Invent a stable tyre that is better than the 'solid' tyres currently available which eliminates the need and hassle for innertubes, air, p**nctures and pumps and you've hit paydirt!

 

[Will1985]

+1

Says the person with the pink helmet!!

Like montage, I harbour a secret desire for a pink bike....soemthing like a Planet X Pro Carbon frame to stand out.

 

[wafflycat]

Says the person with the pink helmet!!

Like montage, I harbour a secret desire for a pink bike....soemthing like a Planet X Pro Carbon frame to stand out.

Sorry Will, as much as PlanetX bikes are lovely and exceedingly good value, the pink ones are *awful*

Edit: The blue is lovely though
Edit again: as is the white

 

[cisamcgu]

Thanks for all the replies, very lively and welocming forum you guys run here.

Ive noted down a few thinks, and will but these to my tutors.

Will be back in touch soon.

/Adrian

*bites tongue*

 

[Hilldodger]

Take a lateral look at pneumatic tyres for general road use.

Invent a stable tyre that is better than the 'solid' tyres currently available which eliminates the need and hassle for innertubes, air, p**nctures and pumps and you've hit paydirt!

Should be easy! Afterall, people have only been trying since the 1860's

 

[Andy in Sig]

How about a recumbent trike but not extremely recumbent i.e. bum off the floor at about Street Machine height, something which might appeal to elderly people who aren't confident enough to get on a bike and whose bones won't allow them to use a low to the ground recumbent? Fit it with an 8 or 9 speed hub gear and it could be the perfect city shopping bike.

 

[wafflycat]

How about a recumbent trike but not extremely recumbent i.e. bum off the floor at about Street Machine height, something which might appeal to elderly people who aren't confident enough to get on a bike and whose bones won't allow them to use a low to the ground recumbent? Fit it with an 8 or 9 speed hub gear and it could be the perfect city shopping bike.

Giant Revive?
Gazelle Easy Glider?
Sort of semi-recumbent positioning.

 

[Hilldodger]

How about a recumbent trike but not extremely recumbent i.e. bum off the floor at about Street Machine height, something which might appeal to elderly people who aren't confident enough to get on a bike and whose bones won't allow them to use a low to the ground recumbent? Fit it with an 8 or 9 speed hub gear and it could be the perfect city shopping bike.

There are already plenty out there and many more have fallen by the wayside. Just too expensive and to large for most folk to keep at home.

 

[montage]

Says the person with the pink helmet!!

Like montage, I harbour a secret desire for a pink bike....soemthing like a Planet X Pro Carbon frame to stand out.

Woah there, I said some pink parts!


Though I do like that bike in pink ....BUT wouldn't ride a pink bike unless I was 2nd or first cat..

 

[montage]

These are all matters of my own opinion:

If you are going to target at designing a whole new bike, you need to find a new market....I suggested security. But if you are going to improve on a current market neesh, then you need to look at who is spending/buying.

Designing bikes for old people/town use/ poodling around is all very well and good, but the market is so full that you would have to design something very different to stand out - but do people want different? Not really...they just want a bike.

I reckon the money is with the people who already splash out £100s annually to shave an extra 40grams off their bikes. "Serious cyclists"/fanatics will spend alot of money for small improvements ... so all you need to do, if find something that will offer and improvement, no matter how much of an improvement, and charge a huge price for it. Not sure how much of a design prospect that is.... but if you are looking to sell this on

 

[Yellow Fang]

Says the person with the pink helmet!!

Like montage, I harbour a secret desire for a pink bike....soemthing like a Planet X Pro Carbon frame to stand out.

Off topic, but I once got passed by Spencer Smith (ex GB triathlete) on the Big Woody long distance tri. He was cycling a pink Planet X TT bike. He sped by, going about 10mph faster than us, saying well done as he passed us.

 

[Yellow Fang]

To ask the OP a question if I may.

There seems to be a lot of design students being given 'design a better bike' as their project. Is there some sort of thing in academia at the moment where the folk setting the projects *think* a bike is an object in need of major design renovation? Are the folk setting the projects actually cyclists? My gut feeling is I doubt that they are. Thing is, as has been said here, as a form of transport the bicycle is about as well-designed as you can get. It's been refined, added to, taken back to basics.. added to.. etc. over the years so that there really is a bike for all types of cycling need already available.

I spent quite a while carefully crafting a reply to this, but I took so long the forum logged me out and I lost it. I'd be rather surprised if there was no room for improvement in cycling technology. Since I was a kid there have been lots of new types of bikes that have suddenly appeared: BMXs, mountain bikes, tri-bikes and trials bikes to name but four. Braking, gearing and pedal technology has improved masses since twenty years ago. The first bike I had which had effective brakes were equipped with V-brakes. When I was a kid, the top of the range racers only had ten gears, of which you could usually only select eight, and that only by fumbling around with a down tube shifter. Now gears are indexed and integrated with the brake levers so they are easy to select, and you have a lot more of them. Again when I was a kid, you either had flat pedals or pedals with toe-straps; now there is a large range of clipless options. Bike frames always used to be made out of steel; now you have aluminium, titanium, carbon fibre and other exotic alloys and materials. With mountain bikes you can now get sophisticated full suspension.

Technology is not the only factor pushing design anyway. Bicycles are affected by fashion too. When I was a kid, everyone wanted a racer, often with useless but cool stubby mudguards and suicide brake levers. Then BMXs were the thing, then mountain bikes, now fixed wheels. English roadsters, though sensible commuting bikes, became deeply unfashionable.
Not many people really need disc brakes or suspension on their bikes, but they are often standard. Mudguards and chainguards are quite sensible things to have on a commuting bike, but they are seen as unfashionable.

 

[Yellow Fang]

I've been pondering more on the cable-less front brake again. If you had some sort of induction motor/generator on the front axle leading to a battery, then hypothetically it should be possible to set the motor as a dynamo to power lights or recharge the battery. You could also switch it back to a motor and use the battery to give you a boost. Back in generator mode, you could even set the electromagnet so high that it would act as a brake.

 

[Arch]

Bottle dynamoes not worth the bother? Funny, mine works fine, and I can't afford a hub just yet. Meanwhile, I have lights attached all the time, always working, no batteries. There's the reason to bother. I'm just saying, 'integrated lights' isn't actually new, although a lot of people seem to have forgotten they exist.

Fairly upright recumbent trike? - the Anthrotech is pretty high seated and upright. As were Trice T's.

Waffles has a point. Thers isn't much to improve on, unless you want the kind of improvement that simply makes something more complicated and trendy - things that I personally hate. Alas, it seems people are prepared to pay a fortune for 3 more gears they won't use, or stuff that's so complicated you can't fix it without a degree.

Oh, and everything major has been done. All we can add is window dressing.