I am in Manchester for work this week and have seen a few of these bikes parked up in some odd areas. Personally I have hired a Brompton for the week. There is a good dock for them at Piccadilly. They cost just £3.50 a day and it means I don't have to run around looking for a bike when I need one. I just wish there were more docks in more towns and cities.
Dockless bike scheme comes to town
- Thread starter MichaelW2
- Start date
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mjr
Comfy armchair to one person & a plank to the next
- Location
- mostly Norfolk, sometimes Somerset
[QUOTE 5023929, member: 45"]Boris Bikes work. It's a shame that there isn't the interest in investing properly in these schemes in a similar way outside London, rather than trying to do it on the cheap.[/QUOTE]
I think a large part of the reason why that one works is that 1. all bikes are either in use or locked to very solid stands; and 2. it's led by the taxi/minicab licensing authority who presumably would slap any hire drivers found sabotaging them, which is a frequent rumour of how other schemes get sabotaged.
I'm not sure it's a lack of interest in investing properly so much as lack of political will to lease roadside spaces to dock operators and steer them through the planning process. Without government support, I feel dock-based systems quickly become too expensive to be viable, having to negotiate space on private land for the docks and then put them through for planning permission at £195 per site plus all the admin.
I think a large part of the reason why that one works is that 1. all bikes are either in use or locked to very solid stands; and 2. it's led by the taxi/minicab licensing authority who presumably would slap any hire drivers found sabotaging them, which is a frequent rumour of how other schemes get sabotaged.
I'm not sure it's a lack of interest in investing properly so much as lack of political will to lease roadside spaces to dock operators and steer them through the planning process. Without government support, I feel dock-based systems quickly become too expensive to be viable, having to negotiate space on private land for the docks and then put them through for planning permission at £195 per site plus all the admin.
mjr
Comfy armchair to one person & a plank to the next
- Location
- mostly Norfolk, sometimes Somerset
Docked systems aren't immune to massive vandalism either: over half MK's fleet were vandalised as of August and some docks are still closed.
nickyboy
Norven Mankey
- Location
- You want hills? We got hills
They work extremely well in China. The key is that they have an infrastructure in place constantly moving the bikes from where they are left to where they need to be to be hired. eg from suburbs back to subway station exits
If you travel around a Chinese city they are everywhere and are used enormously. It has got people using bikes again
The key in UK is having efficient relocation of the bikes to popular spots
Jody
Stubborn git
[QUOTE 5023929, member: 45"]I don't think they work. The Bristol one has settled down now to thefts, resprays, bikes being chucked in the dock and lodged in weird places. I don't see how it can be sustainable..[/QUOTE]
I saw some videos on Youtube last night of young chavs riding about causing havoc on nicked Mobikes in Manchester. Seems they just take the rear brake/locking mechanism off and then call them a free bike. Must be fairly rife as there were lots of them being used.
I saw some videos on Youtube last night of young chavs riding about causing havoc on nicked Mobikes in Manchester. Seems they just take the rear brake/locking mechanism off and then call them a free bike. Must be fairly rife as there were lots of them being used.
mjr
Comfy armchair to one person & a plank to the next
- Location
- mostly Norfolk, sometimes Somerset
How do they do that then? The locking units on the ofo bikes seem substantial and powered so I expected they'd activate some frame- located tracker to report their location if tampered with. I guess it depends on having interested police or hired heavies to go recover the bike and detain the vandal in reasonable time.
mjr
Comfy armchair to one person & a plank to the next
- Location
- mostly Norfolk, sometimes Somerset
I rode an ofo yesterday. I had to borrow a phone to do it because it doesn't only need Android but also Google Play which my phone doesn't have. We had to give email address, phone number (entering a code texted to it) and credit card (even though the ride was free instead of 50p/30mins) and restart the app a few times and go into a few menu options before it recognised the card and would unlock a bike. I can't see how you'd hire more than one bike with a phone, which sucks.
The bikes are OK. The saddle has a nice single-handed QR under the saddle and the seat post raises on a gentle spring but doesn't really go high enough for me (6ft) so I was sort of sat in the saddle rather than on it. However, the handlebar reach was about right, so shorter people may feel rather stretched out and struggle with steering. Tannus they ain't.
Unlike London Cycle Hire, the front light is steady, which is good enough for short unlit stretches at slow speeds. There's a front pizza rack with side rails that I think said 8kg max load. The solid tyres do give a very harsh ride, though, much harsher than London's - I'd say it's like riding 37mm at 80psi on an average roadster, but sometimes you hit cobbles and it feels like you're at the other extreme and almost snakebiting.
Controls are sensible: two brake levers, revoshift for the nexus 3 on the right, rotating grip bell on the left, chain guard and kick stand. Gearing is reasonable and possibly even slightly too high for that weight of bike for some bridges and underpasses typically found on cycle routes (the Vauxhall side of Chapel field underpass would be a challenge, I suspect). I rarely got it into top when weaving through the city back streets.
The bike won't win prizes for ride quality but it's forgiving, sturdy and easy enough to ride. What do you expect for 50p a trip?
The bikes are OK. The saddle has a nice single-handed QR under the saddle and the seat post raises on a gentle spring but doesn't really go high enough for me (6ft) so I was sort of sat in the saddle rather than on it. However, the handlebar reach was about right, so shorter people may feel rather stretched out and struggle with steering. Tannus they ain't.
Unlike London Cycle Hire, the front light is steady, which is good enough for short unlit stretches at slow speeds. There's a front pizza rack with side rails that I think said 8kg max load. The solid tyres do give a very harsh ride, though, much harsher than London's - I'd say it's like riding 37mm at 80psi on an average roadster, but sometimes you hit cobbles and it feels like you're at the other extreme and almost snakebiting.
Controls are sensible: two brake levers, revoshift for the nexus 3 on the right, rotating grip bell on the left, chain guard and kick stand. Gearing is reasonable and possibly even slightly too high for that weight of bike for some bridges and underpasses typically found on cycle routes (the Vauxhall side of Chapel field underpass would be a challenge, I suspect). I rarely got it into top when weaving through the city back streets.
The bike won't win prizes for ride quality but it's forgiving, sturdy and easy enough to ride. What do you expect for 50p a trip?
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Jody
Stubborn git
No idea but they are stealing them. Guy on the £2000 full suss in the first clip looks questionable also.
View: https://youtu.be/McMWQBt39Y8
View: https://youtu.be/Iyi1fZzNY2M
John the Monkey
Frivolous Cyclist
- Location
- Crewe
A pal of mine says he gets free Mobike trips into town sometimes, for returning his hired bike to specific locations in the city centre.
[QUOTE 5023929, member: 45"]I don't think they work. The Bristol one has settled down now to thefts, resprays, bikes being chucked in the dock and lodged in weird places. I don't see how it can be sustainable.
Boris Bikes work. It's a shame that there isn't the interest in investing properly in these schemes in a similar way outside London, rather than trying to do it on the cheap.[/QUOTE]
Glasgow has a couple of schemes the most popular runs on the Boris Bike model and is very well supported and adding new bikes all the time
Boris Bikes work. It's a shame that there isn't the interest in investing properly in these schemes in a similar way outside London, rather than trying to do it on the cheap.[/QUOTE]
Glasgow has a couple of schemes the most popular runs on the Boris Bike model and is very well supported and adding new bikes all the time
mjr
Comfy armchair to one person & a plank to the next
- Location
- mostly Norfolk, sometimes Somerset
I'm not familiar with the Mobikes. How can you tell the ones in the videos are stolen? The mob in the second one seem like they could have been mugging people for their mobikes
Jody
Stubborn git
I'm not familiar with the Mobikes. How can you tell the ones in the videos are stolen? The mob in the second one seem like they could have been mugging people for their mobikes
There is a black box above the rear wheel where you scan the QR code and it releases the lock. I assume that is also the box that holds the tracker and batteries for the lights.
mjr
Comfy armchair to one person & a plank to the next
- Location
- mostly Norfolk, sometimes Somerset
So I wondered if the black boxes near the top of the back wheels in the videos look wrong to you: I found a pic of what it should look like in https://www.theguardian.com/comment...working-because-people-dont-know-how-to-share and yes, it looks like the lock parts have been removed from the ones in the videos.
http://www.ofo.com/bikes.html have the locks attached to conventional seat stays so might be more of a challenge to remove. I expect London's vandals are at least as resourceful as Manchester's, though!
MossCommuter
Guru
- Location
- Salford
Yes, the large black box above the back wheel is missing.
Saying that, there are plenty of Mobikes in good nick in Manchester City just waiting to be used.
But, wow, that second video was on the junction just outside the hotel I was staying in and hence riding across everyday. It was chav free when I went past each time but it didn’t look too pleasant in the video.
Me, I’ll stick with the hired Brompton.
Saying that, there are plenty of Mobikes in good nick in Manchester City just waiting to be used.
But, wow, that second video was on the junction just outside the hotel I was staying in and hence riding across everyday. It was chav free when I went past each time but it didn’t look too pleasant in the video.
Me, I’ll stick with the hired Brompton.
