Urban bike parking design

[jmattley]

Hi guys, I'm a final year product design student at Sheffield Hallam University currently researching a project about city/urban bike parking. Basically, I want to design a bike "rack" or "shed" as such that doesn't require the user to bring their own lock and keeps every part of the bike safe. I've made a short survey that should only take about 2 minutes to answer, just to help me decide on the general design direction, any feedback on the quality of the survey would be nice too though.

Survey here


Cheers guys, much appreciated.

 

[mark barker]

Done! Be nice to see how the research goes though, we often get these surveys and never see the final product!

 

[jmattley]

Cheers mate! Yeah I'll keep you all posted on the where my project goes, hopefully I'll have enough time to make a lovely working prototype too! Don't let me forget!

 

[arallsopp]

Done. I can't say I expect to see a bike locker that'll fit my 'bents any time soon, but I do wish there was some provision to put bikes out of vandals' way. Something like the supermarket trolley lockers would do it.

 

[jmattley]

It's been a while everyone, but I've got a couple of concepts to show you all now, so have a look and see what you think. Bear in mind they are only concepts and the CAD here is only quick sketch CAD, so ignore any weird continuity errors.

The idea is to protect against vandalism and theft of parts. The main body, the wavey bit, will be made from a glass reinforced composite (the composite been expanded steel).
All locking components will use galvanised steel.

Here's some pics:

Concept 1 uses a roller coaster style harness to secure the bike with a spring to assist the lifting of the harness.

and then concept 2, uses a gate.

Both concept use the cyclists own D-lock, although I'll probably incorporate other locks like pad-locks.

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated, as well as which design you personally prefer and why. And be honest, I won't be offended!

Cheers dudes.

 

[summerdays]

Me personally - I don't like them as I don't like hanging my bike .... and I would rather a good sheffield stand instead. My other thought is there is a good kid sized gap underneath .

 

[mark barker]

Nice to see someone actually come back after asking the initial questions!

As for the designs, I think option 2 would be easier to produce on a budget and seem less daunting to first time users, so potentially it'd be adopted quicker. My only concern about this kind of design in general would be users misusing it (ie locking it whilst empty so they're always sure there will be a space for them when they return). With this in mind have you incorporated a mechanism to deactivate the door system if there is no bike in the locker? If not, could it be included?

 

[dellzeqq]

I don't mean to be unkind, but a lot of these products are solutions looking for a problem that doesn't exist.

I see that the side view of the stand shows a front to back depth not too dissimilar to the length of a bike - and, of course, the box is a lot higher, and, therefore, more obtrusive than a box that accommodates the bike on the flat. Furthermore the individual boxes are accessed from both sides, which means that you lose the opportunity to put it up against a wall.

The odd thing is that almost all cyclists thinking of parking a bike in a public place carry a lock almost without thinking about it. That's an awful lot of stuff you're employing to compensate for somebody not doing the obvious.

 

[frank9755]

The main problem with these things is getting the capacity right, and it is a moving target. But leaving that to one side, one thing that some of your designs offer that is much better than a Sheffield stand is a roof to keep the rain off the bike

 

[jmattley]

Thanks for the replies everyone! I think I missed a few points in my previous post, basically, the reason for the size is so to protect from vandalism and bits been nicked, which your average sheffield stand won't achieve, and as for lockers, they look a bit naff! I'm also working out a mechanism so the user can pay with coins, so for every £1 or 50p inserted, one locking and unlocking cycle is allowed which would hopefully prevent the design been abused and kept by the same person.

 

[mickle]

Did you catch this?



http://www.cyclorama.net/blog/technology/beautiful-bike-shed/

 

[jmattley]

I have yeah, saw it in my research a while back, it's a pretty looking thing, different idea to mine though, whereas that one is still a "shed" as such, my concepts are a more individual and public design. I also forgot to mention that the buyer can specify the number of "booths" they wish to have.

 

[ianrauk]

Thanks for the replies everyone! I think I missed a few points in my previous post, basically, the reason for the size is so to protect from vandalism and bits been nicked, which your average sheffield stand won't achieve, and as for lockers, they look a bit naff! I'm also working out a mechanism so the user can pay with coins, so for every £1 or 50p inserted, one locking and unlocking cycle is allowed which would hopefully prevent the design been abused and kept by the same person.

If naffness manages to stop scrotes from stealing bikes then naffness is good.

 

[jnb]

Thanks for the replies everyone! I think I missed a few points in my previous post, basically, the reason for the size is so to protect from vandalism and bits been nicked, which your average sheffield stand won't achieve, and as for lockers, they look a bit naff! I'm also working out a mechanism so the user can pay with coins, so for every £1 or 50p inserted, one locking and unlocking cycle is allowed which would hopefully prevent the design been abused and kept by the same person.

Problem there is that if you're charging £1 (to use your upper suggestion) and locking your cycle daily. Then for that sort of figure someone could buy a typical brand new halfords cycle twice a year.

 

[dellzeqq]

one thing you should bear in mind. Crime Prevention Officers will say that it blocks lines of sight. And they'd be right. I think conventional horizontal bike lockers, although, again, I'm not a fan. If you can't take the bike with you use a cheap one.