More from Taipei and other assorted links

Eric’s guest posts at the beginning of this week came at a great time. I have just been too busy to write much for the blog lately. It is not that I have a shortage of content- in fact, look for a book review next week and a couple of product reviews soon. It is just that, as I mentioned before, free time has been hard to come by lately. I have received quite a few emails from readers the past couple of weeks though, so today I want to quickly pass along a few of the links that some of you have been sent to me.

Brad is a friend and former co-worker who now lives in Taipei. He works near the new trade show hall, so he stopped by to check out the show last week and sent me these pictures of a women specific Giant Avail Diamond road bike. Yeah, this particular bike is a little outrageous with its jeweled accents, but Brad mentioned that bikes designed for women are becoming very popular in Taiwan. He points out that “there is even a 2 floor Giant shop downtown entirely devoted to women's bikes and accessories know as LIV.” Check out the link to the LIV site; pretty interesting.

Brad also sent me a link to the website for Speed One, a Taiwanese company that makes some interesting bikes, mostly of the small wheeled variety.

Robb from MTB by 198 recently visited the production facilities at Cane Creek Cycling Components. He has a great post from the visit with several pictures of the production and testing areas.

Lawrence pointed out a completely wooden bike made by a carpenter named Peijia Wu from the village of Nanzhuang in Shandong province, China.

In response to my post about the Skua, pjotr320 commented that the 'Velayo' velomobile from Germany features rear wheel steering. A quick Google search turned up this and this. Let me know if any of you, especially those of you who can read German, know any more about this design.

On a related note, Krash sent me a link to VeloKit, which is “an easily removed, all weather body for three wheeled recumbent bikes.” He points out that it is a “reasonably priced alternative to dedicated hard-shelled velomobiles and gas guzzling autos.”

Rounding out the velomobile topic, I will point out a new blog on that subject sent to me by Pixelman. It is written in French, but even if you can’t read it, check it out for pictures of various designs.

Andrew, who designs furniture for a living, sent me a link to some mahogany handlebars that he made. Nice work Andrew! For more wooden handlebars, check out Fast Boy Fenders.

It has been a couple of weeks, but Lane sent a link to his website, CETMA Cargo. He hand builds racks and cargo bikes in Oregon. It is a nice looking, straightforward cargo bike design, so I encourage you to take a look at some of the pictures on his site.

Contrail is a conceptual frame mounted device, which leaves a chalk line behind your bike as you ride creating impromptu bike lanes throughout the city (or at least showing others where someone else has ridden). The design has been around the web lately, but I think it is an interesting concept that is worth another mention.

Finally, I will close with a link to something that is not even really a bike. It does look like it would be fun to try out though. I don’t know much about this “spin vehicle”, but you have to like the look of fear on the face of the rendered model toward the bottom of the page.

Taipei Cycle Show Part 2...

Note from James: This is Eric’s 3rd and final guest post about Taipei Cycle 2009. I greatly appreciate his willingness to share his thoughts and observations from the show with all of you over the last few days. Now on to Eric’s post:

The bicycles that seemed to have the most variety were what I refer to as the urban, commuter, and "lifestyle" bikes. Check out my Flickr photoset to see some of the more interesting bikes. While not necessarily innovative in the overall design geometry, there was a lot of experimentation in colors, materials, componentry, accessories and graphics. There were many interesting mixes between MTB's, road bikes, fixies, singlespeeds, track bikes and cruisers.

Biomega had a full display at the show, and it was the first time I have seen their bikes in person. I was blown away at the level of craftsmanship, precision, and innovation. Each bike was like a piece of product design or furniture...On the website they call themselves makers of "furniture for locomotion."

There was a Japanese bicycle brand called Be-All that caught my eye. Be-All is a complete urban lifestyle brand built around their line of bikes, but also includes such products as tableware, flowerpots, leather-bound wallets, and apparel. The entire brand is held together by a simple color scheme...You can have any color you want as long as it's beige. The bikes themselves appear to be off the shelf but are well appointed with internal gear hubs, disc brakes, and leather saddles, fenders and racks. There is also design and color consistency in the appearance of the show display, catalog, and website, with lots of pictures of wine and cheese. Everything is meant to come off as European, but it's all Japanese!

Small-wheeled bikes, or "mini-velos" are the rage in Asia and another fast-growing category. Probably having arisen from a perpetual lack of space, (Apartments in Seoul are usually 500sf or less) mini-velos provide much of the space-saving characteristics as folding bikes, without the additional weight and complexity. In the last few years however, they've become an outright fad. Some of the mini-velos available today rival the best performing road and mountain bikes, with features like carbon frames, full suspensions, and Dura-Ace or XTR components. In Seoul I see gangs of 20-somethings riding around on these things in tight jeans, with their minis decked out in flashing LED lights. Personally, I think this is primarily an Asian trend and won't pass on to North America, except as a very small niche on the West coast.

Also check out my photoset on components and accessories. Multi-colored anodized parts were everywhere.

I noticed an interesting trend in bicycle helmets that indicates an attempt to reach blue-ocean dwellers who otherwise wouldn't wear a helmet. These helmets eschew the typical brightly colored automotive-styled aesthetic in exchange for urban street fashion. There were other helmets that looked more like baseball caps or ladies' sun hats.

That pretty much sums up the Taipei Cycle show for 2009. There was so much to see it was overwhelming, and I probably didn't get to see everything ... But thanks to James for giving me the opportunity to share my photos and thoughts with all of you!

Eric Stoddard, Industrial Designer
http://www.speedstudiodesign.com
p +82.010.5484.1663

From the show floor of the Taipei Cycle show....

Note from James: In the last post, I introduced Eric Stoddard who shared some of his commentary from the IBDC awards. In this post, he is back with more thoughts and observations from the show floor in Taipei:

We've been talking quite a bit about the Blue Ocean of potential cyclists that Mark Sanders described in his presentation at the Taipei Cycle design trend forum... There's definitely a push among the major manufacturers to reach out beyond the traditional road and mountain cycling enthusiasts. Also, because the Asian cycling environment tends to increasingly urban and dense, cycling is emerging as a truly viable alternative to driving, especially when combined with public transport. I believe the Asian bicycle industry is naturally positioned to lead the way in the development of new bicycle concepts.

Starting with folding bikes, this is definitely one of the fastest growing categories on the market, but the clear standout was the IF Mode from Pacific Cycles. This is Mark Sanders' latest creation, and this time it's a full size 26" bike. Ryan Carroll, the chief development engineer for Pacific was there to demonstrate the speed and ease of folding and unfolding the bike, and he let my wife Amy and I try it out. With a little practice, we were able to fold and unfold it in seconds...faster than our Stridas. The bike is stunning to look at, with hidden cables, single-sided fork and single-sided chainstay that conceals the drivetrain. One thoughtful detail is the handle integrated into the stem for handling the bike when folded. The overall market seems to be splitting between bikes that emphasize performance and those that stress ease of folding, but the IF Mode does both.

Electric bikes are another fast-growing niche in the market, and there were dozens of vendors offering their versions. Most of them, however, were not very innovative and were merely converted bikes. I see a vast, green field of opportunity for designers in this type of vehicle, and there were a few examples that are starting to take electric cycling to the next level. I had a chance to test ride the Ultra Motor A2B on the LEV test course outside the convention hall. The A2B has been a standout design for me since it was introduced last fall, and it was clearly the standout of the show for electric bikes. In person, the bike seems larger and more substantial than in photographs, but I really began to appreciate the level of finish and execution, with the battery, controller, and wiring all hidden within the frame. Additional batteries clip onto the cargo rack for added range. While the performance of the A2B is consistent with other electric bikes I've ridden, I've got 2 words to describe the riding experience: solid, and plush. The ride quality was supple yet secure, and it felt really well put together, with no noticeable rattles or squeaks. Mike Fritz, VP of product development for Ultra Motor, was there to share some insight into the A2B's development.

While not exactly a bicycle, the Shoprider Flagship was an interesting single-seat micro-electric car from the maker of mobility scooters. Essentially an enclosed electric scooter, it came with wipers, climate control, a rear cargo trunk and sound system.

I usually don't think of innovation when it comes to Giant, but they had a few very interesting bikes worth noting... This year they introduced the Ascend series, their flagship line of commuters. This bike takes the traditional urban commuter concept to the next level, in terms of engineering, execution, style and attention to detail. The centerpiece of the frame is the beautiful execution of the front and rear suspension that preserves the clean lines of a road bike. Interesting details include the integrated seatpost collar and tail lamp, 3-dimensional badging, polished alloy bits everywhere and a brushed anodized gray finish. This is the bike that was awarded to Larry Chen in the design competition.

They also showed their Bowery '72 dressed up in matching brown leather bags, saddle and bar tape, polished fenders and retro-green paint scheme. I really like the new Giant logo...Retro and modern at the same time!

The Giant MAMO is a ladies' city bike that comes with a matching basket/handbag that is color-coordinated with the fenders.

More to come...


Eric Stoddard, Industrial Designer
http://www.speedstudiodesign.com/
p +82.010.5484.1663

International Bicycle Design Competiton

Eric Stoddard is a talented automotive and product designer (you can see examples of his work on his website, SpeedStudioDesign). He attended the Taipei Cycle show last week and I asked him if he could provide a bit of commentary for Bicycle Design readers. I think that as an avid bicyclist with a background as an automotive designer, he has an interesting perspective to share.

You will hear more about the show from Eric, but his post is focused on the International Bicycle Design Competiton that took place on the first day. A few of his pictures are linked thoughout the post (the one shown here is the 2nd place “Anytime” bike). In addition to the shots that are pointed out, I encourage you to check out his entire IBDC photoset here. Now without anymore from me, here is Eric's commentary about the International Bicycle Design Competiton:

This is a serious competiton, with 938 entries from around the world, and sponsored by the major bicycle manufacturers and the Taiwanese government. The grand prize award was the equivalent of US $15,000, and both Giant and Merida awarded bicycles to the top contenders. There were 20 finalists whose work was on display at the show. Each finalist was required to complete a scale model, and the level of detail on some of the models was outstanding. The awards were presented by some of the biggest people in the Taiwan bicycle industry, including the chairmen of Giant and Shimano (Mr. Shimano!) and several government officials. This competition is seen as a direct investment in Taiwan's future as the global leader in bicycles.

The grand prize was awarded to the "+X" concept by Kun Shao, Hong-Yu Sun, and Peng-Yueh Hsu. The +x was one of several "transformer" concepts in that it can be easily reconfigured 3 different ways, from upright to recumbent riding positions.

Both the second prize and the Giant award went to Larry Chen for the "Anytime" bike. (He was also last year's grand prize winner!) While at first it appeared to be one of the more conventional entries, I really began to appreciate this bike the more I looked at it. The Anytime features an easily detachable "power pack" that contains an integrated motor, controller, battery and LED taillamp that clicks onto the frame and connects at the front chainring. I've been tinkering with electric bikes for awhile now, and I thought it was a clean and attractive solution. Overall, this bike was the most production ready of all the concepts. Personally, I preferred this one to the grand prize winner.

The Merida prize went to the "Winsolar" concept by Chun -Tung Chen and Kuoh-Siang Chen. The Winsolar features an integrated deployable solar panel and small wind turbines at the end of each handlebar, for the purpose of making this electric bike more energy-autonomous. While I thought the idea was quite innovative, I see some serious potential problems to making it feasible. First of all, current solar technology would require a much larger solar panel to be effective, making it difficult to stow inside the frame. Secondly, wind turbines cause aerodynamic drag, and I suspect the drag would negate any additional energy created from the small fans.

In addition to the scale models, All 3 of these concepts were built as full scale prototypes, and several additional prototypes were also shown from previous IBDC competitons.

There were several additional concepts I found significant that are worth noting. The 3rd prize "Metro Urban" by Surasith Tiyavacharapong was another "transformer" bike with a simple frame that could be inverted to change from a mens to a ladies bike. A clever detail was the "M" graphic that became a "W" for the ladies version. There were several concepts that explored different ways of making use of wasted space to allow them to haul cargo. The "Stronger” concept featured wheels that contained giant spherical water tanks for villagers in Africa to haul their water from the river. "Dressing" featured fabric inserts in the frame and handlebar that allow you to haul stuff while giving you the ability to customize its appearance. The "1=2" bike used hubless wheels to house storage containers for grocery shopping. The bike folds into a side-by-side configuration to transform it into a shopping cart. The "Tribo" concept by Simon Paez of Columbia is an attractive and innovative take on the velomobile tricycle concept, with weather protection and cargo-carrying ability. I thought this one was nice because of the way the frame and components were left exposed ...It wasn't pretending to be a car!

Skua

I mentioned in my last post that Mark Sanders shared a few entries from the recent “commuter bike for the masses” competition in his keynote presentation at the Taipei Cycle Show. I just realized that one of the entries he included in his presentation is one that I had not yet posted.

Skua is a velomobile trike concept that was submitted by Adam Lazenby. I have to admit, when I first saw Adam’s boards, I was definitely swayed by the nice form and excellent renderings, especially the one showing the concept in the rain. The Skua made my top ten list, but I felt like the fully reclined recumbent position might be off putting to many of the targeted users (current non cyclists). In some ways, this full fairing design looks more like a land speed record oriented HPV than a vehicle that would appeal to those who don’t currently ride any type of bike.

Rear wheel steering has advantages and disadvantages, some of which were discussed in the comments section of a recent post. I won’t rehash those points here, but I do like the way the fixed front wheels allow for a tightly enclosed front end on this concept.

For a further explanation, I will let Adam explain the Skua concept in his own words:

Skua: Giving the Car Some Competition

Automobiles are effortless. Their interiors are comfortable, dry and climate controlled. They allow the occupants to bring cargo. In order to encourage the world to use their own strength as a form of transit we must first encourage the world to get out of their cars. Why not create a bicycle that possesses these same qualities? Why not give the car some competition? That is the mentality behind the Skua (skyoo-uh), to provide the cyclist a smooth, dry and climate controlled ride that requires minimal effort.

This style of vehicle has been in existence for some time and is generally referred to as a velomibile. Velomobiles are essentially recumbent tricycles with aerodynamic body work. The Skua pushes the concept further.

Most velomobiles have exposed front wheels to allow the cycle to steer. This creates drag. The Skua is able to tightly close in the front wheels by using a trailing linkage rear wheel steering system. The two front wheels drive the bicycle. The shell of the Skua is thermoformed plastic from film and foam coextruded sheets. Gracefully forming the sheets yields an appealing, aerodynamic and sound deadening ride. Competition for the car has arrived.


While I am posting, I will mention this link to the press release of the final results of the International Bicycle Design Competition. Check back for more from the Taipei show next week.

Mark Sanders’ keynote presentation in Taipei

I don’t know if I mentioned it beforehand, but Mark Sanders was a keynote speaker at the Taipei Cycle Show yesterday. He spoke about his work as a bike designer, but the primary focus of his presentation was, in his words, “how alternative and universal bike design may be a help in attracting more people to bikes as transport.” Basically he talked about the idea of designing for the vast blue ocean of non-cyclist out there, a subject that many of you will remember from his guest post on Bicycle Design. According to Mark, the response to his keynote presentation was very positive… certainly news that I am glad to hear.

Now that the presentation is over, Mark’s Powerpoint slides are available for download on his website. You can choose to download the original Powerpoint file or a pdf version with or without his notes. In addition to the files posted on the MAS Design site, Carlton Reid created an online flipbook version of the presentation (and the same thing with notes here). Whichever way you want to view it, I recommend taking a look. It is great that Mark made this presentation to industry leaders at the show, but it is even better that he is making it available for everyone to see.

You may remember that Mark was one of the jurors in the recent Bicycle Design commuter bike design competition. Some of the ideas that we discussed as a jury while reviewing the competition entries were reflected in his presentation. You will even notice renderings from a few of the finalists shown on slide 21. Pretty cool! I really appreciate the fact that Mark took this opportunity to share his perspective on the subject of transportation oriented bicycle design with the audience at the show. Let’s just hope that the industry was listening.

Crack that whip…

Some of you may have noticed the yellow fixie with “DEVO” on the top tube hanging above a desk in one of the Trek design studio pictures that I posted not long ago. For those of you who wondered about that bike, yes the logo on the top tube actually does refer to the band that many of you remember from the 1980 single “Whip It”. This bike was built up with custom graphics as a Devo tribute bike by a couple of the designers at Trek. Michael explained the idea actual started with the 'flower pot' headset spacers. He was talking with another Trek designer, Chad, about the headset spacers and, to quote Michael, “BAM! I decided to make the whole bike.”

As it turns out, Devo is playing this Friday at SXSW, and they are going to sign the bike while they are in Austin. The one-off signed bike will then be auctioned to raise money for LiveStrong… pretty cool for a spur of the moment idea. You can check out the website for the auction here and bid if you happen to be a big Devo fan in need of a new fixie. The money certainly goes to a good cause, so I hope it goes for a good amount.

As I mentioned earlier, the Taipei Cycle show is happening this week. A reader, Eric, is going to share his impressions from the show, so check back for that sometime next week. For now, if you are interested, you can download the show daily pdfs for the first two days from the website.

Update: More about the Devo bike at the Trek blog.

A Cargo Bike for Uganda

Some of you may have noticed that posting has been light here at Bicycle Design lately. One reader recently emailed me to ask if I have “lost interest in the blog”. No, not at all. The truth is that have just been very busy with work, outside projects, and personal responsibilities lately. Based on a few looming deadlines, I will probably continue to be burning the candle at both ends through at least the end of this month. In the mean time, bear with me if I am sometimes unable to post frequently or respond to blog related emails. My schedule will be back to “normal” soon (whatever that means), but for now the blog is getting a bit less of my attention than it usually does.

Tuesday afternoon, I did take an hour out of the workday to watch the IDSA sponsored webinar titled "Design With the Majority: The Collaborative Design of a Cargo Bicycle for Uganda". It was definitely time well spent. Jason Morris, an Associate Professor of Industrial Design at Western Washington University, discussed his project and showed slides from his recent trip to Uganda. I don’t want to go into too much detail (you can read Jason’s pdf and watch his video for more information about the project), but I do want to point out a couple of things that interested me. Jason had a prototype bike built prior to his 3 week trip to Uganda, and he talked a lot about communicating and working directly with the target users, Ugandan bicycle couriers called boda-boda. The time he spent with those potential users, who tested his initial prototype bike and suggested revisions and improvements, is well documented in his pdf. User input is important in the research phase of any design, but when designing for people who live drastically different lives than the designer, that input becomes even more valuable. No doubt Jason received valuable input about his design on this trip. Based on his presentation though, it sounds like he got a LOT more out of this experience than simply design feedback.

Something else that interested me was Jason’s target cost of around $80 (USD) for the bike. He pointed out that an Indian made Hero bike, based on a 1913 British military design and commonly used throughout Africa, costs around $65. Rather than rely on donations to subsidize the cost of each bicycle, he wants his design (at least the frame) to be produced locally and compete with the Hero on the free market in a very cost and value sensitive culture.

I am certainly not giving the project the attention it deserves with my quickly written impressions, so again I encourage you to download the pdf and read more. You can also check out Jason’s blog to see how this project continues to develop. I will certainly be following along and look forward to seeing the 2.0 version of his design.

Since I haven’t posted in a week or so, I want to quickly pass along a couple of additional links that I have seen recently.

I mentioned the Factor 001 bike from BERU F1 Systems in a 2007 post. Lately, that bike has been seen all over the internet as it is currently being unveiled at an exhibition in the UK.

Speaking of bike designs making their way around the web, these tensegrity bikes on Core have been getting some attention. If you are not familiar with term tensegrity, take a look at the wikipedia entry or better yet Kenneth Snelson’s website. I just happened to finish reading “The Mind’s Eye of Buckminster Fuller” by Donald Robertson (one of Bucky’s former patent attorneys), so the concept of tension and compression structures was fresh in mind when I saw these two bike concepts.

I have quite a few more links to pass along, but the post is getting long so those will have to wait until next week. Speaking of next week, don’t forget that the Taipei International Cycle Show starts on Tuesday. I will be looking forward to seeing what is new and interesting at that show.

A design award for the IF Mode

I mentioned in an older post that Mark Sanders’ IF (Integrated Folding) Mode bike for Pacific Cycles was featured on the iF (international Forum) Design website. Now the bike, a cleverly designed full size wheel folder, has won an iF Product Design GOLD Award. For any of you who may not familiar with the international Forum (iF) Design in Hannover, Germany, this is a prestigious design award with a history dating back to 1953. This year, 2,808 products from 39 countries competed for awards in 16 categories. Out of all those entries, only 50 were honored with GOLD awards. Congrats to Mark and to everyone at Pacific on this accomplishment.

Read more about the IF Mode and the award from Pacific:

First ever folding bicycle to win iF Product Design GOLD Award

Hannover, Germany 3 March 2009 – During the opening day of CeBit; the world's largest trade fair for digital IT and telecommunications solutions, international Forum Design hosted an awards ceremony announcing the winners of the 50 iF gold awards. Representing Pacific Cycles at the ceremony to accept the iF gold trophy was Mark Sanders, the design inventor and creator. Mark spoke to the audience of fellow designers and international media regarding the unique focus that Pacific Cycles' Integrated Folding Mode bicycle achieves.

About the IF Mode

The clean and striking MODE is aimed at commuters that may have not considered cycling or folding bikes as an option. MODE avoids oily chains, complex tubes with hidden dirt traps and the clutter of traditional bike features. It can be used by commuters who do not want to change their appearance into 'bicycle warriors'. MODE features Pacific's IF (Integrated Folding) technology that offers a single-action, automatic fold that requires no tools or removal of parts. IF technology is based on a patented 3-dimensional 4-Bar linkage that automatically guides the wheels together when folding. Once folded, MODE rolls along in a convenient wheelable package.

Where to see the Pacific Cycles iF Mode

For those of you lucky enough to be visiting the Taiwan Cycle Show starting March 17th, drop by the Pacific Cycles booth for a firsthand look and demonstration of this new generation of wheelable transport featuring their Integrated Folding Technology. IF Mode will also be shown outside by Pacific Cycles' Taiwan distributor, Hometec, in the test ride area at OD_12.

Click here to watch a video of IF Mode being put through its paces by Ryan Carroll, Chief Designer, as he travels around town.

Changing subjects, I also want to briefly mention an upcoming webinar for IDSA members. The web event, which will take place Tuesday, March 10th at 1 pm EDT, is called "Design With the Majority: The Collaborative Design of a Cargo Bicycle for Uganda". It is free to IDSA members, so find out more and reserve a space here if you fit that description. I already reserved my spot, so I will let you know how the webinar goes.

2009 NAHBS links

I have not yet found time to look through all the pictures from the North American Handmade Bike Show, but based on what I have seen so far, there is a lot of good coverage out there. The NAHBS website is a great place to start, with photo galleries broken down into a few different broad categories of bike types.

UrbanVelo is another great source for coverage of the show. This shot of a kid’s bike, made by Keith Anderson, is one of the many great photos taken by UrbanVelo’s Brad Quartuccio. Click through to the links from each day’s coverage here to see more really nice bike photography from Brad.

Cyclelicious did a good job covering the show as well. Take a look at some of the posts from NAHBS here, here, here, here, and here.

MTBR.com has the show daily from Saturday posted. They also have coverage of the category award winners and a review of day two. There is probably more on the site that I missed, but those are the articles I noticed at first glance.

As expected, CyclingNews had good coverage in the tech section. Same goes for VeloNews and Pez.

Kasey left a comment on my last post saying that Pedal Pushers Online had a couple of articles about the show. Take a look at those here and here.

The two Johns, from the Two Johns Podcast, held a Q&A session a few days before the show with Kent Eriksen, Mark Nobilette, and Peter Weigle. All three of those guys have been building frames for a long time and are very well respected for their craft, so I thought it was pretty interesting to hear them answer basic questions in an informal setting. Listen here if you haven’t already heard the podcast.

As I mentioned, these are just a few sites that I have seen so far. This should by no means be considered an exhaustive list of links to NAHBS coverage. If any of you have additional links to share, or if you want to mention specific bikes from the show, feel free to leave that info in the comments.