Cast: santa cruz bikes

Cast: santa cruz bikes

You may remember the Cannondale Dutchess concept bike, which was designed by Wytze van Mansum a few years ago. That bike was a student project, but after his graduation Wytze was contacted by two entrepreneurs, Gerald van Weel and Jorrit Kreek, and asked to design an updated bakfiets. Wytze points out that what really interested him about the project was the aim… “ to replace the 2nd car”.

After 9 months of design work and testing, they presented a pre-production prototype of the electric assist ‘Urban Arrow’ and were nominated for a Eurobike award. If you are at Eurobike this week, you will see Wytze’s prototype (pictured here) on display at the entrance to the show. He points out that the prototype is just that, so some of the parts are not up to the final production standard. “The production box will come from a single mold, providing a smooth surface. The box seen in this pre-production model is milled from different plates of the material. The chaincase will eventually be fully closed and a hub dynamo will power the lights. And of course it still needs some decals.”

Wytze described the bike’s features to me in detail, so I want to pass along much of that description in his own words (with minor edits from me):

“-Assisted: With the electric assist you can get around a busy town faster than by car, taking with you up to 180kg of cargo and without sweating (Not everybody has the legs of a pro cyclist, after all). We chose a mid engine; powering the cranks. This way the power is on the correct wheel (rear) and the bike has a closed chain case with maintenance free reliable hub gear. An additional advantage is that the motor also profits from the gears, like in a car. Put it in first gear and you can ride up any hill effortlessly. I am very pleased with our engine choice; this thing is simply a silent beast.

- Lightened: It has a stiff aluminum frame with a lightweight EPP cargo box. EPP is a recyclable, but durable foam. A bit like what the inside of your helmet is made of, except that this stuff won’t break on impact. 60mm (2.5″) of high dense foam adds some extra safety.

- Practical: Gerald and Jorrit both ride their young children around by bike in Amsterdam, as do all of their friends. So we had an extensive list of things we’d wanted to add to the practicality of the bakfiets. Things like:

-         A rain cover that is always present on the bike (in the future it will cover the parent also). Designed by Renske Solkesz

-         Easy access in and out for the children

-         Cup holders and a grocery net

-         A fixed bolted seatpost (to prevent saddle theft) that still can be easily adjusted in height

-         A removable box, transforming it to a flat-bed cargo bike.

-         Comfortable (and more puncture proof) balloon tires

Design: For the design, I have tried to get more unity throughout the whole bike, and like the Dutchess, most of the forms originate simply from logic. The frame encapsulates the motor and chain, creating a unique frame design. The curved tubes around the top of the box are for protection of the box and of children fingers hanging over the rim of the box. They also provide storage room for the rain cover poles and a lock or pump. Because the box is made in a mold we were able to incorporate some fun functionalities like the cup holders.”

The prototype looks great, and I am looking forward to seeing this bike in production. The website for the Urban Arrow is not up yet, but it will be later this week. Check back for more information about the bike…and look for it at Eurobike if you are in Friedrichshafen.

It is hard to believe it is that time of year already, but Eurobike will be kicking off this Wednesday. If you are in Friedrichshafen later this week, you will most likely notice the curved seattube bikes from the Australian company Vuelo Velo (check out the about section of their website for a little background).

Vuelo Velo will be displaying their bikes in the Tune booth at the show. To coincide with the launch of the new Tune Smart-foot cranks,  Vuelo Velo will be displaying a special Di2 frame with an 85 mm wide Pressfit BB30 bottom bracket shell.

Taylor, a former homebuilder from Washington, D.C., started out refurbishing vintage bikes as a hobby after moving to the resort town of Aspen, Colorado. But when he started getting more and more requests from friends to turn their rusty bikes into sparkling townies, he decided to formalize the operation.

Vintage yellow bike from Re-Cycle Art Aspen

For him, that meant going to the Aspen Farmer’s Market, which is known for being a tough organization to break into. In a town known as much for the arts as the stellar scenery, Taylor’s artful bicycles made the cut.

“It’s cool to watch people approach,” he says, referring to his double-wide, overflowing booth at the market.

Colorful townies at the Aspen Farmers Market

At any given time, he can have 150 bikes between his home workshop and his storage area. During the winter months, he sells more bikes through his website. Taylor says he gets his bikes through many avenues, including the dump.

“They heap the bikes into a pile, and bring in a bulldozer he says,” adding that most of the time, bicycles at the landfill end up as scrap metal.

This post would have been timelier last month during the Tour when Cadel Evans and George Hincapie were first riding the new BMC ‘impec’. I planned to post about it at the time, but as so often happens it sort of slipped through the cracks. Though it is not exactly a breaking story at this point, the new bike from BMC is still worth a mention on this blog for a couple of reasons. BMC touts the impec (short for impeccable bike) as the “first entirely machine manufactured carbon frame in the world.” Unlike conventional laminated carbon frames, which are laid-up and glued together by hand, the carbon tubing on the impec is woven by a patented robotic loom, which BMC specifically developed for frame construction to achieve precise load-bearing properties for each of the tubes. According to BMC, the robotic tube weaving “rules out human error and guarantees constant, millimetric precision.”

Compressed carbon composite half-shells with “a high proportion of extra-long carbon fibers” are used to join the machine woven tubes of the impec.  The “Shell Node Concept” as BMC calls it (I would probably just call them lugs) makes for an interesting visual frame design that is quite different from other high-end carbon road bikes on the market.

The impec will be available to the public in September. Each bike will be custom built for private buyers, who will be fitted for the bikes at BMC dealers. For more information about the bike, including available build options, check out Bike Radar’s first look.

Update 9/2/10: The impec just won a Eurobike gold award. More on that at Bike Biz.

I usually like the work of Ross Lovegrove, or at the very least I usually find his sculptural designs interesting. The clean, organic forms of his product and furniture designs are often pretty clever and original. That is why I was a bit underwhelmed when I saw his first bicycle design for Biomega, the Bamboo. Lovegrove’s latest design for Biomega though, called the LDN (short for London), looks a lot more like something I would expect from him. Overall, the form is not groundbreaking, but I like the way the shaft drive nestles into the carbon chainstay.  The hole in the frame lightens the bike’s mass and, according to the company, provides a detail for hanging the bike on a wall for storage. Like it or not, you have to admit that this one finally looks like a Lovegrove bike.

The other new bike from Biomega, the NYC, was designed by KiBiSi, a design firm co-founded by Biomega founder, Jens Martin Skibsted. The bike is similar in styling to their CPH model, but it features a carbon belt drive and an integrated front mudguard in the shape of the aluminum downtube.

The LDN bicycle will be displayed next month at the SHOWHOW design exhibition in Tent London (September 23rd to 26th 2010) and both new bikes will be presented at the Eurobike and Interbike shows in September.

Update: Read the full Biomega press release about these two bikes over at Cyclelicious.

Saul Maret is a French designer living in Boston. He sent a few images of “Le Pliable”, his folding bike concept based on central headset position. One of the things that is interesting about this design, as Saul points out, is that it can be folded into multiple configurations- “you can fold the entire bike (frame, saddle, pedals, swingarm, handlebar) or one of these depending on were you leave it.” When folded completely, the wheels still move, so you can “push it around like a golf caddy” (similar to a folded Strida).

The bike uses standard components, so everything is easily replaced. Read more about the design in Saul’s image boards below.

On a recent tubing expedition down a local river, it occurred to us that, other than bike chain, bike inner tubes have to be one of the biggest byproducts of the bicycling industry. So we did a little research and found lots of cool companies making products from used inner tubes.

Whether you are a bike shop owner looking to divert more waste from landfills or a bicycle enthusiast looking to earn style points, we think you’ll dig these companies.

Cycle Dog's inner tubes-turned-dog collars.

Cycle Dog in Portland, Oregon makes dog leashes and collars out of used inner tubes that it collects from local bike shops. If you’re in the Portland area, find out which stores collect inner tubes for Lanette Fidrych, owner of Cycle Dog.

Handmade saddle bags made in Boise

ReRideBags makes belts and saddle bags made from used inner tubes. Based in Boise, ReRideBags is very active in the community and is committed to getting other local businesses to think “green.”

PalePink's crafty and chic journal

Being a writer, my personal favorite is the journal made of recycled inner tubes. Handmade by PalePink and sold through Etsy, these journals are bomb-proof and beautiful.

And another Etsy merchant, Lost and Found Objects,

Fancy inner tube necklace

gets big points for creativity and social responsibility for this necklace made from inner tubes. 20% of the sales from the necklace goes to arts programming at an Indiana non-profit that offers free arts programs, a bicycle recycling program, a food bank and more.

As always, Resource Revival, is accepting used bike chain, transforming it into everything from bottle openers to clocks to magnets. Browse our store.