Velomobile speedforms and more

Eric Stoddard of Speed Studio Design recentlyposted some nice velomobile sketches on his blog. One of his sketches is featured here, but follow the link to see the other two. Eric is an automotive and product designer based in Seoul, Korea, so that makes a perfect segueway into the next topic I want to mention.

The first annual Seoul Cycle Design Competition is currently accepting entries. They have three different categories; cycle-design, cycle fashion & accessories design, and cycling infrastructure. You can read more about the categories, and register to enter the competition, at this post on designboom. In each of the three categories, the organizers stress that “there should be an emphasis on practical designs that can be commercialized within five years.” It will be interesting to see how the entries reflect that.

I mentioned not long ago that Design Within Reach founder Rob Forbes recently started a new bike company. The New York Times has a story in their design section about Public Bikes, which like DWR will rely heavily on online distribution.

Abitare posted recently about free bike sharing in Milan during design week. Core 77 has an extensive photo gallery from Salone del Mobile in Milan. On the first page, you can see photos from Rossignoli’s vintage bicycle exhibition. Core points out that the “display of ‘found’ 19th century bicycles provided a delightful break from the more traditional wares at the furniture fair.”

Finally, I want to pass along a few links that are not design related, but I think are important to mention. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood talked about a possible nationwide network of bike trails in a recent interview on NPR’s “All Things Considered.” Here you can read a transcript of that interview, which also featured DC Director of Transportation Gabe Klein. Secretary LaHood followed up with a post on his blog stating that bike infrastructure is what people want. Based on the questions that I so often hear from people these days about bike commuting, I think he is right.

I am really happy to see Oprah Winfrey speaking out on the issue of texting while driving. If you haven’t seen it yet, check out her recent op-ed piece in the New York Times. More information on the subject is available on the “No Phone Zone” section of her website, where you can sign a pledge to not text and drive. Distracted driving is an increasingly serious problem in the US, so I am really glad to have someone with Oprah’s influence speaking out on the issue. I never thought I would write these words in a Bicycle Design post, but thanks Oprah!

E-bikes from Lexus and VW

Bicycles from automakers are nothing new. Mercedes-Benz, Porsche, Ferrari, and BMW are just a few of the car companies that have offered bikes in the past. Some of the designs are better than others, but usually they are really just relabeled bikes that were designed and manufactured by another company. In many cases, the bicycles are just accessories added by the marketing department, not unlike the branded floormats, key chains, and little model cars that can found at the dealership or online.

The bike concepts that have recently been unveiled by Lexus and Volkswagen are a bit different though. Both of these new concepts are electric bikes, and they appear to have been actually designed for or by the companies the companies that are showing them. First we saw the “hybrid” Lexus bike, which features a carbon fiber frame, 8 speed internal gearing, and a 240-watt electric motor. That bike has been spreading all over the web this week with gadget blogs, design blogs, and automotiveblogs all picking up the story. On Twitter and cycling focused blogs, the reaction to the Lexus concept bike has been fairly negative (as you might guess). Sure, some of the apparent issues are pretty easy to criticize… the lack of a decent braking system or the inability to adjust the seat height just to name a couple. Even though I don’t personally love the design, I will state for the record that I am glad to see a concept e-bike from Lexus. The company says that they have no plans to put the bike into production, but the concept is getting way more mainstream press than a real e-bike from a bicycle manufacturer ever could. If a luxury car company can help to make the general public aware of hybrid e-bike technology, I say more power to them.

Unlike Lexus, Volkswagen plans to actually release the “Bik.e” concept that they just revealed at Auto China 2010. VW’s new concept bike has been getting a lot of coverage on the web too, but unfortunately their “Bik.e” is not a bike at all. It is really just a low range folding electric scooter that can be charged by the car’s DC current. The idea of a folding electric bike that can be used in place of the car for short trips is great, but this concept, which was designed to fold into a flat disc that can replace the spare tire in a car’s trunk, seems to be geared primarily toward emergency use. With a range of only 12 miles for the electric motor, it really seems like a provision for pedaling should have been included. Of course, if the motor runs out of juice, the stranded driver can always just hobby horse the “Bik.e” the rest of the way to the service station. At that point, I am pretty sure that he or she will be wishing for that old spare tire that the “Bik.e” replaced. Maybe I am being too hard on VW’s concept though; watch the video and let me know what you think.

While I am posting about electric bikes (and scooters), I will mention the first consumer magazine dedicated to the growing e-bike market. Velo Vision Ltd will debut the first issue ofElectric Bike magazine in August of this year. The magazine will be publicly launched on May 8th at the Tour de Presteigne Electric Bike Rally in the UK, so check that out if you are nearby. That is a bit too far for me to travel for the launch, but I am looking forward to seeing the first issue. If it is anything like VeloVision, I know it will be worth reading cover to cover.

bicycledesign.net

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Thiết kế với hai nhân tố chính: ghế đệm và vách ngăn. Không chỉ để ngăn cách, các vách ngăn được sử dụng như một biển hướng dẫn, một điểm tựa để các mảnh có thể di chuyển. Các ghế bọc đệm và có hai chiều cao. Cái ngắn hơn, nhẹ hơn dùng để ngồi, trong khi phần cao có thể dùng như những chiếc bàn để máy tính xách tay và các thiết bị tương tự.

Với chuyển động linh hoạt của các vách ngăn và đôn ghế, bạn có thể tạo ra các khu vực chức năng với nhiều vị trí khác nhau một cách nhanh chóng và tiện lợi.

Dành cho các không gian sống bất kỳ, các phòng chờ và phòng thư giãn sinh hoạt hoặc hội họp... thiết kế dành cho mọi tình huống xã hội.

Thiết kế: Henrik Kjellberg và John Linkstrom (Thụy Điển).

V.N.A. (Ảnh: Yanko Design, o4i Designstudio)