Mark Sanders’ 1985 Strida thesis project

I have mentioned Mark Sanders and hisStrida folding bike on the blog quite a few times in the past (if you haven’t already read the excellent guest post that he wrote a few years ago, check it out before you continue reading this one). Though he has designed quite a few interesting folding bikes over the years, the Strida is the still bike that Mark is best known for. You may not be aware though that he designed and engineered the bike that would later become the Strida while he was an Industrial Design Engineering graduate student at the Imperial College London/ Royal College of Art. Just a few days ago, Mark scanned and shared his original 1985 Masters Thesis from that project on his Issuu page.

The research section of Mark’s thesis covers a few of the other Folding bike concepts that were on the market at the time. From there, his thesis moves on to the concept design section, where you can see a couple of his early development models. The section on ergonomics is also of particular interest as it compares a typical racing position to a completely upright riding position for city bikes, an idea that Mark points out has “almost become (his) manifesto” today. The market research survey, manual engineering calculations, and prototype detail sectionsare all very interesting as well. I highly recommend that you read through the entire 75-page thesis.

In addition to his Thesis, Mark also scanned and uploaded his original Business Plan for the Strida. In that document, you can see the first prototype, which Mark completed within 6 months of the college project. He points out that the design of that first production prototype is “still about 70% of the current Strida.”

It is interesting to see some of thepublicity that the first Strida prototype received. Now, 25 years later, the latest version of the Strida is still often mentioned on design sites, so Mark must have done something right with that original design.

LED tires, smart bikes, and a competition

I am getting ready for another busy day of work in China, but before I head down to breakfast I want to quickly pass along a few of the links that have been accumulating in my inbox.

A few readers alerted me to Cyglo tires (pictured here) which have LED lights embedded in the tread or tire wall. A motion sensor within the tire turns on the lights, which can either flash or remain steady. It is an interesting product, and with theTron sequel to be released later this year their timing couldn’t be better, but I wonder about the idea of embedded lights in a component that needs to be replaced often with heavy use. Cost and durability of the tires will be the key factors there, and I wonder about recyclability with the extra electronics.

Wired Gadget Lab, The Huffington Post, and Fast Company are just a few of the sites mentioning the Apple patent for a “smart bike”, which Patently Apple posted last week. I know a few people who already use an iphone, with various GPS mapping apps, for some of the functions listed in the patent. It is nice to have one device for that type of data, but durability and weather proofing are the key disadvantages now compared to bike specific products like the ones from Garmin. It is not clear whether Apple would address those types of hardware issues if something like this were to actually move forward, but I don’t think it is likely that they would. If Apple does decide to pursue this idea though, it will be interesting to see how they address the user interface design (an area where many of the cyclo-computer and power meter manufacturers are lacking).

The ThinBike was designed byTreeHugger founder Graham Hill in partnership with Schindelhauer. The bike is a single-speed with handlebars and pedals that fold flat to save space. Learn more about it in this interview and video demo with Graham. You can also see aphoto slideshow here.

Finally, I want to mention ‘Bespoke: Creative’, a design event to be held in Brick Lane, London this October. The event is a collaboration between 2Xanadu (a creative media consultant), LUMA (a carbon bicycle manufacturer) and McFaul Studio (a London based Design Agency). The event will feature an exhibition for which they are inviting well known designers to design graphics for the frames of LUMA’s fixed gear bikes. There is also a competition where you can submit an entry following the same brief as the handpicked designers. The winning entries will be featured in the exhibition. In addition the best overall design entered wins the bike it is transferred onto. Find out more and enter the competition at the ‘Bespoke: Creative’ website.

Interbike, Bike 2.0, and thoughts on imagination

It’s that time of year again, Interbike is getting underway today in Vegas (for the last time in a while at least). I had a great time at the show last year, but unfortunately I couldn’t fit it into my schedule this week. Instead of being there to see everything in person, I’ll have to rely on internet coverage like many of you. The good news is…there should be no shortage of great coverage on the web. My Twitter stream is already full of tweets and pics from people on the show floor, so I am counting on them to keep me informed. I’ll be checking all of my usual sources as well, including of course, the official Interbike blog. Look for a post about the show sometime early next week.

Today, I want to point out the results of the Seoul Cycle Design Competition. The Grand prize went to Bike 2.0, a “one size fits all” e-bike designed by Nils Sveje ofInoda+Sveje Design Studio. Be sure to check out the “making of” the Bike 2.0 project page on their website for a bit of insight into the idea behind this concept bike. In you are interested, you can see all 190 of the shortlisted entries on designboom.

Speaking of concept bikes, I encourage you to read an excellent blog post by Sabinna Den titled, Bicycle Innovation, Bicycle Design, the Laws of Physics and Imagination. She starts off by referencing a folding bike concept that I posted last month. The concept was creative and interesting, but it did have pretty obvious issues indicating that the designer probably didn’t “know much about bicycle steering dynamics” as one commenter suggested. I occasionally hear from readers who tell me that I shouldn’t post “unrealistic” rendered concept bikes on the blog. I wrote a post on that subject last year, and I still follow the same guideline when it comes to deciding what to share here… basically, I just have to find something about the design that interests me. In the 5 years that I have been writing this blog, I have found that the most controversial concepts are the ones that tend to generate the most comments. I like to see that discussion, so you can expect to continue seeing “blue sky” rendered concept bikes pop up here from time to time.

On that note, I would love to hear your thoughts on Sabinna’s post. Leave a comment here, or better yet over at her blog. If you don’t read Cycling Satin Cesena already, I encourage you to add it to your bookmarks. Sabinna’s thoughts on cycling, bicycle design and manufacturing, and the bike industry in general are always very interesting.

An aerodynamic concept bike

Simon L. (aka Ess) is a designer who is working on an interesting aerodynamic frame design. His blog is chronicling the development of the bike, which features openings in the head and seat tubes to allow air to pass through.

In one of his posts, Ess lists a few of the design details that help to minimize the bike’s frontal area:

1. The frame is hollow with open front and back vents.

2. Sides of the frame are parallel (made possible by placing the back cog on the outside of the frame, which suggests that you can remove the back wheel and keep the chain/sprocket in place!).

3. The headset is split into two (top and bottom).

4. Handlebar stem split into two fins

5. Integrated seat post created from two fins

6. Seat attached to the integrated seat post using a mono-fin

The design is still in the development stage, but I will continue to follow Ess’ blog to see how it progresses. It looks pretty interesting so far.

J Mayer H’s A.WAY Concept Wins Audi Urban Future Award

The concept A.WAY by Berlin-based J. Mayer H. Architects has been announced the Winner at the Audi Urban Future Award - Building a Vision for 2030. The award aims to establish a dialogue on the synergy of mobility, architecture and urban development by means of a tangible view into the future, without losing sight of the perspective of the Audi brand as an automobile manufacturer.

At the heart of the award process was a competition between six internationally renowned architectural firms: J. Mayer H. Architects, Alison Brooks Architects, BIG - Bjarke Ingels Group, Cloud 9, standardarchitecture and Diller Scofidio + Renfro.

Interview with Jürgen Mayer H.

Parallel to the 12th Architecture Biennial in Venice, tomorrow, on August 27, 2010, the Audi Urban Future Award exhibition will open at Scuola Grande della Misericordia. Five of the architecture offices invited to participate will be presenting the results of their work to the public in an exhibition designed by Raumlaborberlin.

J. Mayer H. Architects

A.WAY Concept Statement by J. MAYER H.

Once upon a time, around 1985, the world discovered the ozone hole and it changed the way we think about our future. From now on, consumption, production and mobility are at stake. With the introduction of digital technologies in the early 21st century based on electricity as the main source for energy supply, our cities will grow free of pollution and congestion; green, clean, quiet and efficient.

J. Mayer H. Architects

Visions of the future have always been a place of speculation for mobility. The 20th century proposed playful and even sometimes naive visions of flying cars and underwater urban settings. Novel ways of flying around galaxies, journeying to the centre of the earth, diving into submarine worlds, traveling through time, jumping through universes, teletransporting, injecting into and voyaging through the blood stream of a human body populated our visions of the future. Maybe, in the long term, we will experience these magical modes of transportation. Yet the short-term future might be invisible first.

J. Mayer H. Architects

Individual mobility of the future will strongly be linked to the developments of digitally augmented urban spaces, automated driving and personalized data exchange between the human body and its environment. Traffic will be a constant flow, with no more need for parked vehicles. Pedestrian areas will regain their lost space from cars. Repercussions will be seen on a social, economic and ecological level. Surveillance technologies will transform the city and its inhabitants into a flow of data, blurring the boundaries between body, car and architecture.

J. Mayer H. Architects

New forms of perception will arise from digital technologies. They will allow for each one of us to selectively allow or reject individual aspects of the city. The car will transform from being a viewing machine for maneuvering in traffic towards a sensorial experience machine. Driving through the city will put our senses and sensibilities into the foreground and allow us to interact with the urban context in completely new ways.

J. Mayer H. Architects

And there is always the option of a collapse of all systems that might come as a surprise, keep us going, force us to improvise, invent and move ahead. If at that point cities have proved once more to be flexible, adjustable, able to transform and survive, then we will live under a protecting ozone layer again, happily ever after.

J. Mayer H. Architects

"A DRIVING MACHINE BECOMES A VIEWING MACHINE. THAT MEANS THAT THE OCCUPANT CAN EXPERIENCE THE URBAN ENVIRONMENT IN A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT WAY, INDEPENDENTLY OF WHETHER THE CAR IS MOVING OR HAS TO STOP OR BRAKE. WHAT WE ARE ADVOCATING IS CLEANSING THE CITY OF ALL OF THE TOOLS THAT ARE IMPORTANT TODAY IN ORDER TO MAKE INDIVIDUAL MOBILITY WITHIN THE CITY POSSIBLE." Jürgen Mayer H.

J. Mayer H. Architects

Here are a few glimpses of the concepts by the other participating architecture firms that will be exhibited at the Audi Urban Future Award exhibition in Venice tomorrow:

Interview with Alison Brooks