Sunday, November 30, 2008

6 Design of Vintage Bicycles and The Question of Restoring Vs Reconditioning

Every now and then, you'll find the old rusting remains of what is an ancient bicycle in your basement, a bequeathal from your grandparents of which you would probably be less concerned about than the dust collecting in your laptop keyboard. However, it pays to take a second look at these objects because they could very well turn out to be a gem, or one of those rare classic vintage bikes that sweep a lot in value these days (think museum, or even EBAY!). Are you just going to stand there doing nothing when a mini-treasure just sits there right under your feet? Then maybe you should quit complaining about not having the cash flow for your next season.

Okay. So you did take a second look at the bike. You asked a few people around and found out that its a Netherlandish or nederlandish design from the days when your greatgrandpa had more teeth, and that it has a good amount of value. Then the next important question is, what do you do with it? Do you restore or recondition it?

Vin Vullo, apart from having strong opinions on the ills of modern bikes and cyclists wearing tight fitting clothes (see Wheeling Through History, The Boston Pheonix May '08), has also been buying and selling vintage bicycles since the 1960s. In 1995 as the internet gained in popularity he founded Menotomy Vintage Bicycles and moved his business to the web at OldRoads.com. His company's web site has many tools and resources for people interested in vintage bicycles, including a picture database, an online price guide, serial number charts and a dozen discussion areas where collectors can post questions and provide answers for other bike collectors.


I've collected a series of nice video presentations he gave on vintage bikes through Expertvillage. He walks us through from an introduction to vintage bikes, to the question of restoring vs reconditioning.

While you're at it, also pay special attention to design elements in the common style of vintage bikes, for a lot of those elements have carried on and are seen in present bikes as well. For example, apart from the double diamond frame design which I already talked about in a previous post, the remnants of the cantilever frame design has also stuck in road bikes and cruisers.
Another point of interest is the front fork design. You may see a relation between the front suspension of Jeff Jones' Monster Truck MTB and vintage fork designs of balloon tired bicycles from the 1930's. Nothing extremely 'out of the book', if you ask me :


The Monster Truck MTB (courtesy Wired Mag). Check out the similarities in front suspension design.

Schwinn B-10 E. Courtesy : Copakeauction



Enjoy the presentations.



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Intro To Vintage Bicycles




Intro To Vintage Bicycles -- powered by ExpertVillage.com



What Makes Vintage Bicycles



What Makes Bicycles Vintage -- powered by ExpertVillage.com



Why Do People Collect Vintage Bicycles?



Why People Collect Vintage Bicycles -- powered by ExpertVillage.com




Styles of vintage bicycles



Vintage Bicycle Styles -- powered by ExpertVillage.com




Balloon Tire Bicycles (1940's)



Popular Vintage Bicycles: 1940s -- powered by ExpertVillage.com




Middle Weight Bicycles (1950's)



Popular Vintage Bicycles: 1950s -- powered by ExpertVillage.com




Sting Ray Bicycles (1960's)



Popular Vintage Bicycles: 1960s -- powered by ExpertVillage.com



3 Speed Bicycles (1970's)



Popular Vintage Bicycles: 1970s -- powered by ExpertVillage.com




English 3 speed bicycles



English 3-Speed Bicycles -- powered by ExpertVillage.com




English Rod Brakes



English Bicycle Rod Brakes -- powered by ExpertVillage.com




English Bicycle Cable Brakes



English Bicycle Cable Brakes -- powered by ExpertVillage.com




Pre and Post War Vintage Bikes



Pre-War & Post-War Vintage Bicycles -- powered by ExpertVillage.com




Vintage Bike Serial Numbers



Vintage Bicycle Serial Numbers -- powered by ExpertVillage.com




Vintage Bicycle Rims



Vintage Bicycle Rims -- powered by ExpertVillage.com




Vintage Bicycle Hubs



Vintage Bicycle Hubs -- powered by ExpertVillage.com




Vintage Bicycle Tires



Vintage Bicycle Tires -- powered by ExpertVillage.com



Vintage Bicycle Reflectors



Vintage Bicycle Reflectors -- powered by ExpertVillage.com



Vintage Bicycle Accessories



Vintage Bicycle Accessories -- powered by ExpertVillage.com




Vintage Bicycle Head Badges



Vintage Bicycle Head Badges -- powered by ExpertVillage.com




Vintage Bicycle Literature



Collecting Vintage Bicycle Literature -- powered by ExpertVillage.com



Do You Restore Or Recondition A Vintage Bicycle?



Vintage Bicycles: Restore or Recondition -- powered by ExpertVillage.com




Restoring A Vintage Bicycle



Vintage Bicycles: Restoring -- powered by ExpertVillage.com

Friday, November 28, 2008

8 Fox Fork Modification Warnings, Julich Explains The Pro Cycling Business, and more....


1. INTERNATIONAL TERROR IN INDIA : Very disturbing news across the globe, and my condolences to everyone involved. The virgin-seeking brothers of Muhammad have struck again, this time in a dramatic fashion. In an opportunistic move, taking advantage of intelligence failures and maritime security loopholes, a dozen fearless Islamic fundamentalists got off a speedboat with bags of RDX explosives, automatic weapons and ammunitions. Parting into teams, they then headed into multiple locations in the financial center of India, spraying bullets into streets, killing hundreds of people commando style and then seizing two major hotels in the city and a third Jewish center with many hostages in hand. With 125 dead, the hostage situation is still unfolding as I write, and a fierce and chilling gun battle ensues between terrorists and the government's National Security Guard. Citizens of India, America, UK, Australia, Italy, Germany etc are among the dead.

Live minute by minute CNN webcast here

The Pakistani Connection : NewsWeek

The Terrorist's Tactics Explained : Telegraph UK

A Limited List of Victims (Google Docs, via Twitter. Can You Imagine? Twitter being used extensively in a terror crisis?? Amazing! It shows how powerful blogging can be.)



2. SERIOUS INJURY OR DEATH FROM FORK MODIFICATIONS :
Fox has put out a statement on its website for all Fox Shox users against misapplication of its forks. Its pretty interesting. The bottom line is that, in the name of saving money, don't modify forks or use them for the wrong applications. Here's the opening part of their statement :

It has come to the attention of FOX Racing Shox that certain individuals and / or entities are modifying FOX forks to accommodate mountain bike wheel sizes other than those having 26 inch nominal diameter. One such modification includes removing material from the lower leg cross bridge in order to fit a 29 inch tire in the fork. Such modification will ultimately separate the lower fork legs at the cross bridge (i.e. the weakened cross bridge will fracture) and may cause bicycle instability and crash that result in SERIOUS INJURY OR DEATH.

Read more here.



3. SHIMANO DI2 WINS 2009 IF DESIGN AWARD : First, it was Popular Mechanics handing them the "Best of What's New 2008" innovation award. Now Shimano's electronic shifting technology has further diversified itself by bagging the prestigious IF Design Award 2009 in the 'Leisure/Lifestyle' category. The basis for the award was upon its innovation, functionality and design level. I wonder what SRAM and Campagnolo are thinking now. Read more on this story here.



4. VINTAGE SHELBY BICYCLE AD : Shelby bikes was made well before my time. But here's an interesting graphic ad showing shocks inside their head tubes.





5. USACYCLING LICENSES ON SALE ON DEC 1 :
Get your hands on one for next season. Just one reminder. They are bumping up their insurance surcharges. Check it out.



6. BOBBY JULICH EXPLAINS THE PRO CYCLING BUSINESS : If you're a talented rider but don't know a nut about the pro cycling business, then retired pro Bobby J. is taking it upon himself to explain it briefly. He reveals how cycling contracts work, what the first salaries are like, the "free agent" market, and his personal experiences on rest and relaxation off the bike. He also admits that getting back into training after the break wasn't always easy. Read his Nov 19 column here.



7. Disgraced cyclist Schumacher will now create a new sensation by deciding to sue the Tour de France. Great!





Lets fight doping, and lets fight sponsored terror!


Have a great and safe weekend.

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

8 Adhesive Handlebar Wraps And Headtube Cable Stops : Bad Design?

The bottom line on today's post is that, if you're a designer of a bicycle, you have to sit down and understand that your bicycle alone may be a good design. However, there is a rider sitting on it. And there are multiple aftermarket products that will be fitted to it over its life. Will they comply? Well, if the rider doesn't comply, then the design is an outright failure, which is plain to see. But the subtler problems often arise in the latter. Good design can cut time and money and will also mean customer satisfaction in the end, whether its you or your bike shop mechanic handling it.

I had to borrow a rant from a blogger I follow closely. The writer of Citizen Rider works in a bike shop in the North East of the U.S and seems to frequently handle varied customer requests. This time, it just got into his head. Let hear what he has to say on his cable routing puzzle, because I think it did make a lot of sense to me. Happy Thanksgiving for my readers in the U.S!


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Monday, Nov 10

"Any company that sold a bike with head tube cable stops owes their customers each a new frame if the old one can't be reconfigured to put the stops on the down tube or top tube where they will actually work.

I spent hours last night trying to figure out cable routing on a
Serotta Legend Ti that wouldn't destroy the cable housing within weeks. The longer I worked the options with no success, the more I hated whoever came up with the idea in the first place and whoever else thought it was good enough to slap on several model years' worth of what would have been decent bikes. The idiocy was industry-wide. Stupid, stupid, stupid idea. It cured the problem of cable chafe on the head tube at the cost of far greater functional problems with the shifting and steering systems.

The black bike defied my efforts to get a good picture of the setup in its mangled condition as I started the repair.

In this case, the problem is aggravated because the rider is a triathlete using aero bars with bar-end shifters. The pricey carbon aero extensions are drilled for internal cable routing. The stiff housing index shifting has to make two radical bends to get from the exit hole in the bar to the stop on the head tube.

The original housing, CD 4 mm, had broken through the alloy ferrule in the head tube stop.
Incidentally, the ferrule was corroded into the cable stop because of the constant bath of salty sweat that poured onto it as the rider used an indoor trainer. The housing had twisted itself up into a strange curl under the wide wing section of the bar.

I had to drill the remains of the alloy 4mm ferrules out of the cable stops so I could install brass 5 mm. I still haven't solved the routing riddle. One option would be to remove the threaded stops and take the housing through the part welded to the frame, but that would look even more cluttered on the sleek road frame than the rat's nest of curled brake and shift housings at the head tube already does.

Trying to overcome gratuitously stupid design drives me INSANE. It's even worse when I'm trying to fit this repair in with a wad of other important stuff, for a rider who has trusted me numerous times with her race prep. So far, I've managed to come through every time. This is her last big race of the year, and it's in Arizona or something, so the stakes are high.


Like all tri bikes, it's crusted with sticky and salty deposits from the energy drink and perspiration that get poured over it day after day. The crust on the rear brake has actually hardened into rock candy. If she runs short of energy out in the desert, she can hop off and lick the brake for a while.
[Buahahaha.... ok that's me]

Speaking of sticky, this $5,000-plus marvel also had another of my nemeses, sticky-back cork bar wrap.


There is absolutely no reason to have aggressive adhesive on the back of your handlebar wrap. It just makes repositioning or reusing tape impossible and makes it more difficult to remove old tape to put on new.
Unless you're some kind of twine-wrapping shellac-slapper, you WILL re-tape your bars. Just to change this rider's cable housing I will have to replace the little sections of cork wrap on the aero extensions because the sticky backing shredded what would have been reusable tape. I know this is just a nuisance, but it does add the cost and time of wrapping bars to a lot of repairs where it would not have been directly relevant.

Suppliers should say in the product description whether a model of wrap has adhesive backing."

Monday, November 24, 2008

10 'Warping' Camera Effect On Bicycle Spokes



Don Jones, who's also an anchor for NBC 17 Today, happened to take a shot of his rear wheel hot in action on one of his rides. He did it using his cell phone.

He loves his wheels, don't get me wrong, but this article of perfect shape, pattern and symmetry appeared ridiculously warped in the resulting image. Given that Don is an award winning news anchor who has traveled all around the world in the name of journalism, we all thought this might be some strange manifestation of 'spokely' attraction towards celebrity star power.

Okay. Maybe not.

Infact, this is not really new to me. It brings to mind some of the finish line pictures from my collegiate racing days. I dug this one up for you :

The spokes look like giant spidery infestations on the wheels (Courtesy : Velocityresults)


Before you mouth obscenities at your camera manufacturer, know the situation. The wheel is turning really fast. If there was a way to follow or track the motion of the spokes with the camera, you may have reproduced the image much better. Think of your camera as your own eye. Focus on a rotating wheel, keeping your eyes stationary. The spinning spokes appear like a blur that makes no sense to you apart from the fact that the motion is fast. But now spin the wheel much slower and try to track the spoke as it rotates around the hub. Much better?

The characteristic warped spokes in the images above, I think, is a result of slow shutter speed. The camera has no way to track motion this fast in the perpendicular direction. Any camera with a shutter speed of lesser than 1/500th of a second will most probably produce this effect since they are incapable of freezing fast movement. A bicycle company definitely wouldn't prefer something like this to go into their product brochure.

So I believe you can avoid this by using higher shutter speeds. In digital cameras, you can do this by increasing the ISO settings. However, you'll have to play around and experiment with the amount of noise you're getting in your images as a result.


Faster shutter speeds freezes the spinning wheel better. Courtesy : Megapixel



Additional Resources : The effect of the shutter speed on image


UPDATE/CORRECTION (11/25/08) : When I talked about shutter speeds above, I was pertaining to proper digital cameras. It must be mentioned that cellphones have no physical shutter at all. Instead, they use software to tell the camera how long to record light coming through the lens (mostly plastic). But because the internal processor and software are often slow, the lag between when you press the button and when the picture is captured can be a second or more. It will be interesting to see whether a digital camera with a good sensor and ISO range, when substituted instead of a cellphone, will eliminate the warping. Nevertheless, it is still a pretty cool effect.

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

5 Johannes Hofbauer : Inventing Music For Cycling


Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent.

- Victor Hug
o



Meet Johannes Hofbauer, a 26 year old musician who hails from Karlsruhe, Germany. He's quite passionate about the sport of cycling. However, differentiating himself from the typical serious cyclist who would do nothing but ride his bike all day, this young guy spends more time away from the saddle in his studio, seeking to translate his emotions for the sport into interesting pieces of electronic music. When I say interesting, I mean very interesting. The stuff he makes probably has little in common with what you mostly chill out to on your mp3 player.

In the sport of procycling, where huge, memorable battles are fought at the finish line or in the premises of high Alpine slopes, you'd imagine they all could use the same sort of epic musical theme of almost cheesy proportions. But is challenge, pain, fear and joy all there is to cycling? What about the other emotions? How do you express that?

I guess Johannes believes in letting the music talk for itself as he creates some really cool, unique music to narrate the rhythmic, pedal powered lifestyle. Its really a step away from some of the cheesy retro tunes that commonly accompanied race commentary.

So far, he has created three albums, and here's a preview from one of them called Cycling World :





I recently had a small chat with him across the Atlantic to further understand his drive to create music for cycling. Some of his work is also featured between my questions.



Q : Hello Johannes. Tell our Cozy Beehive readers a little about yourself, where you are from, and what your hobbies and passion in life are?

Johannes : Hello America!!! Thanks for letting me be part of this interview! I'm Johannes Hofbauer and a 26 year old musician from Germany. I live in the city which created the first bicycle in history! The city is Karlsruhe and the inventor's name was Freiherr Karl Drais. He invented the first bicycle called Draisine in 1817. And when I was at Drais High School in my younger days, I saw every day a Draisine in a showcase at the entrance of the school. That made for a perfect conversation that I could initiate with anybody - why I love that bike! :) And yes, its true that cycling is my passion and my hobby.





Q. That's what I thought, that you would be a big cycling fan. So I'm curious. How much do you ride your bike?

Johannes : Well, unfortunately not very day, because I'm often at studio for my work. But if I really want to ride, all I have to do is drive to France to do it. Actually, this is quite easy since I live near to the border to France. Frankly, here in Germany we have bad roads and too much traffic. But if I were to rank myself somewhere, I would say I'm an average cyclist.



Q. Right. Riding in traffic is one of the big problems we have here in the U.S. And I'm nothing more than an average cyclist, like you. Switching topics, tell us how you got involved in music.


Johannes : I have music in my blood. Everyone in my family is a musician. In my childhood days, growing up, I heard a lot of songs on the radio. I love the music from Falco, you know.. the crazy guy from Austria, who was number one in USA charts back in 1985. And so many other tunes come to mind. When I was 16, I finally decided to make this passion serious and so built my own studio. Hence, I'm a self-made music producer and I learn through self experimentation or through reading audio magazines. I'd say my knowledge about music and producing took 10 years to develop before I started making the music you're hearing. For a year, I even worked in a radio station and that was a great experience as well.




Q. Very interesting. May I ask you, what inspires you to create these tunes? Is there emotion, you think, that can be expressed through such music?


Johannes : The inspiration for me was the whole atmosphere of cycling. It was great. Through that inspiration, I found that I could combine my work in the studio with my personal passion for this sport. To be honest, I think cycling is like a movie. The riders are the actors, the races are their stories. Its that simple. And I think the task of a composer in this picture is to give a sound to this adventure on wheels. He must be like a reporter, speaking and describing through music. And yeah, you're right, I create music for the emotion. That's what its all about.





Q. So how does an idea for an album come about?


Johannes : For the Cycling World music album, it was very easy. I wanted to make a music album for the big name races on the pro tour calender. In the next step, I sought to give an international touch to the music. That means variety of cycling music for different countries, which explains why I created a track in the album called Tour of Britain or Japan Cup. My opinion is that if the music encompasses many parts of the world, it becomes unique. If you'll remember, Kraftwerk made their Tour de France album in 2003. I too made a Tour de France album in 2008. But after that experience, I thought an album with other cycling races will be more unique. That was my idea.





Q : Wow. I heard some of your work. I have to say the music sounds very different from some of the mainstream electronica that's out there. How would you classify your music, like a genre for it if you will? And whats with the characteristic periodic beats and patterns? Do you believe it should be cyclical, like the nature of cycling itself? I wonder if that was your idea.


Johannes : Sure! My music is a new kind, I know that. The beat is totally off and very progressive. That's what I love about it. You know, I'm a self-made musician and I have an innovative procession with samples and sounds. I can experiment with a lot of variations to create a new touch of music. You can consider me an inventor of music, not really a composer like the old way. Hence, I created the word "cycling composer", because I specialize in creating music for only for cycling. But who knows, maybe I'll end up making music for the moon landing or some other international event in future (laughs).

Johannes in his studio



Q. Well, I'll bet you the astronauts would love to hear something to get them going on that dead planet! Anyway, so you talked about how your ideas before creation. Now, give us an understanding of the tools you use to create that music. What instruments do you use at the studio?

Johannes : Well, I have a studio in a one room flat. The studio is built by me and I use many old electronic instruments from Korg, Yamaha, Roland and many more. I believe I can create unique music due to the nature of the equipment I use. The secret is the fact that, here, in my studio, you must combine old analog instruments with the more modern digital equipment for recording. I don't use computer programs like Ejay for example. I compose and play everything from the scratch, without using any templates made by software applications.





That was an interesting conversation. And after hearing some of his music, I tell you that you must approach it with the same open mindedness as you would to just about anything you experience in cycling such as being on a saddle for 5-8 hours, wearing Lycra in public or even shaving your legs! Music is really in the ears of the beholder, and there's always a right tune for your tastes!

To visit Johannes Hofbauer's website and to get more information on how to download his album through iTunes, click here. Some of his work is also featured on his Youtube page.

Monday, November 17, 2008

12 Training Deck : A DIY Indoor Trainer Platform For Side To Side Motion

Avid cyclists will remember that in the market today, there is essentially only one stationary indoor trainer that is capable of side to side motion. This is the Rock & Roll trainer made by Kurt Kinetic. The system has a broad base, magnetic bearings (although I doubt the capability of magnets in high bursts of start and stop like in sprint training) and an overwhelming green color (see my past rant on this green at Invasion Of the Frogs).

Its almost like a monopoly. Not a single other brand has anything close to it. So you either have a choice of spending a huge 500 dollars on it, or another huge 700 dollars on an alternative called the E-Motion rollers, or settle for not getting anything with this feature at all.

Maybe a month ago, I came across a short 14 second video on the internet. It interested me a lot because the movie showed a nice deck built for a trainer that had this side to side motion. Since I was pretty interested in who built it, I went ahead and contacted this person to find out more about the setup.

It turns out that if you have a little creativity and a skill with mechanisms, you can create your own rock and rolling trainer.

So I found myself talking to Roy Bailey from Wisconsin, who is the designer and maker of the Training Deck :




By profession, Roy works for Dekkora Products which specializes in rock enclosures. But in his spare time, he was able to construct this setup without much cost so he could train indoors in a manner mimicking actual riding.


I managed to spend some time with Roy asking him a couple of questions on his idea and design. In the midst of his busy schedule, he was able to answer them for me, so here it is that conversation :


Q : So tell me Roy, what sparked the idea to design and construct this?

Roy : I came up with the design for this training deck during the summer about 8 years ago. I knew the off season here in Wisconsin would be right around the corner and I just could not stand riding inside. My drive to work pretty much included about 45 minutes each way so I had a lot of down time to think it over.


Q : What materials did you use in your design?

Roy : I started my basic design with plywood and hand held clamps and then progressed to a steel square stock frame with steel flat stock for the spring locators. A plastic deck is attached to the top to allow for several different configurations of trainers to be attached.


Q. Talk briefly about how it works for our readers.

Roy : Well its simple. The design works off compression springs to maintain a neutral position when not on load from side to side. The pivot is done with shoulder bolts which act as bearings for the smooth motion.


Q. Great. How much did this project cost you overall?

Roy : I built several pieces and still feel there is some possible updated version awaiting discovery but overall the unit works great and quite reasonable. I can produce and sell the units for $150.00 per unit and still have some cash to buy new tires for the bikes each year! I would love to offer up the idea to individuals to make their own unit as I really have my hands full on my current business.


Its little ideas like this that we need more in the cycling scene, to drive down costs by encouraging competition. Perhaps bicycle design itself is a little stunted now but there's a lot of opportunity in aftermarket products and bicycle training systems.

I told Roy about getting a patent on his Training Deck before someone else does it. However, it looks like he's been cool on it but I'm not sure what he's thinking.

If you'd like to get in touch with Roy Bailey, this is his email. Please do not get excited and flood his inbox. That's all I ask. :)

Saturday, November 15, 2008

15 The RevoPower Puzzle : Where Is It ?



Beginning some 3 years ago, many websites, blogs and a handful of TV shows were raving about a new kind of gas powered, motorized bicycle wheel called RevoPower. The idea even piqued the interests of publications like Machine Design, Popular Science and even CNN :





When I first heard about it back then, I thought it was a pretty neat concept. Non-cyclists tend to stay away from pedal power due to the very requirement and consequences of pedaling! Sad, but true. So if this new idea was part of an answer to help target the vast blue ocean of non-cyclists, it was welcomed by all means. Hey, gas was cheap!


A snippet on the invention from the Machine Design magazine (2005)



Breakdown of proposed design : A gas powered 23cc 2 stroke engine rated 1 HPmax for 7800 RPM, and a slim gear transmission all at the hub of the wheel, nestled between the forks of the bicycle


As the rider of this bicycle, you would substitute the 15 pound Revopower wheel for your normal spoked front wheel, slip a tank of standard gasoline into your water bottle cage, clip the throttle to your handlebars using the given attachment, and start pedaling like you would normally ride a bike. When you are ready for some supplemental power, you operate the thumb powered throttle to get the engine to kick into action. The clutch would then automatically engage and you are on your way to wherever you need to be between 15-20 mph claimed speeds.

Tank and throttle attachment accessories come with the wheel


While the concept and prototypes looked fine, the product just didn't come out. In fact, Denver based RevoPower first said it would be out by late 2006. Then it was shifted to early 2007. Then to late 2007, and finally into 2008 according to the latest update on their website. We're almost nearing the end of this year and there is still no sign of the product.

The time to market has been nothing short of horrible. We all know that every fortnight, something new comes out in the commercial bicycle scene. I may be exaggerating but my point being that in a time sensitive market, it'll be against your opportunity by not getting the product out quickly.




Presentation on Target Markets, Distribution and Pricing Strategy


So the question then begs to be answered. Where are they? Whats happening behind the scenes? What is the bottleneck exactly? Did the credit crunch get them? Was the record gas prices early this year turning it into a non-viable product?

According to some sources : "RevoPower is in the hands of the secured creditors. There is no product imminent. The product could not be produced after 4 years and millions of dollars of investment due to thermal issues and performance constraints. The IP is in dispute with the original investors, and no one may offer this product without the consent of the creditors, which has not been granted. Please contact David Kendall, KKO Attorneys at Law, 999 18th St, Denver CO with any information which may lead to civil action."

While I'm choosing to trust whoever filled us with that information, I also want to talk a little about some other drawbacks of this design.

1. In this day and age, when cyclists are complaining about the very chain and sprocket transmission system (greasy and oily), here is RevoPower proposing to contribute 15 more pounds in weight of oil & gas powered componentry to the front portion of the bicycle.

2. In an impact, its the front wheel that often takes the first blow. While 400 dollars may not be overly expensive, placing all this setup at the most vulnerable site just opens it to the possibility of damage.

3. Clean, electric, battery powered pedal assists are being very compeitive in the market these days [see this video of a hub powered motor]. Whats the chance of a gas powered system standing up to them? 100mpg of claimed system efficiency might cut it for a while, but battery technology is leapfrogging and will catch up in no time.

4. The idea of placing a can of gas into one of your water bottle holders takes away the real estate for your drinking water. Besides, who would like the idea of carrying a flammable liquid between their crotch on a hot day?

5. A gas powered engine might trigger regulations in some states, requiring the rider to hold a two wheeler driver's licence.

6. The components might not be easy to understand for the new, unassuming cyclist. The installation of the setup is also crude and has to be taken to a bike shop or a RevoPower certified professional.

7. Every bike company is in for the money to be gained from claimed weight savings on their design. Being light and svelte is one of the chief selling points we commonly see in today's bikes. A lighter proposition for a pedal assist will most likely be preferable over something heavy.

8. Perhaps the most critical point that we may have not talked about so far is the fact the gas engine itself has its own explosive fuel mixture and has its own source of ignition. As such, it has to be tested and certified that it is safe to use by normal consumers. Imagine being able to snap on an explosive component to a bike and say its ready to ride. That may work in other countries but in the U.S, there are specific agencies that ensure that these products meet all the regulatory standards before being sold.


In conclusion, I'm not positive where this company is headed. RevoPower's fate perhaps highlights the classic pithole that an idea or invention need not always make it successfully to market. You need more than an inventive genius to finance and manage your operations and see it to the end of the tunnel.

It'll be very interesting to see if RevoPower pushes their date a fifth time into 2009. If you've further information about the company, or if you're Steve Katsoras, the inventor...please feel free to put some information in the comments here. There might be a good number of people painfully waiting to get a hold of this product. Wait, painfully huh?



Additional Resources : One of my readers posted a nice link to a 56 page PDF report on Revopower presented by New York Private Equity. Thanks! Read it here.

Friday, November 14, 2008

7 Design Case Study : Innovation Of The Brompton Folding Bicycle

Folding bicycles are a marvel of kinematic design. The ability of their inventors to see a wide variety of complex arrangements, shapes and sizes and later turn them into unique, elegant and simplistic machines is a remarkable feat of engineering design. However, the design challenge is rarely a bed of roses. Perhaps one of the most widely talked about examples of lateral thinking in such a practice can be evidenced through the design process behind the Strida (see here).

Today's interesting piece is one that must be read over a cup of tea or coffee since its a little lengthy. We'll look at the history, the design and innovation of what is widely regarded as the best folding bicycle ever made - the
Brompton! We'll look at how the idea emerged, the kinematic design of the bike, and how prototyping and testing lend themselves to the feat of achieving a reliable final product.

This old engineering article comes courtesy of UK's OpenLearn Learning Space so a big thank you to the design author, whoever he is.






DESIGN AND INNOVATION : THE BROMPTON FOLDING BICYCLE



1. REPRISE : CONCEPT TO PROTOTYPE TO PRODUCTION

Go to buy any functional product, and you will almost certainly be presented with a range of different designs. Some of the differences will just be in the styling, but there may also be real differences in function or quality, which may be reflected in the price. Different design concepts lead to competing products with particular sets of advantages and disadvantages. Moving from concept to production depends critically on the industrial and social context. An idea for a new product, or a modification to an existing design, requires both human effort and financial input if it is to come to fruition.

Part of the design process is the development of prototypes. A prototype is a ‘test’ version of the product, and may have different functions depending on when it is constructed during the design cycle. If the product is simply having a change to its styling, the prototype will be important in establishing the ‘look’ which will be attractive to consumers. If a new piece of technology is being used to improve a product, the job of the prototype may be more technical: to ensure that the product's performance is up to scratch. Prototype development may be one of the most costly and time-consuming stages of finalizing the design; it may involve extensive market research, or prolonged laboratory and consumer testing.

If the design life cycle is shortened, to hasten the arrival of the new product in the marketplace, the risk of failure goes up. More designs for a product arriving faster on the shelves is good for consumers, who will revel in the choice, but not good for employers or employees who are staking money and jobs on success!

As an example, James Dyson is on the record as saying that the design of his cyclone vacuum cleaner came about after the making of 5000 prototypes.

The third case study I have chosen to continue the design story is an accessible example that allows me to look at some engineering specifics: it is the design and successful production of a folding bicycle. At the end of the study I shall consider the general lessons and issues that arise from the study. However, remember that most designs fall by the wayside, so its success makes it atypical.




2. BICYCLE ORIGAMI

Andrew Ritchie started designing a folding bicycle in 1975, stimulated by the Bickerton folding bicycle design. The Bickerton is made from aluminum, and is hinged at the chainwheel bracket. (The chainwheel is the toothed wheel driven by the pedals.) This means that the chain and chainwheel are on the outside when the bicycle is folded, and the two wheels come together.

In essence, Ritchie was inspired by the thought that he could do better. His two major criticisms were that the bicycle didn't fold well because the chainwheel, the muckiest part of a bicycle, was prominent; and that he did not think that aluminum was the best material for a folding bike:

"Aluminium is too soft for a folding bicycle, it just doesn't stand up to the knocks, the everyday wear and tear."

Ritchie (1999)

The Bickerton, a source of inspiration


The first criticism is easy to accept, but his view on aluminium is not at all obvious. After all, many bicycles are made from aluminium, which is a light, corrosion-resistant material, seemingly ideal for a portable bicycle. If it is good enough for top-of-the-range cars like the Aston Martin V12 Vanquish, why not for a bicycle also? Remember that its corrosion resistance and low weight made it a good choice for the Res-Q-Rail. I shall return to this issue later.

In an existing firm, say a bicycle company, an idea for a new product such as this would include other people in critical roles. Perhaps market researchers, involving bicycle users, to estimate the size of the potential market and the interaction between designers with technical expertise in, say, production and structures. Cost would play a large part in the discussions, as would risk and the effect of the project on existing products and commitments.

An independent designer can often find it difficult to get a sympathetic hearing when they take their ideas to established manufacturers. They face the ‘not invented here’ syndrome, which suggests that companies put their faith in their own in-house ideas but cannot see the potential in ideas from outside. Alternatively, they see potential legal and economic problems in protecting and investing in a design which may have been shown to competitors. This is a common enough story: the Dyson vacuum cleaner was hawked around established vacuum cleaner companies who rejected the idea. Andrew Ritchie was to experience the same rejection from bicycle manufacturers.

His basic idea, which remained constant through the development of prototypes, was to hinge the bicycle to make the wheels come to the ‘center’, one on each side of the chainwheel. In this way the wheels would shroud the oily chain and chainwheel.

Such a ‘kinematic’ solution (referring to the way that the parts of the bicycle move relative to each other) occupies a different design space from that of the Bickerton. It gives the same functional solution – reducing the length of the bike down to something which is more portable – but the way by which this is achieved is different. The concept of where the bicycle is hinged, and how its parts are arranged when folded is different. Once that concept is established a way of realizing it is required.

Designer Andrew Ritchie with a folded Brompton bicycle


By way of introduction to the Brompton story, the figure below shows a recent production Bromption being folded. The first stage is to swing the rear wheel underneath the frame – see pictures (a) to (d). As you can see, the wheel hinges in its own plane.

The next stage is to move the front wheel to a position alongside the rear wheel; pictures (e) and (f). This is done by freeing a clamp on the frame crossbar, near where the crossbar joins the headstock. (The headstock is the part of the frame to which the handle-bar pillar and the front wheel are attached.) Once the clamp is freed, the front of the frame can be hinged sideways to bring the front wheel beside the rear wheel. This sideways movement of the front end is a significant feature of the production model. As we shall see, the first prototype Brompton used a different technique.

Brompton bicycle being folded in sequence


Another clamp, just above the headstock (figure below), is freed, allowing the handle-bar pillar to hinge down to sit alongside the front wheel; pictures (g) and (h).


Hinges and clamps


The final step is to unclamp the seat pillar and to slide the seat down; picture (i). This action locks the bicycle into its folded arrangement.

In the figure above, the clamped crossbar hinge is visible behind the bundle of cables. This hinge, when unclamped, allows the front wheel to be moved to a position alongside the rear wheel.

Bicycles designed to be folded into a convenient shape have a long and honorable history going back at least as far as 1885. The figure below is a collage of a few of the many solutions to the problem. Common to all these designs (and the Bickerton) is the problem of the protruding chainwheel, so Ritchie's concept looks to be a genuine innovation.



3. PROTOTYPING AND IMPROVING


Historical folders


In Ritchie's first prototype design (P1) the rear wheel hinged forward in its own plane from the lowest point of its triangular support structure. However, unlike the production model, the front wheel of P1 also moved (almost) in its own plane underneath the bicycle to sit alongside its partner; in this case some sideways movement was needed to ensure that the front wheel sat next to the rear one, rather than just bumping against it as it hinged. To achieve this the front wheel needed a complex, skewed hinge to move it the few inches sideways so as to clear the rear wheel and chainwheel.

As well as moving the two wheels to the centre, it was necessary to move the saddle, together with its pillar, and the handlebars into the same space. The seat pillar telescoped to get the saddle into the packing space, which had the advantage that saddle height adjustment and packing were accomplished by the same mechanism. The telescoped seat pillar slid down behind the hinged rear wheel, so locking it in place, an important feature that has survived the transition from prototype to production.

Ritchie was driven by a search for ‘the ultimate in compactness’ when designing and building P1, which was a platform for various design ideas.

The chainwheel and the saddle competed for space in the folded package, so Ritchie tried to move the chainwheel away from where the saddle needed to be, but

"…it was too complicated, I gave up an inch when that idea was dropped." Ritchie (1999)

Prototype P1 used 18 inch wheels, then common on children's bicycles. The main tube of the frame was lower than in the production model and the bicycle was not stiff enough (see Stiffness and flexing). Bowden cables linked the front- and rear-wheel folding mechanisms.

Ritchie is a regular bicycle commuter in London, so he tests designs and design changes routinely and expertly. He was pleased with the realization of the basic design concept in the first prototype :

"I had demonstrated that the design concept could result in a compact folding bicycle." Ritchie (1999)

Ritchie uses the expression ‘good luck rather than design’ to describe unpredicted advantages of his conceptual design solution.



4. THE SECOND PROTOTYPE (P2)

The major design difference between P1 and subsequent prototypes was the removal of the complex skewed hinge required to move the front wheel in its own plane underneath the bicycle to sit alongside the rear wheel. The front wheel now hinged orthogonal to the plane of the bicycle (i.e. it moved sideways from the line of the frame, as happens in the production model in Figure 46 (e) and (f)) using a purpose-designed hinge made from tubing.

The rear wheel continued to be folded underneath the frame. The P2 saw the introduction of castors on the rear luggage rack, on which the bicycle sat when the rear wheel was folded underneath. These too have survived.

Unlike the production model, P2's handlebars hinged down, one each side of the package. Also unlike the production model, the seat pillar of P2 consisted of more than one tube which telescoped during folding.

Two more prototypes were built using sliding tubes to produce hinges, this time with 16-inch wheels. Wheel size is a key issue for the designer of a folding bike. Smaller wheels are easier to pack small, but the smaller the wheel the bigger the pothole feels! There is also the ‘make or buy’ decision to consider. Mass production of bicycle wheels is a big issue; it is much easier for a manufacturer to buy-in wheels produced by a large manufacturer than to dedicate machinery and labour to the production of wheels just for their own product.

A Brompton Prototype : Note the frame hinge on the crossbar


Andrew Ritchie's intention was to sell the design. To further this ambition, he applied for and obtained a patent in 1981. You will read more about patents in the next unit, but for now it is worth noting that his patent may have been difficult to defend, owing to the number of previous designs of folding bicycle that were available. He certainly could not have afforded to defend it if his design had been copied by a large manufacturer, but nonetheless it is a formal statement of the design, a design representation, and a claim to intellectual property.

In total Ritchie built four prototype machines, with a low main tube, between 1975 and 1979, to prove and develop his ideas. His next problem was to turn the design into a product that you or I could buy.



5.1 THE FACTORY OPENS

Because Andrew Ritchie could not sell his idea, he decided to set up his own factory to manufacture the bicycles. He borrowed money from friends (the interest on the loans was a bicycle) to build 30 bicycles and 20 for sale.

After the increasing complications of the prototyping stage, manufacturing constraints become a powerful influence on the designer:

"Bending one top tube is difficult enough, bending fifty is really tiring." Ritchie (1999)

The main tube was positioned higher and a simpler bought-in offset hinge replaced the purpose-built tube hinges. This forged hinge, which was critical to the Brompton's development, was from France. So, detailed design changes were made to the hingeing system with some benefits to compactness resulting from positioning the hinge higher in the frame.

The telescoping seat pillar was dropped, becoming a single tube, and the frame was braced with a small diagonal cross-beam to give it extra stiffness.

"After the first 50 I got a small-firm government loan to produce batches of 50 bicycles; 400 in a year and a half."

Ritchie (1999)


5.2 BATCH PRODUCTION

"After the first 50 I got a small-firm government loan to produce batches of 50 bicycles; 400 in a year and a half."

Ritchie (1999)

Designing and manufacturing low-cost tooling was a harder job for Ritchie than designing the bicycle. There are many design routes to producing a lighter frame or a more easily manufactured frame that are not available to a small batch manufacturer. He had to use soft, mild steel for the main tube as he could not bend stronger alloy steel, and the main tube had an aesthetically ugly kink from the bending process. Plastic parts were machined from the solid and metal plate was drilled, cut and bent. The process is essentially scaled-up craft production.

During this period Ritchie learned from customers, and from riding his own bicycle. Indeed, sometimes detailed redesign was necessary in the light of problems and failures brought to his attention by users. The business remained vulnerable, although there was helpful press exposure (See KEW FOR A RIDE below).



5.3 MASS PRODUCTION

In 1981 the French manufacturer of forged hinges discontinued production so Ritchie stopped batch production and wrote a Business Plan. After a hiatus of five years, in 1986, Ritchie eventually raised £90,000, half of the money he needed to go into mass production, from a customer, friends and family, and went ahead anyway.

The drive to design for manufacturability continues apace. A tool was designed to curve the main tube, so removing that kink. At the time of writing, 2000, a power press allows the use of a higher specification of steel for the main frame member. The hinges were machined from the solid until expensive forging tools could be bought in 1987. Ritchie is working on removing the skill from the manufacture of hinges.


KEW FOR A RIDE

From The Standard, Wednesday 3 February 1982, p. 19.

At 8.00 a.m. today, as always, Andrew Ritchie arrived at work on his bike. Mr Ritchie works at Kew. He has a workshop there and he built the bike he arrived on in the workshop.

A most remarkable bike it is too. It takes a few seconds to fold it up into a neat package less than 2 ft square which you can pick up and carry anywhere.

No other collapsible bike in the world, says Ritchie, collapses so totally and so easily. And it is just as simple to un-collapse it into a bike again.

Ritchie, an old Harrovian who read engineering at Cambridge, is 35 and says he is appalled by the amount of his life he has already given to this bike.

He had the idea at the beginning of 1976, but it wasn't until early last year that he was able to move into the workshop at Kew and put the bike into production.

He had orders for 30 bikes, mostly from friends and friends of friends. These were made and delivered by last March and, to his great relief, they brought in orders for 20 more.

By the time these were made another 30 orders had come in and there was some welcome help from HMG in the shape of a Small Firms Loan Guarantee.

So this particular small firm stays bravely afloat in these choppy seas, an example to us all.

It currently has a workforce of two – Patrick Mulligan, brazier and Andrew Ritchie, managing director and assembler – and this will increase as orders come in.

Meanwhile there are 56 Bromptons – that is what the bike is called – on the road now and 24 more ready for delivery and I can report that Judge Abdela has been seen arriving at the Old Bailey on one, that Lord Fraser of Tulley-Belton, the Scottish Law Lord, rides one, and that Ritchie's bike, No 7 from the production line, got him from South Kensington to Kew and back all through the blizzards.

It is, of course, an expensive way of making a bike, this, and each one costs £195 by the time you have added VAT. But they are extremely slick little bikes, and with only 80 made so far, think of the rarity value.

A special pedal is used on one side of the bicycle. The pedal folds away, so that it does not project from the folded bicycle. This adds £33 to the current (2001) price list. The pedal on the other side does not fold, and nestles in a tangle of spokes and tubes when the bicycle is folded.

The craft route to producing the pedal involves 64 operations. The companyAdd Image bought a piercing and blanking tool for £3500 in 1991 to reduce these operations. All the earlier prototypes and the first batch had a folding crank.

"It was a clever eccentric mechanism that wore easily."

Ritchie (1999)

The folding pedal


Assembly and testing of the Brompton


It takes 21 minutes to braze the rear frame. The company is investing in an automatic brazing system for the main frame.
"We spend 25 minutes inspecting the bicycle after production and listen to our customer's problems carefully. We have a fatigue rig and keep a constant watch on the details of supplied items. In the early days I sent a £3000 order back to a supplier who did not use a radiused milling cutter."

Ritchie (1999)



5.4 TESTING

Ritchie cycles regularly, so still tests ideas and changes. During summer 2000 Ritchie was assessing low rolling resistance tyres.

"Gearing was always a problem. To most manufacturers the folding bike is a bottom-of-the-range product. We wanted proper gearing using a bigger-than-average chainwheel, so at various times we became involved in making gears, for example a 13 tooth rear gear. And we had problems with broken teeth. Things are better now. We use the 3 and 5 speed Sturmey Archer hub for gears.

We have resisted the complication of Derailleur gears. All that extra complication is against the philosophy of the design. Perhaps we could sell another thousand bicycles. It's what the market wants. It's a luxury, but we do not respond."

Ritchie (1999)


You can buy a Brompton bicycle, named after The Brompton Oratory, for about £500. Andrew Ritchie won a Queen's award for export achievement in 1995. Not at all bad for a company that, literally, started under the railway arches.


ADDITIONAL RESOURCES :

A Humble Video Speech From Andrew Ritchie, Courtesy Of The Folding Cyclist

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