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Yea or Nay? The Bici Bike Rack System

By Rain Noe - October 26, 2020

in Bikes

Parking spaces for cars have a universally-accepted design: Two painted lines on the ground. Those designing bike racks have it much harder, as they're typically working within tighter space constraints and have to take anti-theft provisions into account. And I'm all for a variety of designers throwing their skills at this problem, but this new Bici design has me scratching my head:

"The architectural firm Zeller & Moye, with double base in Mexico City and Berlin, proposes a new device called Bici. The element designed is simply made of a 2.03 m long C-shaped metal profile with a opening to accommodate the front wheel of the transport vehicle. With its rail guide, it is easy to use and suitable for all types of bicycles. Bicycles can be installed indoors or outdoors, at home or in a bike parking.

"The installation, guided by drawings similar to an Ikea assembly manual, is simple and intuitive: first the head of the frame is fixed in place with the pin inserted in a hole drilled in the wall; then the foot of the frame is placed on the floor and fixed firmly with screws."

First off, for bike racks I'm not sure a "simple and intuitive" installation is the way to go; I'd want these things to be a bitch to install, so that they're a bitch to uninstall. If I'm a bike thief and I just have to pop a couple of screws to get the bike and C-channel off, I can throw that in the van in a few seconds. (In NYC at least, thieves have been known to remove bikes still attached to the railings they're shackled to. Presumably they're then whisked away to a chopshop where they can take their time freeing the bike.)

Secondly, I think asking end users of varying physicalities to push the bike up that angle, and safely get it back down afterwards, might be asking too much.

Thirdly, at least as depicted in the photos, I think I'd want a lot more space between each rack to maneuver my bike in and out.

Lastly, most bike rack designs are floor-mounted, which provides flexibility in placement. Having them rely on both a floor and a wall seems like a limitation with little benefit.

What say you, am I missing what's great about this design?

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James Baldwin

4 years ago

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Doesn't really work. If you have a front chain ring if any size it will collide with the C section. The locking points are useless, only really letting you lock the wheels and not the frame. BREEAM want 3 dedicated locking points. The industry standard semi vertical rack is spaced at 305mm centers, this looks to be around 600mm so it's no more efficient than a Sheffield stand. The low rack comes out to far to be useful. If you don't have a rear wall you could knock up a simple angle framework. The racks could also be installed with sheer nuts. 5/10 Could do better.

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Hap Parker

3 years ago

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Great simple component, probably easy to ship and perhaps easy to install (except for two nearly identical pieces to identify, the steeper one and the lower-angled one?) - BUT - doesn't take up less floor space (many other racks do a good job of that), has a tire-slot that limits the width of the bike tire, therefore, the kind of bike that can be secured there, could I kick the upper end free of the wall, use it as a lever, and yank the whole thing away from the wall and break the floor mount? I think so, then I have your $2000.00 road bike. To install it, I have to install two connectors foe each bike to be stored, but with many competitor's products, there are far fewer connections to make per bike, often only four or so for multi-bike racks. interesting concept, but needs to be thought out much better, I think.

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Anthony Towers

4 years ago

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no, my wheels are very expensive :p

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David Beck

4 years ago

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I'll be mostly pro about it. I will say the angles are too steep. The lowest angle could be lowered to where a tire is just off the ground. The higher angle should be just enough where handlebars don't interfere if you want to pack as many as you can into a limited space.

As for a theft deterrence, Rain did mention pretty much nothing works other than something with more permanence and therefore more cost. Not for every application and maybe not all areas of NYC, but who said it has to be theft proof?

For the cutout, most rims are 20mm wide where most tires are at least 25mm. The metal cutout should not touch the tire. The lower the tire can go, the more stability it will have for those with panniers. It will be the "points' on the ends of the cutout that retains the tire. Designed properly, it should accommodate everything from 23mm-700c to 2"-26", which is probably 95% of tire/wheel combinations in the world. Also, the powder coating will be softer than raw steel.

They are incredibly inexpensive to make and install. They can come in most any color you wish. All you need is a vertical surface and Bob's yer uncle.

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Scott T

4 years ago

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Not sure how you take the bikes off when there's many bikes in the rack. I'm guessing a lot of people would want to pull on the handles, up, and then out. Being a short person, I can imagine this being difficult and that the pedals from the next bike would be stabbing me in the stomach, face, or chest.

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Phillip Priolo

4 years ago

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My concern here is how the front wheel is secured. It looks like a great way to taco the wheel, bend spokes, or get it stuck. When commuting I use panniers to carry work stuff which adds lateral weight that can be difficult to manage when hanging a bike.

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- Sean Horita
  
  Phillip Priolo
  
  4 years ago
  
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  Also regarding the front wheel retention: Or - scratch the rim with the raw metal edge of the cutout. Or have an alternatively sized wheel that drops all the way to the axle and contacts your disc. If you are riding a skinny tire fixie as depicted you won't have a problem pushing it up the incline, and I like how they are staggered to obviate handlebar banging. I wouldn't lock anything to this except a $200 glamo-fixie though.
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Juan Cano

4 years ago

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Just seems like a constant tripping hazard to me. I like how their photo they show a single bike, makes it look beautiful.

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Steven Martens

4 years ago

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I am stunned at the amount of people working on anything bicycle related.

I get that for many that is there only or preferred mode of transport, but they must interact with other things in the world. Goodness gracious, do they cook or garden or even paint their house/studio?

And Nay, it isn't very cool, but maybe that's the point, I don't know.

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Jo Mo

4 years ago

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This is hardly a "new proposal". This looks like something I have seen in numerous bike shops for displaying bikes. I am confused as to why an architectural firm decided to make a press release for something so mundane and not new in any real way. Sorry, but who really gives a good gosh darn about this?

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- Aleex Du
  
  Jo Mo
  
  4 years ago
  
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  it seems that they don't save too much space
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