DIY Cycling » Cycling Business and Industry

Social Bicycles Bike Sharing

Frank — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 00:50:34 +0000

Kickstarter from Social Bicycles on Vimeo.

Over the past few months, I’ve seen quite a few Kickstarter projects involving bicycles. They’ve encompassed everything from locks to storage. Today, however, I stumbled across the Social Bicycles Kickstarter project, which is just plain awesome.

In a nutshell, you get a SoBi account, and connect with your tablet or smart phone. After renting time on bikes on the network, you are given a pin code to unlock a bike near you. Once you’re finished, you lock the bike up and register its location with the SoBi system. This is pretty cool, and gives the bicycle sharing project a little more flexibility due to the lack of dedicated stations.

By decentralizing bike share programs, bicycles can be made available throughout a city while requiring much less centralized space. This could give many commuters, travelers and others a lot more peace of mind when it comes to bicycle theft, maintenance, etc. What do you think?

Bicycles Allowed Use of Full Lane – or BAUFL for Short

Collapsible Bikes: Fun or Folly?

Frank — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 01:40:25 +0000

The first thing that comes to mind when I think of a collapsible bicycle are those goofy looking travel bikes with tiny wheels. And then I saw this:

Folding Bicycle

Sure it’s only a concept, but wow! It looks good. Could it really be safe? Look at how the wheels fold:

Collapsing Wheel

If nothing else, it’s a definite good start. I’ve been waiting to see bicycle production go in new directions. Unfortunately, this one doesn’t look like it’d be too easy to take apart. .

Would you ride a collapsible bicycle? Let us know in the comments!

[Gizmodo via Treehugger]

From Bicycle Couriers to Coffee Delivery: The World of Every Day Cycling

Bicycle Couriers. . In a City Near You

Frank — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 00:00:24 +0000

Bicycle Couriers (also known as Bike Messengers) may not be your first thought when considering logistics or choosing a parcel delivery service. There are, however, many compelling reasons that you (or your business) should use bicycle couriers instead of other courier services (aside from the fact that most of them will even bring you your lunch).

In previous posts I’ve mentioned EcoTrack Couriers of Oklahoma City, as well as several other uses of bicycles in business. Time to bring notice to a few more:

New York Bike Messengers Association (New York City)
The NYMBA is a worker’s alliance of bicycle messengers whose mission is to “unite, represent and advocate for the bike couriers of New York City.” Not only do they act as advocates, they organize rides (often for charity) geared toward bringing bike messengers from NYC together.

Breakaway Bicycle Couriers (Milwaukee)
Breakaway Bicycle Couriers brings you great rates and deliveries by a team of cyclists who not only ride their routes, but also compete nationally. Expect fast, cheap, water-proof, co2-free service.

Godspeed Couriers (San Francisco)
Godspeed Couriers, operating since 1999, is made up of “a group of highly skilled bicycle messengers, amateur road racers, and experienced motorists who all love to be good at what they do.” They claim to bring you dependable rush-time service and won a “best of SF 2009″ award.

Velocity Bicycle Couriers (Charlotte, NC)
Velocity provides reliable, efficient, and friendly courier service in uptown Charlotte, specializing in legal offices. They’re flexible, however, willing to take on any job with a smile.

Are you a courier? Does your city have bike messengers? Let us know in the comments!

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Why Your Business Should Use Bicycle Couriers

Frank — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 04:06:52 +0000

Whether you’re a legal firm, coffee shop, pizza place or other business, you’re sure to run into the need to make deliveries, send messages and paperwork, or just order out lunch. Here are a few reasons why your business should use a Bicycle Courier.

1. Save Money – That’s right, because they have lower operating costs, Bicycle Messaging and Courier services can offer low, competitive rates. And, because most couriers love what they do, you also get better service.

2. Get it There Faster – Bicycles are unarguably smaller than cars. Therefore, they can sometimes navigate through spaces that cars cannot. If you live in a city where gridlock is common, using Bicycle Couriers can save you time.

3. Unclutter the Streets - Simply put, fewer cars means less traffic which means less street clutter. This leads to fewer oil slicks, less frequent road maintenance and greatly improved local air quality.

4. Do It For The Environment – Cyclists have an infinitely lower carbon footprint than cars. They are a 100% petroleum-free form of transportation. This keeps local dollars local (money goes into local residents, and business rather than international oil corporations), helps combat global warming, and as mentioned above helps improve local air quality.

These are just a few of the reasons to use bicycle couriers over petroleum-powered couriers. Not convinced? Tell me why! Does your community use bicycle couriers? I want to know! Does your business? Let us know in the comments.

From Bicycle Couriers to Coffee Delivery: The World of Every Day Cycling

Frank — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 18:28:15 +0000

Bicycle Courier

In my recent post about the comeback of Bicycle Couriers, I wrote about Oklahoma City’s Ecotrack Bicycle Couriers. This got me thinking about what other ways bicycle’s are being used in every day business and industry. After doing some research I found a few company’s using bicycles in innovative ways, as well as some food for thought in how they can be used to make our city’s more bicycle friendly.

Here’s what I found:

De La Paz Coffee Delivery

The Coffeecycle

Let’s face it, coffee is part of almost everybody’s morning ritual. And who wouldn’t want it delivered directly to them? De La Paz Coffee performs an impressive feat by delivering ALL of their coffee in San Francisco by bicycle. I’m impressed. They have a pretty sweet setup for their delivery bike too. Looks like they’ve taken a basic front rack and attached two large buckets. Pure Genius!

Meals on (two) Wheels

Many of you have heard of Meals on Wheels. But have you heard of Meals on Two Wheels?

Meals on Two Wheels takes the basic idea of Meals on Wheels (to provide hot meals to shut ins) and makes it eco-friendly.

Here’s how it works:
You sign up for the program, and they do all the rest. After you are approved for delivery, the organization provides you with a route and a trailer (A modified Burley flatbed trailer). On the trailer you have a two coolers, one for hot and one for cold foods. You then ride your route, delivering the meals.

Here’s a picture of blogger Rick Glos‘s (who writes more about his experience here) Meals on Two Wheels rig.

Meals on Two Wheels Bicycle Rig

These are the best examples I found of bicycles being used in every day industry, but I would definitely like to see more! How does your city use bicycles? How can we make them more common in every day use? Remember, more cycles = fewer accidents. Tell us about how your city uses bicycles in the comments!

Bicycle Couriers: Are They Making a Comeback?

Frank — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 15:16:04 +0000

Have you ever seen a bicycle courier? I’ve seen a few trolling around larger cities like NYC, but even then not too many.

Enter: Ecotrack Cycle Couriers. These guys have brought the cycling courier back to Oklahoma and at the moment, provide the only totally eco-friendly courier service in Oklahoma. They deliver with no emissions, and on sweet rides at that. Here’s why they say you should use a cycling courier:

Benefits of using bicycle messengers versus car couriers for deliveries include:

Reduced pollution

Reduced traffic congestion

Save on-street parking for more necessary activities and emergencies

Faster

Cheaper

Bicycle couriers provide solutions to the environmental problems related to many forms of pollution such as air, noise and smell. The more couriers on bikes there are, the fewer cars there are and therefore the less carbon dioxide emissions. More bikes mean less noise and stench. Bike messengers take up less space on the road and do less damage to the roads than cars. More bike couriers mean less gridlock and fewer road repairs.
As a result more bike couriers mean better conditions and streets for all road users including motorists.

And I couldn’t agree more. In cities clogged more and more with cumbersome, polluting automobiles, cyclists CAN be faster, and because of that be cheaper. Furthermore, if all couriers rode bikes, how much clearer would the roads be for you? I dig what these guys are doing and hope to see it spread.

Do your cities have bicycle couriers? Are you one? Let us know in the comments!

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