oilman_15106

Being a fan of the unusual and unique related to cycling, I came across this and for my money it is one of the dumbest ideas related to cycling ever. You'all may have some other dumb cycling ideas to add but how about some comment on this one:

https://edition.cnn.com/2010/TECH/inn...ex.html?hpt=C2

Louis

I'm all for some form of cycling/public transportation, but...


It's gonna get pretty hot inside one of those things.

There's gonna be lots of angry people behind me when I stop, throw out a rope ladder, climb down and search for a restroom.

Artkansas 

They could put it in at Disneyland, replace the Autopia.

Wouldn't an elevated bike path be cheaper,simpler and more useful? Like the Veloway in Pasadena at the turn of the 20th Century.

Daspydyr 

I can't see me cycling upside down. Good intention, poor choice of projects.

gcottay

I'd never heard of the the Pasadena Veloway.

Robert Gottlieb included the info below in a Sierra Club piece. I'm impressed and amazed by the willingness of riders to pay the huge 15 cent toll.*

IN 1900, SOUTHERN CALIFORNIANS CREATED a futuristic traffic structure catering to the mechanical marvel of the day--the bicycle. It opened along a corridor known as the Arroyo Seco, named for the seasonal stream that flows from the San Gabriel Mountains and enters the Los Angeles River just north of downtown Los Angeles.

It was part of a grand plan to connect Los Angeles to Pasadena through an eight-mile "great transit artery." A Pasadena mayor, Horace Dobbins, provided the start-up funds to create an elevated, multilane, wooden "cycleway," complete with streetlights and gazebo turnouts.

When the first leg opened, swarms of bicyclists handed over the 15-cent toll. A Los Angeles Times commentator gushed that the countryside it passed through "is the loveliest in Southern California, the route having been chosen with an eye to scenic beauty as well as to practical needs."

The Los Angeles region, with its mild Mediterranean climate and relatively flat terrain, was in fact considered an ideal home for the bicycle, with more than 20 percent of the population biking for pleasure or to work when the cycleway was proposed.

"There is no part of the world where cycling is in greater favor than in Southern California, and nowhere on the American continent are conditions so favorable the year round for wheeling," one 1897 newspaper article commented. The bicycle use complemented the city's streetcars.

Soon the automobile gained popularity, however, and the elegant bicycling structure was eventually dismantled. Early discussion of car routes, meanwhile, highlighted the concept of a "parkway" as part of a mixed-transit system, built along scenic corridors with adjacent parkland.

*
In 2009, the relative worth of $0.15 from 1900 is:
$3.95 using the Consumer Price Index
$3.39 using the GDP deflator
$10.00 using the value of consumer bundle
$18.40 using the unskilled wage
$28.60 using the Production Worker Compensation
$25.70 using the nominal GDP per capita
$104.00 using the relative share of GDP

StephenH

The Schweeb would be neat as an amusement ride, pretty pointless as a means of transportation.

The elevated bikeway there would have its drawbacks. Like our multi-use paths, it would probably promptly be clogged with joggers and pedestrians, so its value would be minimal. Being elevated would be a bad thing in wind, rain, cold, or lightening. Going through or over the handrail when you wrecked would be an issue as well. It's awkward to tote bikes up stairs, and ramps take up a lot of room.

I will have to say that in general, the dumbest bike ideas are when art/design students that don't actually ride bikes come up with these "concept bikes". Little minor issues like power, weight, wind resistance, human anatomy, etc., oftentimes get left out of the mix.

slorollin

Maybe they're equipped with drains.

Louis

...and curtains.

bobbycorno

...and it just occurred to me that Schweeb rhymes with dweeb. Hmmm...

SP
Bend, OR

bobbycorno

'Tain't upside down, it's lying down. You should try riding like that some time - it's the second most fun you can have in that position. Nudge nudge, wink wink.

SP
Bend, OR

Allegheny Jet

How could you get a picture of this in front of the garage door? Or, ride into a 30 mph headwind.

SlimAgainSoon

I saw that and thought it was a Google joke ... please, don't tell me this is for real?

Garfield Cat

Is there room for my electric motor so that I don't have to pedal?

TromboneAl

It's very popular with test-tube babies.

JanMM

I don't wish to reveal how I know this or where I spend my online time when not here, but many of the folks at Bentrideronline have expressed that Schweeb is da bomb.
That is a highly desirable position for pedaling, I must say....................................

Allegheny Jet

No doubt, I didn't notice any inclines in the images.

JanMM

Schweeb can't climb?

doctor j

It's an interesting concept. It does appear that it would be warm in full sun light, perhaps even in Winter. A slow rider would cause a traffic jam. If the main line were to serve a number of stops, it would have to have a set of switches like those on rail tracks so that the rider could choose his/her destination. Distance from seat to pedals would have to be quickly and easily adjustable.

Retro Grouch 

It doesn't look like a particularly useful idea to me but - hey- I'm a retro grouch.

I wonder what people said and thought about lots of other ideas during their early stages.

Dchiefransom

Somewhere in the description of the Schweeb it says that slow riders will actually be pushed by faster riders.

skilsaw

Schweeb
I want some of what he's smoking.

wink

I don`t think so.Give me a bike and a path way to ride on.Just go over or under the main streets.Or have a traffic light like you would at two streets crossing.

wink

I don`t think so.Give me a bike and a path way to ride on.Just go over or under the main streets.Or have a traffic light like you would at two streets crossing.

TRaffic Jammer

I always envisioned a covered bike path, possibly elevated, using solar and wind generators for power for lighting, ventilation and such. At various points along the pathway blowers would feed in wind creating a non stop tailwind to help "push" folks. The isolated pod idea, while visually cool, leaves too many search and rescue in the case of failure issues on the table.

Kudos to them for actually building a prototype though, at least someone's trying something. There has to be follies and failures before someone hits the nail on the head.
Not everything can be properly envisioned in 3DCAD.

Now work in a gearing assist, and you have a human powered roller coaster baby!!!

BigBlueToe

Keep it simple, Stupid. More bike paths and more bike lanes.