osric

I'm curious - did you ride one of the Vbikes? They recently opened an office outside of Boston and have been putting out feelers to a lot of towns about setting up bike shares where the existing bike share system doesn't go.

I'd be interested to hear what you think of their app and bikes.

NewATBikeComute

The bikes are in Waltham. I intend to try them out, maybe tomorrow when it's supposed to be a bit warmer.

NewATBikeComute

I posted a new thread over in the NE regional about my experience with VBike, but to summarize: not bad.

Single speed, seat not adjustable. Tires we not as bad as I expected. I did about 4 miles, and was reasonably comfortable. Front and rear lights, with no capacitor/battery, so on only when bike was moving. Because of the lack of gearing, would not have been able to tackle any serious hill; a slight uprise was okay.

The app worked exactly as intended; I added (recharged) the account for the first time right at the bike, $5 was the minimum credit to apply, or $15 (intro sale, regularly $20) for a month of unlimited rides. Holding the phone next to the lock unlocks it. $1/hr, and when done, just manually slide the lever to lock the bike, and done.

veganbikes

All these new hipster bike dumps are horrible. Garbage bikes being left anywhere someone decides to leave it, people riding on sidewalks who may not even know how to ride with no concern for pedestrians. They are a nuisance all over the place but I have noticed them more and more where I live and we have a bike share program established that is docked and maintained. Since the bikes don't have a place to go it teaches or reinforces the idea of not putting things back where you found them and keeping things clean. "I found it blocking the sidewalk or an actual bike parking spot so why bother finding a better spot."

I have ridden airless tire'd aluminum bikes and you feel every little thing and not in a good way. People continue trying to claim they have a new miracle wonder of "airless" tires that will magically unseat 120+ years of pneumatic tires that have been working just fine. It is just old vintage technology that wasn't great back in the 1800s and hasn't gotten better at least not for a bike. Maybe if you put those airless tires on a full suspension carbon downhill bike with a suspension seatpost and used it for just the road and paved pathes the bike might be a little better.

NewATBikeComute

With a goal of minimizing routine maintenance, maybe it's a necessary economic compromise.

The intended audience is people with little if any bike experience, running errands, or perhaps a little sightseeing. If even 1% of the population were to use the service, I'd put up with the initial annoyance of misplaced bikes, knowing that the health benefits would be hugh.

Do they suck? Compared to even a BSO, the ride is poor. But what would be the capital cost of a full suspension carbon downhill bike with a suspension seatpost, and how long would it last?

veganbikes

It's more than annoyance especially for folks with limited mobility or older folks who don't have strength to move a bike...I am not so opposed to Bikesharing but use docks like they have been doing and don't make a big mess. You don't leave trash on the street for someone else to pick up nor do you leave things where they don't belong but unfortunately the dockless bikeshares encourage this heavily.

The idea of the carbon DH bike was not for a bikeshare but the only way to make those hideous airless tires work. I am not at all suggesting we continue using airless tires but just a method to use them because people are going to continue inventing the brand new airless tire that hasn't been tried for well over a hundred years.