hairnet

Check it out. It would sure be wonderful if these started to pop up all over the place.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vK9C9VtCypE

Tex_Arcana

I like the way the doors close on the front wheel. NOT!

somedood

That has to be incredibly expensive, but would be way nice ot not have to lock/unlock the bike and have it out of the weather.

ethcad

I love it - thats a great idea. They have similar arrangements in Japan for car parking where you drive through a door, leave the car, the door closes, the car is whisked off somewhere, and then magically reappears when the attendant punches in the code. Of course, my office usually has a grand total of 2 or 3 bikes parked there, so it might be awhile before we need one.

JoeyBike

In a world where nothing breaks down and the electricity stays on dependably, that would be awesome.

gerv 

Actually, at that point, you bring a Huffy and leave with a Colnago... or vice versa, depending on your luck.

hairnet

Well I don't think these would be bought privately but publicly instead. They can be like the parking structures a city might have built near a high traffic area with lots of shops, restaurants, theaters where people are likely to park and spend the next few hours walking around. For instance, in Santa Monica City there is the 3rd Street Promenade. The city has built several parking structures but there isn't anything for bikes even though there are tons of bikes locked up in the area. I'd like to hang out there once and a while but I don't want to leave my bike out for hours, at the same time I don't want to walk around with my bike because some shops won't let me bring the bike in.

TheRealNicola

Seems like a good idea.

BarracksSi

I've seen video of the finished parking structure before, but I hadn't seen how they push the walls into the ground. That's pretty cool.

hairnet

It sure beats the other method where they hammer the pillars into the ground right? There's no towering structure and loud banging noise.

Tex_Arcana

Until Godzilla, or one of those giant robots attacks Tokyo.

Then how fast is it to get to your bike?

xenologer

It would seem that is an intentional feature. From the looks of it the transport mechanism is based on holding the bike by its front wheel, but naturally they don't want people's hands getting anywhere near that mechanical grabber when the bike is being inserted/removed. So the front doors have a little gap for the wheel to fit through and get grabbed before the doors open and let the bike pass through...

BarracksSi

^^^ Right, and although it's hard to see, the small stainless steel edge pieces at the door seam actually pivot at their bottom end. The doors close most of the way, and these extra bits sense the bike's wheel and stop the door from smushing the wheel rim.

shubonker

As much as i wish we had one here in new york, these things will never ever come to america.

unixpro

That was actually pretty cool. I like the pillar drivingg machine. I hadn't seen that one before. And the zig-zag pattern is an excellent idea. But yeah, they probably won't come to the USA, at least for a while.

GTALuigi

That is amazing!
i'd like a few of those here around town!