I took Citi Bike thrice today. I think I notice that the lowest ratio varies from bike to bike as well as highest ratio. Is this possible?

Dunno.

What I’ve noticed – fer sure / on all flavors of Citibike: considerable variation in how easily or not-so-easily the bottom bracket spins. Try spinning the cranks backwards while you’re coasting. (Guaranteed to puzzle most folks who see what you’re doing.) I’ve no doubt about the bottom bracket thing. I’ve never taken the time to check how freely or not-so-freely the front and rear wheels spin on bikes that seemed more difficult to pedal.

I’m not surprised (and I’m not complaining) about maintenance variations in Citibikes that are fundamentally serviceable. Which doesn’t address the unanswered question about occasional variation in range available on the NuVinci-equipped bikes.

Depends who greased the cable ? Maybe it's an adjustment ferrule somewhere ?

On a few occasions where I had a NuVinci hub that were undergeared, I tried to see if, when twisting the gear selector toward the lowest range, whether the hub bottomed out before I finished twisting the selector, or does the gearing keep going lower until I finished twisting the selector. Although the gearing was so low that it all felt like I was pedaling while the chain fell off, I kind of felt that the last 20% of the twist did not do anything. The whole cable attachment area is covered in that plastic sheath, so I can't peek in to see if there was a slack in the cable, although the cables operate in a push/pull design, there shouldn't be any slack.

That doesn't mean if the cable is properly attached so the bike will shift into overdrive, that the shifter's shifting range allows the hub to shift into the lowest gearing possible.

I rode one NuVinci bike this weekend on which the shifter was completely reversed, forward for high gear, backward for low gear, the opposite of every other bike, and the reverse of the diagram on the shifter. I shifted the wrong way every time for the whole ride. How is that even possible?

Funny! I had the same experience a few months ago on a short ride.

I ended the ride saying to myself: “Naah, couldn’t be....”

Thanks for confirming.

Reversing doesn't matter to me, as I have to go back and forth between Shimano and Sturmey Archer. NuVinci does it the Shimano way.

I haven't been riding Citibikes at all for the last 6 months or so as I've gotten back into serious riding of my road and commuter bikes. But the other day I decided to take them on 2 shorter trips and both times they had the Nuvinci hubs, and this was the first time I've encountered them. It is a different feel.

They make the ride much more pleasant for me. They get rid of the worst problem I have with IGHs which is the big gaps between gears.

Absolutely, I agree!

Some folks (in this thread and elsewhere) have commented that bikes with NuVinci hubs feel “sluggish”. Lots of moving parts here; the only times I’ve been on a CitiBike that’s been sluggish the problem was with the bottom bracket. (I spun it backwards.) The NuVinci hubs seem to be reliable and I like both the greater range between “high” and “low” (compared to Shimano and Sturmey Archer) and that they’re continuously adjustable. Also, I like that Motivate apparently is willing to experiment.

I can accept SA's gearing since In the top gear, I can do most of my ride on the flat road in the 70-110rpm range. But pick a bad NuVinci and I might be going nowhere while burning myself out at 120rpm.

beta bike basket
 

Random luck: earlier today, I rode a Citibike equipped with a New! Improved! cargo carrier. I was late / had no time for pix, but my email inbox included a survey about the “beta” bike so if I’m dreaming this, it’s a very elaborate dream.

Summary: the new design is unquestionably better; (beta too).

The bike was the newest frame with a NuVinci hub. The “basket” is a black plastic tray, about 14" square, with a very shallow (perhaps 2") rim. There are some holes in the bottom of the tray including one large-ish square hole. A bungee cord is secured at the rear with a hook for the bungee at the front. Should this "basket" enter regular service, I expect bringing along my own elastic-net-with-hooks will probably be more helpful than the bungee attached to the bike, but that’s me. This new arrangement seems to me to offer vastly more options to schlep stuff than the current carrier.

Later in the day, I kept an eye out for other bikes with the new basket. No joy. At this moment, it seems they’re – quoting Brother Theodore – “...as rare as rocking-horse droppings”.

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/852/3...909d7219_c.jpg
United Nations by AviationMetalSmith, on Flickr
At the UN

I think I've decided to give up my membership. When I thought about the last time I actually used one, I realized the rides are few and far between. I use my own bike on any nice day, so I only use Citibike on those days when I'm in Manhattan for other reasons, and if I'm in nice clothes I usually pass.

In the past I've used bikes from the UN rack shown above. It is isolated enough from the midtown office area that there are usually bikes there when there aren't any on Second Ave closer to my office.

They've removed the docks by 32/33st & 8th ave. Now the valet is on 33/31st & 7th. Every morning, there are no bikes and every evening, there are no docks. I don't know what kind of valet service they are providing, but it is no better, if not worse than before.

Hey folks, do you find the service to be good? I'm not a heavy user, but I think I've noticed that there are not as many out-of-service bikes or docks as before. I see at most one of each at a station, probably less than one on average.

I've had very few issues with bikes or stations for quite a while now. There are balancing issues, of course, but that's endemic to bike share, particularly a busy system like we have, and not easily solvable. For me, the system works about as smoothly as can be expected, and it's still a value proposition.

I just looked, and I've averaged more than 300 rides a year since launch. This surprised me, since I have my own bikes and ride them most days. But on days when I use bike share, I can sometimes used it four or six times, hopping around town doing stuff.

That's a lot of citi bike rides, [MENTION=314122]wilfried[/MENTION]!

I don't blame them for the balancing problems. They try really hard. It can never be perfected. Even if they put more money into it, traffic holds them back. Sunday night, I took a bus from upstate into Port Authority Bus Terminal. I took a bike home and had to go to five docking station sites before I could dock. One of the sites didn't have the docking station any more, and that's another weird thing that happens. My mistake was not checking my app for places to dock.

The only place I've ever not been able to dock a bike was in the West Village. I had to go about 5 blocks out of my way.

Yup, that's where I was, i.e. where I live. Interestingly, the station on Christopher St near Greenwich St is often "opposite" the others, i.e. is empty when others are full and vice versa. But not Sunday evening.

As near as I can tell, from personal experience and looking at the map, the East Village and Lower East Side (where I live) are the worst parts of Manhattan for balancing issues, before the expansion to the far Upper East and West Sides at least. In the high summer season, huge swaths, say from 4th Ave. east and 14th St. south, all the way to Chinatown, are devoid of bikes during the day, and completely dock-blocked at night. I give up even trying to use bike share on most weekdays in the summer.

Party!
 

I go between Penn station and WTC pretty much every weekday. On the mornings, I usually can't find a bike on 33rd and 7th, either I would wait, head toward 31st and 7th, and if nothing is there, go to 27th and 7th, where there usually are bikes. On reaching WTC area, I would try to dock at fulton, but lately, the docks are full, so I head toward Barclay st, where frequently there is no dock either. I sometimes just wander dock to dock until I find a slot (very unlikely, but I like to keep moving), or wait for one to free up, which is usually within 5-10min. In the evening, I head back the reverse way. I usually find bikes on Barclay near WTC, but when I reach near Penn station, the docks are usually full on 33rd and 7th. I could swing by 31st and 7th, but if that is also full, that means I probably missed my train, which I did once in the last couple of weeks.

A friend of mine tells me she doesn't like the model with the NuVinci hub. She says the frame doesn't fit her right. Does that make any sense?

110% anecdotal, but a friend of mine -- also, a woman -- sez the same thing, not specific to the frame on which the NuVinci hubs are installed, but all Citibikes. Also, she travels internationally, and this applies to e.g.: Paris's Vélib'. Her analysis: sure, the seat can be adjusted vertically, but the angle of the down-tube doesn't bring the seat sufficiently close to the handlebars for her comfort. Worth adding: she has engineering credentials. Considering the known shortfall of women amongst Citibike subscribers, perhaps this should be considered in frame design. I'm sure Motivate closely monitors these comments....