noglider 

That's a really good article!

vol

There were some posts saying that on these forums in the early days when Citi bikes just came out, hard to locate the posts now. But I can understand that. For one thing, imagine people hauling gallons of water and other heavy stuffs on a regular basis. They need a utility-bike/trike-share program Also it will be out of control what one could do with a basket even beyond its capacity. IMO it's not bikeshare's mission to provide grocery shopping means. It's supposed to be for getting from A to B, work commuting, short tours (for tourists, e.g.) and light errands. That's my understanding.

arbee

"gallons of water"?? Considering the superlative quality of NYC's water supply, tap water can't be beat; no need to schlep gallons of water. But I agree: the limited cargo capacity assures no one's going to use these bikes to transport Monongahela Steel Ingots. There's barely provision for one or two rolls of Einbinder's Fly Paper. And that's a problem.

wilfried

There is no reason those Sherman tanks can't carry a couple of grocery bags in a basket. The problem is, you can maybe get one in there, awkwardly. And it is a utility bicycle; it's meant to get people places so they can do useful things.

noglider 

@arbee, write if you get work, and hang by your thumbs.

arbee

Bike share bikes can be productivity tools. As they're configured, riding one of 'em is like pedaling a wheelbarrow ... but without the cargo capacity. That lack is the crux of my complaint.

arbee

Releasing one of my thumbs, I doff my helmet to you, sir.

Bye-bye, and buy bonds.

hotbike

NuVinci Bike has been sighted earlier today , Northbound on 8th Avenue:NuVinci • Citi Bike by AviationMetalSmith, on Flickr[/IMG]

NuVinci • Citi Bike by AviationMetalSmith, on Flickr[/IMG]

NuVinci • Citi Bike by AviationMetalSmith, on Flickr

dendawg

Hoping the competition comes soon
Dockless Bike Share Company Won't Begin Operations In New York: Gothamist

arbee

Why? Seriously, why?

How would a rogue operator, providing dockless bikes of unknown quality that will perforce end up in random locations (regular maintenance??), improve bike share in NYC?

I'm a Citibike charter member, with (I just checked the website) 2,040 trips. I suppose that makes me a frequent flyer, though I'm not breaking any records. But it means my Citibike experience, while entirely anecdotal, covers enough ground to try to tease out some trends.

For the first two years of operation, Citibike was plagued by repeated self-inflicted wounds; also, an overarching lack of transparency or credibility. That's changed somewhat, generally for the better.

While Citibike's service has gotten better since its rough start, there's still plenty of room for improvement. That said, I don't see how a rogue operator with a "move fast and break stuff" business model will help bikeshare customers. You may know: there are NO tax dollars behind Motivate (Citibike's operator) and tax dollars aren't behind random rogue operators, but I'm glad there's municipal oversight. There's room to improve both Citibike's operation and the municipal oversight, but I don't see how introducing chaos into the system will help.

Ferdinand NYC

Great points.

I have been a CitiBike member since the beginning, even though I almost never use it. I think I have done it two or three times. I am a member just to support the thing.

And, by the way, Bloomberg made sure that there would be no tax dollars backing bike share in order to prevent it from being shot down by a bunch of backward ideologues. In a sane world, the idea of public money for a public good would be entirely uncontroversial, and bike share would be a public programme that is run either by the municipality or by the transit agency.

Anyway, I have very little experience with CitiBike, apart from seeing many of them on the road as I am riding my own bike. I am very pleased to read that your perception is that the management of the programme is getting better.

And, while I admit that my first reaction to the story about the other company wanting to set up in New York City was that it would be welcome, I realised upon reflection that any such scheme ought to be run under the aegis of the DOT and the City government. If this company wants to operate in New York, it should go about this in the proper way.

(Also, if the bum Eric Ulrich is in favour of something, then that thing cannot be good.)

hotbike

I'd like to see Bike Lanes , and Bike Shares, out here in Nassau, and Eastern Queens.

Spin may give Citi Bike a run for it's money, but I'm glad to see SOMETHING being done , progress in some way, however small...

tubesocksFred

Unless citibike expands all the underserved areas, then these dockless operators should be able to fill in the gap, just like the private buses serving where the MTA don't run. Manhattan is not the whole new york city, regardless of what city hall thinks. Just because these dockless bike shares operate in a Laissez-faire environment in China, it doesn't mean that's how its going to function everywhere else. Even if its operated without oversight, is it better to having to keep riding a citibike looking for available docks, walking for tens of minutes to various docking stations, only to find whatever bike that supposedly is there, gone. Or should someone just leave a bike by a bike parking area that's spread all over the city, and if the dockless bike operator don't relocate them and they pile up, the city is free to haul them to the trash.

tubesocksFred

higher gear is 'heavier', but unless one got the muscle to power them, it usually doesn't mean higher speed. I always thought I was going faster on the bikes with the NuVinci gears vs the Nexus, but the bike app I use says otherwise for the recent 5 to 7 times that I used the NuVinci bikes. The many times I'm spinning like mad on the Nexus bikes, thinking "man, I wish this thing had a higher gear", I might be generating more power at those RPM.

Also, as I and someone else that rode the NuVinci bike have noticed, once in a while, a bike's top gear feels noticeably lower than a Nexus's fixed top gear. I suspect the shifter cabling setup is not adjusted so the CVT's top gear ratio is reached.

tubesocksFred

Besides being on new bikes with the blue basket (which is a easy way to spot when looking for one in a row of parked bikes), I've also rode on one with scratched up black basket. It's either a early prototype whose frame has seen its days, or they are retrofitting the NuVinci hubs on older bikes.

hotbike

Gotta see the Frame Number, this one I photographed on Monday was # 30188 (with blue basket)...

tubesocksFred

Rode a NiVinci bike with a different shifter, it looks like it is just a sticker over the existing shifter's gear indicator. People must have been getting confused which way is harder or easier. I also got a one question survey on whether rotating to A is harder or easier. It still doesn't change the fact that it shift opposite from the Nexus shifter.

I do notice that this shifter has less grip, thus when it is wet, I sometimes have trouble engaging in the gear I want.

Here's the weblink to it:

keg61

I was a truck driver for 22 years so of course I hate NYC, but this citibike thing makes great sense to me.Somewhere there are city officials lovin you right now. I can't imagine it being possible to write a comment that more perfectly justifies their implementation of the plan.maybe large sodas should come with a Citi bike discount

wilfried

The "old" bikes shift one way, the "new" bikes shift the other way, and the new NuVinci bikes switch yet again, so they are like the old bikes. It's a pain having to relearn again and again.

I wish they would add an indicator, even just a mark on the twisting part, so you have some idea where you are in the gear range. As it is, the only way to know is with your feet. I do like these hubs, but sometimes I still think that the simplicity of three gears is better suited to these bikes. Stop, click to 2, ride, click to 3, repeat.

I rode one that had a shifter that was really stiff and hard to turn. With a sweaty hand, i could hardly shift at all. I don't know what was wrong, but these can have issues too.

flattie

Prototype spotted. Looks like they are dropping the fenders and basket to lose weight. The new color scheme says "fast" also. I'm guessing it's a limited release for the performance oriented citibiker.

noglider 

Losing the fenders and basket seems like a terrible idea!

arbee

I agree wholeheartedly.

Thinking back scores of years, I can't remember a personal bike of mine that *didn't* have fenders, and though the Citibike "basket" is absurdly inadequate, eliminating it is a step in the wrong direction for bikes intended for utility.

Absent baskets which housed the front light and rear fenders which housed the rear light (v2.0 and v3.0; pix suggest the frame isn't v1.0), I suppose the docks will automagically lock these bikes out of service during nighttime hours.

arbee

A second glance at both pix also reveals all Citi (and other) graphics are missing. In the depths of my ignorance, I'd guess -- if this is actually a legit Citibike offering -- it would violate the agreement with Citibank. I suspect this bike may have been modified by a prankster.

wilfried

And you can see blue peeking out from under the gold...

flattie

To clarify. I was kidding about it being a prototype. This one looks like someone borrowed a citibike for a prolonged period of time and did their best to hide the fact it was a citibike. As. It's the blue paint is peeking through in several places. This bike could probably tell some stories .....