wilfried

Bike share was made for a day like today. The snow was coming down this morning, so few people took bikes, which meant that there were actually bikes available at the station near me (which more often is not the case). Those Sherman tanks of bicycles are more stable than my bikes, so better in iffy conditions, though, while the streets were wet, they were otherwise clear, so riding was no worse than after a rain. My bikes stayed dry, so I don't have to worry about salt in the works or cleaning my rims. Every subway line was delayed this morning, so I didn't have to deal with that mishegas either. I bike share.

On the down side, I tried two different "new" bikes, and neither had a third gear (as is too often the case). Does the gear shift mechanism get mucked up by snow, or were the gear hubs simply not working, as on so many of them?

punkinevil

I have noticed that the new hubs to not handle foul weather conditions well. It does seem that since that last big snowfall, a lot of the new model bikes don't go into third gear anymore... or they take a bit of warm-up (maybe 5-10 minutes of riding) at which point third gear will kick in...always at a surprising moment.

I was very happy with the new Sturmey Archer hubs and gearing at first, but they don't seem as robust as the old model.

I also agree with you wholeheartedly about the value of Citibike in crap weather saving your own bike from water and salt damage. I ride them almost exclusively in the winter to protect my own dear bicycles from harm.

noglider 

The no-third-gear problem recurs a lot. I forgot to report it the last time I had it. I hope they can figure out how to fix it once and for all.

But other than that, I think the new model is much better for snow, as the brakes are so much better. Overall, both models are great in the snow because they're so upright and so heavy. Drum brakes were a good idea.

hotbike

Heard this on the radio, then received the email (press release):

Temporary Service Updates*

So the Forks on the NW Citi Bikes are "Wearing Faster"?
I'm not sure what that means, do they mean the Bearings? or the Bearing Races?

wilfried

I noticed as of last weekend that the new bikes seem to have disappeared, and in fact, the few I saw were locked. Now it makes sense. I wonder what they're going to do in Jersey City, where they only have new bikes?

The gear shifting problem seems to have gotten better in my limited, anecdotal experience.

dendawg

The racks near me on the UWS are pretty much empty most afternoons, and that was long before this announcement. They really need to get their bike distribution act together. I could have used one to get to work this afternoon had there been one available.

wilfried

That doesn't surprise me, and I don't expect it to change. Bike balance issues are endemic to bike share, and not just in New York. It'll happen anywhere and any time there's a massive movement of bikes in one direction. Rebalancing bikes is an expensive and labor intensive operation. In October, Citi Bike rebalanced over 91,000 bikes, or just over 3000 bikes a day, and still my neighborhood (East Village/Lower East Side) was almost devoid of bikes most days, and often devoid of parking in the evening. Bike balancing can help a bit at the margins, but it can't solve the problem. The also try to mitigate the issue with their "valet service," and so on.

The problem is much worse in the summer than in the winter, and on weekdays than on weekends. You start to see patterns. For instance, there will be few bikes for the morning commute if it rained the night before, since no one rode the bikes home.

Despite all, I still keep my membership, even though I know the system won't be useful some of the time, and I ride my own bike most days; I usually don't commute to work on Citi Bike. There are enough times when it is useful, and the most convenient option for getting around, that it's easily worth the price of admission.

noglider 

Does anyone here use Citi Bike without using one of the smart phone apps? I find them to be less than perfect but good enough to know whether I should bother riding Citi Bike.

dendawg

I check either on my home computer, or my phone to see both where bikes might be available and if there is an empty rack near my destination. Without either finding a bike can be a crap shoot.I once set out to a local rack that according to their website had 3 bikes available. When I got there It was down to one bike and it was locked. I wound up walking cross town looking for a bike with racks either empty or having locked bikes that wouldn't release. On two occasions I arrived at my destination to find full racks, and had to go searching for a nearby one with an empty slot. I would not want to be out there without an app, though their kiosks should be able to give you the same info.

wilfried

The app used to be terrible, but now I find it pretty accurate. I try to check both my start point and end point to make sure there are bikes and parking, and sometimes scope out options two and three, if the pickings are slim. Using Citi Bike sometimes takes some strategizing, so to my mind the app is essential, even just to find stations in an unfamiliar neighborhood.

zacster

Near my office there are 2 racks, one is almost always near empty at 5pm, the other almost always full, but to get to the full one I go by the empty one. This works out pretty well. I'm usually dropping off in Chinatown and never have a problem finding a space. In fact the only time I ever had a problem finding a space was when the nearby rack just didn't seem to be working.

Another new feature to me that I saw the other day is that I got a text after I dropped off my bike. Nice to get a confirmation.

dendawg

I was having trouble with a bike I was dropping off near the Port Authority. A Citybike employee showed me the trick of wiggling the front wheel to get the dock to engage.

dendawg

After complaining again about the lack of bikes in my hood, there was a piece on one of the local news shows about the lack of bikes on the UWS and my closest rack location in particular. Today suddenly there are plenty of bikes around here. Of course the rain this morning might have helped the situation with lots of riders opting for the subway. Could have used one yesterday to get to work, but there were no bikes. Today there are bikes but I have no work.

wilfried

It's the morning rain. There were lots of bikes available on the Lower East Side today at noon, which is not usually the case. If it rains in the evening, there might be very few bikes for the morning commute the next day. There are patterns to how the bikes move around.

dendawg

You're right. Looking now at my 5 closest rack locations there are a total of 13 bikes available out of 194 dock spaces. If they're raising their prices they better improve their distribution service

wilfried

See my post, #332 above.

wilfried

Citi Bike seems to be trying a new sort of gear hub. I rode one of the "new" style bikes today, and it the hand grips and grip shifter were different. At first I thought it was busted, because when you turn the shifter, it doesn't click into gear, it just smoothly turns. Turning the shifter does in fact change the gears, and there are more than three. The grip is labeled "Nfinity C3," and with some Googling, it seems to be some version of a NuVinci hub, which offers "continuous" gearing.

It's pretty cool, but takes some getting used to. It's weird not knowing what gear you're in; you just twist, and test the pedals. Keep turning till it's comfortable. You also have to learn which way to twist to gear up and down (and it doesn't help that different Citi Bikes go in opposite directions). The gear range is pretty wide too. The high gear is higher I think than any of the current bikes, and the low gear is very low.

The bell looks different too, now a ring that goes around the handlebar, though I didn't try it.

I complainted upthread about the new Sturmey Archer hubs going out of adjustment all the time. Are these new hubs the solution? Will they become standard? They seem sort of fancy, and possibly tricky to use, for a lowest-common-denominator sort of bike. In any case, it was interesting to see, and cool to try. I've been curious about NuVincis for a while.

noglider 

That's cool about the continuously variable ratio! I can't wait to try it.

There have been big complaints about the new model from the Citi Bike mechanics. It's too bad! My wife and I strongly prefer riding the new model. We do notice that it tends to lose 3rd gear. Apparently, there are worse problems, such as the frame breaking. I hope they come up with a model that is reliable and rides as well as the second model.

vol

Wouldn't it be nice if regular non-share bikes use continuous gearing?

JerseyCity

Issue now is trying to score one of the newer style Citi Bike's from a dock. The old versions are hella worn down and the ride sucks compared to the smoother Sturmey Archer internal hubs.

Bikes are still generally clunky and heavy feeling but the system is just so much easier than locking up your bike.

dendawg

I haven't encountered any continuos geared bikes yet. Just the old and new models. Usually easier to find the older style. Must be a lot more of them in service. Trying to find a bike to get to work at 3:45am yesterday and there were none convenient to home. on the tripp home at 10am, most Times Square racks were empty, save one in Rock Center that had 39 bikes. Bike distribution is still the big problem.

JerseyCity

I use the service often as well have not seen that new gearing system.

The bike distribution is a real issue with racks often empty or full when you arrive and that send you looking for an
empty dock.

hotbike

I was in Manhattan yesterday, and I looked up and down for a NuVinci, but didn't see any.... Nexus,Nexus, Nexus, Sturmey Archer, Nexus, Sturmey Archer, on and on, but no NuVinci...

noglider 

On Tuesday, I didn't take Citibike because there were no bikes in my neighborhood (as reported on my smartphone app), and not only that, there were no convenient docks near my destination. They completely removed the one on 27th St off 7th Ave for no reason I can discern. I took the subway instead. This is the first time the distribution problem made a ride unworkable.

dendawg

Or yesterday had no problem getting a bike to get to work at 5:30am, and at 4pm when I left there were only 5 bikes at a rack nearby, and by the time I got to it there were none. :-(
Today should be easier if it keeps raining and I feel like a wet ride