Macmad

I am currently doing a project where i am designing a product (not currently on the market) to try and reduce the time spent on bike delays. It would be of great help if anyone could reply with delays they have experienced in the past and any other ideas or info to do with this subject. e.g. things that could have prevented a delay and/or ways a delay could've been stopped with certain equipment.

Many Thanks

teejaywhy

I'm not understanding the meaning of a "bike delay." Can you provide some examples?

Flip Flop Rider

If you face a bike delay...go the other way

sorry been listening to the confronting O.J. podcast

Wilfred Laurier

I also do not know what you mean by 'bike delay'... Cars held up behind bikes on the road? Construction on bike paths? A bike that is mentally handicapped?

ksryder

You mean like the delay when the other guy in the break waits until you take a drink from your bottle and starts to sprint? Yeah I hate that. I usually go with the Cinzano-frame-pump-in-the-spokes approach.

Macmad

e.g. wheel punctures, slipped chains, chain breaking, buckled wheel. something that delays a bike ride

San Rensho 

What in the world are you talking about?

Leinster

You’re trying to invent something that avoids having to do routine maintenance?

livedarklions

My biggest delays have occured when I was hit by a car and when I landed on a manhole cover that was graded below the street surface level at the bottom of a San Francisco hill. My most common delays occur when a tire goes flat.


Does that help?

Maybe you could design a service where a team of people bring you a replacement bike whenever you have roadside trouble.

This is one of those school projects, right? We might be able to help if you could actually define your focus a bit.

woodcraft

I am sometimes delayed because I can't find the HR monitor, gloves, light, etc. that I'm looking for.

I welcome your product design to help with this problem.

Also sloth, and procrastination are issues.

indyfabz

The product you are contemplating already exists. It's called a team car.

Back to the drawing board.

livedarklions

The guy wants to invent some kind of little doohickey, but can't figure out what hickey he wants to do.

indyfabz

From what I can tell, he's envisioning a combination chain tool, inner tube replacer, mini pump, derailleur adjuster, spoke wrench and truing stand. Might want to add a cable replacer just to be safe.

livedarklions

Needs a nose hair trimmer attachment.

Gresp15C

Apparently college is back in session.

My biggest cause of delay is flat tires. Next is misplacing things. Everything else is decimal dust.

mstateglfr 

You are trying to design something that stops this stuff from delaying rides?
Indy got it right- a SAG vehicle/team car. It already exists. Just bring along a spare bike and boom- keep riding.

livedarklions

I really hate it when I get something stuck in my teeth while I ride. I want spokes that can be used as dental floss.

Macmad

Thanks for all the replies, this is for a GCSE tech project and the design brief is to "create a product that reduces the time spent on delays during bike travel" e.g. a product that can make repairing a to finish a journey quick and easy.

I am seriously considering the spoke dental floss idea as well.

Keep the ideas coming 👍

indyfabz

Way late to the party, pal. FiberFix spokes are already a thing:


Back to the drawing board.

ksryder

OK I'll be serious for a minute. The biggest delay I face on my commuter is attaching/removing my lights and digging the u-lock out from the basket. It's only a matter of seconds but it does take a bit more time than, say, getting out of a car and locking the doors.

However, a product already exists for the lights, it's called a hub generator. That would enable me to have lights permanently fixed to the bike that I don't have to worry about getting stolen. (This is in a low crime area where generally, as long as you make even the remotest attempt to secure your bike, it probably won't get stolen.)

And the u-lock issue could be solved if I just changed how I carried it. But I'm lazy so I don't.

indyfabz

I'll be serious, too. After reading post #20 while changing it dawned on me that changing from work clothes to my commuting clothes and shoes delays me being able to start my ride. How about something like an office phone both? I could step inside and presto! Like Superman I am in my commuter outfit. I would pay good money for that!

Darth Lefty 

When I start Strava on my iPhone I have to wait for the splash screen, hit the record button and then a redundant start button. Using Siri does not help.

Milton Keynes

On my Android phone, all I have to do is wait for the splash screen, then push the record button and it automatically starts. Maybe the app works differently on an iPhone.

Leinster

I have a Strava widget on my iPhone. I swipe right from my home screen, and there’s a record button right there.

For reasons of caution, I prefer to wait and watch the app open up and the timer start running, before pressing the power button to sleep the screen and putting the phone back in my pocket.

alcjphil

The basic premiss of this project is flawed. There are dozens of reasons why travelling on a bicycle can be delayed, after 25 years of bicycle commuting 40 miles per day I can attest to that. There will be no single product that can be universally applied to this "problem" unless you go another way. Write a guide for cyclists explaining how to maintain their bicycles so that they can avoid problems before they happen. However, that has been done many times. Sorry, but you will not be breaking new ground here.