njkayaker

150 mile rides are usually optional (the point being to ride 150 miles rather than getting some place as efficiently as possible).

I'm not sure if the lack of a bridge exactly where you happen to want it is a "bicycle delay" (a bicycle-specific hinderance).

A bridge that disallowed cycling would be a bicycle-specific hinderance.

Hydrofoils are always the answer (whatever the question).

CliffordK

Point to Point Commute.
Certainly there are variations in routes possible. However, the straighter the line, the less pleasant, and less safe, the roads are for cycling (too many cars).

In this case, the Oregon Scenic Bikeway ends at Champoeg park, and heads roughly south from there.

Heading through Newberg, HWY 99 is a decent road, but with a lot of traffic. A few better road choices heading northeast. But, one is still limited to the car bridge across the Wilamette (narrow bridges, lots of traffic, I try to get off that road as quickly as possible).

So, yes, it is a "delay" if route safety causes an additional hour of ride time.

Perhaps several hours of ride time. The ride along the freeway would be about 100 miles. The Scenic Bikeway takes me about 186 miles. I generally find something in the middle.

If there was a path, I presume one could also follow railroad frontage, and get a fairly straight/flat route, with only the occasional train to contend with.

njkayaker

The example was the lack of a bridge.

A bridge is not a "product".

CliffordK

If it is produced (and very expensive), then it is a product.

Keep in mind, designing and selling "products" to the government can be very lucrative.

Does it meet the OP's business expectations? Perhaps not.

Nonetheless, one can look at bicycle safety and speed as bicycle oriented, and as infrastructure oriented.

Once one starts understanding some of the issues that a cyclist faces, one can start looking for solutions. And, the solutions may not be of a single class.

So, for example, in some cases a cable car across a river would be fun. A cable crossing, of course, is old technology, but it could be modernized. Solar electric, safety, bicycle specific, etc.

Pontoons were mentioned. Perhaps one could expand it to some kind of small boat rental, or bike/boat hybrid rental.

Crossing busy streets and interchanges?

I also mentioned the impact of traffic lights on a person's riding. Again, one might think of many solutions. Perhaps little things might impact how a person rides.

Happy Feet

Or how ski hills have adapted gondolas and chairlifts and policy to carry mtb's up mountains to decrease the delay experienced riding up a hill to do technical downhill.

Large infrastructure adaptation to decrease a delay that turns out to be a benefit to both provider and consumer. The solution now seems so obvious - it just needed someone to think outside the box.

In another thread Tim mentioned crossing lights on MUP's, where a road intersects, that are controlled by motion sensor cameras so that the light changes colour to green for the rider when they approach. Technology that decreases a delay.

Almost everything has been invented already in some form or another. The key is to use lateral thinking to apply solutions from one genre to another. Look at Japanese bicycle parking garages. Who would imagine robots being used to store bicycles.

TricycleTom

Sometimes, when I first hit the street, I check my mirror and notice that the sky is following me. Then I go back and put my helmet on.

About half my maintenance time goes into keeping my electronic speedometer working. I have even had a wire go bad on a straight run. That took a long time to find.

Tire valves tend to be fiddly. Gauges could certainly benefit from a short tube to cover the threads and force proper alignment.

My velomobiles are drawn with 3 identical, quick-change wheels, and room to carry a spare. A helmet makes a fine jackstand.

Fred DeLong reports that with suspension, a far lighter tire has adequate durability.

CliffordK

Leading to the development of a whole new class of bicycles designed primarily for riding down hills, rather than up hills.

TriBiker19 

So....you want to crowd source your homework...

pauoos

By "delay" are you talking about the time difference between driving and cycling?
I can drive from Bluemont, VA to the top of Mt Weather in about 10 minutes. On a good day that same trip by bicycle takes me about 90 minutes (including rest stops). 🙄

CliffordK

You don't have a rocket booster attached to your bicycle?

Turner2

It's already been done. It's called a tool kit, patch kit, spare tubes, or tubeless tires. The rest is all covered by the common tools and parts and preventative maintenance.

njkayaker

A bridge isn't what people typical think of with how the word "product" is used in normal usage.

Being "very expensive" has nothing to do with it.

It does not, almost certainly.

Is a bridge going to be built where you happen to want it?

Bizarre.

CliffordK

I doubt it.

Although I do find it interesting the organization with one large park on one side of the river, and a small park on thebopposite side. Still, a good bridge local also requires a steep narrow channel, which I'm not sure is there.

Nonetheless, in general, one can think of what could make movement of people faster and safer.

There are some things like the Springfield Shopping mall got a bridge over the local freeway, I-5. I'm not sure why, it is easy enough to get around, although it does also provide good access between the freeway bike path and the mall. Also, it would help a small housing community get to the mall without driving.

Happy Feet

Funny talk about bridges being built for cyclists.

In my town there is a university on the other side of the freeway and two roundabouts that they installed along the only route into the main part of town. Great idea except for pedestrian and cycle traffic that was deemed to be both unsafe and too delaying for traffic. So they built a pedestrian/cyclist specific bridge over the freeway. The bridge was created prefab and swung across the freeway in one night but before that the cycling infrastructure was installed and there were green lanes and signage leading to dead ends. It was odd until the bridge was in place and then it all made sense.

If you look at the images you see wheel rims all along the bridge with the very obvious suggestion it is for cyclists.

https://www.abbynews.com/news/video-...ycling-bridge/

https://vimeo.com/298050961

Duragrouch

You want a turbo-encabulator.

pauoos

No, what you really need is a sonic-reducer...

njkayaker

It's not that "interesting" or surprising. Organizations that have parks usually don't have large budgets and the parks are often created because there happens to be an opportunity to create them.

Bridges are expensive. It's also complicated to get the permission to build it.

You can't put bridges everywhere.

It's not known that there is enough of a real demand to get from one (free?) park to the other that would justify the high cost.


As for this thread being "brainstorming", there's lots of storming but not enough brain.

njkayaker

Doing that is relatively common in the Netherlands.

The following (not just for cyclists/pedestrians) avoids a 47 or 41 mile trip between two places that some people might commute between.

https://www.newnybridge.com/the-path/

It's mostly envisioned as a park. People are trying to make sure it's kept open to be useful for travel.

livedarklions

That isn't rocket science.

anon06

Hmm...is the project about building something that already exists (e.g. a miniature model of a bike bridge) or trying to come up with something new?

GCSE classes are teens, similar to high school in the U.S. When I was in high school, my physics teacher wanted everyone to build spaghetti bridge models, for a physics project, to test the strength of the models. We weren't expected to try to come up with building something completely new that didn't exist, as we were only teens, not adult professionals.

Celticgirl

My delays are not mechanical, but physical; I have to stop and rest every 10 minutes. I could use a product for that.

duffer1960

Yes. An inner tube that didn't have to be topped off every few days / week.

To me, 'tubeless' sound like more trouble than it's worth. Do tubeless tires hold air better, not require topping off every few days?

pauoos

Sadly no. All I have is a weak 61 year old motor trying to move too much weight. 😕

CliffordK

The reason CO2 is popular is that it can be liquefied at a relatively low pressure. Then when released, it expands a lot. Propane, of course, is also easy to liquefy, but is flammable.

I think one could also make a mini wheel activated pump. One would have to be able to ride (or spin) the wheel, but could potentially pump up the tire as one rides.

downhillmaster

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