Feb

Bike Designs Shine with Creative Imagination

by Janine Boylan on February 5, 2013

different bikes, illustrating bike designs with creative imagination

So many different styles of bikes!
© Thinkstock

A good bicycle is such a clever, simple vehicle.

I was appreciating the brilliance of bike designs as I was riding the other day. That is, until my chain popped off. And my back started hurting from bending over the handlebars awkwardly.

Oh, I see! Time to get a new bike!

So with this opportunity, I went online to investigate the possibilities. Obviously, a bike should be designed so it is comfortable and easy to use, but it should also reflect creative imagination.

Here are a few I’ve discovered.

A Creative and Flashy Design

Ben Wilson, a designer in the United Kingdom, playfully combined a push-pedal bike with a simple car-shaped neon outline to create this Articar.

Articar by Ben Wilson, showing bike designs with creative imagination

Ben Wilson’s Articar
© Ben Wilson

I like that you can recline instead of lean over the handlebars.

I also like its unique presence. I wonder—Is the light powered by pedaling?

Too bad this is a one-of-a-kind design.

A High Tech Design

This amazing urban concept bike was designed by Chris Boardman, MBE-R&D Director and company founder of Boardman Bikes.

Boardman's concept bike, showing bike designs with creative imagination

This spoke-less bike has a computer “brain,” which counts calories and plays music. It even uses fingerprint recognition to unlock it! The tires are airless so they will never deflate or pop. On top of all that, it has a solar-powered motor for when you’re too tired to pedal anymore.

Unfortunately, this one isn’t within my price range.

A Simple Design

And then there’s this one. It was the winner in a contest of bike designs from Google engineers, and it is what Google employees pedal around their large campus. This bike looks, well, ordinary (except for its distinct Google color combination).

Beautifully simple Google bike, an example of bike designs done by creative imagination

It has a basket, chain guard, and back fender to keep water from splattering the rider. And it has a bell—very important for navigating through crowded sidewalks of people.

David Fork, one of the designers of the bike explains, “Our design motto was ‘Build a user-friendly, safe and reliable, low-maintenance new GBike.'” He and his teammates worked on several different ideas with various types of brakes and gears. They even tried airless tires, like Boardman’s futuristic bike concept. But they found that the most comfortable ride was with this simple design.

Oh, I see (again). Sometimes creativity’s challenge is to achieve simplicity. As Steve Jobs said, “Simple can be harder than complex. You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple.”

Now, if I want to ride a simple bike like the GBike, all I have to do is use my creative imagination to get a job at Google.

Comment on this post below, or inspire insight with your own OIC Moment here.

Janine Boylan 6 Comments

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6 thoughts on “Bike Designs Shine with Creative Imagination”

Biker on February 5, 2013 at 1:36 pm said:

Fun article about bikes!
- Janine Boylan on February 5, 2013 at 10:50 pm said:
  
  Thanks–it was fun to learn about these bikes!
  - Biker on February 6, 2013 at 10:46 am said:
    
    You forgot to add the conference bike. :)
    http://www.conferencebike.com
    I pedaled one of these one time with a bunch of friends, it was a blast!!!
    - Emily on February 6, 2013 at 6:29 pm said:
      
      The conference bike is so cool! I can imagine some amusing team building going on with that one. I have the same problem you mentioned Janine- I knock the chain off or get my pants stuck in it all the time. That led me to looking at these chainless bikes: http://shop.dynamicbicycles.com/Tempo-8-Tempo-8.htm
      
      Unfortunately, I’d need to grow a few inches to be able to ride them!
      - Janine Boylan on February 7, 2013 at 9:44 am said:
        
        A chainless bike! That is very cool. Thanks for sharing, Emily!
    - Janine Boylan on February 7, 2013 at 9:42 am said:
      
      You are so lucky that you got to try one of those conference bikes–I saw one at Google headquarters, and they do look fun!

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