Velib like bicycle rental kiosks are being constructed in Dublin

Chips Lovell

First day of using the velibs and I had my first crash yesterday evening. Got a front puncture midway through my journey, but wasn't going far, so just decided to ride on the puncture. I was far too cavalier taking a corner and the front wheel slipped. Down I went. The embarrasment, was compounded by a megaphone wielding No To Lisbon compaigner if I was alright... through his megaphone. No damage to bike or rider though.

Stark

Ouch. What kind of puncture was it? I was checking out the tyres the other day and it looks like they're Schwalbe Marathon Plus tyres so I figured they'd be fairly solid in that regard.

Chips Lovell

Stark wrote: »

What kind of puncture was it?

No idea. I didn't bother to check.

Jawgap

eightyfish wrote: »

Ha!

At least the bikes don't run on Windows. You wouldn't want to perform an illegal operation in the middle of Dame st.

If they did, then every so often they would just stop for no reason and you'd have to get off and leave it for a few minutes before starting off again.

Of course, if they were based on Mac then there'd be an incredible sense of smugness from those riding them as they perceive themselves to be a class apart from every other cyclist.

Blowfish

Jawgap wrote: »

Of course, if they were based on Mac then there'd be an incredible sense of smugness from those riding them as they perceive themselves to be a class apart from every other cyclist.

So a fixie then?

/runs

Chips Lovell

Jawgap wrote: »

Of course, if they were based on Mac then there'd be an incredible sense of smugness from those riding them as they perceive themselves to be a class apart from every other cyclist.

No, every time they crashed their riders would simply deny that it ever happened.

Lumen

el tonto wrote: »

Down I went. The embarrasment, which was compounded by a megaphone wielding No To Lisbon compaigner if I was alright... through his megaphone.

I feel your pain. Is this the end of your "Yes to Euro" campaign?

lukester

If they ran on Unix only bearded old chaps and young geeks would know how to ride them, but they would be uber-reliable, and smell like stale coffee.

blorg

el tonto wrote: »

First day of using the velibs and I had my first crash yesterday evening. Got a front puncture midway through my journey, but wasn't going far, so just decided to ride on the puncture. I was far too cavalier taking a corner and the front wheel slipped. Down I went. The embarrasment, was compounded by a megaphone wielding No To Lisbon compaigner if I was alright... through his megaphone. No damage to bike or rider though.

Clearly, the scheme is an utter failure.

Chips Lovell

Lumen wrote: »

Is this the end of your "Yes to Euro" campaign?

I'm made of sterner stuff than that

Jawgap

Blowfish wrote: »

So a fixie then?

/runs

Clearly fixies are Mac

High end, blingy carbon fibre bikes are Microsoft (esp the Boardman's - like Microsoft- everyone's got them) - great to look at but fickle as f$ck!!

Audax bikes are Unix - solid, stable, run forever

Linux - TT bikes

MS DOS - Choppers, Scorpios and Peugeot

Amiga OS - Raleigh 14s or 18s

Nietzschean

lukester wrote: »

If they ran on Unix only bearded old chaps and young geeks would know how to ride them, but they would be uber-reliable, and smell like stale coffee.

I'm having trouble working out if i should take offence to that, i do tend to drink alot of coffee

My randomly made up association would be...

High end Bling/TT bikes -> OS X(..Ooooh shiny)

Boardman's/Focus/PX -> Windows (common as muck but if used right powerful as anything else)

Linux -> 'i built my TT bike from bits i found at home and ebay' (nerds and wannabie nerds)

FreeBSD -> Custom Titanium Bike built just for you (Hard core nerdyness)

OpenBSD -> Fixies (Smug nerds)

Windows 95 -> Commuter on MTB (Whyyy?)

lukester

Nietzschean wrote: »

I'm having trouble working out if i should take offence to that, i do tend to drink alot of coffee

The bikes would smell like stale coffee, not the geeks. And I would be one of those geeks myself.

Jawgap

Nietzschean wrote: »

I'm having trouble working out if i should take offence to that, i do tend to drink alot of coffee

My randomly made up association would be...

High end Bling/TT bikes -> OS X(..Ooooh shiny)

Boardman's/Focus/PX -> Windows (common as muck but if used right powerful as anything else)

Linux -> 'i built my TT bike from bits i found at home and ebay' (nerds and wannabie nerds)

FreeBSD -> Custom Titanium Bike built just for you (Hard core nerdyness)

OpenBSD -> Fixies (Smug nerds)

Windows 95 -> Commuter on MTB (Whyyy?)

On reflection, would Linux not be a bike that was built by you finding a frame and slapping a fork on it before passing it to your mate, who bangs the wheels on, followed by someone else putting on a groupset which they think might be alright with it; after which someone puts the saddle on - then someone who adds some brakes but also replaces the back wheel because they've got a better one.......etc......etc.....etc meaning everytime you go to use it, it's different from the last time you took it out!

paddy2k

This is getting very nerdy however.
If Windows was a bike it'd be made from lead and have high wind resistance. You'd only be able to have a certain number of spokes otherwise you'd have to pay for an enterprise edition

A solaris bike you have really bad styling and when you'd start out you'd be stuck in the top gear making it hard to take off. But once up and running it'd destroy the competition.

A linux bike would be made from the best of the others but free to use and share forever

tomasrojo

And the Unicycle? The Altair 8800?

alfalad

Sorry to distract from the comparisons with computers but how long did peoples cards take to arrive? I know there is naturally now a rush to get them but waiting a week so wondering is this normal?

Chips Lovell

alfalad wrote: »

Sorry to distract from the comparisons with computers but how long did peoples cards take to arrive? I know there is naturally now a rush to get them but waiting a week so wondering is this normal?

Mine took around two weeks.

alfalad

el tonto wrote: »

Mine took around two weeks.

Thanks for that, looks like I won't get to test them till next week so.

BostonB

el tonto wrote: »

Mine took around two weeks.

Same here.

lukester

Must be the post launch deluge. Mine took 4 days, registered just a few days before the scheme went live.

undo

I registered on the Monday right after it launched. I believe some 1500 people registered that day. The card took one week to arrive.

tomasrojo

undo wrote: »

I registered on the Monday right after it launched. I believe some 1500 people registered that day. The card took one week to arrive.

Same day, but took three days.

Nietzschean

reg'd on the sunday, day it launched, took 1 working day(got it tue)

penexpers

They do say 14 days when you sign up.

undo

tomasrojo wrote: »

Same day, but took three days.

They must have been processing in order of registration. I signed up in the late-ish afternoon. At that point, waiting time was one week. I guess you signed up earlier in the day when it was just three days .

penexpers

Got a letter today - they have run out of long term subscription cards. More are on the way, but in the meantime they have given me a 60 day interim card. As a gesture of goodwill they also extended my subscription by 60 days.

tomasrojo

penexpers wrote: »

Got a letter today - they have run out of long term subscription cards.

Does anyone else get the impression that uptake of this scheme has exceeded all expectations?

undo

tomasrojo wrote: »

Does anyone else get the impression that uptake of this scheme has exceeded all expectations?

Yes. And it is annoying... I now regularly find zero bikes when I want to take one and zero empty stands when I want to drop one off .

blorg

tomasrojo wrote: »

Does anyone else get the impression that uptake of this scheme has exceeded all expectations?

Clearly, it is an utter failure.