Dublin Bikes [many] months on.

monument

Carawaystick wrote: »

Hard braking on the rear wheel will cause it to lock up and skidding. If this is unexpected a fall or worse could occur.

Not a problem, the breaks are not strong enough for this to be a major problem, or a problem at all.

Carawaystick wrote: »

Imagine driving a car where the right pedal was the brake and the left/middle pedal was the accelerator?

Comparing both is widely invalid.

Carawaystick wrote: »

They still have flashing lights on the front, but the law was hurriedly changed by our glorious minister for transport just after he agreed not to cut the pay of the high earning civil servants and before he left the country to get away from the snow.

I'm nearly sure the bikes have a solid light. The light may flicker sometimes, but it's solid, not flashing.

dolliemix

None of the lights I've seen are flashing. They're just super bright and really distinctive if they're coming towards you.

I don't have a problem with the breaks. Didn't even notice to be honest - it's not like you're doing any major speed on them anyway

ArmaniJeanss

Anyone felt a 'slidey sensation' on DBs when going over shores/metal grilles etc.

I'm not a newbie cyclist by any means and I can't remember it being a problem on previous bikes, but I always get a sensation that the back wheel is slipping when going over metal shores especially when they are wet.

And Dawson St in particular is a menace, over 40 grilles or shores of various sizes on the bus lane heading towards town (yes, I've counted them over a period of time ) so its either go over a few of them, or weave around them which can be a bit dodgy depending on other drivers.

RedPlanet

Carawaystick wrote: »

Every bike I've owned, the right hand side brake is for the front wheel.

Hard braking on the rear wheel will cause it to lock up and skidding. If this is unexpected a fall or worse could occur.

There is no international standard regarding what lever connects to which brake.

Which Brake Which Side?
There is considerable disagreement as to which brake should be connected to which lever:
Some cyclists say it is best to have the stronger right hand (presuming a right-handed cyclist) operate the rear brake.

Motorcycles always have the right hand control the front brake, so cyclists who are also motorcyclists often prefer this setup.

There are also observable national trends:
In countries where vehicles drive on the right, it is common to set the brakes up so that the front brake is operated by the left lever.

In countries where vehicles drive on the left, it is common to set the brakes up so that the front brake is operated by the right lever.

The theory that seems most probable to me is that these national standards arose from a concern that the cyclist be able to make hand signals, and still be able to reach the primary brake. This logical idea is, unfortunately, accompanied by the incorrect premise that the rear brake is the primary brake.
For this reason, I set my own bikes up so that the right hand controls the front brake, which is not the norm in the U.S.
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/brakturn.html

North American setup is usually different from European in this respect. I actually prefer the N.American.

Fabritzo

I got the impression that both brakes levers do the same thing, that is they apply the brakes to both wheels if either lever is pulled.

RedPlanet

Must be a long time since you've been on a bicycle!

Cookie_Monster

-Chris- wrote: »

And every bike I've owned the right hand side brake is for the rear wheel. Which one of us is right? They were bound to be criticised no matter what they did.

Irish/UK bikes rear brake is generally on left, on the continent is usually other way around.

Maybe in the case of these bikes the brakes aren't good enough to matter but I've seen a friend of mine go over the bars and have the bike land on him cause the brakes were backwards.

Fabritzo wrote: »

I got the impression that both brakes levers do the same thing, that is they apply the brakes to both wheels if either lever is pulled.

I've never seen a bike in my life that does that

Fabritzo

Ah I was only on the dublin bikes twice, I knew there was something up with the brakes on them alright, they're not that good for a start, the bikes being heavy doesn't help either.

bloomfield

When are we going to see an expansion of the Dublin Bikes scheme? 40 bike stations is pathetic, and they only cover a portion of the city centre.

The Paris bike scheme launched in 2007 covers the entire city, and has 1,450 docking stations. And a news report from yesterday reports the launch of the London bike scheme this summer, with around 400 docking stations.

While I realise Dublin is a smaller city than Paris or London, I believe we deserve a much larger network to let Dublin Bike stations to allow the scheme to reach its full potential. And I can't help feeling that the city council sold us short in only requesting a few hundred bikes in return for all that advertising space.

Stark

My hybrid has left-hand/rear wheel and my road bike has right-hand/rear wheel. Hasn't caused me problems yet thankfully (though I am a bit skittish for a while when switching between the two).

Don't see the brakes being an issue on the Dublin Bikes. The brakes are weak to begin with and you'd be doing well to get enough speed to flip the bike on one of those!

Cookie_Monster

bloomfield wrote: »

While I realise Dublin is a smaller city than Paris or London, I believe we deserve a much larger network to let Dublin Bike stations to allow the scheme to reach its full potential. And I can't help feeling that the city council sold us short in only requesting a few hundred bikes in return for all that advertising space.

London is only doing it in advance of the 2012 games I suspect. We (DCC) have no reason to expand it in such a hurry apart from the fact it one of the greatest success in public transport in Dublin in a long long time and that counts for little in their eyes I suspect

Vim Fuego

I've heard through the grapevine that Vodafone are soon to be sponsoring the Dublin Bikes. Unfortunately, I think that means they're getting changed to red in the near future.

whosedaddy?

Guys, just signed up to the scheme.

What happens if I cycle from station A to station B within the free 30min. And after a short break I want to go back. Can I just pick up another bike and the free 30min start again? Or is there an waiting time to avoid ppl abusing the free 30min by just locking the bike in one station, pick up another and cycle on, exchange bikes after 29 min, etc...

Alun

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

Maybe in the case of these bikes the brakes aren't good enough to matter but I've seen a friend of mine go over the bars and have the bike land on him cause the brakes were backwards.

That happened to my wife once. We lived in Holland at the time and had German bikes over there, but we hired some bikes when on holiday on the Isle of Skye in Scotland. She went straight over the handlebars when she braked on a steep downhill section, broke her arm, had scrapes all over her shoulders and was narrowly missed by a car that was just behind her.

Stark

whosedaddy? wrote: »

Guys, just signed up to the scheme.

What happens if I cycle from station A to station B within the free 30min. And after a short break I want to go back. Can I just pick up another bike and the free 30min start again? Or is there an waiting time to avoid ppl abusing the free 30min by just locking the bike in one station, pick up another and cycle on, exchange bikes after 29 min, etc...

There's a 5 minute waiting time before you can take out another bike. After that you can take out a bike for another free 30 mins.

seamus

Stark wrote: »

There's a 5 minute waiting time before you can take out another bike. After that you can take out a bike for another free 30 mins.

And it's not really that big a deal. I've fallen foul of it when I cycle to one station, run into a shop, come out to the same station and have to wait a minute for my account to be opened up. Since you can make the trip between the furthest stations in well less than 30 minutes (except in extreme circumstances), there's not really any need to be bike hopping in order to hold onto it for longer.

I've heard through the grapevine that Vodafone are soon to be sponsoring the Dublin Bikes. Unfortunately, I think that means they're getting changed to red in the near future.

That would be odd since the colour of the bikes is more to do with the Dublin colours than anything about JCDecaux. I would imagine that Vodafone my put stickers on the back wheel as rebranding the bikes completely would involve replacing all of the "fairings" on every bike. Unnecessarily expensive.

I do think though that it's time to extend the scheme out further into the Dublin city council area, as well as adding a couple of more stations within the city centre - because of the one-way system, there seems to be blackspot near Grafton street.
So add stations out as far as Sandymount, Milltown, Rathgar, Goldenbridge, Cabra, Drumcondra & Fairview. Since space is at less of a premium further out, you could also conceivably add "super stations", holding 40 bikes or more, to accomodate people using the bikes to commute.
Obviously you'd need to up the maximum rental time to an hour, maybe 90 minutes, but if there were more bikes and stations, I don't think this would be a problem.

Don't see the brakes being an issue on the Dublin Bikes. The brakes are weak to begin with and you'd be doing well to get enough speed to flip the bike on one of those!

They're not that weak, they just require a lot more force to get to the locking position. Drum brakes are generally like that. If you think that they're not strong enough to slide, then you obviously haven't tried them in the ice. Most Irish people would be accustomed to bicycles with the front brake on the RHS. Switching is generally not a big deal when the brakes are progressive like the DBs, but when the friction on the road surface plummets (as in ice, snow or oil), the user needs to be aware of what side the brakes are on to avoid overusing the front brake. Most people will assume it's the same as every bike they've ridden since they were ten and could have an accident.

whosedaddy?

Stark wrote: »

There's a 5 minute waiting time before you can take out another bike. After that you can take out a bike for another free 30 mins.

cool thanks. the FAQ on the website doen't say.... but I was assuming there is a wait.

Run_to_da_hills

Vim Fuego wrote: »

I've heard through the grapevine that Vodafone are soon to be sponsoring the Dublin Bikes. Unfortunately, I think that means they're getting changed to red in the near future.

That won't last

Capt'n Midnight

The bikes could do with a bit of brightening up they are not as visible as you would like when it's dark

Carawaystick

The front light flashes off axis.

another poor feature. the gears cant change down under load. it's 2010 ffs. schimano had this solved in the early 90's

the station UI is poor as well:
unnecessary button presses, saying press the validate button when there is only a v button.
Having different keypads on different machines.
not having a touchscreen
some of the beepers on the locking posts not working.

where's andy montague to defend these great choices now?

Duckjob

Is there anywhere on the UI to report a fault on a bike you've just used? I got one last week where the gears didnt change and was stuck in the middle gear for the journey. Those things are low-geared enough as it is!

Other more common faults I've come across are
- Bad brakes
- Loose saddle
- Scraping sound

It would be handy if there was an option with common faults on it so that you could notify faults you've found on a DB you've just returned

monument

Duckjob wrote: »

Is there anywhere on the UI to report a fault on a bike you've just used? ...

For the moment, there's a low-tech solution -- when you return the bike turn the saddle around so it is facing the wrong way. It will show other users and workers that the bike has faults.

Run_to_da_hills

Duckjob wrote: »

Is there anywhere on the UI to report a fault on a bike you've just used? I got one last week where the gears didn't change and was stuck in the middle gear for the journey. Those things are low-geared enough as it is!

Other more common faults I've come across are
- Bad brakes
- Loose saddle
- Scraping sound

It would be handy if there was an option with common faults on it so that you could notify faults you've found on a DB you've just returned

Just twist the saddle 180 ° a competent mechanic from DB should spot the fault. There is also a serial number on the side of each bike that you can report.

seamus

Carawaystick wrote: »

The front light flashes off axis.

I don't think the lights are supposed to flash. They flicker a little because their power comes from a generator (effectively), but they don't actually flash.

another poor feature. the gears cant change down under load. it's 2010 ffs. schimano had this solved in the early 90's

The gears are shimano
I have noticed that the hub gears aren't as reliable as you'd expect gears to be, but for the short distances and slow speeds these bikes do, they're adequate IMO.

where's andy montague to defend these great choices now?

Did Dublin City council have much involvement down to this level of the implementation? As far as I can tell, it's basically a localised clone of the systems implemented elsewhere. The council getting involved in the minutae of the implementation (such as the wording on the screens) would have been a waste of time and money IMO, and instead we'd all be on here complaining about how the project is now six months overdue because of bureacracy and red tape.

Although I agree with your gripes, I don't think that delaying a project or making it cost more in order to solve some minor annoyances is worthwhile.

AMontague

Carawaystick wrote: »

The front light flashes off axis.

another poor feature. the gears cant change down under load. it's 2010 ffs. schimano had this solved in the early 90's

the station UI is poor as well:
unnecessary button presses, saying press the validate button when there is only a v button.
Having different keypads on different machines.
not having a touchscreen
some of the beepers on the locking posts not working.

where's andy montague to defend these great choices now?

I agree that Kiosk UI (User Interface) could be better designed. If I choose Bike No. 6, I shouldn't have to press V to validate my choice, the computer should go straight to the next screen.

But it's a minor quibble, and not a reason to give up on Dublin Bikes

Carawaystick

seamus wrote: »

I don't think the lights are supposed to flash. They flicker a little because their power comes from a generator (effectively), but they don't actually flash.
The gears are shimano
I have noticed that the hub gears aren't as reliable as you'd expect gears to be, but for the short distances and slow speeds these bikes do, they're adequate IMO.
Did Dublin City council have much involvement down to this level of the implementation? As far as I can tell, it's basically a localised clone of the systems implemented elsewhere. The council getting involved in the minutae of the implementation (such as the wording on the screens) would have been a waste of time and money IMO, and instead we'd all be on here complaining about how the project is now six months overdue because of bureacracy and red tape.

Although I agree with your gripes, I don't think that delaying a project or making it cost more in order to solve some minor annoyances is worthwhile.

There's no vat charged as the service is offered by the corpo. therefore it is as much their problem as on street parking, corpo refuse collection, etc. they can't pass it off to their subcontractor, as they corpo are getting the money.

They also agreed to a secret contract unless that has been published in full that allows a private company block footpaths with ads.
Which now that you mention it were blocking the paths Long before the bikes were on the streets. what caused that delay? surely a competent corpo would've said "no bikes, no ads"

The front lights do flash when you go slowly.

eoineen

Duckjob wrote: »

Other more common faults I've come across are
- Bad brakes
- Loose saddle
- Scraping sound

I have also come across two bikes where the plastic gear / chain guard is scraping the moving pedals because they've been pulled out from the mechanism.

antoinolachtnai

Remember that these bikes are doing a lot of mileage and getting a lot of use, a lot more than your regular bike. Mind you it would be handy if there were a way to text in or something to indicate a problem with a particular bike.

Carawaystick

antoinolachtnai wrote: »

Remember that these bikes are doing a lot of mileage and getting a lot of use, a lot more than your regular bike.

Yeah, but they cost 120 grand each. that's about 500 times more than your average bike.

noelfirl

Carawaystick wrote: »

Yeah, but they cost 120 grand each. that's about 500 times more than your average bike.

Where did you get that price tag from??