New stationless bike rental scheme in Dublin - BleeperBike

WayneEnterprise

panda100 wrote: »

A HUGE issue with the bleeper bikes in Sligo is that the maximum height of the saddle is far to short. The highest saddle height would comfortable fit someone that is 5'8. I find the bleeper bikes in Sligo much more convenient and bettter than the bike scheme hire in Limerick. However at 6' I've had to stop using them as even short journey were painful and making me prone to injury.

If they keep to the same design spec as the Sligo Bleeper Bikes they will be useless for anyone over 5'8.

The Bleeper Bikes in Dublin are fine saddle height wise. I'm 6'3 and had no issues. The saddle could even have gone higher.
Ride wise, yeah they are a bit heavy and hard to go fast on them, but same story on a Dublin Bike.

ED E

WayneEnterprise wrote: »

but same story on a Dublin Bike.

Thats not at all fair on DBs. They're heavy but significantly easier to push.

Arcade_Tryer

Bleeperbikes don't have a proper basket like Dublin Bikes which is a big disadvantage.

Boards.ie: Mark

Hi all, we received a message from BleeperBike Ireland responding to a few points made on this thread, so we're posting it on their behalf.

BleeperBike Ireland wrote:

Hi Guys, we here at BleeperBike have been following this thread since it’s inception and have been noting what you’ve had to say, it’s the most honest form of feedback so we appreciate all the comments so far!

We have remained quiet over the last number of months as we were in the process of applying for one of the two Licences to operate in the city centre that Dublin City Council (DCC) have now issued. We were also very busy running Pilot Schemes in DLR and SDCC and setting up in Sligo.

So, we wanted to address a few of the more recent comments, so you have it from the horse’s mouth effectively!

Saddle height – Some posters have noted that seatposts were too short for them and that anyone over 5’8 would struggle, others reported no issues despite being over 6 foot. Our initial batch of bicycles did come with shorter seatposts than was expected, so we have begun a fleet wide replacement with longer seatposts which should allow riders of up to 6’3 a greater degree of comfort and efficiency. Most of our Dublin fleet has already been changed and the Sligo bikes will follow suit shortly.

Basket – This was always going to be a divisive choice, we chose a demi-basket over a fully enclosed basket for two reasons; Firstly we wanted the greatest flexibility to carry all shapes and sizes of things and felt the open sided design allowed for this. Secondly, we didn’t want a basket so large that it might tempt people to over load a bicycle and potentially suffer poor handling and any potential mishap that might occur as a result.

Rolling resistance – As has been pointed out by plenty of posters, the bikes do have a higher rolling resistance due to the use of solid tyres. However, our decision to use this type of tyre is based on the type of use these bike will typically get, i.e. short hops of between 1-5Km on a variety of road surfaces. You may be 30 seconds slower over a 10 minute trip by comparison to a Dublin bike, but if you were to puncture on that trip you could be pushing a bike for a lot longer than 30 seconds! We have already souced a faster rolling solid tyre to replace the current ones when they wear out, so performance will improve measurably in the months ahead!

Availability of bikes – Part of our licence agreement with DCC is a staged release of bicycles into the city centre, initially 150 bikes and if that goes smoothly, another 150 over the next couple of months. Hopefully we can keep adding to that number as demand increases. This is to avoid the problem of over-supply of stationless bikes that has blighted other cities around the world.

Bikes sitting unused – A couple of posters commented on bikes sitting unused in places like Shankill; this has been part of our Pilot scheme with the various County Councils to see what take up was going to be like in a range of locations. We found that in some suburban areas, take up was very low (Shankill being a prime example), so we will be redistributing the bicycles now to higher usage areas. The County Councils obviously wanted as many areas offered the service as possible and if in the future, demand is required in those areas again, we will recommence distribution to these areas.

We hope we’ve addressed some of the concerns posters have had and we will continue to follow this thread for feedback. If anyone has any specific questions for us we would be delighted to hear from you on sayhello@bleeperbike.com

Finally, if you haven’t used the BleeperBike service yet and are curious to see what it’s all about, we would like to offer any Boards user a free ‘Day Pass’ to try it out for yourself. Just drop us an email at sayhello@bleeperbike.com and let us know you’re from Boards and will give you a voucher code.

Thanks from BleeperBike.

Arcade_Tryer

Originally Posted by BleeperBike Ireland

Basket – This was always going to be a divisive choice, we chose a demi-basket over a fully enclosed basket for two reasons; Firstly we wanted the greatest flexibility to carry all shapes and sizes of things and felt the open sided design allowed for this. Secondly, we didn’t want a basket so large that it might tempt people to over load a bicycle and potentially suffer poor handling and any potential mishap that might occur as a result.

The first reason makes sense, though one would imagine the main items being transported on such short city commutes are things like groceries, bags, clothing etc. all of which would be easier to keep in a basket ala Dublin Bikes. The second reason sounds a like a substitute for not fitting the bikes with stabilisers unfortunately.

Thanks for the reply.

expectationlost

d15 pilot laucnhed today https://www.facebook.com/1229561470392724/posts/2153738561308339/ havn't found detials of it yet

smackyB

Interesting thread about how these schemes are evolving in China:

https://twitter.com/oliverbruce/status/1007327624304025600

expectationlost

expectationlost wrote: »

d15 pilot laucnhed today https://www.facebook.com/1229561470392724/posts/2153738561308339/ havn't found detials of it yet

d15 bike share pr http://www.fingalcoco.ie/media/18.06.2018%20Stationless%20Bikes%20Scheme.pdf doesn't say how many they'll seed the area with

also car share btw

Swords main street, where two GoCars are now available, along with 4 other
locations in Malahide, Skerries and Portmarnock

http://www.fingalcoco.ie/media/Successful%20Car%20Sharing%20Initiative%20expanded%20to%20North%20Fingal%20Towns%2015.06.18.pdf

expectationlost

smackyB wrote: »

Interesting thread about how these schemes are evolving in China:

https://twitter.com/oliverbruce/status/1007327624304025600

interesting point about how cities are capping bikes and scooters but not cars https://twitter.com/Naparstek/status/1008136732502568960 and counterpoint that its the parking on pathways situation that they are trying to control.

buffalo

expectationlost wrote: »

interesting point about how cities are capping bikes and scooters but not cars https://twitter.com/Naparstek/status/1008136732502568960 and counterpoint that its the parking on pathways situation that they are trying to control.

I'd agree in general, but I think the relevant motor analogy is taxi numbers rather than private cars. So it would be an argument to re-introduce regulated numbers of taxi licences as it was pre-2000.

Though I suppose it is a gateway to a large discussion about vehicle 'litter' and numbers.

loyatemu

electric scooters are blocking up some footpaths => restrictions.

some rickshaw drivers are dealing drugs => ban the vehicles.

motorised vehicles are killing X no. of people each year and causing major pollution problems => no restrictions.

expectationlost

"There will be 50 bikes to start with and hopefully we will look at expanding it into other areas such as Howth and Portmarnock," he said. https://www.herald.ie/news/fingal-residents-get-on-their-bikes-with-stationless-sharing-scheme-37025347.html quite alot ?

expectationlost

reasonable wastage? Dozens of Lime rental sharing bikes discovered at Glendale scrapyard https://www.abc15.com/news/region-west-valley/glendale/dozens-of-lime-rental-sharing-bikes-discovered-at-glendale-scrapyard

NuMarvel

Bleeperbike wrote: »

Rolling resistance – As has been pointed out by plenty of posters, the bikes do have a higher rolling resistance due to the use of solid tyres. However, our decision to use this type of tyre is based on the type of use these bike will typically get, i.e. short hops of between 1-5Km on a variety of road surfaces. You may be 30 seconds slower over a 10 minute trip by comparison to a Dublin bike, but if you were to puncture on that trip you could be pushing a bike for a lot longer than 30 seconds! We have already souced a faster rolling solid tyre to replace the current ones when they wear out, so performance will improve measurably in the months ahead! .

From the two trips I've had, it's not so much 30 seconds slower over a 10 minute trip, but more a 30 second trip feeling like it takes 10 minutes. And yeah, that's an exaggeration, but it honestly doesn't feel like a major one.

I want to like Bleeperbikes, but until their bikes are easier to use, I'll have to give them a miss. And save myself those 30 seconds

politicoo

@BleeperBikes I used my first one of these this morning. Cycled 3.2 miles on it. Was drenched in sweat when I got off it. And I cycle Dublin Bikes at least twice a day. When I got into work people actually stopped me and asked was I okay because I was sweating so much. When I use the Dublin Bikes that has never been an issue.

I'm in business myself for over 20 years. You have to get the product right from the start, especially once you've identified where you're going wrong. If you have better tyres available then you need to replace them now. I would not wait.

If you can reduce the rolling resistance of the bikes I'll sign up. Until you do it's no use to me.

Best of luck either way.

magicbastarder

We have already souced a faster rolling solid tyre to replace the current ones when they wear out, so performance will improve measurably in the months ahead!

how long do the tyres last? the tyres on my road bike have about 8k km on them, with some life left in them yet. surely the solid tyres would last longer than 'months'?

Dragon101

I had my first go of one of the bleeper bikes yesterday and ultimately was quite disappointed. I assumed that as they have a much wider roaming capacity they would be better than Dublin bikes.
Despite being much light than Dublin bikes, their shape is quite poor and cycling up a hill was some workout. I’ve never been passed out by as many people (took bike from town to stillorgan).

Think I’ll only use them again for such a cycle if I’m absolutely in the mood for a cycle at any cost. They’d be grand for short journeys but Dublin bikes probably have that covered better for town residents anyway.

Pelvis

Jesus fair play getting to Stillorgan on one of those!!

I haven't been on a bike in a good while so fitness has gone to ****. I used one of these last week for a very short spin and I was in absolute bits!!

magicbastarder

i suspect town to stillorgan is an outlier in terms of their expected use.

Dragon101

magicbastarder wrote: »

i suspect town to stillorgan is an outlier in terms of their expected use.

I’ve seen plenty of people take Dublin bikes out as far as merrion gates and back for a leisurely cycle. I’ve used them myself as a cheap way to do a cycle around the Phoenix Park. It’s a pity the bleeper ones aren’t suitable for longer cycles. I’d have thought ucd to town etc would be a common route if they were easy to use.

Johnny_Fontane

Signed up to bleeper yesterday and couldnt believe how uncomfortable they are to cycle. Only just saw this thread now and I'm not mad.

Was telling the lads at work that it was just a really bad ride , but then he pointed out what do you expect for 80c.

Having just come back from Copenhagen (and am a dublin bike user since the start), I thought that I just got a bad bike, but actually, they are a pig of a thing to ride.

The grips are very rough and the left hand grip because of the bell digs into your hand, its a bit mad actually. They couldnt have actually trialled these first, because they are incredibly bad. I think its the worst bike I have ever been on.

Such a massive pity.

Arcade_Tryer

Johnny_Fontane wrote: »

Signed up to bleeper yesterday and couldnt believe how uncomfortable they are to cycle. Only just saw this thread now and I'm not mad.

Was telling the lads at work that it was just a really bad ride , but then he pointed out what do you expect for 80c.

Having just come back from Copenhagen (and am a dublin bike user since the start), I thought that I just got a bad bike, but actually, they are a pig of a thing to ride.

The grips are very rough and the left hand grip because of the bell digs into your hand, its a bit mad actually. They couldnt have actually trialled these first, because they are incredibly bad. I think its the worst bike I have ever been on.

Such a massive pity.

A similar standard at least to Dublin Bikes which are superb, and can work out less than 10c depending on usage.

Polar wizard adventure

Tried one of these last week. 1.5km. Dripping sweat and passed by allsorts of elderly and obese. The worst BSO I have ever used. Switched to a DB as soon as I could and it was a joy in comparison.

Its inexplicable how bad it was. How could a modern bike be that bad?

Heisenberg.

This post has been deleted.

Seve OB

€75 per year as opposed to DB €25 per year. No brainer really.

Spurion

Any sign of these new reduced-rolling-resistance tyres getting rolled out yet? Have ridden these bikes on a few occasions now and agree that they are ridiculously bad. As well as the rolling resistance problems, twice the bike I got had problems with the gearing. Are the bikes being maintained at all? The app seems to be riddled with bugs as well.

Frustrating that the contract went to an outfit as ineptly run as BleeperBikes - a properly managed stationless bike scheme could be great for those of us living outside the canals.

Arcade_Tryer

Spurion wrote: »

Frustrating that the contract went to an outfit as ineptly run as BleeperBikes - a properly managed stationless bike scheme could be great for those of us living outside the canals.

Dublin Bikes really needs to expand beyond its current zones; the demand is obviously there given that people are using Bleeper Bikes, even though it is evidently an inferior product and service.

magicbastarder

Spurion wrote: »

Frustrating that the contract went to an outfit as ineptly run as BleeperBikes

i don't think it was a contract, more like a licence being granted.

Pelvis

Seve OB wrote: »

€75 per year as opposed to DB €25 per year. No brainer really.

DB is only useful for those within the canal, particularly south side.

Bleeper bike *could* have been a great option for everyone else.

Thargor

I saw a lot of the yellow versions of these in a recent trip to London, a lot of them on the streets but nobody using them, different company but looked like the same bikes. Santander/Boris/Dublin bikes on the other hand were widely used everywhere.