Bikes in the City of Lights

oh, yeah, these things are all over the city when I was there last week! Every time I saw one I got really excited. At that point none of the racks had bikes yet, but the company is obviously serious about it. Electronic/sensor stalls for 15-30 bikes depending on location.

No cheapie/temp installs of the “kiosk” for the french, either — the whole setup is inlaid with cobbles and contrasting stonework. Just what you’d expect, nice craftsmanship by very deliberate, Gaulious-smoking, blue-jump-suited workers.

They had them in and functioning in Brussels, but weren’t getting much use. Of course, the EU wasn’t in session, so maybe the diplomats were taking a break.

That’s excellent and well timed to have you there! Did you get a good look at the bikes? Who makes them, internal gears, nice baskets?

The bikes weren’t at the racks in Paris yet — just the cool, blue-LED-lit, cobbled “stations.” In Brussels, well, I was drinking a tad too much Belgian beer to get all the details, but yes, internally geared, drum brakes, beefy baskets; One-size-fits-most, step-through frames, generator lights, and moderate sized baskets and front racks.

I think they build the bikes themselves (have them made .. I read somewhere that they went through a number of iterations and have settled on a low-maintenance, vandal resistant frame, but I can’t find the article.

One thing I wonder about: In Europe, riders are used to riding beefy city bikes. Dudes don’t seem to care they are riding a “girls” bike (step-through frame).

They are able to separate transportation from racing. I’m not sure if casual users here would feel the same way about riding a beefy, funny-looking city bike.

In Brussels the bikes have the have the branding VeloCity (name of the program) on them, and Velib’ in Paris (I think).

Cool stuff.