Denny, the technological bike made especially for the city
How about having a bike named Denny? Does this sound weird to you? But knowing this project, the name may not make that much difference
Seattle, United States. A city already known for accepting and supporting the bicycle as a means of transport is innovating once again with denny. The project won the competition of The Bike Design Project, beating teams from urban cycling centers like New York, Chicago, Portland and San Francisco. Voters across the country picked Denny as their best bet, a novelty built by Taylor Sizemore and a team at Teague, the same design consulting firm that created the Polaroid camera, the Pringles potato chip can, and Boeing jet interiors .
The bike is named after the Denny family, who helped found the city of Seattle, and which also gives its name to the steep street that connects Capitol Hill to downtown Seattle, feared by many cyclists.
Denny was built with rider safety in mind, according to its creator. For him, most lights on a bicycle are difficult for drivers to understand. "Traditionally, the bike doesn't say 'I'm a bike' at night"; it just says: 'there is a light floating in the darkness'".
Also influencing the project were two accidents that happened to Sizemore while he was riding his bike through downtown Seattle. In his memory are only flashes of what happened and the memory of waking up lying in the street with his shirt torn. The other memory is of a car invading the cycle path and causing Sizemore to have to completely turn his bike around to avoid being hit. All this with his wife watching the scene right behind him.
Considered the "coolest bike" for its custom design, it features illumination with light icons below the headlight, red turn signals and brake lights on the rear (which illuminate the bike's body) and an easy-to-remove rechargeable battery. and that serves to turn on these lights. These combine to give drivers a sense of form seen and a readable direction.
denny it is also equipped with an electrical assistance for steep climbs and a rubber chain in place of the one traditionally used (which is very "snotty"). Even the loop handlebars can be removed to lock the rest of the bike in place, thus eliminating the need to carry a heavy padlock.
Its gears are hidden inside the bike's frame, where an electronic device silently shifts gears to keep pedaling at optimum speed. The innovation is also in the fact that the bike has an automatic transmission.
Your bumper also has another structure. Most bumpers wrap around the entire top of the wheel, but they're heavy and don't fit all bikes. THE denny "It messes with the physics of water," Sizemore said. The bike interrupts the pavement's water dynamics before it flies over the wheels on its back - that's because there's a simple rubber brush running along the wheels.
Other safety features include a rack instead of a pivoting front fork, which is the part used to attach the front wheel to the bike's body. Sizemore said this makes the bike's suspension much more stable.
However, being the coolest bike on the bike path comes at a cost. Fuji Bikes will manufacture the winning design of the competition described at the beginning of the article and sell it for around US$ 3,000.
For its creator, the price should not scare the consumer too much, as the bike will potentially replace a car and the fact that people are already spending money on bicycles. THE denny should hit stores in 2015.
Check out the video that details its features. Learn more here.
