[bikeqld] free Citibikes in Brisbane

[Mick Fanning]

I had a chance to get up close and personal with one of the new  
Citibikes today. I thought is was a pretty good bike. Well thought- 
out and put together for the intended purpose.

The hubs are Shimano Nexus. The front is a hub-dynamo and seems also  
to incorporate the brake. The rear is a 3-speed epicyclic gear with  
brake. No cabling visible anywhere.

The wheels look very sturdy with beefy alloy rims and heavy gauge  
spokes. I thought they had more spokes than usual also.

On the front is a wire basket and at the front of that is where  
they've mounted the headlight (it appears to be either a Busch &  
Muller "Lumotec Round" or the AXA equivalent). The basket actually  
incorporates a little cage which protects the light from damage -  
very clever. There are two tail lights. One is behind the seat post  
and the other is built into the rear mudguard. The one behind the  
seatpost is a B & M Seculite which is mounted in a proprietary,  
brazed-on protective capsule and the one on the mudguard looks like  
the old-model B & M mudguard light but is like nothing I've ever seen  
before. Both are LED but not sure if the mudguard one has a  
standlight facility, as the Seculite does. As with the brakes and  
gears, there is no cabling visible anywhere.

The seat is very padded and comfy looking and the post is quick- 
release adjustable.

I didn't see a switch for the lights but perhaps it was somewhere I  
didn't notice. It's also possible they've elected to leave the lights  
on all the time. The Nexus hub dynamo is reputed to be fairly drag-free.

Overall, I thought this bike was about as foolproof and bombproof as  
you could possibly make a bike. Nor will you need to wear silly  
clothes (apart from the helmet) to ride them. The only weak point  
might be the mudguards. But that is always the case no matter how  
much money you spend. They are also the easiest part to replace so  
it's no big deal. The rear mudguard is also where they will put the  
advertising. So they will probably have heaps of spares anyway.

The city council people were mightily p-ssed off about the job the  
Courier Mail did on them about the Citibikes - and who could blame  
them. Really, if you look closely at the way this scheme will be set  
up, it's unlikely most users will ever pay a cent to use these bikes  
- even if they use them several times a day.

We still don't know precisely where the "stations" for these bikes  
will be. I reckon that will be the decider.

Mick