New ideas for NYC's bike racks:New York City's Department of Transportation and the Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum's City Racks Design Competition finalists' bike rack designs were installed in Astor Place yesterday. Now passersby are invited to admire, use and critque them.
Vote for your favorite and view the story behind all ten designs (four are below) online
here.

by Federico Otero

by Ignacio Ciocchini

by Jeff Miller and Andrea Ruggiero

by Andrew Lang and Harry Dobbs

And, City Racks competition judge, musician, artist and bike enthusiast,
David Byrne couldn't resist designing a few himself.
In July, nine of Byrne’s whimsical designs were installed on sidewalks around the city, where they’ll remain for a period of 364 days. Then they’ll be sold by art gallery, Pace Wildenstein. So for a limited time, cyclists can chain bikes to public artworks: The Ladies’ Mile (2008), a shoe on Fifth Avenue outside Bergdorf Goodman; The Villager (2008), a dog in Greenwich Village; The Wall Street (2008), a dollar sign on Wall Street; or, The Hipster (2008), a guitar in Williamsburg (above) among others.
New: Ultra-sleek quick-fold
STRiDA bicycles, by award-winning UK designer Mark Sanders, make getting around town easy for commuters of all sizes. For 2008, there’s now an XT Tall and a MINI model, a MAS 2 speed (shown here) and a sport version, as well as the original single speed model that New York’s
MoMA store has been selling in bright orange.
Old:Absolutely not recommend for riding around anywhere these days but this painted wood version of a still-popular mode of transport in
Just Folk gallery’s inventory can be admired as sculpture.

Boneshaker Bicycle, circa 1857

The same goes for this 1895 American “racycle” with bentwood oak handlebars and oak spokes from Off The Wall Antiques, found at
1stdibs.
Old Style/Brand New:For cyclists fancying themselves on a retro-looking bike,
Moss has several models by Danish designer, Rasmas Gjesing, that are simple, stylish, high quality and definitely not mass-produced.


Men’s Fixie-style, The Player (2008).
Lady’s Tourist bicycle, The Purse (2008).
New Idea:
Nulla, a chainless, spokeless concept bike, designed by Bradford Waugh, offers a glimpse of what we might be seeing on the streets in the future.
To carry everything:
A twig pannier is a style that’s been hand-made and well-utilized for decades. This one is from
Tahoe Mountain Sports.

Carrie Bicycle Basket (2007) by Swedish designer Mary Louise Gustafsson from
Scandinavian Grace.
Knog’s Dry Dog bag (2008) cleverly converts from messenger to pannier to back pack.

DIY, an old crate and bungee cord as spied on blog,
Velo Vogue, can do the job nicely too.
Safety first:
Far from bland and boring,
Nutcase helmets in myriad patterns do the job of protecting precious heads with a bit of pizzazz. This one, Graffiti, is from the 2008 catalog.
Knog’s new Beetle LED lights, unveiled last week at Interbike’08, are flexible, functional and couldn't be easier to attach.
Collect:Vintage posters designed with cycling in mind.
Favor, Jean Pruniere (1927) and
Jugend, K. Bauer (1896) at International Poster Gallery.

Cycles Brillant, Adolph Mouron Cassandre (circa 1930) at AllPosters.com

A mid century Italian tea/bar cart with bicycle wheels, designed by Aldo Tura at Berns Frey gallery at
1st dibs.

Bicycle wheels are an integral component of a 1990s rocking chair by Los Angeles-based designer, Marvin Drandell, at Sam Kaufman gallery at
1st dibs.

A 20th century wall sculpture featuring five bicycles by Curtis Jere at Talisman gallery on
1stdibs.
A 19th century painted metal and wood trade sign, from
Just Folk
Essential reading for bike lovers:100 years of Bicycle Component and Accessory Design, by Noguchi-san. An authentic reprint of The Data Book, first published in 1983, contains over 1,200 drawings illustrating the history of the bicycle's first 100 years. The book continues to be a source of inspiration for designers.
The Dancing Chain, by Frank Berto. An updated 2nd edition of this classic and entertaining chronicle of the technical aspects of the bicyclehas been published.
Labels: bicycles, books