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View Full Version : BMW concept bikes - what do you think?

dd74
06-13-2009, 04:24 PM
It seems to me I've seen a couple of these at Art Center in Pasadena which has a huge automotive/truck/motorcycle/bicycle design department:

http://www.bmw.secretfree.info/BMW%20Pict/bmwbicyclesredgrey.jpg
http://www.amitbhawani.com/Images/B/BMW-bicycles1.jpg
http://qualityjunkyard.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/bmw-bicycles-1.jpg
http://limcorp.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/bmw-bicycle-8.png
gasman
06-13-2009, 05:18 PM
Cool as art.

wouldn't ride one to the coffee shop
gdw
06-13-2009, 05:28 PM
the second and third down look like they might be difficult to steer.
Ahneida Ride
06-13-2009, 05:35 PM
Big wheel in back ..

small wheel up front ...

This way always going downhill.
David Kirk
06-13-2009, 06:08 PM
It looks to me like someone might have missed the day in engineering school where you learn that a triangle is lighter and stronger than a cantilevered beam. Other than that basic thing it looks like they might not work at all :)


Dave
csm
06-13-2009, 09:13 PM
I must be a retro-grouch cuz I like my regular no-slope bike just fine.
Jeff Weir
06-13-2009, 09:26 PM
They'll be on the floor of your LBS next week at 2:00

What was the question again??
Lifelover
06-14-2009, 06:34 AM
It looks to me like someone might have missed the day in engineering school where you learn that a triangle is lighter and stronger than a cantilevered beam. Other than that basic thing it looks like they might not work at all :)


Dave


Someday when all bikes look like this, we can look back and blame it on the ISP!
Ti Designs
06-14-2009, 07:02 AM
OK, picture this: You're the average american male - 40 pounds overweight, you've given up on regular cycling shorts 'cause your gut hangs over the drawstring. Now go back and look at the bikes...
Acotts
06-14-2009, 04:52 PM
I would LOVE to show up at Central Park on one of those.
cadence90
06-14-2009, 05:28 PM
I think they're great.
Anything pursued with that passion and research should be applauded.
Conceptual studies may not immediately yield practical results, but the good ones open up new ways of thinking.

If these are indeed products of Art Center design studios, that's pretty impressive work.
I've worked up at Art Center; the design studios are among the most serious in the world and are heavily funded by outside manufacturers, such as BMW and the auto companies, who also send their designers as instructors.
J Mays et al are Art Center alums.
kgreene10
06-14-2009, 05:35 PM
I've won three races on the second one.
cadence90
06-14-2009, 06:01 PM
I've won three races on the second one.
The famous "Donut Hole Crits" up at Specialized HQ?
You're the guy who beat Cancellara? :cool:
chuckroast
06-14-2009, 07:30 PM
I'd ride the "Bianchi"...it's pretty good lookin'
BumbleBeeDave
06-14-2009, 08:48 PM
. . . as far as using current industry standards for wheel size, drive train bits, etc. But that saddle area looks painful. The other three just seem to violate any rules about real world serviceability. Non-standard wheel size . . . wheels that don't seem to come off to change tires . . . and that BMW one--the tire tread seems to indicate this would be a mountain bike? with different sized wheels like that?

To me, the most beautiful industrial design art is stuff that could actually be built and that would actually work.

BBD
vjp
06-15-2009, 12:17 AM
the equivalent if not exactly the same designs out AC for the last 25 years. It was interesting then, it is BORING and annoying now. 25 years ago they were rendered by talented kids with pantone markers and now those designs are knocked off with cg modeling programs. Yawn.

vjp
dd74
06-15-2009, 11:54 AM
Now you guys know where the sloping top tube came from. ;)