Product Idea needed... AGAIN! (urgent)

[Fri]

Okay, you remember a few months ago when this pathetic product design student asked for product idea? I pretty much decided to make yet another way to park your bike.

But about one or two month ago, some GENIUS decided to put bike rack ALL OVER my campus and made my idea practically redundant.

I said boop it and I decided to took a short break before having a go at it again. Well, this 'short' is supposed to be the key word. Needless to say, I'm practically asleep a lot longer than I should be, and now, I'm way past the deadline.

So, playgrounder. Help me. I'm going to weasel my way out of this again, and maybe, just maybe, I can survive. I'm going to whip up some quick product idea myself, have some quick sketch, and maybe making one or two ultra simple 3d model to prove that I'm not just dawdling around for a month.

Here's what the theme. It's about community. And back then I've decided to have 'bicycle on campus' as the second theme, or at least 'campus transportation'

Here's some quick question to get it into perspective (not actually a quesioner)

1.How old are you?
2.Do you have bicycle? What type is it? Do you use it regularly? What do you use it for? How often do you use it?
3.What's your problem with your bicycle? You ever think 'if only my bicycle have this' or 'if only I have this, I won't have this much problem with my bicycle'

Go as wild as you can. It's not your problem. It's MY problem.

What I'm going to sketch now is... some sort of new lock for bike (not rack) to make it harder to steal, an easy to set and release, heavy duty baggage for cross country/mountain bike, and... dunno something wild. Alarm system for bike. A public bike system with electronic lock that use our student id to borrow....

Help me, please?

[Dallas-Dakota]

1. 16
2. Three, of varying kinds.(I have a habbit of keeping old bicycles even though they're on the small side and are so worn down they're heavy maintenance(Too much to give to smaller nephews and such)
3 My main annoyance is, that it costs extra money to take your bike with you on the train.(I go to much stuff outside my city, or used too, anyway)

Second, I would say the risk of bicycles being stolen, but thats pretty much just my country and me being paranoid.

Maybe a idea would be some sort of bike lockers or something for campus so that you don't have to worry about your bike being stolen?(Since most people don't use two chain locks on top of a normal one, I assume?)
The idea is here already, just that you have to pay muchos and it's only for Rented Bicycles I think.(And only on trainstation at that)

[Lord Loss]

A Community bike rack.

It would be one giant rack, with a something in the middle that all the bikes are locked onto seperately. You would have a key which unlocked you bike and only your bike. When the bike was unlocked, your key would vibrate, play a little song, or some other thing that lets you know if someone picked your lock and stole your bike. Just an idea. Also, the fact that lots of bikes are together makes it more likely for someone see if a bike is getting stolen (people putting their own bikes there will notice the short dude with a screwdriver jacking a 1000 dollar bike).

Teenager.

Yes, I own a bike.

[Jimorian]

The one thing I hated about my bike riding days was the mud spatter from rainy days. Clean water falling from above I didn't care about. The stripe up my back because I didn't have a fender... ick. :smallyuk: Same with the bottom of my pants. Solve this in a portable way (parkas and rain pants are just a nuisance, or if it's sunny when you leave and don't bring them...), and you get a cookie.

[LordOfXoriat]

-edit_deleted-

[Raewyn]

1. 20
2. I have a mountain bike. I'll eventually start using it to bike to my classes (assuming I can get my stupid bike lights to work :smallannoyed:).
3. My biggest fear is having my bike stolen (or damaged if the would be-thief is feeling vindictive). I once saw a bike chained to a rack that had one of its tires bent at a 90 degree angle, likely a thief invoking the adage of "Well, if I can't enjoy it, nobody can."

[Miklus]

It would be nice to have a gizmo on your bike that told you how many calories you have burnt off. It can't be too hard to calculate if your measure the force on the pedals and the motion too.

[Mr. Mud]

1. 17. Almost 18...

2. Almost daily. Saves gas money...

3. I work part time at Bike Doctor, so I really have everything... But crucial part: Waterbottle holder.


It would be nice to have a gizmo on your bike that told you how many calories you have burnt off. It can't be too hard to calculate if your measure the force on the pedals and the motion too.

They're working on an iPhone app for that...

[Surfing HalfOrc]

If bicycle theft is such a problem on your campus, how about a LoJack for Bicycles? A GPS tracker, hooked into some sort of transmitter, and able to turn it on remotely. It would have to be small enough to conceal on a bicycle (under the seat, or interted into one of the tubes, with radio connectivity to outside of the frame.

It provides a way of finding out who's stealing bicycles (a one-time crime, or an organization), and recovery.

It's a product that eliminates crime, provides employment, and gives people the confidence to buy a (relativly) expensive product, knowing that they won't lose it in just a few days.

And dude? This project? Turn it in this time!

Edit:
I'm 44, used to ride to work daily (it was only 3 miles, and Hawaii almost always has nice bicycle riding weather), and my only concern for riding it in town was traffic and theft. It was a $500 bike, meaning ok but not great, and popular with thieves.

[Supagoof]

1.How old are you?
2.Do you have bicycle? What type is it? Do you use it regularly? What do you use it for? How often do you use it?
3.What's your problem with your bicycle?

1.31
2.Yes. Mountain Bike. No. Occasional recreation. Not regularly :smalltongue:. Or once to twice a year to be more specific.
3. Low air pressure when I do use it, but I'm too lazy to bother fixing the flat, so I re-inflate the tires when I do. It's probably because I don't use it often.

So my suggestion, is next to all these new bike racks - a bike tune-up "shop". A box that has things like a tire pressure checker, inflator, wrenches. The items would be attached by cable to the box (I'm thinking aluminum box to avoid rust) to prevent theft. The cables would be long enough to adjust the nuts/bolt on the bikes, but short enough (and far enough away from the rack) that someone can't use the "shop" to mess with or steal someone's bike who has it attached to the bike rack. Perhaps make the cables recoil in some fashion so they will keep the tools off the ground and out of the rain when not in use (to prevent rust).

Then it helps the community to keep their bikes in good shape without having to worry about bringing tools to campus.