Vallie Components - bicycle part and accessory design

Sometimes things bug me enough that I just have to do something about it. Last night I was linked to the NY City racks design competition finalists. Curiosity got the better of me and I downloaded all of the PDFs to study. I was actually angered by some of them. (take a look at them before reading on)

I lie there awake in bed. Wishing I had known about this contest back in March. Wishing I had registered on the site to post comments... Then it dawned on me. I was going to get up early and BLOG ABOUT THEM!

Andrew Lang and Harry Dobbs

This one looked promising from the renderings, just a variation on the classic U rack, which is pretty decent. They have also branded this one by taking the classic I <3 NY (tm) logo and making it I Rack NY.. Not sure what that means.

Baroni Valeriani architetti

This one pissed me off. A classic wheelbender. Vancouver has some Less stylized spiral racks like this, only taller, and made of one continuous steel tube. Their downfall is that the bike is constantly leaning. Needless to say I wasn't optimistic about this design.

Ian Mahaffy and Maarten De Greeve

This one looked okay. Nothing to outstanding, though it looked like it would be made of cast iron, which I liked.

Federico Otero

Immediately I was curious about the anchoring of this design. Why would the two pieces not be joined by a common plate?

Francis Anthony Bitonti (FADArch)

This one bothered me, in that way that most abstract art bothers me. The PDF shows a billion different configurations, all ugly and cumbersome.

Ignacio Ciocchini

This one reminded me of Toronto's ill fated loop racks on parking meters. The ones that can be defeated by a good length wooden 2x4.

Jeff Miller and Andrea Ruggiero

Just looking at the initial JPG of this one, I didn't like it. The 'I Bike NY' logo plate (meant to display advertisements) is actually shown GETTING IN THE WAY OF THE PEDAL

Next Phase Studios

Cable rack? Surely you are joking. The cable lock doesn't get invited to party with the U locks or case hardened chains. Also worth lolling is the render showing a cable lock going through the FRONT WHEEL.

Stephan Jaklitsch Architects PC

For some reason, this one pissed me off the most. Perhaps its because it had the word 'Architects' in the title. Or maybe because the renderings made it look like the aluminum was too thick to get a U lock around properly.

Open Thread Design

Initially I liked this one the best. Sort of. His proposal shows a special sign post, that has a kink in it, and the top part flattened. I thought this was brilliant. Cyclists are already locking to poles, so why not just make the poles better? He also shows a similarly shaped corral to go along with it. Which looked suitable for up to 4 bikes.

Time to test: Destructively, as it turns out.