A New Breed of Bicycle

A mountain bike has features focused on durability, tire grip, and shock absorption. A road bike has features focused on maximum efficiency, and rider stamina. But what about the rest of us, the casual city rider? Why can't we have a bike with features designed around how we actually use our bikes? We can, and I just got one.

The iXi Bike is the first bike I have seen that is designed around how most of us actually use our bikes. For starters the bike has mini wheels, collapsible handle bars and pedals, and can be broken in half. This means it can be collapsed and fit into the passenger seat of almost any car. And since it uses a rubber belt instead of a metal chain their is no grease to get on the seats. The mini wheels allow an extra large basket to be installed on the back which is capable of carrying items 2 to 3 times the size of a normal bike basket, like my backpack or my little brother.

If you get a flat tire, or have a loose part this bike is one step ahead of your problem. Built into the seat shaft is a full repair kit containing a tire pump, patches, and bike tools. There is even a built-in cup holder, not a water bottle holder, a casual cup holder letting you hold whatever drink you may have - be it your coffee or your Jamba Juice. You can even get a Belkin TuneDok and mount your iPod right in the cup holder.

One of my favorite things is the simplicity of the bike. It is all silver, and logo free. My old bike, and nearly every other bike in the world, has a thick coat of confusing decals with corny marketing buzz words such as: "RMB 7005 Aluminum", "ST3 Geometry", and "Dual SIS Index". I am much more drawn to a nice simple design than a bunch of meaningless words.

When I ordered the bike I was really worried it might not ride well, I might not be able to make it up hills, or ride it on grass. I have been riding it for a couple of weeks now and my worries have been put to rest. I love it. I have taken it everywhere I took my old bike including steep hills, grass, gravel, even a dirt trail. It has been able to handle everything I have thrown at it. It is a little more rough than a typical bike when riding on bumpy surfaces such as grass but not unbearable. I feel more in touch with the ground, less like I am just rolling over a generic surface. It is like the difference between a go cart and an SUV, in a SUV you feel much more disconnected from the road. Hills are no problem, I can climb them just as easy if not more easily on this bike. I do wish it had one more gear for high speeds, when I get going fast I feel like I could go just a little faster with another gear.

I hope they keep evolving this bike. I would like to see a built-in spring-loaded retractable lock, built-in front and back lights that automatically turn on at night, and a simple built-in bike computer for keeping track of your progress. The key will be looking at how people actually use their bikes.

If you want one you can get it here. I contacted the creators and they agreed to give anyone reading this a 20% discount on the bike and any accessories. To get the discount just type in the code "matasblg" during checkout.

Delicious Library Wins Design Awards

As many of you have already heard, Delicious Library won not one, but two Apple Design Awards at WWDC 2005. We won first place in Best Mac OS X User Experience and runner-up in Best Product New to Mac OS X. The prizes were insane this year. We won: A top of the line PowerMac G5, a 30" Cinema Display, a top of the line 17" PowerBook G4, a Developer Intel Transition Kit, a ADC Premier Membership, and a booth at Macworld SF 2006. The trophies are also really cool. The first place trophy is small aluminum cube with the Apple logo on top and when you pick it up the Apple glows white. Last years winners put theirs through a medical CT scanner to see how Jonathan Ives' group at Apple built the thing.

Off to WWDC 2005

I'm heading down to San Francisco tomorrow with the rest of Delicious Monster for WWDC, Apples World Wide Developers Conference. I am going to be a guest speaker in the "Cutting-Edge Interface Design for Mac OS X" session so if your coming to WWDC be sure to come to the Russian Hill room at 9:00 AM on Tuesday morning. It is going to be a great session. We entered Delicious Library in the 2005 Apple Design Awards so Tuesday night we will see if we won.