The new Dutch bike brand Urban Arrow re-invented the urban transport bike. The result is a cargo bike that makes you (and your luggage) travel faster and comfortable through the congesting city.

Designer Wytze van Mansum tried to get more unity throughout the whole bike. The frame encapsulates the motor and chain, and thus creating a unique frame design. The curved tubes around the top of the box are for protection of the box and of children fingers hanging over the rim of the box. They also provide storage room for the rain cover poles and a lock or pump. Because the box is made in a mould some fun functionalities like the cup holders are able to be incorporated.

With the electric assist you can just get around a busy town faster than by car, taking with you up to 180kg of cargo. The aluminum stiff frame is equipped with a lightweight EPP cargo box. EPP is a recyclable, but durable foam.

Last week Urban Arrow won an innovation award at Eurobike, the biggest European bicycle fair in Friedrichshafen, Germany.

Once considered a 'hard' city, Seoul is making strides toward becoming a 'soft' city.
Seoul is about to be reborn as a soft city by embracing design concepts that will redefine its urban environment with an emphasis on themes centering on green, blue, history and human.

The Seoul Cycle Design Competition will be held under the theme, 'cycling with design: seoul style', and is part of Seoul's city-wide effort at improving its design brand and image. The primary goal of the competition is to help build a design oriented city that focuses on its people.

The competition is divided into three categories: cycle design, cycle fashion & accessories design, and cycling infrastructure. All three categories emphasize environment-friendly ideas, with the hope that the contest will contribute to establishing a healthier cycling culture.

Cycles have become an icon of 'eco-friendliness' and 'healthiness,' and are part of a major urban lifestyle trend. Nearly everyone can enjoy riding cycles; therefore, just about everyone will be able to enter the competition. Through this competition we hope that all citizens will have the chance to share their own personal visions for a new Seoul, a city that has embraced change through design. We invite everyone who is interested in cycling and design to take part in the Seoul Cycle Design Competition.

Deadline: July 5 2010

Image: Jarbas Lopes, One bike from AERIALBIKEWAY (Cicolviaerea) series, 2001-07

'Bike Rides' will explore the increasing relevance of bicycles in contemporary art and culture.

As worldwide trends point to bike riding as a serious and sustainable means of transportation that is currently reshaping cities, the public’s fascination with bicycles is growing. Avid bike riders, amateur bike aficionados, recreational bikers, artists, cutting-edge designers, and the community at large are all reconsidering bicycles through their personal point of view: their own ideal bike.

'Bike Rides' is a multidisciplinary exhibition that will feature customized bikes— bikes that have been re-appropriated by artists, enthusiasts, and designers to represent different identities and serve new and distinct functions. The works in the exhibition will range from Illusion of Childhood of Cai Guo-Qiang to the sound system speaker-adorned Pimp My Piragua of Miguel Luciano to the latest customized bike of professional rider Lance Armstrong. The exhibition will also feature artworks by well-known international artists such as Tom Sachs and Guy Ben-Ner, in addition to emerging artists such as Jonathan Brand, Jarbas Lopes, and the collaborative FUTURE SHOCK. All these works emphasize the diverse use and function of bicycles that is present in different societies. The exhibition will include innovative and technologically advanced American customized bikes with examples from builders such as Trek, Seven Cycles, and Parlee Cycles.

Exhibition from September 26 2009 to January 3 2010
The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum
258 Main Street
Ridgefield, CT 06877, USA

You love the feel of a full size bike. But you need a folding bike; easy to carry around, folds into small places... Why not have the best of both? SwissBike combines performance and portability to give you the most versatile folding bike possible. All SwissBikes are performance oriented bikes that fold. They can take on the most rugged trails or leisurely bike paths and at the end of the day, fold to stash with the rest of your gear.

Built for the streets. The SwissBike TX is designed with utility in mind. Smooth tires with vibration dampening suspension make it the ideal commuter bike. Fast but comfortable, a great way to get to the work, the store, or even the coffee shop. Small apartment? Need to throw it in the trunk? No problem. The TX folds down to a size that can fit anywhere.

See folding demo

The 10 finalists in the CityRacks Design Competition have been selected from among 200 entries submitted by talented designers from around the world.
Behind the international design competition for new bicycle parking for the City of New York is a groundbreaking partnership between The New York City Department of Transportation (DOT), and the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum. As part of their effort to promote cycling as a sustainable, mainstream transportation option and in keeping with the environmental goals of PlaNYC 2030, DOT is seeking to tap the creative energy of the world design and art communities for this important element of street furniture.

The purpose of the competition is to develop functional, well-designed sidewalk racks and to generate new concepts for bicycle parking inside commercial and residential buildings. These two initiatives, in addition to NYCDOT’s commitment to increasing the number of miles of bicycle facilities, providing the City’s first sheltered bike parking stations and creating more bicycle parking at transit stations, will raise the profile of bicycling as a convenient mode of transportation in New York.

Although bicycle lanes are the most noticeable element of the City’s cycling infrastructure, access to parking is also essential. Indeed, a study conducted by the Department of City Planning found that lack of access to secure bike parking was the primary reason cyclists did not ride to work. The current standard fixture for bicycle parking consists of variations of a fabricated square steel tube called the “CityRack” that is mounted on sidewalks. These fixtures occupy little space on the sidewalk and do not obstruct the flow of people or goods. New York City currently has thousands of CityRacks within its five boroughs and plans to add thousands more in the foreseeable future. The CityRack design, however, has been in use for over ten years and does not fulfill the potential to be an icon for New York City cycling.

The City intends to use the winning sidewalk rack as its new standard for bicycle parking. The design for the in-building rack will first be installed by Google in its New York City headquarters. It may also be used by City-owned buildings in the future, when possible.

The awards will be announced on October 24.

These are the 10 finalists' designs.

Andrew Lang and Harry Dobbs

Baroni Valeriani architetti

Ian Mahaffy and Maarten De Greeve

Read More...

Thomas Owens is a young British product design graduate. His latest project is a stylish bicycle that not only offers all the benefits of cycling but, with its power system, the user can cruise around with ease.

When folded, 'One' turns into an amazing compact case free of all dirty and protruding parts. It can be easily carried, stowed and stored.