Demo ride on the bike share bike

Megan Melack rode a Capital Bikeshare bike from her office at the Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition to Diridon Station in San Jose to let people try it out. This is Danny (not Megan) on the bike.


Bike share bike demo at Caltrain Diridon Station

Our Bay Area Bikeshare bikes will be similar Canadian-manufactured bikes from Cycles Devinci. Anybody who’s used a bike share bike from Bixi or Alta Bike Share is already familiar with it. Ours will be San Jose Sharks teal instead of red, and the bikes will have seven speed hubs instead of the three-speeds utilized by Capital Bikeshare. Otherwise, the bikes are identical: robust, 40 lb step through frame, flat resistant tires, fenders, skirt guard, a small front rack, and hub dynamo powering integrated lights.

The tail lights are especially cute: they’re integrated into the seat stays near the end of the rear fork. The front light flashes, which is technically not legal for night use in California. Some of our local cops have been known to cite cyclists for operating blinkies at night, though I think mostly for the truly blinding high powered headlights rather than the “be seen” lights used on these Bixi bikes.

I was surprised that nobody with a bike at the train station had even heard of Bay Area Bike Share! Once we told them about it they were interested, but clearly more outreach is needed. They’re still handing out limited edition founding member keys on the signup page. Your annual membership begins after you activate the key. Officially, opening will occur sometime in August; a little birdie tells me it will likely be towards the end of the month.

I haven’t seen her pictures yet, but Lady Fleur was also there shooting photos of me popping wheelies and doing bunny hops on this bike. She wore a teal dress yesterday to help you visualize the color of the BABS bike.

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