Thorn Cycles Forum

Community => Non-Thorn Related => Topic started by: in4 on April 15, 2016, 09:23:02 AM

Title: Ikea Bike
Post by: in4 on April 15, 2016, 09:23:02 AM: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/recreational-cycling/ikea-to-launch-their-first-bicycle--and-yes-its-flat-pack/
Can't wait! :o
Title: Re: Ikea Bike
Post by: Andre Jute on April 15, 2016, 05:25:14 PM: It's the one which, when you've assembled it, you have several components left over, but it still works.

Jokes aside: Belt drive, automatic "Bioshift" gears are notable. This clearly isn't just a BSO (bike shaped object) as sold by supermarkets: the belt drive is guaranteed for 15,000km which is near enought 10K miles.

I reposted this news in the somewhat hostile environs of RBT, and added:

This is the democratization of the bicycle cylists have been waiting for. Strangely, it seems much more like the bicycle I've spent years promoting (except Ikea's is a fraction of the price of mine, but that's the point) than anything either the roadies or the vehicular cyclists (I can hardly say it without choking up with laughter) have envisaged.
Title: Re: Ikea Bike
Post by: Bill C on April 15, 2016, 05:51:45 PM: @£450 they have some serious competition https://www.google.co.uk/search?client=ubuntu&channel=fs&q=bike+%C2%A3450&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&gfe_rd=cr&ei=WRcRV8jNIPPS8Af0-KbwDw#q=bike+%C2%A3450&channel=fs&tbm=shop&spd=0 (https://www.google.co.uk/search?client=ubuntu&channel=fs&q=bike+%C2%A3450&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&gfe_rd=cr&ei=WRcRV8jNIPPS8Af0-KbwDw#q=bike+%C2%A3450&channel=fs&tbm=shop&spd=0)

love the marketing BS though "Sladda is like a tablet with apps," says Oskar Juhlin
and you can even get a trailer,
a bike with a trailer replacing a car, stupid idea, it will never catch on ;)
Title: Re: Ikea Bike
Post by: Andre Jute on April 15, 2016, 06:43:46 PM: Quote from: Bill C on April 15, 2016, 05:51:45 PM
a bike with a trailer replacing a car, stupid idea, it will never catch on ;)

A touring rack will also take pannier baskets, These are the ones I like; they're so large, I rarely have need of more than one on the bike.
http://www.basil.nl/gb/assortment/
(https://images.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=http%3A%2F%2Fecx.images-amazon.com%2Fimages%2FI%2F61GqX7cWlBL._SL160_.jpg&f=1)
Title: Re: Ikea Bike
Post by: Bill C on April 15, 2016, 07:15:33 PM: Andre
it was an attempt at irony :-[
I've had a bob trailer for about 8 years, bought the Sherpa and front and rear Suly nice racks and got rid of the van,
never needed a car since, most people could probably ditch the car if they tried
saved me a small fortune in unneeded bill's 8)
Title: Re: Ikea Bike
Post by: Andre Jute on April 16, 2016, 02:00:09 AM: Ah, I missed that. I stopped driving in 1992 and haven't missed the car since.
Title: Re: Ikea Bike
Post by: energyman on April 17, 2016, 07:18:23 PM: I think I will stick to my refurbished Elephant Bike, at least there were no bits left over when I assembled it, darn site cheaper to.
http://elephantbike.co.uk/ (mine's beige).
Title: Re: Ikea Bike
Post by: John Saxby on April 18, 2016, 04:39:17 PM: Maybe... Not sure how much of a bargain it is at £450 (with VAT included, I guess). I'd be interested to see if IKEA sells it here in Canada and what the price would be. £450 is $900-plus, and you can get a decent entry-level hybrid for half that. My 12-year-old Norco Monterey 8-spd city bike cost me $180 at Bicycle Foundation, a social enterprise which refurbishes donated bikes; to that price I added new tires & a pair of plastic fenders.

Not sure what the market would be, either: IKEA stores here are gynormous affairs, located in gynormous suburban shopping centres with gynormous parking lots studded with gynormnous SUVs driven by people who (I assume) wouldn't want their SUV-driving brethren to mock them for riding a cargo bike.

But who knows? I certainly don't, and if IKEA can sell utilitarian bikes that people buy and use, so much the better.