Industrial designer Michael Young has designed Cityspeed, an urban bike for Taiwanese bicycle manufacturer Giant.
The bike features LED headlights and tail lights integrated into the frame.
This is the second collaborative project between Young and Giant after the Citystorm range, which was released in Japan last year.
Giant, the largest manufacturer of bicycles in the world, will officially launch Cityspeed in Tokyo in October.
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Posted by Rob Ong
August 15th, 2008 at 2:40 am
Is it just the angle or is that tail light pointed straight at the paddy rack?
August 15th, 2008 at 2:49 am
Lovely, but the rear fender needs to come all the way down to the bottom bracket, otherwise your calves will still get soaked and dirty on a rainy commute.
August 15th, 2008 at 3:13 am
Nice work putting the rear LED’s directly behind the bike rack.
*rolls eyes*
Couriers have far more ‘beautiful’ AND functional bikes than these ones…
August 15th, 2008 at 3:24 am
What the hell is this!?? It’s trying to be a road bike but at the same time trying to be a mtb?? And WHY THE HELL would a bike need to have disk brakes if it’s for city use???
August 15th, 2008 at 6:38 am
Nice, sedate, elegant, considered. Best ride i’ve seen in ages. mind you i want a chain guard so my cricket trousers don’t get dirty.
Has Michael ever designed any bicycle clips?
August 15th, 2008 at 7:15 am
Yeap! That’s nice bike. And - for this time - real citybike. I would buy it
August 15th, 2008 at 7:19 am
Hahahaha. Sorry for being pedant, but just one detail: backlight in this bike is not visible at all - that’s usability failure.
August 15th, 2008 at 7:27 am
nice detailing
and if it is affordable like other bikes from the brand a very good job.
(lets hope they don’t market it to the “design segment”
but ehm
what if you carry luggage on the back (sort of what your suggesting you can do with a rack) doesn’t it block your rear light?
August 15th, 2008 at 9:24 am
The rear light does align with the rack, but it looks adjustable to me. Blame the photographer?!
August 15th, 2008 at 9:45 am
what a waste of money and effort.
couriers and regular cyclists will tell you straight away this is poor.
no adjustment in handlebar height, pointless disk brakes, bolt on wheels (it looks like on the front but i really hope not), ridiculous placement of lights, and lots of other heavy features.
you’ll only sell this to yuppies who want to look like they cycle.
but maybe thats the point
*sigh*
August 15th, 2008 at 10:15 am
nice.
the headlight in the stem / handle bar is a nice feature,
and for the rear light - who cares if a bag will obstruct it. you could still put a lamp under the saddle, but incoperating the back light into seat clamp is a new feature that can only add to saftey….
August 15th, 2008 at 10:19 am
how the hell do they make that top tube?? with a change in section?
August 15th, 2008 at 12:58 pm
Omar - my guess is hydrostatic forming
http://www.siempelkamp.de/Hydroforming.561.0.html
August 15th, 2008 at 1:54 pm
there are a few interesting bits but overall its very dissapointing. there are so may better designed bikes out there. biomega, kronan, abici to name but a few all make far more interesting bikes
August 15th, 2008 at 1:57 pm
Errr..I’m not an expert like some of the erudite contributers who have written before me, but isn’t criticizing the placement of the back light a bit like someone criticizing the placement of the sun behind the moon? I would imagine a designer of MY’s standing will have this one covered so wait till you see it in 3-d folks. Anyway, it looks rather nice to me, and it’ll match my gold lame shorts and aniline leather chaps too.
August 15th, 2008 at 2:43 pm
I want one!! What’s the retail price?
August 15th, 2008 at 3:00 pm
About the light… wouldn’t it be easily visible from a car/van drivers persective, unless there is luggage… but who carries luggage on the back of a bike anyway?!
August 15th, 2008 at 4:52 pm
Nice, elegant, understated- would like to know more about the top tube design
August 15th, 2008 at 5:49 pm
good job except the rear light…as citybiking is very dangerous
August 15th, 2008 at 6:12 pm
i can appreciate integrating lights into the overall design…not thrilled if they’re on parts that I might want to change to fit my riding posture. looks like the tail light is a separate part from the stem clamp…should be adjustable.
would love to see a bicycle designer take a crack at a better solution for effectively locking the bike and wheels in a high-crime urban environment. if I didn’t have to carry around a u-lock ever again, i’d be a happy rider.
August 15th, 2008 at 7:22 pm
hmh .. it’s not my style, I don’t like it very much, it’s not a city bike neither a mountain bike … I prefer more one or another … but the details are excellent .
I’m more a fan of PUMA BIKE, that one developed by BIOMEGA
http://www.coolhunting.com/images/puma-Bike-Profile.jpg
August 15th, 2008 at 11:30 pm
some pretty lame comments as ever above , i am sure all will be explained well
in due course . giant don ot put a bike like this out without a well considered
market , and i can see it clearly , good design , good patents ( i can see 3 already )
hi level engineering . this is not a skint couriers bike , you buy as seen if you can afford it
August 16th, 2008 at 2:29 pm
wow it’s a bike….
August 17th, 2008 at 10:36 am
@ olv
i’m also fan of PUMA BIKE developed by BIOMEGA
http://www.coolhunting.com/images/puma-Bike-Profile.jpg
@perpert
i could be interressing to say what is patented in this bike?
@ jdirt
sure the main pb in urban bike is to secure the bike …. and his life too against car !!!
August 17th, 2008 at 11:25 am
I love the details, but overall I prefer Swobo and Cannondale G-Star as a design
August 17th, 2008 at 11:46 am
This is a very uncomfortable bike. The saddle
is a pain in the …. and the handle bar will result in
back ache and two painfull arms…
If the wheels are 28 inch, the paddy rack
will be in the way when you swing your leg over,
as it is curved upwards.
In the city you need oversized tires and some
other form of shock absorbtion.
The combination of slim tubes in the back and oversized
ones in the front front is a design mistake.
Sorry I hate this bike…
August 17th, 2008 at 2:40 pm
I like some of the ideas her but I’m
not convinced. i would not buy it, it’s ugly.
it only has one break for front and rear?
I just did a 1200mile bike tour, all the touring bikes all look old man.
and i was not keen to buy any of them! I used a second hand cyclocross bike.
I liked the lock integrated Puma bike, tho it’s not comparable as it does not have mud guards, these are bikes for different demographics.
city biking is a lifestyle, i pick which issues i want my bike to solve and others i solve with what i wear (ie. rearlight)
I saw the Ferrari bike in Rome at the end of my tour - nice and ridicules !
August 17th, 2008 at 2:42 pm
Ferrari bike :
http://flickr.com/photos/chenjiaxie/2337194461
August 18th, 2008 at 11:01 am
perpert - 3 patents???????
PLEASE inform me of the inventions on this bike, or any remotely novel, or remotely patentable features on this bike…
August 18th, 2008 at 11:07 am
rear light:
from what i can see here it is dual function, 1 as a rear light and 2 to secure the seat tube position/height. If this is the case it must therefore be connected to the frame; its position is fixed.
correct me if i’m wrong
August 18th, 2008 at 5:47 pm
It´s a pitty that the rear light it´s not visible if you carrie something behind you.
Don´t makes me wisper or dream for.
August 20th, 2008 at 7:51 pm
Is a lovely atractive bike, but I would like to know
if they have different handles…
One has to bend so low to ride it, it can be quite unconfortable after some time!
August 26th, 2008 at 8:23 am
The reason that urban riders want disc brakes is because they are reliable in the rain, whereas linear-pull brakes with pads against the rim walls are not reliable in wt conditions. That’s why mountain bikes have disc brakes (mud, streams etc). Urban riders on the East Coast and say Seattle like disc brakes. People in Southern California probably wouldn’t care so much. They are added weight, but not to an unreasonable degree.
They are following the model of the much beloved Cannondale BadBoy on the disc brakes:
http://www.cannondale.com/bikes/08/cusa/model-8BS.html
This bike looks very nice, and is I think designed for a non-technical type of rider.
The lights are sort of cool and cute. As noted by others the rear light is positioned wrong, especially if the rider were to use the provide rack, ha! They should have integrated to light into the rear of the rack. For a front light that led strip will function only to show drivers where you are or to keep fom getting a ticket from the police. Real commuting riders use something like this:
http://www.bikelights.com/Products/vega.htm
which actually shows road conditions and terrain and is bright enough to SEE with.
I give this bike a B minus.
August 27th, 2008 at 4:34 am
i saw some other geometries on the news part of http://www.michael-young.com
which seem to show alternatives that answer many of the above points .. looks better than the one on this site to me ….especialy regarding the rear light which is pretty chic
August 27th, 2008 at 6:17 pm
this bike is pretty damn ugly and people are right, you do see better bikes built by couriers. Where I live couriers all look like Mad Max though, I don’t know if I’d want to take my design influences from them…
also - Gold? It looks my grans Rover…
December 12th, 2008 at 10:37 am
the brake cable for the rear wheel runs through the wheel making it impossible to rotate