Comments on: 77|011 Metropolitan Bike by Rizoma

By: Kelly

Kelly — Tue, 13 Nov 2012 08:04:00 +0000

What’s with the ugly mirror?

By: Whycycle

Whycycle — Mon, 12 Nov 2012 19:32:54 +0000

Yet another aesthetic bicycle concept going to manufacture without really taking engineering or human factors into consideration.
- The frame would be lighter, stronger and more rigid with a seat tube. Removing it might be making a statement, but the extra strength required by the structure at the crank and seat post areas outweighs any advantage gained by removing it (is there one?).
- Splitting the handlebar into two pieces with a separate piece in the middle is also inherently weaker, no matter what it's made of. Those joints can/will fail easier than a straight bar.
- Frame length is as (if not more) important than seat/frame height so the claims that this bike with a laughable 4cm adjustability eradicates any complicated frame selection are disingenuous in the extreme. It will only suit a very small sample of people ergonomically.

Nice renders though.

By: James

James — Mon, 12 Nov 2012 13:39:00 +0000

Am I mistaken or are the load points of the saddle the actual frame of the saddle rather than padding? If so does that mean the rider just sits on the exposed saddle frame?

The handle bars also look very uncomfortable and restrictive. Aesthetically it looks very nice, but ergonomically not so much.

By: omnicrom

omnicrom — Mon, 12 Nov 2012 10:59:00 +0000

100% agree, what is it with people thinking that a seat tube is ugly? If anything is ugly (and completely impractical as you point out) it’s the stumpy saddle perched awkwardly on this frame.

By: alessandro

alessandro — Mon, 12 Nov 2012 09:27:00 +0000

Hmmm, my current bike weighs the same amount, is equipped with campy 10 speed, and cost $2k. I just have to ask why these people who have nothing to do with bikes (I’ve never heard of Rizoma before, and a quick google search tells me that “internationally renowned brand for all things cycling” refers more to motorcycling) have to waste the time doing something that’s already been done well. Carbon’s been done, 8kg isn’t that light, a seatpost height adjustable by 4cm is absolutely ridiculous and is not one-size fits all, and leads me to believe they completely threw ergonomics out the window. Sure, maybe if you putter a block to the subway, and then another block to your place it wouldn’t be too bad, but cycling cross-town would be frickin ridiculous.

That said, it’s fairly sleek, that crank looks nice. but I just can’t get over the fact that if I wanted this bike, I’d have to toss that pretty integrated seat/seatpost and handlebars to make the bike fit me. But if I had the money to throw at this thing, I guess I could throw more money at them to custom build it for me, thus defeating the purpose entirely.