The Civia Halsted is our new cycle truck bike designed around a frame mounted front cargo rack.   Civia is bicycle transportation and the Halsted expands what bicycle transportation can be.  Today’s post is to introduce you to the Halsted.  Hopefully, we’ll get you thinking how you can expand bicycle transportation in your daily travels.  I’m going to keep today’s post brief.  In later posts I will give more detail on the Halsted’s features and design process. 

As a designer at Civia, I think of the Halsted as a contemporary take on the cargo bikes of decades past.   Features such as the large front rack deck being mounted to the bike’s frame to provide a stable ride with a heavy load, and a 20 inch wheel in front for a low center of gravity have been time-tested on many work bicycles.   The Halsted however is purpose designed for today’s riders, with improvements in geometry, modern materials and part spec.   For example, the bike’s geometry is enhanced for ease of stepping over the top tube when the bike is fully loaded.  Material selection choices, such as the Halsted’s upcycled HDPE front deck, shows our commitment to sustainable design practices.  Lastly, equipment spec features such as the front disk brake improves the bike’s overall performance.   

These photos, half of which were taken in my backyard, of the Halsted show prototypes.  So, don’t pay too much attention to part spec, okay?

The front deck is made from upcycled high density polyethylene (ReHDPE) sourced from a Minnesota manufacturer. The manufacturer recycles municipal trash dumpsters, among other things, into ReHDPE.  The material has excellent strength and all-weather properties making it ideal for urban bicycles.  Stay tuned for more ReHDPE accessories from Civia.

This view of the underside of the rack gives you a better idea of how the rack attaches to the frame and not the fork.

The simple attachment of the front rack and deck, along with its beefiness, begs for some DIY modifications.  Who hasn’t wanted a cooler mounted to their bike at some point?  

The Halsted was designed primarily for individual use, but can also shine as a small business get-it-done bike. The bike includes tabs for mounting your own signage. 

Male model Chris Duerkop as the Pizza-Guy-with-creepy/ironic-mustache on a prototype Halsted. Frame color on the production Halsted will be the pearl gray seen in the photos above.

The Halsted is a new take on classic bicycle form that can expand what you can carry on your bike and give you the opportunity to ride your bike more.   That’s what bicycle transportation is all about; the opportunity to ride your bike more. The Halsted will be offered as complete bike and as a frameset in March from Civia dealers.  For the MSRP of the complete bike we are targeting a $1,000 price point. So, check back next week for more new Civia product offerings.  Then later this fall we'll get down to design details.

Have a good holiday weekend!

At Civia we realize that racks are an essential part of bicycle transportation.   Here is a sneak peak of the new Civia Mission rack.  With clean lines, this light aluminum rack is rated for 40 pounds, or a good bicycle transportation load.  This rack should be in stock in a few weeks.  I'll let you know when we get it.   I’ve been using it lots and am really liking it.

Enjoy the summer while it's still here.  The weather in Minnesota is cooling off finally.  The joy of fall riding is right around the corner.

Ride on.

 I recently returned from Taiwan and for the next few posts I thought I’d share some images and discussion regarding how we take our designs and work closely with our manufacturing partners to make it happen.

Scott Thayer, Civia Brand Manager and I were in Taiwan for almost two weeks with a full schedule of suppliers to see and projects to discuss.  Some were follow up visits with our tried and true supply chain; others were with new suppliers that we are looking at for projects for 2012-2013.  Yes, we are looking that far ahead and no I can’t share this information with you just yet.  Stay tuned…

 So for today, I’d like to focus on our frame supplier of the Bryant.  We are fortunate to have partnered with one of the best frame makers in Taiwan.  His experience, insight and ability to handle difficult manufacturing issues helped us fine tune the Bryant.  As you’ve seen in earlier posts (and more to come), the Bryant has some unique features and special details rarely found on any other bike in the industry.

 Below is a picture of the Bryant’s front triangle awaiting their turn to be mated to the rear seat and chain stays.  You can easily see three of our features. 

1. Seat tube collar 

2. Head tube ring

3. Head tube with tapped holes for stainless head tube badge. 

Maybe you’re waiting for one of these beauties??

 In the next picture we have the drive side seat/chain stay assemblies.  As you may know, the Bryant has a split drop out on the drive side in order to install the Carbon Drive Systems’ belt.   By removing the two chain ring bolts and replaceable plate, the drop out has a small opening in which the belt can pass through for assembly.  What is most interesting about this picture, and not readily apparent, are all the manufacturing issues that you have to solve for to execute this type of drop out well.

1. The split drop out must be connected during manufacturing to ensure proper alignment and correct geometry.  Therefore, we needed to have stainless steel drop out plates CNC’d for manufacturing and paint use.  Why not use the production aluminum plates you ask?  Well for one, we didn’t want to scuff up the nicely polished aluminum plates during manufacturing and frame alignment.  Secondly, we didn’t want to paint the aluminum plates. 
2. The drive side, two piece drop out needed to be cast in stainless steel.  (The non drive side is 4130 cromoly.)  The reason was two fold here.  First, the drop out must stay together during painting and the drying ovens.  Because of the elevated temperature of this process, the seat stays and chain stays may drift apart too much and result in a larger than designed gap at the split.  Additionally, since there needed to be a plate connecting the drop out, it would not get any paint in this area – unpainted cromoly = bad.  By the same token, even if we could have solved for this issue, we still felt that there was a high probability that this area could be prone to scratches or paint chips due to belt removal/installation or chain rub etc.  With a stainless drop out you can be sure that you will not develop rust in this vulnerable spot over the life of your Bryant.   

 So, the extra labor and processes include:

2. Removing the non-drive plate prior to paint. 

3. Removing the drive side plate after paint (it then must be cleaned and prepped for the next round of production. 

4. Finally the production aluminum plates are installed to the frame and ready for sale. 

Therefore, this is a simple example of how much detail and planning goes into our designs in order to bring you something truly special.  It’s also to show you that you need a committed and excellent manufacturing partner to execute this well.

 Thanks for reading! 

Question for you, what do these sketches remind you of?

 fig.1

An updated TIE fighter from the Galactic Empire?  Maybe the TIE advanced x1 (Darth Vader’s TIE fighter) for double geek points?  I do sometimes wonder  on long rides if it all comes back to Star Wars, but this concept sketch for Civia really has nothing in common with the Rebel Alliance and the Force.  This is a case where form follows function and the Star Wars similarity is only a coincidence.  Honest.  But before we get to the solution, let’s step back in the design process. 

Part of riding your bike for transportation is what to do with your bike once you get where you are going. In urban environments you can usually find something to lean your bike up against.  The old slanted U-lock trick, park you bike next to a bike rack, lock it to the rack with your U-lock and slant the bike outward so the paint doesn't get scratched. That works okay.  Is that purpose driven design?  Not really.  But once you start riding loaded, that is with groceries, work clothes, maybe a laptop computer leaning your bike gets more tricky.  If you start riding with weight in the front leaning isn't going to cut it anymore, and you start doing that awkward dance of loading and unloading the bike without it falling over.  With front loaded bikes centerstand kickstands are almost a necessity.   At Civia, we knew we needed a kickstand plate on our bikes.  We didn't want to lay the responsibility on our customers to cobble something together or suggest they get better at finding places to leaning them up against.  We have used off-the-shelf kickstand plates and found them a bit lacking in function.  So why not design our own?  Any time we can make our bike better suited for the bicycle-as-transportation experience we jump at it.

This is the top and bottom view of a CNC sample of our first prototype kickstand plate.

 fig. 2

fig3.

Its simplicity is very alluring. It looked great on a steel bike. The problem with it was brake cables would rub on the attachment plate of a kickstand, decreasing brake power and brake cable longevity.  This wasn’t a solution we were happy with, so we redesigned it with some new criteria in mind. 

The next image is a sample casting of the redesigned piece.  Two of the criteria for the kickstand plate was that it needed to be compatible with a chain stay mounted disk brakes, and it also needed to serve as a fender mounting position.  The solution for the brake cables was a U-shaped channel, allowing  brake cables to pass over the kickstand instead of interfering with it.  See figure 6 below.

 fig. 4

Here is another view. (Cue The Imperial March )

 fig. 5

This is what it looks like on the bike.  Cool stuff, huh?  Makes me want to call my patent lawyer!   You don't see purpose driven design detail like that everyday, especially in the increasing off-the-shelf world of cookie cutter transportation bikes.  I get excited about this stuff because it solves a problem in a simple, functional way.

 fig. 6

 fig.8

This shows fender mount.  The overall form of the piece was driven by those two criteria (chainstay mounted disk brakes and fender mounting position) and then optimizing the part for weight. 

This kickstand plate will be standard equipment on all steel Civias. 

Stay on target.

Thanks for reading.

This email is from John who recently picked up one of our Hyland bikes in the Boston area:

"I've been enjoying my Hyland for about month now. i always get lots of compliments, of course i have this fear that someone will steal it, but I've enjoyed every sec during my daily commute.
 
 I've also been getting lots of compliments since i have the red Hyland, and i got specialized armadillo tires which basically has the matching red/clay colored sidewall. it's not reflective, but I've never had a flat with the armadillo tires. perhaps it's something ya'll can look into. it's definitely goes together very well.
 
 i also definitely enjoy the Alfine, very nice, smooth shifting, quiet, and find 8 gears plenty for riding around in Boston (not sure why anyone would need to 14 gears)
 
 very fortunate that i could splurge on such a nice bike, and have been very happy. definitely an upgrade from my old used road bike converted for commuting.
 
 i plan to ride this bike for a very long time."

Thanks for reading and please feel free to share your experiences with us.

PJ Ramstack

My last post was about the form development of the Bryant dropout.  In today’s post I’ll be going into more detail on the functionality of the Bryant dropout.

The Bryant uses replaceable CNC alloy dropout plates for drivetrain modularity.  The dropout plates are fastened to the frame by common chainring bolts for strength and longevity. Here are tooling samples of the Bryant dropout derailleur version, note the derailer tab on the diver side and the vertical dropout on the non-drive.

 Next is the internally geared hub and single speed version to give you a range of chain / belt tension adjustability.

For clarity, here is the dropout without the dropout plates.

Then last is how the frame splits for belt drive compatibility.  The split in the frame is at an angle so the frame only needs to move a couple millimeters to get the belt through. Again this is a first generation prototype so the dropout is not completely finished.

So there you have it; the Bryant’s modularity offers three clean drivetrain solutions ranging from traditional derailer to cutting edge belt drive.  While you might not switch drivetrains every season, the Bryant’s functionality makes it a bike for the long haul and perfectly suited for transportation.

Thanks for reading.

In the next few blog posts I’ll be delving in to the design process for the Civia Bryant.    By explaining design features in detail, hopefully you’ll get the idea that that the Civia Bryant is more than just sum of it’s parts.  The Bryant's modular dropout allows for a range of different drivetrain solutions.

When the design process for the Civia Bryant first started belt drive compatibility was not a requirement or even on the table.  The bike we were thinking of was a straight forward steel drop-bar transportation bike. That was almost two years ago.  Then a number of factors changed and Civia design team realized belt-drive was a viable technology perfectly suited to transportation bikes.

Sketching at its most basic is to allow for quick problem solving. These concepts are in no particular order, so they're not great for showing a linear process but they show how ideas are developed.

The key design constraint of the Gates carbon belt that the Bryant uses is that the belt can not be “broken” like a regular chain can. (On a traditional bike you break the chain to get the chain on the rear cog and then put the chain back together again.)  There are a number of ways to achieve belt compatibility. Each solution has positives and negative. To maximize the positives for the Bryant user experience, the design team at Civia used a rigorous design process to create a belt-drive solution from the ground up.   

From there we develop the solutions in Solidworks, a 3-d CAD software program.  I'll go into more detail in another post but notice the split on the drive side dropout.  This is for the belt.

Here is a prototype of the dropouts.

 In my next post I'll go into more detail on the modularity of the dropout.

Thanks for reading.

Ella Fitzgerald singing Summertime slips into my consciousness every now and then these days when I’m on the bike. At Civia we ride our bikes for transportation. That means riding everyday. I love riding everyday because it heightens my awareness of my environment. I notice things like wind direction and quality of light when I am on my bike.

 It was 94 and very humid last week here in Minneapolis. The air was thick, but was a great commute home. The speed of the bike created a nice breeze on my skin, while my body was soaking up the heat and humidity and storing it for our long winter.

The irony here is that the majority of my design work at Civia goes into designing for the non-easy days of summer; the rainy days, the cold windy days, the days when having the right tool for the job makes transportation by bicycle a finely tuned experience.

We’ll be using the Civia blog more frequently to explore what makes our bicycles transportation bicycles. But for now be sure to enjoy these easy summer riding days.

- Last week of July, our new design wool blend knickers will arrive.  We've got 5 sizes this time around, 30, 32, 34, 36 and 38.  Depending on how the sizing works out, we're considering adding a 40 and women's sizes.

- Early August, our new plastic fenders will arrive.  We've got 4 types ranging from the no-frills price-point fenders to the highest end with double stainless steel struts, stainless hardware and a long rubber fender.

- Our expanded rack selection is going to start arriving at the end of August and trickle in over the next couple of months.  We've got a few designs that look great and are really functional.  We're also pricing them for easier acquisition, starting at $30ish MSRP and going up from there.

Look for more info in the coming weeks as things start arriving!