Spoke Fly

[MikeGR]

I'm assuming everyone downtown has seen the spoke fly bikes.  Anyone using these?  

[GRDadof3]

I'm assuming everyone downtown has seen the spoke fly bikes.  Anyone using these?  

 

I've definitely seen them. They look really cool, way better than the bikeshare program bikes in Chicago. Haven't tried them out yet though. 

[organsnyder]

I tried it out once. App is clunky and unintuitive—I ended up reserving a bike before I realized what I was doing (there was no confirmation dialog—or pricing information). There were two identical bikes parked at the same rack, so I had to take a guess as to which one was mine. The bike itself was decent—about what I'd expect for this sort of program.

The pricing wasn't good for my use case: I took the bike from lunch (Gita Pita at Jefferson & Fulton) to work (Blue35 at Oakes and Commerce). With the $1 ride fee (plus $.15/min), it was more expensive than the short time warranted. Perhaps that's necessary from their end (especially with credit card fees), but it would be nice if there was a way to pay a flat per-minute rate. The app has no pricing information at all, and the website only lists pricing for members, so I'm not sure if this is still the case.

[Veloise]

^^Send them some feedback. They are happy to get it, and recognize that things are still in beta.

My testing found that the maps are inaccurate, showing bikes some distance away from where they really are. (Standing at the bike rack near the GRAM and RPC, it showed bikes down the street across from the yogurt place.) They may have adjusted it too far in the other direction.

Interestingly, they have all kinds of data getting collected. What locations bikes launch from and are returned to, average ride distance and duration, how many miles.

I have not yet rented a bike. At the ArtPrize volunteer party they were handing our volunteer discount cards, and I tried to refuse one stating that I'm a BYOB type of rider. "But if your bike isn't available you can rent one." Huh. If I ride DT every day, why would mine not be available? Seemed like Bicycle Retailer Sales Persuasion Technique.