It’s not very amusing to look at “luxury” bikes that are “redesigned from the ground up” by people without any bicycle history. Maybe I’m wrong, maybe they do a lot of cycling or bike collecting between designing motorized tie racks and quirky bottle openers.

A high price tag, small production run, and inefficient drive system do not a luxurious bike make.
Luxury cars echo some sort of classic design motif, they don’t try to look like an FJ humped a Lamborgini, they go the classy route and use wood grain and leather and sweeping organic curves.

A luxury bike should look the same, (BIOMEGA, if you’re reading this, you’ve got some homework to do)

Check out the bikes by Rivendell, Vanilla, and Columbine (or better yet, spend 5 minutes in a hand built bike convention). These are totally basic luxury bikes – a starting point. Then add to that the utility of a bakfiet or a randoneuring or touring bike. That’d be luxurious, something akin to a fine wine, not something out of a SkyMall ad.

http://www.calfeedesign.com/bamboo.htm

http://www.calfeedesign.com/BambooOverview.htm

I totally agree with your sentiment. Although this bike might be quite sexy, but seems hardly practical. No passanger seat?! Also I wonder, can it withstand the rain for 20 years? My (t)rusty old Fongers bike can and still does. Yeah, 2nd hand, 40 euros (legal, I think).

Don’t know about the drive shaft thingies. I’ve never driven one of em. They might actually be quite nice iff they don’t break. Fixing them seems much harder. It being proprietary (who owns your bike?) and all that.

The frames were incredible, but out of my price range. For the same price I could almost buy a Bakfiets.

If drive shafts were strong enough to not twist under torsional pressure, yet light enough for bicycle use, their use would have eclipsed that of the “greasy chain” and “finicky derailleurs” that chainless bike companies have trash talked.

basically, the only thing a chainless bike can safely claim is there’s no chain. manufacturers love to include the “no derailleur, shift at a stand still” sale, but that’s all about the rear, internally geared hub, not the shaft.

I’ve owned shaft bikes and in order to accommodate the shaft, the basic diamond frame has to be compromised.

Even with a steel frame chainless bike, the frame flexes more than it should and the shaft flexes and can even sheer. I’d hate to see what this bike would do on the street.

Why add such a complicated system, hydraulics, to a bike?

Hefty Dutch commuter bikes (mentioned in #15) meant to last and last and easy to repair if there is a problem certainly don’t have ‘em.

Can anyone seriously pretend you are saving the planet by riding a way overpriced bike that happens to have some pretty bamboo thrown in.

Really want to save the planet? Pick up a junker bike and give it a good overhaul. Keeping a junker out of the landfill does way more to save the planet then another decorative techyuppie gadget with a little bamboo thrown in to look “green.”

That’s my plan exactly. :D

I have a feeling that “Ikea Bike” will be the new version.
Overly stylized, overly priced, and crappily made, this bike demonstrates the flatpack mindset turned to objects that shouldn’t be so cheap.

Shame on you, boingboing.

It’d be better if you promoted the reuse of bicycles past within the community, rather than Sharper Image worthy rides.

To really understand Biomega, go to their website, click on “accessories”, and look at their one and only luggage carrier. It’s every so refined-looking, it’s not going to fail gradually, and the maximum load it can support is 12 kilograms. Here’s Biomega on Biomega:

Biomega represents a paradigm shift in the way bicycles are conceived. We were the first company to view the bicycle as a lush piece of design—furniture for locomotion—that could also bring about absolute transformation in today’s urban environments. To achieve our goals, we work with the world’s best industrial designers and create head-turning, trend-setting, low-maintenance bikes that defy people’s preconceived notions about transportation. Not only are we pioneers in New Luxury, but, thanks to our groundbreaking super-plastic forming, shaft transmissions, night glow frames, and dynamic high-stress load bonding, we’re also pioneers in developing the perfect technology to transform urban living.

Riiiiight.

You know what you need to transform the urban environment? Tough, adaptable, fixable bicycles you can use to commute and do your shopping. The Netherlands are great for that. They really understand bicycles, and they use them for everything. It’s a bicycle-saturated environment.

Note: a photo essay on urban bicycling customs in the Netherlands. And also: a NYT multimedia essay on urban bicycling in the Netherlands.

And what do they ride? Sturdy, inelegant steel-tubing bicycles with fenders, chain guards, utilitarian paint jobs, big strong kickstands, humongous locking systems, and lots of carrying capacity. They’d roll their eyes at a statement like this one:

Biomega has elevated cycling to where it belongs – the choice mode of transportation for today’s urban dweller who demand the same degree of design style in their bicycle that one would expect in a fine sports car.

“Fine sports car” seems appropriate: expensive, looks cool, short on space for luggage and passengers, requires special parts, can only be fixed by certain mechanics, and functions more as a lifestyle accessory than as working transportation.

If you were to believe the hype on their site, you’d think they’d want to get uber l33t and fancy-schmancy and equip the bikes with hydraulic rim brakes, not disc brakes, and definitely not mechanical disc brakes.