Biketope 2009 exibition in Japan with bicycle vending machine

I stumbled across this wile walking around in Aoyama. Its the Biketope 2009 exibition. Across the street from The United Nations College in Aoyama.

"To use things with care" is the most important form of ecologically conscious living, together with a correct understanding of the purpose of a certain object. Biketope explores this notion by focusing on bicycles. This will lead visitors to speculate about LCA and the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions.

Visitors will be invited to try different types of bicycles in the main venue, while the satellite venue will display information about the potential of bicycles - the importance of which is now being reconsidered in the context of global environmental problems - problems related to the disposal of numerous abandoned bicycles, as well as case studies from different countries around the world gathered by the embassy. There will also be workshops where visitors are encouraged to reconsider the value of things that are normally thrown away. This event will provide audiences with the chance to think about the relationship between design and the environment, and the potential of design.

Main Event: July 18th (Sat)-July 20th (Mon/Holiday)
Opening times: 10:00-18:30

Satellite Event: July 18th (Sat)-August 1st (Sat)
Opening times: 10:00-19:30

http://www.designnippon.com/

To be honest I was not overly impressed with the bikes themselves but I did appreciate the artistic and environmental theme of the event. Perhaps if this event happens again there could be more vendors and experimental or art bikes. This could be a much bigger event and more effective idea for reaching the goals of the exhibition. There are many hobbyists and craftsmen/artists and bike manufacturers who have some really exotic frames in other places however the monocycle by Ben Wilson and the French bicycle vending machine were very impressive.

Check out Ben Wilson Here:

http://www.benwilsondesign.co.uk/

French Bicycle vending machine:

Paris is making an effort to be more green and tourist friendly. This new program is called Velib (a combination of the French word for bike, velo, and liberty). There are 10,600 bikes throughout Paris and 750 stations! You can register online or use the vending machines at the stations located around Paris. The vending machines are in eight different languages so no need to panic if you havent perfected the French language yet! Once you purchase your pass, you follow the instructions and pick your bike. The bike can only be used for half an hour; you will be charged if you keep the bike longer. However, you can always pick up another bike! This is a great addition to the army of Japanese vending machines and I hope it is considered in Japan. I can defiantly visualize it at major stations and tourist areas.

French website:

http://www.velib.paris.fr/

Dutch site:

http://www.bikedispenser.com/bikedispenser.html

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[MicknFumi]

Cool, some interesting bikes there...love the ski like braking system, probably hard on tyres, but interesting...cheers : )

[toddatron]

The tire were solid so that may help but yea why not just used disks or calipers right?

[NextNate03]

They have a motorcycle version of the mono bike!

[toddatron]

Actually some guy in the 70's made one on the west coast and he is still a bit famous for it.

[jbmaillet]

Yeah! France RuLes! :-)

This is the french (Paris) vélib' at 2'14"!

I'm in Paris and use this on a regular basis with my subway card. You just take then on a station and drop then on another. Huge success here. Tourists love them too, nice way to discover the city.

Velib' is a contraction of vélo (bicycle) and liberté (freedom).

Sorry for this "french pride" minute, I just couldn't resist! :-)

[toddatron]

Hey I am glad you commented! What happens if you do not return the bike or have an accident or a flat tire? I assume you have to put some collateral down when applying for the card? A credit card or something? Its a great concept... cheers France!

[ikaruseijin01]

They have a thing like this in my hometown, and has been in place for 2 years now. It's caught on like wildfire. It has grown so fast the city is actually having a hard time fulfilling demand for these rent-a-bike stations. It compliments public transport perfectly.

[mydogmika]

they have the bike vending machine in Melbourne Australia

[WINandWahk]

idear

[KissAnikoAnnavarro]

not french, but hungarian bikes, from Budapest!!!!

[grabbindraggon]

Ideer !

[melecio1]

by the way what are you doing in japan?

[eldictator1]

They're introducing those vending machine style bikes in london, nicer looking ones

[osehietomi123]

mono bike strongly reminds me of the "butt" bike in southpark!!

[louielamson2000]

How the world can reduction CO2?

[zemen51]

bikes are sooo hipe nowadays