Our pedal bikes are specifically designed for us by Arcade, a French manufacturer with many year
experience of rental services in France. The basic design of the bike is for a low centre of gravity, unisex
step through frame and a wide adjusting range to make it easy to ride and available for as many people
as possible. The use of hub gears and brakes reduces maintenance and increases serviceability. The
bikes have the following key features:
- 3,5 or 7speed hub gears
- Hub brakes front and back
- Hub dynamo lighting with quality Basta lighting kits that stay on for 2 minutes after the wheels
have stopped. - Shaft Drive, no chain to adjust or catch
- Luggage basket
- Bell
- Sidestand or Centrestand
- Adjustable but not removable saddle
- Combination lock (optional)
The bikes are fully maintained according to service schedules developed using our experience of wear and tear in a rental
environment. A custom-developed software package controls the management of the bikes to ensure correct maintenance for both service delivery and insurance liability purposes. The bikes are shaft drive which lowers maintenance needs considerably and can be delivered with sponsor panels to increase commercial value.
From 2015 we can now offer a fully integrated e-bike with our automated rental stations. Unlike most other e-bikes, these
are designed from the ground up to be outdoors 24×7, they dock into the same docking points as the pedal bikes but with an additional charge and communications connector. Power modes are set by the customer as part of their rental process, and the bikes are fully GPS enabled, controlled and geofenced.
Supporting Systems
The rental system is managed by an online system that allows the operator to manage the bikes, stations, customers, transactions, and rents in real-time. This is a comprehensive back office system that provides everything needed to operate a secure and properly managed rental service.
This is supplemented by a data warehouse named BREAM (Bicycle REntal Asset Management System) that provides the back-office functions for reporting, maintenance, and logistical needs of the bikes.