Minimal Effort - Bike Design Stolen Again

In 2011, I started to design bikes, I produced these images for a bike concept I was working on, these where some of the very first designs rendered, numerous iterations followed, pedal power, ebike, direct drive, belt drive, mono shock suspension(lefty), or hardtail etc. Imagine my surprise when just yesterday I found a bike just like it on Behance, one of the places I first published the design, along with LinkedIn, Scarletuser.com(66,000 views to date), GrabCad, and this blog.

Over the years I continued to design many other product ideas, and like a fool, you release these ideas into the wild, through sites like GrabCad, and for every person that can be bothered to click the like button, there are many more who download the images(for what?) but cant be bothered to say thanks.

I will be asking GrabCad to provide info on who Downloads, not just who Likes, far more interesting information to have, IP would be even better. Using the I.P. to catch the IP thieves.
Design Pirates Lurk on every street corner, one image could contain many months of thoughts, refinements, ideas, mistakes, leaps of logic, aesthetic judgements, etc...all can be stolen in an instant,
  
"To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism, to steal ideas from many is research"

More info to follow on the story of the 2014 & the Oregon Bike Fest, Minimal Design (MNML) and the Blackline Bike. I was also alerted to Kaymen Bikes design of 2014, another bike that looks like a design of mine from 2013, a little more fastnbulbus perhaps, but a sibling without doubt.

In all the articles on the web about the Blackline bike I find it really strange they don't talk about the things that matter, the design engineering challenge that had to be overcome to provide a rigid enough frame(one that wont bend), also that they had to farm out the design to various teams, which makes me wonder did they not have the design skills to design handlebars or a bike rack, perhaps it was just a case of time? I have a further set of images which proves they have taken many other cues from various other bikes.

I am currently compiling all the info of the offending parties, so I can send them all a further piece of my mind. So far the list of companies mentioned in the articles about the bike are numerous, with sponsors like Levi's, Fuji, Samsung, and so called authorities/societies like IDSA, the bike was a winner of an IDSA Gold award...

So must get too it, will update as more info comes in,
in the meantime unleash the beast

A Photographers Dream Machine

The initial concept came about by wanting to combine all camera support gear with a bike for easy transport, wanting to provide the ideal support system for mobile gas free photography. Pro bikes these days cost a lot of money, more than my first motorbike, and at the end of the day they are still just expensive bikes. Parking them up without trying to remove anything of value would be a mistake, so I thought if you have to dismantle the bike anyway, why not have the items useful as photo support equipment.

Form Fit & Function

During the next few months I hope to concentrate on the camera stabilizer, but also on some of the additional photographic support items. Having Rails to run on seems could help to Focus  the Project and provide the funding for the rest of the build, spending time on the simple parts first should be the order of things.

Modular Support System

Work has already started on a new improved ISO Arm, so much easier when you have plans to work from.
The above images where so crude and all the angles wrong, since these initial designs many more reference assets have been sourced. Now  have my work cut out modeling many missing parts, deciding which features to include, weather to go with 2,3 or 4 wheels. The problem with a Recumbant Trike is it's deviating from the initial concept of being able to Travel Light and remove required tools & lock up the rest, though if I had my way every part of the bike would have additional function.

Prototype 1

The initial design phase was limited by the software chosen, so didn't progress past a few ideas, as I knew it would all need re-inventing. While you can build anything you want in 3DSMAX to the correct dimensions, the editing tools available are just not the same as using a real solid modelling program. 3DSMAX has no STEP file output, Solid Modeling programs have additional things like bearings & fasteners, it's much more fun having the right tool for the job.

Ideas for Inclusion into the Photo Bike:
Stabilizer, Winch, Telescopic Boom / Monopod /Sled
16mm Rails, 3D LR/90 Deg' Rig
Regenerative Power & other generator/motor technology?
Extension Arms, 360 Nodal Pan,  Pano Object table
Grips, Plates, Shoulder Pads, Balance weights & plenty of mounting holes

With further development who knows, Carbon Slider and one of those rigs that fly's on wire, no not the pegasus. Still working on the design of the lockable Iso elastic (or other) cross bar, who knows maybe that will be separate, and this cross bar could be used as on a one piece arm. I've seen many interesting design ideas, folding wheels Who knows maybe the wheels could be made into a mini-track?

A search for the perfect combination of Form & Function!