What if the Auto Industry Designed Bicycles?

[Piwoslaw]

Originally Posted by Frank Lee

Auto mfgs HAVE designed bikes, or at least, put their names on them.

And many started off manufacturing bicycles before moving into the auto business. Peugeot is the first to come to mind.

[jamesqf]

What's the problem with cupholders? Doesn't your bike have them? Mine do. OK, technically they're water bottle holders, but the principle's the same :-)

[Frank Lee]

[gone-ot]

...if GM made a bicycle, it would have facetted wheel circumferences instead of circular wheels...because they're easier to manufacture.

...however, ON-Star™ would be available for the first year, free.

[Bicycle Bob]

The early cars owed more to horse carts than bicycle manufacture, but those paved roads were originally for bikes, lobbied for by the League of American Wheelmen. The classic tension-spoke "bicycle" wheel adopted for sportier cars was actually a spin-off from aircraft research, 50 years before the rest of the stuff worked.

[robertwb70]

When gas gets to $10 gal those paved roads will be for bikes again, fun times on the horizon

[Bertoa]

Matra Sports, a French company, founded in 1964 and known as a constructor of Formula 1 cars in the sixties and seventies is the designer and manufacturer of the new i-step 'runner' and 'city' electric bicycles. Matra's i-step rechargeable electric bicycle comes in a sport frame construction - the 'runner', and a touring construction - the 'city'.
Watch This: matra-ms.com

[VWCw]

actually this whole thread is kind of ironic, as my road bike is a "mustang sport cycle," my girlfriend's is a "schwinn suburban," and my mtb is a "trek," which i recently found out is also the name of a company that makes motorhomes.

[Grant-53]

Kia is running an ad about how they started by making bicycles. Let's see: leather seats, tubeless tires, disc brakes, mirrors, cup holders, hydraulic suspensions, LED lighting, digital speedometer, MP3 player -- what else do bikes and cars have in common?
I can make a fairing with foam sections for crash protection and install a lap belt. So far I haven't found a twin cam turbocharged 50cc bike motor! Traction control anyone?

[Thymeclock]

Originally Posted by Old Tele man

...if GM made a bicycle, it would have facetted wheel circumferences instead of circular wheels...because they're easier to manufacture.

...however, ON-Star™ would be available for the first year, free.

GM? The most important, prominent feature would be the front and back ornaments - either a Caddy insignia or a big Chevy bow-tie.

And don't forget the built-in Delco radio with XM satellite reception, free for the first three months. Not to mention daytime running lamps, that can't be switched off.

But most importantly, they wouldn't sell bikes, they would finance them. The reason GM needed to be bailed out was because they were primarily in the money-lending business (AKA: GMAC) and being in the car manufacturing business became merely a sideline.