126
Backers
$18,913
pledged of $75,000 goal
0
seconds to go
Funding Unsuccessful
This project reached the deadline without achieving its funding goal on August 1, 2011.
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Thanks, every little bit helps! We will plot your name and city onto a map that shows bike share supporters. We'll also add you to our email list and invite you to public demos in your area.
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Congratulations, you just became one of the first Social Cyclists! You can create an account and receive a $25 credit valid toward membership or rides in any market that we eventually operate.
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You're a proud backer of the project, and have the shirt to prove it! We'll send you a custom t-shirt that reveals a 3D model of the bike (see FAQ for explanation). You'll also receive the $25 system credit. Please add $10 to ship outside U.S.
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Need a Social Bicycles package built for two? We'll send you two t-shirts and a $50 credit that you can share with a friend. Please add $10 to ship outside U.S.
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Let's go for a ride! I'll take you and a couple of friends for a 2 hour bike ride around New York. We can talk bikes, technology, and start-ups. BYOB(ike) or if the timing is right we can ride Social Bicycles! You'll also get the $25 credit and t-shirt.
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Want to be a bikeshare pioneer? For $1500 per bike, you can become our Beta Partner. You will receive a Social Bicycle that you can test and showcase to build support for a full-scale SoBi system. United States only for the Kickstarter Beta. See FAQ for more details.
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Sponsor a Social Bicycles demonstration in your city! The SoBi team will bring you 5 beta bikes customized with your name or company logo for a product demonstration. At the end of the demo, you can keep the bikes as part of the Beta Partner program.
Project By
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I am a NYC-based urban planner trying to make cycling more accessible and convenient. I bike everywhere in New York and find it to be the fastest way to get around. Prior to working on Social Bicycles full-time, I worked for the NYC Department of Transportation in the bike program where I sited bike racks, edited the bike map, and conducted research for bike lanes.
You can check out my bio and the bios for the rest of the Social Bicycles team at http://socialbicycles.com/pages/about
Thanks for backing us D. Our V1 prototype was entirely sourced in the US. For V2, all of the design and engineering of the bike, electronics, and software was done in the US, but the bike itself is being produced in Taiwan. Ever since Schwinn outsourced its production, the American bike industry has pretty much disappeared making it very difficult to source a high quality bike in the United States.
Ryan,
I appreciate the model, decentralized in my mind is always better than a specified return location. I am happy to be a backer and have emailed this project to a bunch of people, however I wish you sourced the manufacturing in the US. I always feel like the kickstarter community really flocks to projects made in the USA.
d
Good Luck Mr.Ryan, Cindy & I are looking forward to riding one of your bikes in NYC soon! "Cheers" Talk at you later Cindy & Jay
Jacques,
We will actually have hub locations and an incentive system for users to return the bikes. Check out 'Easy to Manage': http://socialbicycles.com/pages/how-it-works
I totally dig the idea. I'm curious as to how this system would deal with maintenance and repair though... would a repair crew having to track down bikes scattered all over rather than at designated pods mean increased repair costs that might eat away at the cost savings over the current bikeshare models?