Date of Award

6-2022

Document Type

Thesis

Publisher

Santa Clara : Santa Clara University, 2022.

Department

Mechanical Engineering

First Advisor

Pete Woytowitz

Abstract

Large cities like San Francisco can experience congested streets and crowded sidewalks. Increasing bike ridership has been shown to alleviate some of these pains, but they are currently being undersupported. In order to properly account for the growing cyclist population, more efficient bike storage solutions need to be made available. Current bike racks take up too much space, are not reasonably theft resistant, and are not adaptable to a variety of both indoor and outdoor spaces. In this paper, we designed and constructed a bike rack to take advantage of vertical space in order to reduce the footprint that storing a bike takes. Our experiments showed that by reorienting the bike in an upright position and allowing it to travel along a main column, we were able to significantly reduce the footprint of the bike and bike rack system. Additionally, by using a simple hand wheel and pulley system, we would be able to reduce the amount of force the user would need to exert to hoist the bike upwards with a few modifications. By recognizing that the vertical space above traditional bike racks is often wasted and made unusable, we were able to design a system that maximizes its efficiency to decrease the amount of floor space required to store bikes. Our new and innovative design is a viable solution for crowded cities like San Francisco where square footage is both expensive and limited. With our data showing a possible reduction in footprint of up to 92%, implementing a vertical bike rack design has the potential to drastically change the way people get around the city and secure their individual modes of transportation.

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