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Vehicle transportation makes up for a large proportion of global greenhouse gas emissions and is a major contributor of the climate crisis. Even though bikes emit practically no greenhouse gases, the production phase still cause environmental damages. Especially the choice of materials dictates the sustainability of a bike. Thus, the aim of this project is to problematize the current material choices made in the bike industry and explore how sustainable materials can be applied in a product-oriented industry to find sustainable design solutions. The material used in the project is provided by PaperShell Industries that supply a cellulose based and circular material for B2B. In order to fulfil the aim of the project a bike saddle was designed. The theory of circular design was guiding the design process, and various methods was applied. Focus groups were combined with co-designing in an innovation process. The design process was divided into three parts: research, ideation, and realisation. In the first part, focus groups, benchmarking, research ergonomics and research through design were conducted. The second part included brainstorming, mind mapping/tree diagram and moodboard. In the final step sketches and CAD-models were made and an innovation process was applied. Following this design process, the author concluded that fully cellulose based materials are suitable for the bike industry because of the low climate impact. The material also has the right properties for a bike product. The project suggests that circular design can be realized by implementing sustainable materials such as cellulose based materials,

In this thesis project, the possibility to make use of a mechanical spring to achieve stiffness adjustability in a shock absorber for mountain bikes is evaluated. A mechanical spring increases the shock absorber’s sensitivity compared to a fully adjustable air spring. Today, there are no mechanical springs available on the market that offer enough stiffness adjustment to suit different riders with large variation in weight. Therefore, a mechanical spring with a wide stiffness adjustment range could be ground-breaking if it is possible to implement in mountain bike shock absorbers. The work has been carried out in accordance with a product- and concept development approach where the final concept design has been optimised analytically and verified numerically. The developed spring has been integrated in a new damper design and the complete damper and spring system has been dimensioned to fit current mountain bike frames. The result is a prototype shock absorber with a spring to suit riders between 70-88kg. An alternative spring for cyclists between 59-75kg has also been proposed. Since these springs have been made to fit current mountain bikes, it was possible to conclude that a mechanical spring witha wide range of adjustable stiffness is feasible for mountain bike application. With available spring steels, it is not possible to accommodate every rider with only one spring. It is however possible to achieve adjustment that is suitable for a rider weight range of roughly 15-16kg. This is between 70-110% more than similar products available on the market can offer. / I detta examensarbete utvärderas möjligheten att använda en mekanisk fjäder för att uppnå justerbar fjäderstyvhet hos en stötdämpare avsedd för terrängcykling. En mekanisk fjäder ökar stötdämparens känslighet jämfört med en fullt justerbar luftfjäder. I dagsläget finns på marknadeningen mekanisk fjäder vilken kan erbjuda tillräcklig justeringsmån för att passa cyklister med stor viktvariation. Därför kan en mekanisk fjäder med ett brett styvhetsspann vara banbrytande om en sådan kan tillämpas på dagens terrängcyklar. Arbetet har utförts som ett produkt- och konceptutvecklingsprojekt där den slutliga konceptdesignen har optimerats analytiskt och verifierats numeriskt. Den fjäder som tagits fram har integrerats i en ny dämparkonstruktion och stötdämparsystemet har dimensionerats för att passa dagens terrängcyklar. Resultatet är en prototyp av en stötdämpare med en fjäder som passar cyklister mellan 70-88kg. En alternativ fjäder passande cyklister mellan 59-75kg har också tagits fram. Eftersom en justerbar fjäder vars design möjliggör användning i en stötdämpare för dagens terrängcyklar har slutsatsen dragits att en justerbar mekanisk fjäder kan fungera inom detta tillämpningsområde. Det är inte möjligt med dagens material att utforma en mekanisk fjäder med tillräckligt justerbar styvhet föratt passa alla åkare. Det är däremot möjligt att använda en fjäder som passar cyklister inom ett viktspann på omkring 15-17kg. Detta är mellan 70–110% mer än vad liknande produkter tillgängliga på marknaden idag kan erbjuda.

This thesis examines the existence of a dominant route between a hub pair and factors that influence bike share cyclists route choices. This research collects 132,396 hub to-hub global positioning system (GPS) trajectories over a 12-month period between April 1, 2015 and March 31, 2016 from 750 bicycles provided by a bike share program (BSP) called SoBi (Social Bicycles) Hamilton. Then, a GIS-based map-matching toolkit is used to convert GPS points to map-matched trips and generate a series of route attributes. In order to create choice sets, unique routes between the same hub pair are extracted from all corresponding repeated trips using a link signature tool. The results from t statistics and Path-size logit models indicate that bike share cyclists are willing to detour for some positive features, such as bicycle facilities and low traffic volumes, but they also try to avoid too circuitous routes, turns, and steep slopes over 4% though detouring may come with a slight increase in turns. This research not only helps us understand BSP cyclist route preferences but also presents a GIS-based approach to determine potential road segments for additional bike facilities on the basis of such preferences. / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc)

Modern bike share systems (BSSs) allow users to rent from a fleet of bicycles at hubs across the designated service area. With clear evidence of cycling being a health-positive form of active transport, furthering our understanding of the underlying processes that affect BSS ridership is essential to continue further adoption. Using 286,587 global positioning system (GPS) trajectories over a 12-month period between January 1st, 2018 and December 31st, 2018 from a BSS called SoBi (Social Bicycles) Hamilton, the number of trips on every traveled link in the service area are predicted. A GIS-based map-matching toolkit is used to generate cyclists’ routes along the cycling network of Hamilton, Ontario to determine the number of observed unique trips on every road segment (link) in the study area. To predict trips, several variables were created at the individual link level including accessibility measures, distances to important locations in the city, proximity to active travel infrastructure (SoBi hubs, bus stops), and bike infrastructure. Linear regression models were used to estimate trips. Eigenvector spatial filtering (ESF) was used to explicitly model spatial autocorrelation. The results suggest the largest positive predictors of cycling traffic in terms of cycling infrastructure are those that are physically separated from the automobile network (e.g., designated bike lanes). Additionally, hub-trip distance accessibility, a novel measure, was found to be the most significant variable in predicting trips. A demonstration of how the model can be used for strategic planning of road network upgrades is also presented. / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc)

Public bike share systems have been recognized as an effective way to promote active and sustainable public transportation. With the health benefits of bike share becoming better understood, North American cities have continued to invest in cycling infrastructure and impose new policies to not only encourage the usage of bike share systems but also expand their operations to new cities. The city of Hamilton, Ontario, implemented its own bike share system in March 2015. Using the system’s global positioning system (GPS) data for annually aggregated trip departures, arrivals, and totals in 2017, this research explores various environment factors that have an impact on users’ bike share usage at hub level. Nine predictive linear regression models were developed for three different scenarios depending on the type of hubs and members for trip departures, arrivals, and totals. In terms of variance explained across the core service area, the models suggested the main factors that attract users were distance to McMaster University and the number of racks available at hubs. Furthermore, the working population and distance to the Central Business District and the closest bike lane in the immediate vicinity (200 m buffer) also played important roles as contributing factors. Based on the primary predictors, this research takes one step further and estimates potential trips at candidate sites to inform future expansion of public bike share system. The candidate locations were created on appropriate land uses by applying a continuous surface of regularly shaped cells, a hexagonal tessellation, on the area of interest. The estimated potential usage at candidate sites demonstrated that the east part of the city should be targeted for future bike share expansion. / Dissertation / Master of Science (MSc)