Product Design Consultancy - Bike Rack

The Chain Effect and Rider's Rights are two non-governmental organisations promoting active travel and shared transportation in Lebanon. As part of our 9 month long bus-bike pilot project, we are looking at installing bike racks on a selected bus line, to be used on existing informal buses in Lebanon, facilitating inter-modal transport around Beirut.

Bike racks on buses exist in other parts of the world - we are looking at designing and producing the rack locally, preferably through a combination of materials with a focus on recyclable plastic, to boost the local economy and local knowledge

We are looking for an individual/a company/organization with an industrial engineering, product design or mechanical engineering background that can provide a technical consultancy for the rack design and development and carry out the following tasks:

• Support in researching existing rack models with pros and cons.
• Explore sustainable and non-valuable materials for production (ex: plastic instead of steel).
• Following the Rack Design Requirements listed below, provide detailed design for all elements of a bus bike rack attached to the front of the bus, including connection to various bus types in Lebanon, and modular elements carrying 2 bikes.
• Develop shop drawings for the manufacture of the racks.
• Manufacture a prototype rack.
• Conduct an appropriate field test for models including on buses and in different conditions.
• Adjust design as per feedback given from testing in order to have a finalized prototype.

Rack Design Requirements:

• Racks should be safe, easy to use, quick to use, and durable.
• Design should employ value engineering and be cost effective.
• The weight the rack has to hold two bikes, vibration of the bus, harsh weather conditions, resistance in case of an accident, possible extra weight of people sitting on it, pulling it down
• Using recycled metals and mixing sustainable materials (such as plastic, cardboard or others.)
• Adaptable connection/link between the rack and the bus, considering different bumper styles and presence/absence of bumper
• Rack should not hide the bus's plate number or lights.
• Simple support mechanism for bikes - reducing speed of being able to put up/ remove bikes and secure them in place
• Protecting the racks from risks of theft (esp. for steel)
• The expected deliverables from the technical assistance are:
• Rack design documents including material, dimensions, properties, and shop drawings for both base(s) and modular elements.
• Appropriate test for rack on the field.
• Prototype rack (based on design), adjusted to meet feedback from testing.
• Prototype successfully passing required lab tests.

Our design team will be guiding and supporting the technical consultant in all of the steps. Please let us know if you can provide us with the mentioned assistance and with a quotation for design work and production of a working prototype. Terms of payment will be discussed at the next stage, with final payment being conditional on successful delivery of deliverables expected from the technical consultant and also, on passing strengths tests conducted on the final prototype by a third party (Testing lab).

Please get in touch if you have any questions or need further information.