Chicago Divvy bikes blowing in the wind, 31 Oct 2014

Found this online, OMG

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Permalink Reply by Matt M. 18.5KM on November 4, 2014 at 6:44pm

Oh no... I think it's quite real.   60 MPH gusts, bud.  

h' 1.0 said:

Fake.

Permalink Reply by David Barish on November 5, 2014 at 5:41am

The trees in the background look pretty placid compared to the bikes blowing around.

Permalink Reply by Brent Powell on November 5, 2014 at 5:52am

Yea it's a fake. If you look really closely to the right as the video starts you can see someone manipulating the bikes, quickly exiting out of frame. Pretty obvious.

But hey look, gullible is written on your forehead. 

Permalink Reply by pherm on November 5, 2014 at 6:13am

I'm almost certain this is real. Those skirt guards and oversized tubes on the rear end of the Divvys present a large surface area to wind. This appears to be the Divvy station at Ohio and Lake Shore Drive, which is oriented N/S, so these bikes would have been perpendicular to the prevailing northerly wind.

I was down at the foot of Lake Point Tower (in the background of this video) that afternoon and the wind was definitely strong enough to blow a bike around. I got stuck holding onto a fence across the street from the SE corner of the tower, because I couldn't move without falling. From there I watched two consecutive cyclists exit the lee of the building and get blown off their bikes and slide across the street. When I decided to risk it and head for the lee of the building, I had to hang on to my bike, because it was flagging out next to me -- leaving the ground and everything. With all the doodads I've got on there it's around 30 pounds, and certainly has less windage than a Divvy. 

Around there (as in many places downtown) the wind is pretty local -- lots of tall buildings and weird eddies off of them. It's no stretch that the wind, which peaked around 62 knots, could have been more intense in particular locations, and certainly strong enough to lift the sail-like rear end of a 45-pound bike off the ground. Hell, it almost lifted me off the ground.

Permalink Reply by Brent Powell on November 5, 2014 at 6:38am

Sorry but you're wrong. It's fake. Fake fake fake.

There's that 2 ft tall wall right there that would have absorbed a huge amount of the wind necessary to lift the bike. Even with that rear fender, the cross section of the bike isn't very large relative to it's weight. 

Permalink Reply by Doug Haynes on November 5, 2014 at 7:47am

How would the wall have absorbed wind if the wind was not blowing in that direction?

How did the person you say is in the video continue to manipulate the bikes?

Wind is powerful stuff, it can blow trucks over when strong enough.  It is not even lifting the full weight of the bikes, it is pivoting the bike on the headtube.


Brent Powell said:

Sorry but you're wrong. It's fake. Fake fake fake.

There's that 2 ft tall wall right there that would have absorbed a huge amount of the wind necessary to lift the bike. Even with that rear fender, the cross section of the bike isn't very large relative to it's weight. 

Permalink Reply by Lisa Curcio on November 5, 2014 at 8:06am

Marketing effort?  To show that Divvy bikes blow around in extreme wind and therefore you should ride them?

h' 1.0 said:

Considering the resources it must have taken to pull this off, I'm willing to bet we'll find out soon that this is the result of some sort of marketing effort (and who's behind it.) BCBS seems somewhat obvious because of their sponsorship although I don't think this is their style.

Permalink Reply by Lisa Curcio on November 5, 2014 at 8:08am

I am no scientist and don't even play one on TV, but I am pretty sure concrete walls deflect wind, not absorb wind.  Someone on this site once explained the whole windsheer thing that happens with buildings in Chicago.  Maybe that person is still around and could refresh our memories.

Brent Powell said:

Sorry but you're wrong. It's fake. Fake fake fake.

There's that 2 ft tall wall right there that would have absorbed a huge amount of the wind necessary to lift the bike. Even with that rear fender, the cross section of the bike isn't very large relative to it's weight. 

Permalink Reply by Brent Powell on November 5, 2014 at 8:10am

Sorry "notorious" (what does that even mean lol) nice try.

If you knew anything about bikes or wind, you'd know it's impossible for that to happen given the conditions. There's a modicum of techniques of moving those bikes manually. Video editing is very simple and something you only need a computer and a mouse to do. If you have those things you can try it. It's very fun and you can make very interesting videos.

Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on November 5, 2014 at 8:14am

Is there any need to continue this topic?

Permalink Reply by BruceBikes on November 5, 2014 at 12:00pm

Despite h's and Brent's obvious trolling (bravo gentlemen), I find this video fascinating.

For those interested in a (dubious?) scientific explanation, winds last Friday afternoon were out of the N to NNW, according to the weather station on the Harrison-Dever Crib.  Sustained windspeeds were over 50 mph and gusts were over 65 mph.  This Divvy station, located on inner Lake Shore Drive at Ohio, has virtually no shelter from the full force of the wind coming down the lake.  Assuming a flat surface area of around 2 square feet for the rear triangle and skirt guard, simplistic wind load calculations suggest these winds could put a load of 25 to 45 lbs on the bikes.  As the bikes themselves weigh only 40 lbs, it seems reasonable these winds could pick up the back end of the bike.

Permalink Reply by Duppie on November 5, 2014 at 12:06pm

I found the video more than fascinating. 

Glad to hear that it would take significant more wind to lift up the docking stations itself (a Divvy employee mentioned that each segment weighs about 300lb.)


BruceBikes said:

Despite h's and Brent's obvious trolling (bravo gentlemen), I find this video fascinating.

For those interested in a (dubious?) scientific explanation, winds last Friday afternoon were out of the N to NNW, according to the weather station on the Harrison-Dever Crib.  Sustained windspeeds were over 50 mph and gusts were over 65 mph.  This Divvy station, located on inner Lake Shore Drive at Ohio, has virtually no shelter from the full force of the wind coming down the lake.  Assuming a flat surface area of around 2 square feet for the rear triangle and skirt guard, simplistic wind load calculations suggest these winds could put a load of 25 to 45 lbs on the bikes.  As the bikes themselves weigh only 40 lbs, it seems reasonable these winds could pick up the back end of the bike.

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