The time has come for the 14 new bikeposts to be unveiled, and they’ve released images of them (consisting of 4 designs):

Speech Bubbles bike stands (Question Mark, Quotation Marks and Exclamation Point) by OCADU fourth-year Industrial Design students Evi K. Hui and Olivier Mayrand. Photo: Lino Ragno.

Halo by OCADU fourth-year Environmental Design student Michael Pham. Photo: Lino Ragno.

Join representatives from the Queen St. West Business Improvement Area (BIA), OCAD University student designers and representatives, competition jurors and installation team members at the unveiling of 14 creative new bike stands along Queen Street West in Toronto.

Installed along Queen St. West from Simcoe Street to Bathurst Street, the new stands are the result of a unique collaboration between fourth-year design students at OCAD University and the BIA.

DATE:

Thursday, November 18, 2010

TIME:

11 a.m. to 12 p.m.

LOCATION:

Outside of The Hideout
482 Queen St. West
Toronto, Ontario

WHO:

Marc Glassman, Chair, Queen St. West BIA
Peter Caldwell, Vice-President, Finance & Administration, OCADU
Doreen Balabanoff, Dean, Faculty of Design, OCADU
Competition jurors, student designers, OCADU faculty members and special guests

Contacts:

Laura Schaefer, Coordinator, Queen St. West BIA
416.384.2946
laura.schaefer@queenstwestbia.ca

Sarah Mulholland, Media & Communications Officer, OCAD University
416.977.6000 Ext. 327 (mobile Ext. 1327)
smulholland@ocad.ca

Students and faculty at Ryerson University are very lucky to have one of the most exceptional examples of bicycle parking in all of Toronto. Ryerson’s campus features parking for roughly 1,000 bikes using racks, ring and posts, and an indoor parking facility.

Read the full post on Bikeroo in TO.

While there are no bikelanes, there are sharrows, and now that construction is reaching final stages, new sleek and modern bikeracks are making an appearance.

Photo from ChrisKayTO on Twitter

This isn’t an anti-bicycle initiative… security preparations are removing all street furniture from the area: bikeracks, benches, bus shelters, even young trees because they fear things could be used as weapons.

Just make sure you don’t have your bike locked anywhere on the streets within the security zone (essentially south of Queen St. between Spadina and Yonge.)

[photo by gaz2002]

What downtown posts will look like. Photo by bricoleurbanism. Click for original

UPDATE:  The Cyclometer news item may have been an error:

It has come to our attention that an item in the May issue of Cyclometer should be corrected. The City is currently investigating the possibility of removing some bike rings due to the G20. No decision has been made to remove them. We will provide updated information as soon as a decision has been made.

BikingToronto member and blogger Duncan has noticed in the latest Cyclometer (the City’s official cycling newsletter) a notice that 1000 post-and-ring bike stands (you may know them as “lollipops”) are being removed for the G20 summit on June 25-27:

The G20 Summit security requirements mean that all street furniture within the ‘security zone’ must be removed temporarily.  This includes bike parking rings, of which about 1000 must be removed two weeks prior to the event.  The area effected runs from Yonge Street west to Spadina Avenue and from Queen Street south to the lakefront.

Every effort will be made to replace the rings quickly once the summit has concluded by the final week of June.   Posts will remain intact so re-installation will be simpler.

This is due to the concern that “street furniture” could be used for hiding bombs… and I supposed one *could* be put in a bicycle somehow… but I’m no expert, so I’m not sure.

Seeing as BikeMonth is ending on June 30th, this is a bit of a downer to end the month of great cycling events.

While I was late getting there… the finalist models were still set up, so I took some photos of the great designs for you (also viewable on flickr):

Once I got home, I checked around online to see if I could find which design won the competition, and the information is already on the Mt. Pleasant website:

“What we particularly liked about the winning design is its practicality and playfulness. It’s immediately pleasing to the eye – and fun to engage with – and at the same time, it fits perfectly into the existing landscape. Indeed, the boldness of this design makes it a symbol of the ongoing re-design of the urban environment.”

The winning design team

A proud member of the winning design team

The jury hard at work

The design chosen for production and winners of $3,000: Katy Alter and Jeff Cogliati

Runners up and winners of $2,000: Shiwa Tseng, Kenneth Lee, and Michael Goriup

Runners up and winners of $1,000: Michael Shafir and Tommy Tso

I rather like the winning design… it was one of my favourites when I was looking at the models.  My other favourite was the design that placed 2nd, which is the one that looks like a series of ramps in the slideshow above.

What do you think?  Did the jury make a good decision?  Do you like one of the other designs better?

The Massey Family Crypt

Mount Pleasant Group of Cemeteries has asked Ryerson’s School of Interior Design students to create specially-designed bicycle racks that will enhance the unique and bicycle-friendly environment that exists within the Mount Pleasant grounds.

• What: Judging and Winners announced
• When: 3:00 p.m., Thursday, January 21, 2010
• Where: Room SID 106, School of Interior Design, 302 Church Street (google map), Ryerson University

Each design team will work on one site designated as a possible future bicycle rack in locations throughout the cemetery. As Mount Pleasant Cemetery is a working cemetery and a well-established arboretum, the designs must respect and enhance the use of the cemetery for all users and consider road allowances, drainage and the mature plant forms. Due to the sensitivity of the environment in which they will be placing their bicycle rack, special care will need to be paid to the appropriate use of colour and shape to enhance, not detract, from the current cemetery setting.

For anyone who’s been to Mount Pleasant Cemetary (yes, it’s a great place to bike!), you’ll know that it’s an old and very stately cemetary, with high profile grave sites of people like former Prime Minister William Lyon-MacKenzie King and the Massey family.

It’ll be interesting to see what the design students come up with.