SoS bike share.

[delthebike]

Southend on Sea now appear to be testing a bike share scheme. I've seen three stands so far. This one outside the Civic Centre, one in The Garrison Park, Shoeburyness, and one on the Golden Mile at the bottom of Pier Hill.


Three speed and coaster brakes at the moment with dyno hub and lights. The stands aren't yet on so I guess it's the combination lock that keeps them there.

[Wowbagger]

I love that totally enclosed rear mudguard. It reminds me a bit of a 1960s Citroen. Could be a bugger in a sea-front side-wind.

[Kim]

Looks like a branding opportunity that doubles as a skirt guard.  Or a way for short riders to keep their hair out of the wheel.  Pragmatically, it's a good way to avoid the usual mudguard alignment problems on a bike that's not going to be properly looked after.

As for sidewinds, it's probably about the same area as a full-sized pannier.  I've never noticed those being a problem, though as a heavier rider I suppose I'm less affected anyway.

[Jakob W]

Even if the rider's lightweight, the bike is likely to make up for that deficit quite nicely - many similar Dutch bikes have plastic skirt guards, and if it's good enough for the windy polders...

[delthebike]

SoS bike share  now has E-bikes!

Essentially they look the same but have a large battery tube behind the seat tube and a large black motor for the rear hub. Disc brake on the rear but I didn't look closely at the front and the pictures I took don't clearly show the front hub. 

£2 per hour for E-bike or push bike.

[delthebike]

As well as managing to delete the above pictures in the OP I hope I've got the correct link here.
Disc brakes on the front too, which is nice. 

SoS E-bike ( and its older sibling without E)

[Kim]

How is it charged?  Does it get power from the dock, or is it just relying on a big battery and someone to come and swap it when it phones home to say it's low?

[Cudzoziemiec]

Okay, who else thought this was someone asking for an emergency bike loan?

[Andrij]

Me.