TATO's Central Storage System for Bicycles makes room for your briefcase, manpurse
By Tim Stevens 
posted May 12th 2010 8:37AM
posted May 12th 2010 8:37AM
[Thanks, James]
posted May 12th 2010 8:37AM
A look back on popular stories from today in a specific year.
Now that we've thrown 'em off the trail, use the form below to get in touch with the people at Engadget. Please fill in all of the required fields because they're required.
I see you also get the latest in pedal tech, as you should for this kind of money!
Making it harder for a more extreme workout?
@HansImGlueck
I can just see it now. After you put the pedals on, then cram your briefcase into the slot, you are riding along and a car cuts you off, forcing you into a curb, where you crush your balls due to the nifty placement of the corner of said briefcase.
@HansImGlueck You attach your work and home phone where the pedals should be. This saves you even more space and if you ride barefoot you're able to send texts with your toes.
Or...they went the Apple way and thought physical pedals are a thing of the past.
@Schmich work and private cell phone*
@HansImGlueck I assume you already know this and are just having fun... but any serious bike doesn't come with pedals because most serious cyclists want specific pedals for their cycling shoes and don't want to have to pay for pedals they are just going to throw away. There are several different systems and weight classes and if a manufacturer picked a pedal, less than 20% of the buyers would actually use it.
@HansImGlueck
Well at least they left the seat on
@Lameo Name
I assume you already know this and are just having fun... but any serious bike doesn't come with a seat because most serious cyclists want specific seats for their asses and don't want to have to pay for seats they are just going to throw away. There are several different systems and weight classes and if a manufacturer picked a seat, less than 20% of the buyers would find it comfortable.
@Gas
No, it was a gutter-humor reference to the...discomfort...one might feel riding this without a seat. "No pedals (certainly not comfortable to ride), but at least there's a seat! (really frigging uncomfortable to ride.)"
Okay, that's enough explaining jokes for this would-be comedian...
or get one of this on ebay or wherever for 10 bux
http://www.bicycleman.com/crank-forward-bikes/day-6-bicycles/images/day-6-rear-rack.jpg
or a basket in the front, or ...
@htd
... or rear rack and panniers.
@htd
That's so Little House on the Prairie.
This is one of those inventions that seem so obvious, you wonder why nobody thought of it before. Keep 'em coming!
@AaronX
was going to say something similar.
Brilliant in it's simplicity.
@Hazdaz Just waiting for someone to look at cars and say, "hey, it'd be twice as efficient/powerful if we did X!" where X is some minor change.
@AaronX
Not that brilliant. The frame of the bike takes a heck of a lot shocks and bumps. Unless you're riding on a glass floor, you're guaranteed to find dents and scratches on items. Heck, you can barely store a bottle of soda without it fizzing up at some point in your ride.
@AaronX
Because it is simpler, cheaper, and easier to just strap on a backpack.
@whiskers
You said "strap on."
@AaronX Absolutely. What we have here are uninformed comments from a typically informed group--Engadget readers. But I suppose techies aren't often bicyclers. ...The frame does take a beating, the whole bike does. Unless your bag system includes an isolation mount, which virtually none do, you would suffer the same...indeed more of the same, as they are fitted to the extremities of the bike. Indeed the core of the frame is not only the most stable place to be, it is the most likely to benefit from either front or rear suspension, whereas most all bag systems save handlebar systems do not benefit from the suspension. The space is perfectly selected and would accommodate (non-specialist) bags that would otherwise not likely fit (try finding panniers that can hold your briefcase, or are business-appropriate on their own; try fitting your briefcase into a handlebar basket). Lastly the system is vastly more durable than add-ons, while possibly adding less weight, and certainly not altering the bike's balance and ride to the same degree). Think also of the community Yellow Bike system using these.
Only problem I see is there should be either a geometry that allows a a right-angle on which to rest the bag or briefcase, or at minimum a contact bar along the lower edge near the chain--for hard bags this would give them something additional to rest on so that their upper corner (in this picture it would be the upper left) doesn't take so much of the strain, and for soft bags this would prevent them sagging into the chain, etc.
so... you have to lug around your bag in a bike without pedals? What Can't technology do?
@Kayalims Epic
@Kayalims
High-end bikes are sold without pedals because avid cyclists all have their preference. Most use "clipless" pedals that engage the cleats bolted to the shoes, and there are many different types of these pedals that are incompatible with others.
@Yakinabe
It's still retarded for your primary marketing photo to show a bike with no pedals.
@rhackin why? anyone who would actually buy it knows what's up.
Really nice looking bike. That space in the middle looks a little small. 1500 is a bit much.
@leemahi
I'll take a velcro attaching, waterproof enclosure that occupies the same space. Thanks.
I don't mind biking with a pack on. What I do mind is getting my back all sweaty. Isn't there something for a LOT LESS MONEY that can neatly solve that problem by providing some kind of airflow between my back and whatever backpack? Seems like a nice bike though.
@travispulley
Define "a lot less money". Sweating is, as someone else put it, "my mutant superpower", so I got one of these for around $130:
http://www.moontrail.com/gregory-z35.php
That's the best picture of it I could find - I know it's a hiking/backpacking pack and may not fit your purpose well, but the pack is curved and has a mesh membrane between self and your back, which allows air to circulate. It's quite ingenious. There's the downside of having the inside be curved, but hey, your back doesn't get hot.
Look into smaller backpacking/hiking bags, they are generally very good quality and are made to address the problem of air circulation.
@travispulley
Easy. Get a rear rack installed on your bike, put a pair of panniers (or a rack-top bag) on it, and put all your stuff there. No more need for a backpack. Problem solved.
@Yakinabe
It's not like that hasn't been time tested by police stations around the world for outfitting equipment on a bike. This company is just catering to those that want something different for the sake of different.
@whiskers - less money as in less than that bike costs ($1500), and that's a nice hiking pack! TY for the link.
@Yakinabe - I've seen some nice panniers, but I like having a small backpack for biking around. The upside is I can keep it on my back after I've parked the bike while not having extra stuff mounted on the bike. Panniers would be more suitable for touring or if I had more stuff I needed to carry.
My only problem with sweating so much is I have to do more laundry, and other people have to smell me. Other than that I wouldn't care. Riding shirtless helps, but then the pack gets all wet :/
@travispulley I created MANY back packs with an airvent ..i had the glory it to be knocked of by so many brands producing in the same China factory (the best most probably) that my client for who I design did not spend one penny on trying to patent it. But it works very well and leaves around 1-2 inches between your backpack and your body's back especially in summer. I use mine every summer for long walks to the beach. Write to me on visualsenses dot com and I show what it looks like. I see there quite some in the market especially in the mountaineering backpacks.. We designed http://www.visualsenses.com/product/product.htm and produced many for "camp" Italy one Europe's foremost outdoor gear and mountaineering company http://www.camp.it/IT/template01.aspx?codicemenu=168
...buy a cheap motorcycle.
Nice idea, but too expensive.
Take a picture of that down to your local car body shop...(if you can't weld) and I bet you they'll modify your own bike for less than 1500.
Motorbike's a good alternative when compared to a car. Buy a used Vespa. Yeah, they might be kinda lame, but ur not exactly turning heads with your Swiss man-purse bike-tote either.
Just sayin'...
Looks like way too nice a bike to lug around a briefcase in. Doesn't look like a workhorse to me. They could have spent less money on design or retrofit other bike to make this way cheaper.
could fit a fair bit of battery in there :D
For WAY less than $1500 - or the difference between $1500 and the cost of a decent bike at a bike shop - you could have your top tube cut off, and this same type of cage fabricated and welded in place by ANY metal fabrication shop. Including painting.
It's a good idea in theory, but it becomes a bad idea in execution when you cross that line.
In asia, people use a basket at the front, or a small rack on top of the back wheel and tie their stuff up with $1 bungee cords. It might look kind of like a granny-bike, but all people do this, from factory workers to businessmen. No need to implement this stuff on a mountain bike...unless you do your computing from the top of a mountain--and, in north america, there's no sign of mountains for miles!
I live in rural japan, and even the japanese don't use mountain bikes to go up steep hills or mountain roads on their way to work or to the grocery store.
@(Unverified) "and even the japanese don't use mountain bikes to go up steep hills or mountain roads on their way to work or to the grocery store."
Who would do that on a daily basis? It's more taxing to go uphill on a bicycle then it is via walking...
"Even the japanese" wtf does that mean?
And yes, North America has a lot of mountains...
@JRMG " in north america, there's no sign of mountains for miles!"
Wrong planet?
@JRMG Do you even know why people buy mountain bikes.
@Vdek
Yes, north america does have a lot of mountains (particularly in the west) but it also has much more flat spaces. it's why plenty of roads can be perfectly straight for miles and miles. In Japan, for example, highways are built above ground simply because elevation changes are so numerous.
And no, I have no idea WHY so many people ride on mountain bikes when many of them don't ever touch a mountain, never mind carrying a briefcase with it. I figure it's because they're more recreational than utilitarian (making this particular TATO bike kind of unnecesary).
Seems like a good idea, but pannier bags are soft on the bottom and sides, while this in-frame design seems like it will transmit all the road vibrations to your luggage and crack the case of anything south of a Thinkpad or Toughbook.
It may be marketed as a basket for a "laptop" or "briefcase", but the rest of us know its where the flux capacitor goes..........................
Awesome idea, until your constantly hit your knees on the extra wide frame...
So they have room for a briefcase but they didn't install any fenders? You have room for a briefcase but you'll have a nice skunk mark on your backside. It also doesn't have a chain guard. If this is marketed as a commuting bike, it lacks the alot of the things that make a commuter a commuter. It sure as hell isn't a road bike.
Or, you know, you could just get a basket for your bike and/or side bags:
http://kentuckybicycling.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/12/breezeroverall550.jpg
...comes with a fancy shmancy briefcase.... pedals not included.
It's not a purse, it's called a satchel. Indiana Jones wears one...