On a walk around The Tan, on their second weekend here, I saw about 10 of the poor little yellow bundles of plastic and metal left alone under trees, on paths, and precariously close to the banks of the Yarra. Loading Users didn't care where they left them and already their random whereabouts were a strange modern farce. So why did I think it would get worse? Did I think Australians are vandals? God, no. Everyone vandalises. That's a human trait, not owned by us. No, it felt like clear-cut case of modern corporate hubris, and the public's disdain for the immediate privatisation of their public space.

The yellow bikes came out of the blue, uninvited. There was no big advertising campaign. Just a website, a few tweets, and presto, here's hundreds of yellow bikes absolutely everywhere. Their head of marketing at the time, Chethan Rangaswamy, did a lot of radio interviews, and his message was unwavering. That is, the Singaporean start-up's only responsibility was to educate Melbourne about the importance of their product to our lives. oBike Australia marketing manager Chethan Rangaswamy. Credit:AFR His company didn't care what Melbourne thinks. We had no say in it. They argued that because dockless share bikes were a success elsewhere, they would have to be a success here. But that's the thing. Dockless share bikes weren't a success anywhere else. Cities all over the world were having the same problems. Reports from China, US and Europe read almost exactly how they read here. Vandalism and colourful metal everywhere, taking over streets, parks and waterways like metal weeds.

oBike came to Melbourne telling us we had be educated about the benefits of bike travel, but their argument was a huge underestimation of Melbourne bicycle culture. Melbourne has always been a bicycle city. Thousands of us ride to work every day. It's the town of Malvern Star, Cadel Evans, Hubert "Oppy" Opperman and countless other cycling stars. It's the town of the Around the Bay, where tens of thousands ride around the bay each year. Indeed, more than a century ago, pro cycling was bigger in this town than footy. Yes, we know our bikes, backwards. So when almost 1000 cheaply made, heavy clunkers arrive on our streets and someone tells us how and why we should ride, we rebel. Did you ever have a ride of an oBike? It was deeply unpleasant experience. Heavy, squeaky, awkwardly sized, unresponsive, half-pumped tyres, skewiff wheels – it was like riding a shopping trolley.

One ride of one of these lemons, and you're not going back in a hurry. Also oBikes were marketed to a extremely small audience. You had to be keen and confident enough to ride the busy streets, and to be impulsively in need of a bike. Not to mention have a helmet by your side, as most of the oBike helmets disappeared early on in their lives. People who tick those boxes already own a bike and have the cognitive skills to plan ahead, or don't mind a walk. I would suggest the bigger player in getting Melbourne on the saddle would be local bike company, Reid cycles. Very popular with students, you can get a decent bike for a bit over $200 or under $100 second hand – roughly the price of an oBike deposit. You see them everywhere, but not on our lawns, up trees or in the Yarra. Also, we treat our own property with care. When you hire poorly maintained equipment, many of us give it the respect the hirer has given us. Have you ever started in third in a dodgy hire car just to see what happens? You're not alone. We all have. But we do own the public space. And that's what we cared about.

This is not the end of dockless share bikes in Melbourne. More bike start-ups will try their luck, but with oBike's failure, you wonder why they would bother. Glenn Peters is a Melbourne writer.