Michael Andersen, PlacesForBikes staff writer



The Dero PedRail, the Zicla Zipper and the Sybertech 20-inch divider planter are all among new products introduced this summer.

Before personal computers, comfortable keyboards didn’t exist. Before iPods, high-quality headphones were rare. And the spread of protected bike lanes is creating new products, too.

A few years ago, cities that wanted to protect bike lanes had only a few options — sometimes plastic posts too flimsy to survive a winter, sometimes custom-cast curbs that cost a fortune to install. But thanks to the cities that made these solutions work, protected bike lanes have taken off and private companies are now eagerly coming up with high-durability, medium-cost products to make them better.

Minneapolis-based Dero, known mostly as a bike parking manufacturer, this week rolled out a line of products intended specifically for protected bike lanes and quick-build pedestrian plazas: a modular steel fence called BikeRail ($35-$45 per linear foot including posts every eight feet, varying by configuration and volume), optionally accompanied by a 24-inch-wide self-watering concrete planter ($725-$920 for an order of 1-10 units)…

…and a hanging foot-and-hand rest called PediStill ($195-$250) for people waiting for red lights on their bike.

Dero also unveiled a product called PedRail ($25-$35 per linear foot), intended for quick-build curb extensions, that might also be usable for the corner safety island of a protected intersection.

Two months ago, British Columbia-based Sybertech unveiled a new, narrower version of their self-watering planters already used by various cities. Twenty inches wide, they can work in the buffer of a bike lane, as here in Seattle:

or to make space for public benches or cafe seating, as here in Memphis.

Sybertech’s Craig MacPherson said Friday that prices for a 100-unit order of these planters would range from $279 per planter (for a 48-inch-long solid-color model) to $381 per planter (for a 54-inch-long stone-finish model). Prices per unit are higher for smaller orders, smaller for bigger ones.

Also this summer, Barcelona-based Zicla, makers of the Zebra lane separator that’s been used for several years in some cities, started North American marketing for a set of new recycled-plastic products for protected bike lanes. Zicla’s products include Zipper, a modular curb (which costs $164 per four-piece series pictured here)…

…another line of narrow self-watering planters ($250 each, not counting plant or soil)…

…and a modular “floating bus stop” platform called Vectorial, designed with an option to be integrated with a protected bike lane behind it.

Wisconsin-based Saris, known for bike parking and repair stands, is also getting in the game. Their forthcoming BikeFixation Wave Delineator, which will be available for order Dec. 1, is intended for somewhat less permanent, less expensive installations. Prices range from $150 to $200 per unit, with discounts for larger orders:

Whatever situations these products end up being right for, this is exactly how the next step of the country’s bikeway design revolution is going to happen: the products and methods that make bikeways possible are going to keep getting better, cheaper and less obscure.

PlacesForBikes helps U.S. communities build better biking, faster. You can follow us on Twitter or Facebook or sign up for our weekly news digest about building all-ages biking networks. Story tip? Write [email protected]

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