Issues:

– the already mentioned problem of overtaking a slower rider.
– ever try to just ride on that White line on the shoulder. Bikes don’t naturally ride in a straight line. (just look at your tire tracks after going through a puddle)
– don’t drop your water bottle
– don’t inhale the car fumes from the cars you are riding over (especially those trucks)
– “I want to go that way, not this way”
– Wind ( Imagine how much that thing would move/sway)
– can it handle varying tire widths?
– bike collisions

Imagine how much more car drivers would hate cyclists when one falls onto their car.

I also find that my tires try to climb near-vertical things they contact (like curbs), so I’m not sure it would be easy to keep a bike balanced and centered in the bottom of that narrow u-channel. Even if it works, it would be noisy and increase the wear on the tire sidewalls. It seems like there would be a significant learning curve to using this system, and little or no opportunity to learn the skills in a low-risk scenario. If you think getting caught behind a slow cyclist would suck, consider getting stuck behind one dangling from his harness and holding on to his bike after it’s jumped out of the channel.

In order for bicycles to be useful as transportation, and not just “sporting equipment,” we need to eliminate obstacles to their use. Making a trip by bike even more exotic is not the way to do that.

Thanks, but I’ll leave my climbing gear at home and use the surface streets like all the _other_ vehicles do.

As much fun as being a designer is, I think there really needs to be a more concerted systems approach (i.e. thinking of urban planning, not just product).