December 15, 2007 (Chicoutimi, QC) – Cycles Devinci, a Canadian bike manufacturer based in Quebec’s northern Saguenay region, has been awarded the contract to provide the City of Montreal a system of self-serve bicycles. Montreal will be the first North American city to follow the lead of European cities such as Paris in providing municipally-sponsored rental bikes in the downtown area. (click here for our initial story on this).

Montreal-based Michel Dallaire Design Industriel Inc. is a partner in this project. Devinci will bring its expertise in making aluminums frames while Michel Dallaire will concentrate on logistical details of the docking (rental) stations.

Devinci’s challenge is to develop a “one-size fits all” bicycle that is comfortable and easy for everyone to use. The bikes will be built without a top tube and will weigh some 22 kilos (48 lbs) each. The objective is to make the bikes as light as possible while still rendering them very solid. Drawing on its expertise with high performance aluminium frames, Devinci has the capacity to create such reliable, resistant, durable and safe bikes.

Amsterdam was the first city to institute a system of self-service bike rentals in 1970. The concept has considerably evolved since then. Bike theft and vandalism have been issues with such self-serve bike rentals but systems are now in place to control these problems. Some 25 cities worldwide have community bike rentals, principally in Europe. The objective is to encourage bike usage for non-recreational purposes (commuting, shopping, etc) and thus reduce private automobile use. Private bike rental operators target instead the tourism and recreational markets.

Some 40 prototypes are scheduled to be built in Quebec’s Saguenay region in September, 2008. Eventually the project is expected to call for 2,000 to 3,000 units to be deployed in Montreal. The City of Montreal has already evaluated the contract at some $15 million, but expects to make money from the system as Paris currently does from its “Velib” program..