Neither high-tech nor fancy, Apple

This bike is the Apple campus bike. The photo above, taken by designer Everaldo Coelho, shows one of the bikes apparently used to get around at Apple’s headquarters at One Infinite Loop, Cupertino, California.

If you were expecting a high-tech machine that looks more like Eve from Wall-E than a silver mixte that could come from any decade in the past 50 years, then you will obviously be disappointed. But take a closer look and you’ll see that this bike is as well suited to its task as an iPad is to its own market.

First, it looks great. Everything is silver, gray or black, even the panniers that sit astride the rear rack, ready for an iPad, a MacBook Air or even (gasp) stacks of paper.

Next up is the style. The mixte frame is somewhere between the step-through bike and the more familiar diamond-framed design with a high top-tube. The mixte is easy to mount, but still uses triangles in the frame to keep it strong and rigid.

Meanwhile, a chain guard keeps oil off trouser cuffs, a three-speed internal hub is both easy to use and almost maintenance-free, and the fenders (along with the waterproof panniers) are great for the odd Californian shower.

Most importantly, though, it looks to be of good quality. Although the logos have all been removed (even the tires are bare of brand names), those deep v-section wheels look tough, the brakes and levers are all metal, and the twin top-tubes even meet the seat tube with a lugged connection.

UPDATE: Jul 26 2011. Thanks to our awesome readers, we now know that the Apple Campus Bike is an M3 Mixte from Public Bikes in the Netherlands. Check out the product page here. Thanks, Richard!

Perhaps I’m reading too much into it, but if you think about it, this simple, classic bike seems like exactly the thing Apple would pick to get its employees around the campus. I wonder what Microsoft uses? Probably electric golf carts. Or even (shudder) Segways.

Apple’s Campus Bike [Flickr via Mac Magazine and Cult of Mac]

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