Evaluations of Convenience of Use and Image Preference of Bicycles to Develop Electric Bikes

This study was carried out to present design guidelines for developing electric bikes which could be used for more users regardless of gender and age. Through a survey with 336 male and female respondents in Seoul aged between 10s and 70 years or older, the convenience of bicycle use and image preference by gender and age were investigated. To evaluate convenience of bicycle use, the 7 principles of universal design made by Universal Design Center were customized to fit for accessing bicycles. The following are results of statistical analysis on 301 valid data: (1) of the 7 principles, conventional bicycles were identified to be the most inconvenient in principle 6(low physical effort), followed by in principle 5(tolerance for error) and 7(size and space for approach and use). Women appeared to feel more inconvenience than men in all evaluation criteria while using bicycles. The relation between the convenience of use and users' age was not identified. (2) Preferred images by bicycle users turned out to be those of 'simple' and 'light.' By gender, male preferred more 'technical' and 'dynamic' images than female. By age, users in their 10s-20s preferred more 'individual' image than 70 years or older.