Research on the Influence of Wheelsets on the Visual Imagery of City Bicycles

Fan Wu, Peng Lu and Yang-Cheng Lin
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Fan Wu: Department of Industrial Design, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan 70101, Taiwan
Peng Lu: Department of Industrial Design, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan 70101, Taiwan
Yang-Cheng Lin: Department of Industrial Design, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan 70101, Taiwan

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 5, 1-13

Abstract: City bicycles have become popular worldwide because they play an essential role in releasing urban traffic congestion and are environmentally friendly. Since wheelsets are the most prominent shape element in a bicycle, this research explores the influence of various wheel types on the visual image of a city bicycle. First, 10 wheelsets with a high market share in China were selected as the research samples. Meanwhile, vocabularies suitable for describing wheelsets were chosen from many vocabularies. Then, all vocabularies were summarized into six adjectives using factor analysis, and consumers were invited to evaluate all samples using the grouped adjectives. Finally, triangular fuzzy numbers were used to obtain the evaluation scores of 10 wheelsets on six adjectives, and the 10 wheelsets were divided into four groups based on the evaluation scores. The results show that the visual imagery evaluation of the 10 wheelsets had a significant difference in the “trimmed and stable”, “superior and presentable”, and “holistic and balanced” groups, but a slight difference in “novel and individualized”, “rhythmic and metrical”, and “mechanical and ordered.” The research results could serve as a reference for city bicycle operators and help improve product development efficiency, thereby promoting the sustainable development of city bicycles.

Keywords: city bicycle; wheelsets; visual evaluation; factor analysis; fuzzy logic (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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