George Bliss is a bicycle designer living, working and teaching in

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

, New York City. He has taught bike frame welding at

Parsons The New School for Design The Parsons School of Design is a private art and design college under The New School located in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York City. Founded in 1896 after a group of progressive artists broke away from established Manhattan art ...

. Bliss coined the cycling term "

Critical Mass In nuclear engineering, critical mass is the minimum mass of the fissile material needed for a sustained nuclear chain reaction in a particular setup. The critical mass of a fissionable material depends upon its nuclear properties (specific ...

" in the Ted White documentary ''Return of the Scorcher'' (1992) to describe the way cars, bicycles and pedestrians negotiate uncontrolled busy intersections in China. He pioneered the niche bicycle industry in Manhattan, specifically custom designed

cargo bike There have been many human powered vehicles designed and constructed specifically for transporting loads since their earliest appearance in the history of the bicycle, 20th century. They are referred to variously depending on the number of wheel ...

s including the "Dump Trike" and the smaller "Pick-Up Trike" and

pedicab The cycle rickshaw is a small-scale local means of transport. It is a type of tricycle designed to carry passengers on a for-hire basis. It is also known by a variety of other names such as bike taxi, velotaxi, pedicab, bikecab, cyclo, be ...

s. From 1995 to 2015, Bliss owned and operated a pedicab rental business (The ''Hub Station'') in

SoHo SoHo, short for "South of Houston Street, Houston Street", is a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan, New York City. Since the 1970s, the neighborhood has been the location of many artists' lofts and art galleries, art installations such as The Wall ...

and then in the West Village. The business also sold and repaired

recumbent bicycle A recumbent bicycle is a bicycle that places the rider in a laid-back reclining position, and often called a Human-powered_land_vehicle, human-powered vehicle or HPV, especially if it has an aerodynamic fairing. Recumbents are available in a w ...

folding bicycle A folding bicycle is designed to be compacted into a smaller, more manageable size or shape, making it easier to store or carry . When folded, the bikes can be more easily carried into buildings, on public transportation (facilitating mixed-mo ...

electric bicycle An electric bicycle, e-bike, electrically assisted pedal cycle, or electrically power assisted cycle is a bicycle with an integrated electric motor used to assist propulsion. Many kinds of e-bikes are available worldwide, but they generally fa ...

kick scooter A kick scooter (also referred to as a push-scooter or scooter) is a Human-powered land vehicle, human-powered street vehicle with a mwod:handlebar#:~:text=: a straight or bent bar,usually used in plural, handlebar, deck, and wheels propelled by ...

s and Xootrs with electric motors attached. Facing rent increases, and competition from the Citi Bike bike share, Bliss closed his retail location. Later he opened a traditional bike store in the

West Village The West Village is a neighborhood in the western section of the larger Greenwich Village neighborhood of Lower Manhattan, New York City. The West Village is bounded by the Hudson River to the west and 14th Street (Manhattan), 14th Street to ...

, near the Hudson River Greenway, HUB, (Hudson Urban Bicycles).

References

Thomas Beller's
article in Slate

The New York Times
Transportation: Quadriceps for Hire
New York Magazine
Three-wheelin': pedicabs make inroads on city streets
Columbia

Transportation Alternatives

Downtown Express

The Christian Science Monitor

References

Living people Cycle designers Year of birth missing (living people) Place of birth missing (living people) {{US-cycling-bio-stub

See also

References

References