Never mind heavy traffic, polution, steep streets or foul weather: none of those will daunt a seasoned cyclist.

But there is something that might, and does: for many of them living in small flats, downtown ten-storey buildings or historic neighbourhoods, the real problem is that they just can't fisically keep the bicycle in a safe and usable shape at work or home. And they can't afford to unhook and unfold it every day to go about their business... so the bike gets packed away for months.

One of the things that turns a pleasurable gadget for sunny weekends or holidays into a usable tool to move efficiently around town is the ability to have it close at hand when you walk out your door... just as you (usually) have your car.

So we set out to create a tool that would allow anyone to park their bike for hours, or overnight, and feel sure to find it there later, or the following day, undamaged and dry, no matter who has been around and what the weather has been like. And we defined quite a strict set of criteria for it.

The result is the bikehive range of bicycle lockers and racks. Bikehive is the perfect bicycle locker for cyclists, urban planners and facility managers:

• Bikehive offers complete protection against theft of the bike or its components, vandalism, and weather conditions.
• Individual access, locking and enclosing of each bicycle.
• Easy and effortless to use; does not require to fold or lift the bike.
• Extremely compact, it provides a very good use of parking space.
• Allows space to store the helmet.
• Visually friendly with the urban landscape, and well in keeping with modern tendencies on street furniture.
• Can be used with standard bike locks, or adapted for pay-to-park or rental schemes.
• Versatile in design, bikehive presently comes in two basic shapes: rectangular and circular, but can be adapted to different shapes, advertising needs and aestetic requirements.
• The bikehive structure is even suitable to be included in arquitecture designs for indoor bike keeping.

bikehive's versatility and low instalation cost make it perfect for a variety of places: libraries, universities, malls, sport, education or work centres. It's compact structure and mild visual impact allow its use in historic centres, pedestrian areas and other places of limited access to cars.

This is bikehive. If you are in the struggle against heavy traffic and polution, get a few hives set up around town.

And you'll see it buzzing a different tune.