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Even in China Ofo is failing. In Shanghai there are unused ofo bikes everywhere. The problem is that they took the approach of spamming the market with large nu

Even in China Ofo is failing. In Shanghai there are unused ofo bikes everywhere. The problem is that they took the approach of spamming the market with large numbers of super cheap bikes, so their bikes are really shoddy. I use Mobike and Hellobike constantly, but with ofo every time I try to use their bikes here I find they're broken in some new and exciting way. I don't know anyone who uses ofo except as a desperate last resort if all the mobikes and Hellobikes are gone. The rumor I keep hearing in Shanghai is that ofo is going to go out of business.

sewer_bird 8y ago
Can corroborate, also in Shanghai: I had much preferred Ofo to the Mobikes because they were a 'normal bike' without a belt chain. But then... time passed and rain poured, rusting up the chains and riders bending the wheels in innovative ways. Sometimes I'll luck out on a fresh Ofo bike, and then it's fine, but for every one of those there are 8 bikes I have to ditch because the chain won't go back on or the wheel isn't even planar.
vorg 8y ago
Mobike is a lot more user-friendly because the bike unlocks itself when you scan the code or trigger the bluetooth signal, whereas the Ofo app sends you a numeric code which you must punch yourself to unlock the bike. Ofo is like the half-generation of bikeshare between 1st-gen docked bikes and 2nd-gen dockless auto-unlocking ones.
- sewer_bird 8y ago
  To be fair, most Ofo bikes in Shanghai have the same auto-unlock feature in later Marks... maybe about 75% of the ones I've tried.
  - vorg 8y ago
    I'm in Wuhan. I don't use Ofo but I keep an eye out and have only noticed a single Ofo bike in a hundred over the last few months with an auto-unlock. Obviously, the bikeshare companies roll out their newest stock in Beijing and Shanghai. I'd guess most Ofo bikes in all of China still use the manual unlock, and will do so for a while yet.

sewer_bird 8y ago

Can corroborate, also in Shanghai: I had much preferred Ofo to the Mobikes because they were a 'normal bike' without a belt chain. But then... time passed and rain poured, rusting up the chains and riders bending the wheels in innovative ways. Sometimes I'll luck out on a fresh Ofo bike, and then it's fine, but for every one of those there are 8 bikes I have to ditch because the chain won't go back on or the wheel isn't even planar.

vorg 8y ago

Mobike is a lot more user-friendly because the bike unlocks itself when you scan the code or trigger the bluetooth signal, whereas the Ofo app sends you a numeric code which you must punch yourself to unlock the bike. Ofo is like the half-generation of bikeshare between 1st-gen docked bikes and 2nd-gen dockless auto-unlocking ones.

sewer_bird 8y ago
To be fair, most Ofo bikes in Shanghai have the same auto-unlock feature in later Marks... maybe about 75% of the ones I've tried.
- vorg 8y ago
  I'm in Wuhan. I don't use Ofo but I keep an eye out and have only noticed a single Ofo bike in a hundred over the last few months with an auto-unlock. Obviously, the bikeshare companies roll out their newest stock in Beijing and Shanghai. I'd guess most Ofo bikes in all of China still use the manual unlock, and will do so for a while yet.