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Comment by FindMySocks | Hacker News Reader

For those interested: over here in China (specifically Shanghai) is a massive bike sharing war being fought, where the two largest incumbents have been given well over $200m in investment money over the last year. The leading brands are Mobike and Ofo, with around 4 other small competitors creeping in.

Mobike was started by an ex-Uber China manager, launched in Shanghai - whereas Ofo had been developed as a bike sharing scheme in universities.

Mobike has GPS enabled, QR unlocked bicycles. Where as Ofo are not GPS enabled and are unlocked with a simple analogue pin code bike lock.

If you want to know more, let me know.

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Great summary. I started using Mobike+subway+Mobike to get to/from work after Uber China stopped offering generous subsidies.

I use both Mobike and Ofo, depending on which is available.

Advantages of Mobike:

- Map-based view of nearby bikes

- Can reserve a bike for 15 mins, whilst you walk to it from wherever you are (good if you're a couple of subway stops away)

- Bikes are plentiful in most places I go

Mobike disadvantages:

- Bikes take some effort to ride, perhaps due to a dynamo and the weight of the electronics

Ofo advantages:

- Bikes are light and easy to ride

Ofo disadvantages:

- Need to wander around to find one, which takes time, even if the app tells you there are some nearby

- Quite common for an Ofo bike to be locked to something using a private chain (i.e. someone has stolen it), and you don't know until you walk up to it

> - Bikes take some effort to ride, perhaps due to a dynamo and the weight of the electronics

The shaft drive can't help either.

> - Quite common for an Ofo bike to be locked to something using a private chain (i.e. someone has stolen it), and you don't know until you walk up to it

How about always carrying a metal saw with you?

You're not allowed to carry weapons or weapon-like things on the subway in Beijing. There are x-ray machines at every entrance.

I wrote this a few weeks ago about the Chinese scene

http://publicaddress.net/speaker/shenzens-hire-bike-explosio...

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