McDonald’s efforts to present a more health-conscious image have now given rise to McBike – takeout packaging specifically designed for cyclists using – if the accompanying video is anything to go by – McDonald's drive throughs.
Wired reports that the prototype McBike has so far been employed in Copenhagen and Medellin in Colombia. Burger and fries fit within their own compartments inside a box you hang from your handlebars with the drink hanging out of the bottom.
You can see more in the video below.
Further trials are planned for Amsterdam and Tokyo, but there’s no saying this is something they’re going to bring in permanently.
Even if it doesn’t come to much, this does at least hint at a change in attitude from the fast food giant. A couple of years ago, we reported how a Portsmouth cyclist and his four-year-old son were refused service at a McDonald’s drive thru.
The person at the service hatch seemed to take issue with his being a cyclist and he was told he had to park and go inside – something he couldn’t do because the trailer on his bike would have blocked traffic.
A McDonald’s spokeswoman explained: “McDonald’s supports the health and environmental benefits of cycling. However it is our policy not to serve cyclists through the drive-through lane.”
But nor can you take your bike inside. More recently, comedian Brian Conley was threatened with arrest after bringing his folding bike into a McDonald's in Aberdeen. Conley said that three Grampian police officers were called to the incident. He apologised and no action was taken.
39 thoughts on “Video: McBike – McDonald’s drive thru packaging for cyclists”
I’m not sure if they
I’m not sure if they understand their market here? If you can physically ride a bike, you probably don’t eat at McDonald’s.
danthomascyclist wrote:I’m
Oh climb off your high horse – everyone loves a dirty burger once in a while!
GarethWyn
Not everyone.
I’d prefer that they taught their customers to put their rubbish in the bin – I see more McD packaging than anything else on the side of the road. Perhaps it’s a side-effect of the CJD…
GarethWyn
Yeah, but normally when p!ssed…
GarethWyn
I’d argue you don’t have to be an anti-burger snob in general to not like McDonalds. They just aren’t good bad food! Everything they do has the same paradoxically-distinctive blandness to it (as well as being not very satisfying given how unhealthy it is). If I’m going to fall off the (high-horse-pulled) wagon I’d rather have a kebab or fish and chips or some other burger chain’s product! (Do Wendy’s still exist?)
Never understood how they got so popular.
FluffyKittenofTindalos
McDonalds became popular because they literally wrote the book on how to produce fast food to a defined quality, wherever in the world that happens to be. For example the fries are generally made from Russet Burbank potatoes, with a defined starch/sugar content, cut to a specific size, fried in a specific oil at a specific temperature for a defined amount of time, after which they have a specific amount of salt added.
You should read ‘Fast Food Nation’ by Eric Schlosser. You’d be amazed just how much goes into a meal at McDonalds. Throughout the 80’s and 90’s McDonalds were the biggest buyer of satellite imagery in the world. They used it to work out which towns/cities were expanding, in what direction and therefore which would be the most important road intersections in the future. They got to buy the land near the intersection cheaply … and then other food outlets would follow them.
Personally I’d always choose McDonalds over a kebab (especially from the rotating ‘lamb’ device) or small independent burger vans/shops. You really don’t want to know what goes into the ‘meat’ in some of those things. I’m not referring to the ‘gourmet burger’ places obviously but particularly the cheap, late-night places.
Joeinpoole wrote: after which
and yet I have seen three people walk past the fries and consecutively salt the same fries.
danthomascyclist wrote:I’m
Why not? They do coffee, several cakes. That’s the preserve of a cycle cafe stop isn’t it? Plus somewhere you can sit outside.
The main issue is really one which affects motorists. Why would you use a drive through only to park up in the car park and eat your food? Perhaps, with cyclists, you haven’t brought a lock. With motorists it’s generally because they are lazy.
bendertherobot
I occasionally use the Golden Arch drive thru, usually after a ride/race when I’m barefoot, Lycra clad and covered in mud. It seems a better option than going inside.
Have you tasted their coffee?
Have you tasted their coffee? I’d rather drink chain lube
danthomascyclist wrote:I’m
Yeah, probably right there!…
danthomascyclist wrote:I’m
That would be why there are absolutely no McDonalds in the Netherlands then 😕
Wow that is the slowest
Wow that is the slowest cadence I have ever seen, incredible.
stevie63 wrote:Wow that is
Probably dishing out 450 watts 😀
stevie63 wrote:Wow that is
That’s how to use a bike as a means of transport … whilst wearing normal clothes … and without arriving at your destination drenched in sweat.
Christ what next, cup holders
Christ what next, cup holders for bikes?
I knew one of the first
I knew one of the first comments would be some pious “ooh, but it’s dirty food” milksoppery.
Turn it it. Some people eat McDonalds, even some healthy people eat McDonalds.
If you want cycling to be a
If you want cycling to be a normal, acceptable, everyday part of peoples lives, then this is a step in that direction. Of course it doesn’t suit the po-faced cyclists who look down on everyone else, but then again little does….
I’d prefer cyclists to take
I’d prefer cyclists to take gel wrappers home…
crikey wrote:I’d prefer
I did my good deed the other day and took someone else’s discarded gel wrapper home!!
As someone else pointed out
As someone else pointed out in the Brian Conley incident, by the time they tell you that, you are already at the window …… and then guess how you’d leave?
I wonder how many cyclists you’d need going round in a continuous loop to constantly occupy the drive-thru lane? ….
I wonder if you can fit a
I wonder if you can fit a sausage & egg McMuffin with a hash brown in there along with your coffee?!
Iamnot Wiggins wrote:I wonder
Indeed. The McD breakfast is, for me, one of the things that has always worked on a 100+ miler. One time I decided to have porridge instead and bonked badly at 30 miles.
bendertherobot wrote:Iamnot
Definitely in agreement here! I’ve often wondered how the aforementioned McMuffin would fare after a few hours in a back pocket.
Iamnot Wiggins
Definitely in agreement here! I’ve often wondered how the aforementioned McMuffin would fare after a few hours in a back pocket.— Iamnot Wiggins
Or even a few years, and the answer would be: pretty much the same …http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2313276/Man-keeps-McDonalds-burger-14-years-looks-exactly-the-day-flipped-Utah.html
At 7 am in Forfar recently
At 7 am in Forfar recently after 10 hours in the saddle I was pleased to see a McDonald’s. They have their place.
Don’t forget Mike Hall cycled
Don’t forget Mike Hall cycled round the world eating pretty much only McDonalds.
While out to watch the
While out to watch the Women’s Tour on Saturday I “popped” into McD’s to get a coffee. It took 20 minutes, despite there being only a handful of punters in front of me.
Garbage in, Garbage out.
Garbage in, Garbage out. Can’t imagine why anyone would ever want to eat there!!
Ok, fire away…..
No high horse here, I just
No high horse here, I just don’t like them.
danthomascyclist wrote:I’m
in civilised countries with proper infrastructure, it’s not just fit young and middle-aged men who ride bikes
Don’t drink tea
Don’t drink
Don’t drink tea
Don’t drink coffee
Cover your chin in Yorkshire toffee
I haven’t had a McD in years,
I haven’t had a McD in years, but last time I tried cycling through the drive-thru (sic) they refused to serve me on a bike for “health and safety reasons”. Not sure whether that referred to the food or what.
I think KFC should steal
I think KFC should steal their packaging idea and use it for all not just cyclist’s how many times have people had a close escape with their Pepsi max? Also KFC tastes better lol.
At the Chorley GP earlier
At the Chorley GP earlier this year, I tried to use the local McD Drive-Thru for a coffee, but they had to refuse me on health & safety grounds and then asked if I could come in and buy it over the counter. As I didn’t have a lock, they sent a member of staff out to mind my bike whilst I bought the drink. Bike was still there when I came out, coffee was good, so not bad service really. 😀
I occasionally get a
I occasionally get a mcdonald’s breakfast after work, my local one have no problems with me taking my bike in there, although I’ve never tried it when it’s busy.
Wonder how long the drink
Wonder how long the drink will last given the potholes on our roads?
I worked at a McDs as a kid,
I worked at a McDs as a kid, and although the content of the raw food was never visible to me, I can vouch for the hygiene and processes in the branch. People used to go on about the frankenstein stuff such as suggesting the eggs were not eggs but an egg-flavoured powder when I’d spent half the morning cracking and scrambling the things, etc. You’d get a few kids coming in looking to just cut corners and assuming we spat in the burgers and whatever but they never lasted beyond the probationary period. I’d eat the breakfast still.
some people really are
some people really are arseholes.