Recently i have become increasingly intrigued with the idea of folding bikes. The problem seems to be that the smaller ones arent practical for your everyday bike/commuter because of wheel size. I stubled across this though and although its just a concept i think he could really be onto something
Im tempted to try and make something along these lines but it looks like it would be extrememly difficult
Looks like yet another crappy designer concept bike. One sided forks, stupid wheels, belt drive, wacky frame, all the designer cliches. If you look at the picture, in order for it to have pedals, wheels, seat and bar in the right place, the circle would be ginormous. If the wheels were any decent size, the circle would be ginormous. The drive belt would be longer than that picture too.
You should take a look at brompton and birdy and the like, they have very ingenious folding mechanisms, which actually take into account the fact it should be rideable as a bike, and not weigh a ton, rather than just being some idiot designer's stupid concept, with no idea of how bikes beyond the fact that they have pedals, bars, seat and wheels.
haha, yeah i get your point but it is a concept!
i just cant help thinking that there has got to be a better solution to it that the bromptons though. I suppose someone designs a wheel that folds then you are always going to have a big compromise between ride ability and foldable size
Nowt wrong with small wheels on a well designed bike, BMXs seem to manage ok afterall. A Birdy can be ridden like a hooligan. My sister in law has taken one around Mabie.
Its a image issue with small wheels, not a functionality one. Us brits have a hang-up about only riding bikes that are competition derived (road bikes, then mountain bikes, then fixies, now cross bikes) for the purpose of just 'sort of riding about'. We can't really grasp transportational cycling and the bikes that are designed for that purpose. If someone devised a category of cycle sport based on 17" wheels we'd all be commuting on them rather than cross bikes and track bikes.
This is the best big wheeled folder I have seen by an ex royal collage of art student. I like bromptons think they are great but as I have storage at my work place I don't have a need for one.
Cav seems to have solved the folding wheel problem:
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