Once upon a time ‘out the box’ thinking withered and died before the beer that inspired the idea had left the bloodstream, but now, thanks to Kickstarter, lightbulb moments can be made into reality. Or at least prototypes. Here’s an idea that, if you think it is the answer to all your N+1 and shed space problems, you can help bring to fruition. The convertible bike.
8Bar bikes claims their MITTE will be the world’s first All-Road bike: ‘a bike that’s able to change its’ geometry completely & transform from a road to a cross or an adventure bike’.
They say they have ‘literally re-invented the wheel’ – although it still looks round to us – and the Kickstarter page is alive with gifs demonstrating how it transforms from road bike to cross bike to adventure ‘weapon’. We’ve been driven slightly mad playing spot the difference as this gif cycles through the set ups, and we hate to be sceptical but does the addition of a rack really warrant the claim of a third set up?
Apparently the bike has been tested in a trip to Morocco – although if you want to use both versions of the bike on one trip, you’re going to have to carry the spare set of forks with you. And as the gif below shows, you also move the rear dropout…so do you have to change your chain length too? Perhaps if you like to dismantle your bike before you ride it this is an added attraction. We wonder how many of us would feel confident enough in our fettling skills to whizz off down that gravel descent with no concerns about the quality of our assemblage?
But hey, maybe there is method in the madness and we are jaded cynics. After all, it’s already nearly fully backed.
