Folding Bikes - Rick Marland Folder on bicycledesign.blogspot.com

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_VMBXGqBOWsE/SWa5JiIuqmI/AAAAAAAABA4/jkU4t8mpRHk/s400/rickmarland.jpg
photo from bicycledesign.blogspot.com


This is one of the finalists from the commuter bike design contest on that blog. Interesting out-of-the-box idea, but just a bit too hi-tech for me. :)

LINK:
http://bicycledesign.blogspot.com/2009/01/finalists-in-commuter-bike-design.html

For those with a symmetry fetish?

Well I don't know if its all that much of an "out-of-the-box idea". I think I've seen about 8 folding bike
prototypes so far that have a circular frame theme. Circular frame bikes aren't a particularly new idea,
this one is from the 1890's:

Well I don't know if its all that much of an "out-of-the-box idea". I think I've seen about 8 folding bike
prototypes so far that have a circular frame theme. Circular frame bikes aren't a particularly new idea,
this one is from the 1890's:

LOL - that's really funny. There was a tremendous outburst of creativity back then. Also, imagine what a release the bicycle revolution was when people had no other personal means of transport unless they were able to run a pony and trap or horse and carriage. I suppose the urban masses in European cities must have looked on those funny old bikes like they were the most wonderful freedom machines they could have wished for.

Th thing is that they worked pretty well. When I was a student back about 1971 I lived in Twickenham, a rather gentile outer London suburb. My girlfriend lived in Putney, rather further in - about six miles. My landlady loaned me an ancient ladies bicycle and I swear it must have been from about 1918. It was a REALLY old thing, black, quaint upright styling with an fossilised leather seat all sprung and rod brakes. Now I know there were rod brake bikes in the forties and fifties - my dad had one, but thsi was really something else - had to be at the youngest of First World War vintage. Anyway, I rode this thing night after night down to Putney and back and its single gear worked just fine if you weren't in a hurry.

Happy days....

For those with a symmetry fetish?

You'd have to be careful not to sit on the handlebars.

Compared to the other entries featured on the blog, this design is pretty much out there. It looks like something that Luke Skywalker used when he was a wee lad on Tatooine. There is no headtube, so I don't know how you could even steer the thing. Jedi Mind power?

There is no headtube, so I don't know how you could even steer the thing. Jedi Mind power?

If you zoom in on the design diagram, you can see the explanation and an overhead view (mirrored from pictured) that makes more sense. The front wheel would be connected to the swingarm via a couple of ball joints. You can see the steering link under the swingarm in the picture.

It's been done and proven. Google "Yamaha GTS 1000" for a production motorcycle that had this design.

Looks like essentially the same design as Mark Sanders' X-bike; Just with different styling:
http://www.mas-design.com/x-bike.html
http://www.treehugger.com/X-bike.jpg

Steering is cable operated.