univega.duder

Curious what everyone thinks of this wild sliding bike I spotted on kickstarter. It's called Pop-Cycle and I don't quite know what to make of it.

There's a lot of strangeness or perhaps it's innovation. The video shows a sliding mechanism and peculiar chain setup. The gentleman says, "We also consider our environment alongside pop-cycles convenience. Most bikes produce hazardous substances like chrome and nickel while welding. By applying die-casting methods there is no need to weld the Pop-cycle. All we needed was bolts and nuts to fully assemble it. Bikers will also be able to enjoy the joy of building their own bikes like a DIY project". There's always something new ha!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKDon2hRWfc

Schwinnsta

Nothing new here. See Gaitex. Others have had folding handlebars. It's funky looking. Did they tell you the weight? Is a bolted assembly really superior welded?

Tall_Xootr

I have seen a few Giatex bikes ages ago. For those who are interested, here is a video review of one of the earlier models.


Never got to test ride one though.

john m flores 

The way the front-end geometry of that thing changes when lengthened is wild.

tcs

The Kickstarter is a little vague on details of the to-be-shipped bikes: gearing, brakes, etc.

They say 32 pounds...in one place, and 35 in another.

tds101 

This pop-cycle bike is bs. The video tries to make a Brompton look like a nightmare to fold, and claims to be the first bike of this type ever to be brought to market.

Nyah

• Doesn't fold shorter or better than side-folder (Fnhon Zephyr, etc).
• Two-speed crankset? Doesn't sound as good as a 9x3 IGH w/cassette.
• Die-casted instead of welded. I'll consider that a plus if it's truly better. I don't know enough about it.
• DIY aspect? How so?
• Will it be possible to properly convert it to drop-bars? Best case scenario is that it uses standard, aftermarket handleposts, such what's available for Dahon/Fnhon designs. If not possible, no deal. I setup all of my bicycles w/drop-bars - even my folding bicycles.

Jipe

Fully slided, the bike remain quite big !

tcs

Nope A 'stepped' primary drive, like the old Mobiky.

Nyah

I'm not familiar w/the Mobiky. What does the stepped-primary-drive do?

tcs

The chainwheel drives a small cog on a jackshaft that has a larger cog that drives the rear wheel via a second chain. This 'steps up' the gearing for small wheels without using a relative huge chainwheel or relatively tiny rear cog.

Here's Popcycle's gif (from the perspective of the ground looking up at the bottom bracket):



The old Mobiky did this because it used 12" wheels. Seems unnecessary, heavy and complicated for 16" wheels.