Design Ideas
 

Everyone, you are my last hope... I need ideas for a new bike design or an improvement to current bikes for my design class. I'm completely out of ideas, so I turn to you. Thanks, whatchya got?

11 speed?

hahahaha shimano and honda are working on that internal gearbox thing i believe... i think for dh, 4 cross kind of applications.

- Front wheel drive
- integrated everything (ie. Saddle, seatpost, stem, bar, etc.)
- Love powered
- Bike rides you

Ha Ha Ha!

Christ! I think I just wet myself...

Fixed-Gear coaster!
Sounds kind of like a sin, doesn't it?
I was thinking: Fixed rear hub, freewheeling cranks that had a pin that you push in or pull out to either allow or disallow coasting.

The word "disallow" moves me something fierce.

- invisible spokes
- never-feel-the-saddle-saddle
- skunk stripe deflector
- chainring tat preventer
- self lubricating self cleaning chain
- pothole guard
- pedal strike feeler
- car force field
- massive invisible electrical shock discharge secruity lock

edit: self healing paint

bikes have been around for quite awhile so finding an improvement would seem to be pretty tricky. You could probably find something interesting around spoke design... like imagine a 3x pattern where all the trailing spokes were spring tensioned (like the slingshot bikes) - maybe something that would store and release the extra energy that would normally disipate in the wheel lacing. It might be easy enough to actually build as well...

Maybe think Slingshot bikes and see what would happen if you replaced the chainstays with spring-tensioned wires. (maybe rear suspension, but you'd totally have a way of storing the downforce applied to the pedal and redirecting it into the rear wheel as the chainstay length increases)..

two thoughts...

- vibrating seat (for women)
- wheel powered suction tube and "real feel" lips (for men)

careful here, i once posted a "special saddle" for women and was warned!

perfect the shaft-driven bike

build another multi-gear fixed hub.

integrated generator in the seat tube / bottom bracket area to power lighting.

Just say you designed that funky Yanagisawa and they'll be looking at it, scratching their heads until the semester is over...

Is the class about design as in fashion, or engineering?

As long as we're not talking efficiency then how about hydraulic drive with energy recovery from braking.

I'm thinking brake engages a proportional valve connected to a pump which works against a bladder accumulator. Button release accumulator into the main drive unit on command for "boost".

To make the units lighter than a bus you'd end up with an expensive system, prone to failure, that generates a ton of heat.

BTW you didn't mention a budget. Oh and if you are attending my Alma Matter then this has already been done as well....sorry.

design a different cassette system. i.e. chris king cassette vs. traditional 3/4 pawl engagement.

Invent a bike that will not slow down in a headwind!!!!

Already in the Harley aftermarket. Saw an ad the other day while waiting for my truck to get inspected.

You could put an explosive device in it that would be triggered by unusual unauthorized movement...naturally this would be for theft prevention purposes. You would have to label it with a warning though. Maybe something like "This Bike is a Pipe Bomb"?

Invent a bike with the geometry of a recumbent only flipped so the rider is forward facing with his legs behind him. In other words, a bike where you are prone (kinda like the characters in Tron) with the riders pelvis/stomach resting on some sort of padding device.

in soviet russia, bike rides you.

- vibrating seat (for people that are not men)

fixed!

1 pc. integrated top tube fork with the bars radiating off and up from the fork legs. :p

you mean like this?

http://bikecult.com/works/archive/03...ionTTRbars.jpg

you're abot 20 years too late

http://bikecult.com/works/archive/03...khionVVVV.html

as much as those designs can look a little goofy, i also think they look cool and would seriously love to ride one.