The bike of the future...
 

...is just a concept.

The music-playing, fingerprint-reading, calorie-counting bike:

(click image for article)

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/...89_468x315.jpg

wow that's really cool. Some of the things I like a whole lot and others I don't.

Things I like:

spokeless wheels (neat, i'd be interested in how stiff they are, etc)
onboard computer (why don't ALL road bikes have this already??)
carbon fiber frame (doesn't need any explanation..)


Things I don't like:

Music player (unnecessary)
Self inflating tires ( don't know if I would trust them)
Self-locking (wonder if it works and what would happen if you just picked it up and threw it in a truck)

Looking at the list of features and at the design, all I can say is, what's the point? Might as well show us a mock up of an x-wing fighter and list the specs, they ain't making that bike. If they ever do, it's a long wait! 20 years he suggests, by which time we will be old and wrinkly.

First thing I thought when I saw the specs list was "And I want a toilet made out of solid gold, but that ain't gonna happen."

Lol at comparing that bike to an x-wing.

How do the wheels work on on that bike?

plenty of that stuff here.

http://bicycledesign.blogspot.com/

brakeless
gearless
hubless
spokeless

looks cool :)

yeah i'm not a huge fan of concept bikes that claim to be able to do a million things without even a graphic representation of how they are going to be capable of it (which seems to be EVERY concept bike)

like... where the f*ck is the lock? self inflating tires? where is that stored? i don't even fully understand how the pedals transfer anything to the back wheel? is a little cut-away too much to ask? probably so since they probably haven't figured out a damn thing as to how this bike even rolls, much less is pedaled.

I've said it before and I'll say it again.

LOL INDUSTRIAL DESIGNERS.

I think I have that bikes grandaddy!

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y16...spic/k2001.jpg

No foot retention! I want my 100 million earth credits back

http://www.instablogsimages.com/imag...-toilet_48.jpg
here you are sir.

I love concept designs. They give a cool insight into what's posisble. This bike will most likely never be made, but apparently it could, and that's cool. Also, the fact that he thinks it would take 20 years to get the funding for this just shows what a bad businessman he is. Granted, no one is giving out money right now, but in a normal economy there is no reason why it should ever take 20 years to collect the money for something. It takes a lot more moeny to develop a car or motorcycle or building than it does to create a bicycle. Clearly this guy just doesn't know the right people to borrow from.

Oh yeah, I also don't like the electric motor aspect. LAME. this is a bicycle. If we wnated something that we could pedal but also had a motor, we would get a moped.

Also, as far as the wheels work, I'm guess it's something like this:

The tires are attached to a slim piece of material surrounding the circular rims that are part of the bike frame. In between that slim piece of material and the rims/frame is a buffer made of some type of bearings that allow for the slim piece of material and tire to rotate smoothly along the outside of the rim. As far as braking goes, Im guessing there is some type of friction device located inside the "tunnel" where the tires slide through the frame on each wheel.

Here's another possibility for how the wheels work:

The frame extends into the narrow circular part that you see on the outside of the rims. This is the outermost part of the rim and you can see that it's a slightly different color than the other part of the rims. So that thin part is stationary, connected to the frame of the bike. Then, the tire is connected to the inner part of the rims which spins freely, connected to the frame/outside of rim via a bearing system

They show more of the "purty" spokeless motorcycle than the actual riding of the vehicle, but heres an idea of how a spokeless wheel "could" work.

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgu...eels%26hl%3Den

and photo #7 on this link also shows how it could work.

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgu...eels%26hl%3Den

internal belt or fluid drive?

isn't this the bike of the future?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wML-s6CAMa8
(via bikesnobnyc)

And what's not possible. Like the no room for batteries, and the invisible solar panels, and the no room for a transmission that would work with an effective 100+ tooth rear sprocket, the no brakes, the no foot retention, the no seat height adjustment, the stupidly slack fork geometry, etc.

lol that bikes MSRP is only 75 trillion kong-bucks you got ripped off.

LOL I haven't read that post. "TWO SPEEED MOVES YOU FASTA <redacted> <redacted> <redacted> STREEET MACHINE!!!"

Oh btw this is the bike of the past.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01Pe7Q5sFfw

nice seat tube angle, makes a 60's english 3 speed look crit ready in comparison.



also, where will i put my phil hubs?

Just looking at it, I find it hard to believe that an actual bike racer designed that pile. 20 years from now, I'll gladly pass on that.

If I ever see one of those things in the flesh (as it were), I'm going to stomp it in half.

that's nice.

I'm a nice person.