Wednesday, November 04, 2009

Futuristic bike

Futuristic bike, post.
They say it could be made right now. Maybe so, but in any case, quite the eye-catching design, I must say.

5 comments:

john c said...

Have you read any of the idiotic comments that follow the article? Some people like to crap on everything. There is one guy actually suggesting that having to manually repair a punctured tire would be a good thing.

Eolake Stobblehouse said...

Typical.

If they cured AIDS and cancer, somebody would wax sad about all the hospital jobs lost!

Ray said...

It's a cute design, but as one guy said in the article's comments, an average weight person sitting on that seat would create a lot of leverage on the joint where the seat's supporting arm meets the main frame. Form is one thing, and function is something else. If it doesn't work, it isn't much use.
And how does that seat adjust for the difference in height of riders?
Questions, questions..... I'd rather have an old-fashioned 21-speed curb-jumping mountain bike any time. Mine's still alive and well in the bike lock-up downstairs, and it didn't cost a king's ransom either.

john c said...

Some of those questions are answered in the article. For example, it's made of carbon fiber. The whole point of that stuff is that it's lightweight but also very strong. That bike would have no trouble supporting the weight of the average man. The hardcore cyclists I've seen, though, are usually more the ectomorphic type. You would have to ask a physicists to figure out whether it would hold, though. I have a feeling that none of us are qualified to do that, certainly not the sour jerks who are taking giant shits all over it in the comments section.

If you want to be jumping curbs, a mountain bike is the wrong machine. Try something made for freestyle. Think Matt Hoffman.

Like all new technologies (though it isn't new, really, since carbon fiber has been around for quite a while; the design of the bike is what's new here) it might be expensive at first but would eventually come down.

Pascal [P-04referent] said...

Looks like my "objects in disguise" collection from Hasbro isn't complete yet.
I've got the cellphone, the binoculars, the watch, the handheld videogame, the digital camera that change into robots, the game controller that changes into a gorilla, the MP3 player with bluetooth earpiece that becomes an eagle, but I absolutely MUST have this: the bike that transforms into a pair of super-cool disco eyeglasses! ;-)
I'm currently reflecting on the design of a pair of eyeglasses that would turn into a robot. Why not, if they could do it with a wristwatch?

I've seen a rather similar design, but it's a green and yellow bike that folds on itself to become a mere large disc, so you keep it with you like you would with your steering wheel. A genuine little marvel of real-life engineering, very neat, almost as elegant-looking as this one. Currently looking for sponsors to be mass-produced.