That's Folding! Cube's Urban Street Concept Bike
by Warren McLaren, Sydney on 02.25.08
We love folding bikes. Because they remove one of the arguments about taking up cycling; “I don’t have any room for a bicycle.” Here is a folding bike concept to would give short shrift to that excuse, were it ever to transition into a real world commercial product. Gregor Dauth, a student at the Coburg University of Applied Sciences in Germany has worked with Cube bikes to develop his Urban Street Concept Bike. Gregor reckons you can fold up his full size bike to fit in a Smart car. Continue folding it like the blades of a Swiss Army Knife and he says the frame willl fit into a rucksack. See more pics after the fold.
Gregor has also integrated front lights into the brake levers, added an integrated dynamo in that front wheel hub turns on lights automatically in darkness, and included an integrated rear and stop light in the seat post.
The concept site is only in German, though the video found there does have a translation, and the schematics are pretty obvious. However from the information offered it is hard to judge just how structurally sound the unfolded bike would be. But it does exhibit very clever thinking none-the-less. We’d like to see Cube bikes turn Gregor’s vision into a reality. ::Cube Urban Street Concept Bike, via tipster Metzger.
see also—
Some ride ready folding bikes:
BuyGreen Large Wheel Folding Bikes
BuyGreen Small Wheel Folding Bikes
Some other full size folder concepts:
Swivel Head
Cannondale Jacknife
And the weird
Folding Bike Wheel
Folding Bike Helmet
I owned a Smart and could fit a full sized cyclo cross bike in the trunk - one wheel either side of the frame and in it went! I raced an adventure race with my kit, bike and wife in the car.
Nice concept though!
These bikes are really inspiring. The design is so functional and it looks really sleek. I work for a design college and I love seeing more of what goes on here at Art Center College, more and more in different places all over the world. Great design always brings people together and makes something the world work a little more smoothly y’know? Especially in light of the world's new challenges with recyclable materials and sustainability. If you don't know about it already, there is a big conference going on in Barcelona in March that Art Center is hosting called The Global Dialogues (http://blog.globaldialogues.eu/). The title of it is Disruptive Thinking and there will be amazing designers and pundits and philosophers there from all over discussing how people must think about design (in addition to business and climate change too) in new and exciting, "disruptive" ways. These bikes here certainly reflect that type of conceptual thinking. Here's a link to its Web site: http://www.artcenter.edu/dialogues
As a long time cyclist, I can honestly say that this is a bike I would *never* ride!
I like my teeth right where they are. The idea of a bike that folds like this is great, but in reality this frame would ride kind of like a bike made from wet udon noodles. The rear would flex like mad, the top tube would also sway over the pedals, and the fork would put enormous stress on the one joint in the bike where all there forces would come together... Which would lead to a spectacular failure. Not the creaking, groaning, stop and tighten it failure - more the kind which leaves scattered bits of bike and rider and a big, red streak down the road.
It's kind of pretty though.
Thats sick! I want one!!! I wonder how much it would weigh.
make it and i'll buy it ....any price. that is simply the best bike ever
I always ride with my hands on the brakes for faster reaction time. That makes his front lights placement not so good. But I guess I could put another light on.
Still I agree that this cant be very stable... at all.
I always ride with my hands on the brakes for faster reaction time. That makes his front lights placement not so good. But I guess I could put another light on.
Still I agree that this cant be very stable... at all.
I think this bike looks totally awesome, I would buy it even if it didn't fold at all - the design is so sleek even without the added functionality.
That thing is going to snap in half!
Have any of you seen a SoftRide? This bike design isn't far off an existing, and well tested, bike (fully unfolded).
If we can build mountain bikes like the Rocky Mnt. ETSX with many pivots on the rear suspension then the mechanisms for folding (pivoting) should be robust enough to handle the forces that a commuting bike would create.
It is a huge step in the right direction for folding bikes (full sized wheels and cool as hell). I would like see these competitions matched or followed by engineering competitions to develop prototypes and work out these structural problems.
There are so many bright people in this world...
I would ride it. I don't see any weaknesses. In fact it looks over-engineered. Probably to use a light allow like aluminum. However, the same folding scheme could accommodate a vertical bar to the seat.
I have been bike commuting 16 miles round trip to and from work these last 3 months on a Target type bike. A folding bike sounds nice for daily storage in the office BUT what about some fenders and where is there any place to carry your daily office gear? It would be awesome and interesting to test pedal a bike like this to see if it could stand up to the rigours of daily commuting and still fold up.
Cool Idea!
It seems like smaller tires would make it much more portable, too. If it is an 'urban street' bike, why does it need full-size tires? Being able to fit the folded frame in a rucksack doesn't help much if you have to carry two giant wheels around as well.
Cannondale says they will be brining a similar bike into production in the near future. It's prominently featured on their European website with specifics here.
Dude, This bike is so actually totally AWSOME! I'm so gonna get one! Crap I don't know what else to say cause I'm just soooooo Shocked! So em..... BYE BYE PEOPLE!
Looks kind of like a Trek Y-Foil or a SoftRide.
The earlier poster had my idea of a folding vertical bar that could plug in fro the seat to the rear axle area for stability.
Shouldn't be too heavy if made of aluminum.
I don't think seat sway over the pedals should be a problem unless you're really up out of the saddle climbing a big hill.
Even city bikes should have at least medium sized tires due to nasty potholes and road plates. Maybe I am just uninitiated to small wheeled folding bikes.
vsk
This bike would like fail on first hard road use, far, far too weak at the folding point about the crank. This is the most critical bit in terms of loading on this frame, and its about the weakest!
Cannondale bike by contrast is folding in a different way, the rear is rigid and hopefullywould last.
Woudln't want to be on it going down a bumpy road at 40mph though.
I bought a swift folder a few years ago -- it's a great bike, folding or no -- and it folds quickly and easily. It got licensed to the xootr company so you can get it for slightly less than the custom version (see links below). Has won many awards for being the best folding bike (esp for the price). This one (above) looks cool, but I can't think of a simpler or better design than the swift. Plus you can put fenders on it if you like (maybe even a back rack?), and I found it's really easy to put a backpack over the front handlebars b/c the wheels are smaller (which also makes it more nimble). You can see pics of it used that way on the site.
http://www.xootr.com/ or http://www.swiftfolder.com/index.html
I bought a swift folder a few years ago -- it's a great bike, folding or no -- and it folds quickly and easily. It got licensed to the xootr company so you can get it for slightly less than the custom version (see links below). Has won many awards for being the best folding bike (esp for the price). This one (above) looks cool, but I can't think of a simpler or better design than the swift. Plus you can put fenders on it if you like (maybe even a back rack?), and I found it's really easy to put a backpack over the front handlebars b/c the wheels are smaller (which also makes it more nimble). You can see pics of it used that way on the site.
http://www.xootr.com/ or http://www.swiftfolder.com/index.html
The IF-Mode from Pacific-Cycles is similar in appearance to the Cube Urban Street but it has a conventional folding hinge.
More than just a concept bike, the IF Mode is a working prototype that has been shown at several bike shows and is close to commercial production.
Larry