Living in Seattle, you see a lot of fixed-gear road bikes. Why that is, I leave the reader to determine, since we have more than our share of hills and rough roads. I suppose the simplicity of the bike is part of the attraction (also: hipsterism). J. Ruiter, a designer in Michigan, decided that it wasn’t quite simple enough, though, and has removed pretty much everything from the bike except the absolutely necessary frame bits, handlebars, seat, and pedals. The last item is attached directly to the axle of the rear wheel, which makes it look rather uncomfortable.
I admire the idea, but you’ve got a couple problems here. First, all your weight is on your crotch — even more so than on normal bikes, which are no picnic for those of us who keep important things there. Pedals are right below you on a normal bike, because you get power by pushing against your own weight, which forms the counterbalance. On this bike, you’re pushing forward, probably against your arms. That’s going to be incredibly fatiguing. So when they say it’s for short range urban travel, they better mean short short range.
Luckily, there is a grip brake, which they probably included due to the number of people who died testing the pedal brake on earlier models.
What a complete moron who designed that piece fo garbage. They obviously have no brain what so ever especially regarding the engineering of the bike.
stand up and pedal why not… maybe the seat is just to rest while your not pedaling, like when your going down hills and such. lance armstrong almost never uses his bike seat. i wanna see someone doing flips n tricks in a halfpipe on this bad-boy!
why not just learn how to ride a unicycle and lose the front wheel?
just because its different and you would change a few things around for efficiency diddle, does not mean the designer was/is a moron.
im sure if he wanted the most efficient design he would have gone with something much more contemporary and ‘normal’ seeing as the more efficient models are what we already have available.
all that said, it looks interesting enough and would certainly turn a few heads, but i would not adopt it as my first choice when picking a new bike.
i think i would go with one of these =D
http://www.crunchgear.com/2009/07/16/rocket-bike-faiyatorikkubobu-for-you-one-million-yen/
@bernyk
have you ever ridden a bike this looks like a total fracking disaster – and go only knows what damage it would do to your knees and other joints let alone your man or lady bits.
There is a reason why bikes have the layout they do to most eficiatly trasfer power from you to the road.
Rgds m
ps and yes I know the UCI bans recumbants
I like the simplicity of this design.
Certainly and interesting concept. It doesn’t look like you have the ability to raise the seat, though, and the pic with someone riding it looks like his legs are all cramped up. The seat really needs to be raised.
Also – with the pedals being set back instead of forward, that would rotate your body so that when you sit and pedal you will be putting the majority of your weight on your genitals. That can’t be good for reproductive health.
I propose the name Nutcracker for it