The City Concept bike manages to steer (ahem) away from the usual problems of concept bikes (no hubs, and odd-shaped, weak-looking frames), and towards a solid-looking design. But despite preferring the sensible over the fancy, it still misses a lot of commuter-bike essentials.
The City Concept is a project by Christian Vollmer, of the University of Applied Sciences in Darmstadt, Germany. Its main purpose is to act as city transport for non-cyclists, ie. those who just want their bike to get them around. It has a pedal-assisting electric motor in the bottom bracket, activated by pedaling like the Sanyo Eneloop bike.
Apparently this, and the clean-lined, integrated components are designed to make the bike suitable form the means streets and to deter vandals. But we know what makes the perfect commuter bike: A comfy beater, a bike that works, but looks terrible. The City Concept, on the other hand, looks expensive, has many non-standard (and therefore expensive to replace) parts and lacks the basic comforts like fenders or a carrying rack (it does have a belt drive instead of a chain, though, for grease-free pants).
It is nice to see people having a crack at making the perfect commuter bike, but it already exists: The internal hub-geared, coaster-braked city bike found all over Europe is cheap, indestructible and often ugly. If you want something faster, kit out an old road bike with some internal gears, riser handlebars and fatter tires, along with a basket and fenders, and you have the ultimate commuter. Better still, you can probably find most of the parts in your basement.
City Cycle concept bike [Bicycle Design]
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