It’s hard to imagine a bike less comfortable than this concept design, but it does at least look cool.
The “Inner City Bike” was inspired by the cafe racer (check out those handlebars) and the roll-along hobby horse. The most obvious design feature is the lack of a chain. Instead, the crank and pedals are fixed directly to the rear wheel, meaning that the poor rider will be always leaning forward putting his weight on both his hands and his crotch — not ideal.
Further, the compact design puts the wheels very close together. This should mean tight turns are possible, but when combined with the weight-forward stance and the rather effective-looking front disk-brake, it looks like a recipe for over-the-handlebar disaster. And while the cafe-racer handlebars certainly look cool, putting them down low only makes this imbalance worse. Not that you’d be able to get up much speed anyway — those cranks look distressingly short compared to the big wheels they have to drive without any gearing.
One last point. Without the support of a down-tube, seat-tube or even a rear chain-stay, those two joints are going to be taking a hell of a lot of stress. It’s a good thing that the Inner City Bike is designed from non-riding urban hipsters, and therefore “more about fashion and culture than speed and performance.”
Product page [J Ruiter via Toxel]
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