Hasta La Gadget!

If it works as advertised, the Flipphandle could revolutionize bike wall-leaning

Alejandro Lacreu’s Flipphandle is an ingenious replacement handlebar stem which twists 90-degrees at the touch of a button. Designed to solve the problem of storing bikes in small, narrow spaces, The Flipphandle turns the handlebars so that they are parallel with the bike’s top-tube, letting you lean it against a wall without anything sticking out.

The Flipphandle replaces your current stem, and works with both threaded and threadless steerer tubes thanks to various supplied adapters (to attach the handlebars, you’ll need a clamp-on stem like you’d use with a threadless steerer). The unit is installed like any other, fixed into place with an Allen wrench.

To use, you push a button to release the internal catch and just spin the bars. Now you can lean the bike agains the wall in a store or bar, or in the hallway at home, without it getting in the way. When you’re ready to ride, just turn the handlebars back and they’ll click into place. Inside is a “spring-driven conical cam” which takes care of locking the stem into place.

The only thing which worries me is the outer spinning tube, which rotates around an inner steel tube. It is made from “specialized reinforced plastic.” I’m not sure I’d trust my handlebars to plastic components, but Lacreu seems to be happy enough with his design that he’s ready to go into production.

Lacreu is launching the Flipphandle as a Kickstarter project, and you can get in on it with a pledge of $75. The goal is $75,000, and there are over 50 days left. I’ll be very interested to test one of these out. It could certainly make transporting a bike on a train or plane much easier, too.

Flipphandle project page [Kickstarter. Thanks, Alejandro]

See Also:

• Bike Handlebars Morph into Bike Lock
• Beautiful Minimal Bike Basket Built Into Handlebars
• Bike Porter: Handlebars With Built-In Basket
• Handlebar Bike Lock Possibly More Effective Than String