Riveting

I certainly admire the engineering of this AWD bike, but is it simply an over-engineered solution looking for a problem? But if the market for it are those just looking to get attention, then it hits the mark.

https://www.yankodesign.com/2022/03/...motive-design/

Iride01 

A lot of proof of concept designs are that way. Who knows what future manufacturing technologies and further design refinements might do. Did you ever see some of those concept cars at auto shows back in the 60's?

indyfabz

Way too small for me.

Koyote

Are you sure that's not an old Rube Goldberg sketch?

70sSanO

A lot comes down to weight and the watts to overcome the serpentine chain/tire friction generated throughout the system.

It will be interesting to see how ride quality is addressed.

That said its viability solely rests on being able to argue over the best lube to use.

John

msu2001la

This seems like it would be very difficult to maneuver, especially at low speed, but would probably float through deep sand or mud really well - almost like a tank tread.

mrv 

for simple bikes - like the ones with two wheels and a chain and a crank and a cog on the rear wheel - isn't a big part of the ease of use the rotating mass of the wheel and the gyroscopic effect keeping the bike stable?
i've seen the figure 8 infinity thingy twice now, and at some point i'll break down and read the article, but just looking at the pictures (my preferred reading method):
how ya gonna keep your balance?
how ya gonna get a drink with your water bottle?
where does the water bottle go?
can you ride no handed?
how again is this an improvement?
yeayeayea, i should read the article, i guess.....

ciao!

cyclezen

Interesting, I like it, for thinking outside the box. Not being an engineer, aside from materials engineering, I'm wondering how the 'physics' of the operation is viable... Especially that area of steering, ergonomics and drivetrain. Mentally taking this a few steps further, why not have a design which has separate groups, for chassis/drivetrain, wheel/suspension, and human erogonoimcs - allowing interchangablility, depending on 'use' - sortta like what we have now... changing wheels with different tires, gearing for different uses. Like wheelsets for 'all road', 'gravel', etc... Like modular continuous wheel/belt assembly which quickly 'hooks' into a drivetrain/suspension chassis and quick change ergo/controls/human position modules. Lot of opportunity for companies to make some really expensive bikes !!! LOL! And for riders to spend some serious Dosh !
I can imagine, at some point in the 'future', we can see 'suspended' bicycles, variable transmission that will make our current bikes -road/gravel/mtb - all look like Stanley steamers.
My vision is certainly clouded by my own limits of view of what's possible. But just think of HG Wells vision, back in his day, of what's possible. The idea of a rocket to the moon with people on board. 20,000 leagues under the sea - HUGE!
Key is to keep the 'vision' focused on Human-Powered !!! And not be completely influenced by /motorized', as we are currently being influenced.
... I mean, this looks like a 'chopper'/BMX (bicycle MOTOcross - weaning for MOTOcross, rather than human-cross ... know-what-I-mean-Vern?....). IE - This one using the same pedals which are currently Ripping the CRAP out of my shins and calves, as I try to find reason 'why' flats are better the 'clipless' for offroad riding... 'Flats' are fast becoming 'not workable' for my offroad riding... Still giving them a chance, but my shins/calves are complaining mightily... LOL!
Ride On
Yuri

livedarklions

Just looking at it, I don't think it will be rideable. The front wheel doesn't appear to be able to turn. You can't balance a bicycle with a locked front wheel. As far as turning, this is a single caterpillar tread, there's a really good reason such treads always come in pairs.

Also, why is AWD supposed to be an advantage for bikes?

Cdst

I could fit 2 water bottles right in the middle of those handlebars.

Balancing a moving bike is affected by a few factors and the Youtube channel Veritasium did a decent dive into it recently. From his explanation, losing the gyroscopic stability wouldn't be a big deal.

My question is, with a single tread, why 2 brake levers?

PeteHski

Definitely not for real. I mean look at the state of the brake hose routing.

UniChris

I own an all-wheel drive cycling device. It's the essence of simplicity ;-)

As for this bit of reality-divorced rendering...

It's over something, but I'd call it whimsy more than engineering.

Oh, I suspect all those track guides in the center let it turn some. At a cost in wear and losses, of course.

It's not really a proof of anything but imagination, in particular, it ignores practical aspects much more fundamental than technology.

Most of those concept car aspects of 60 years ago have gone nowhere either.

Probably not, it's not very wide and the contact length isn't that much higher than an ordinary bike, since it's really more two wheels trying to share a common tire while maintaining the usual contact gap in between, than it is an actual crawler tread. We already have a simpler solution for that problem, the fat bike.

njkayaker

Look more carefully.

(Do you really think they would have put all that effort into the drive train and completely forget about turning?)

Kapusta

Some form of 2wd bikes have been around for a while now.

I don’t think they are solutions looking for problems. They are addressing a challenge that mountain bikers encounter (traction in steep and loose terrain). And from what I can tell, they do address those challenges well in many situations.

The problem is that the amount of times these challenges actually occur are a very small amount of the time you are riding. Simply learning good technique and body english gets you through a lot if these situations, so I don’t think there is really that much of a gap to fill.

Plus, fat bikes have largely addressed these traction needs, while offering additional advantages.

As far as this design in particular…. It seems far more complicated than current 2wd bikes with no added benefit that I can see.

I am also curious if there are other bike designs out there that steer by pivoting in the center like that one does. I have no idea how that would actually handle. Kind of like a fork with 1 meter of offset.

spelger

if they ever build it then yes, over engineered, might make more sense with a motor, just looks like it would be really hard to apply power.

i'd hate to fix a flat on that thing.

Troul 

wonder how they got the concrete in the gatorskin belt so pliable?

Kapusta

This poor crab is about to get its legs torn off....

Iride01 

Some of the concept cars were just outrageous flamboyant imaginations of the person doing the design of the body styling. But the features and technology those cars were supposed to bring to us are in use today in cars that don't look so outrageous. Some never quite made it into the automobiles today, but found a use in other industry.

UniChris

In a small minority of cases, but they were the quiet little things, that were actually useful, and could be achieved with the technology of the day but needed technological advance only to become cost effective, not to work at all.

livedarklions

I watched the video a couple of times, and have stared a bit at the renderings and model. Why do you think it pivots in the middle? It's clear from his handling of the model the thing is rigid.

This "concept" isn't even half-baked. I think he was showing off his 3D printing and rendering skills.

livedarklions

Concept cars are generally designed by people actually working in the automobile industry--this guy is a robotics engineer.

indyfabz

Flat pedals?

UniChris

Because it would obviously have to? (Though I would say "curves" more than "pivots")

Basic presumption - and yes, it is a presumption - is that the guy has unrealistic thinking in being unable to realistically weigh trade-offs, not that he's a complete and total idiot who's never ridden a bike at all.

Irrelevant when it's clear that the 3d print has no moving parts whatsoever.

Kapusta

I admit I assumed he knew the bike would need to steer, and that is the only way it could work for this bike (since there is no differential), and I thought the track guides in the middle were to accommodate that.

Though maybe not.....

njkayaker

The handle bar is supposed to be used to turn the front wheel. The tiny model doesn't show that.

???

The only movement shown (only in the video) was a front suspension thing. The thing has rails in the middle. It doesn't "pivot in the middle".

Nothing in the model works. It's just a sculpture.