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with wheels that small, it'd be a nightmare to ride on any surface except a billiard table.
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Also, since a bike stands up thanks to the gyroscopic stabilty offered by the wheels, I think it'd be tough to ride.
V
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Dangerous and impractical. Style over practicality,
In other words, Typical Clive Sinclair.
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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Don't think manufacturers of proper folding bikes will be too worried!!
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Sir Clive's been looking through the wrong end of the telescope again! He's come up with a folding bike that is brilliant at folding but of very limited use a bike!
It looks like it would be OK on smooth, level surfaces but show it a stone and it would probably have you over the handlebars. Probably it will find more customers than those Segway thingies.
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Also, since a bike stands up thanks to the gyroscopic stabilty offered by the wheels, I think it'd be tough to ride.
That's not strictly true - otherwise it'd be impossible to keep any bike upright at low speeds, particularly something with small wheels like a Brompton. Not pretending I know how a bike works, but I'm sure it's not just gyroscopes.
The problems with this bike in my mind are:
(1) Short wheelbase making the bike unstable and off-balance
(2) Tiny wheels causing the bike to grind to a halt whenever it hits a small stone in the road.
(3) Lack of pneumatic tyres on such small wheels
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Just looking at the A Bike, I get the feeling it might fold up when you don't want it to, and not in the way the manufacturer intended!
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It's surprising how much gyroscopic stiffness you get from a rotating wheel. I have used a bicycle wheel, holding the axle in my hands to demonstrate gyroscopic mechanics, and even when you are spinning the wheel slowly, it is still difficult to alter the direction of the spin axis directly - it's easy if you push in the correct direction!
Try it!
However, I agree, this small bike looks like it might be a bit difficult to ride.
Number_Cruncher
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They should bring out a C6.
The C5 was 20 years ahead of it's time.
The C5 was £399 in the mid-'80s, and I bet it could be made for that much in Asia these days, but be better too, due to better motor and battery technology. We also have 10x more cycle lanes on which they could be used legally and also lots of people these days are scared of carbon dioxide and other parts of the air, and believe buying goods like this would save them. I also think they should use stailess chains and solid tyres (or ones which don't perish)
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A bike stands up because it is our natural reaction to steer into a fall hence correcting it - once saw a bike made with a gear in the steering to make the wheel turn right when you turned the handlebars left - impossible to ride since you have to go against the instinctive reaction.
A cycle wheel is not heavy enough to have any serious gyroscopic effect at the speed it rotates - at least you won't find me riding one ith wheels heavy enough!
For this contraption it is dangerous to ride on the footpath (to pedestrians) and with wheels that small dangerous to ride on the road (to the rider)!
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The idea that a bike can use such small wheels is beyond me. I have a Bickerton folding bike that I originally kept on a yacht and now only use occasionally. It has a 12" front wheel and either a 14" or 16" rear wheel, but it is very sensitive and twitchy riding it compared to my main bike. The Bickerton was a fairly neat folding bike compared to many other folding bikes, and packed into a bag that could be carried with a little effort.
Although I have no need of another folding bike, I would never consider this A-bike due to its wheels.
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Roger
I read frequently, but only post when I have something useful to say.
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I'd a fairly conventional folding bike with 16" ? wheels and found that the quick release levers on the handlebars, frame etc. tended to do just that on bumps.
It was also very unstable and tended to lift the front wheel going up steep hills.
Sold it to an ex colleague who lived on the smoother flatter roads of Cheshire.
I actually then tried to fit a Sinclair Zeta battery powered drive to a full sized bike. Hardly contributed any thrust, made a dreadful shrieking noise and the whole thing virtually fell of the bike after I hit a few bumps.
Sent it back for a refund the next day.
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I wasna fu but just had plenty.
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