Mark Sanders sent me a link to an article that recently appeared in the UK based magazine Design Week. The article is about the design of folding bikes, a subject that Mark knows quite a bit about (you will notice that he is quoted several times in the article). For those of you who don’t recognize his name, Mark is the designer behind the Strida and Swivel-head bikes, which won two out of the 4 top places in the Complete Bicycles Awards Category TBEA awards at the Taipei Cycle show this year. The picture here shows his bikes, Swivel-head to the right and Strida to the left, on display at the Taiwan show.
Anyway, I am starting to get a bit sidetracked. Back to the article, titled “Wheel Appeal”, which was written by A to B editor and folding bike guru David Henshaw. You can view it or download a pdf of it here. The intro states that “Folding bicycles have been a part of commuters’ lives for years, but despite their technical complexity, the market leaders are decades-old designs. David Henshaw questions why there is little real design innovation today.” Very interesting subject matter; thanks for the tip Mark.
While I am on the subject of folding bikes, check out this special edition customized version of the Puma Urban Mobility Bike that comes in 6 different colors. The proceeds from the sales of these bikes will be donated to victims of the March 25th earthquake in the Hokuriku region of Japan. I saw a link at Bike Hugger that pointed to the original post at BoingBoing.
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