Meet the "Wheel-less" Bicycle That's Breaking All the Rules and Turning Heads
By: Sarang Sheth (Yanko Design - Modern Industrial Design News)
Oh, look! It's a Biden cycle. Practically absurd or impractically possible?
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
If you're familiar with the square-wheeled bicycle from back in April, wacky YouTuber The Q is back with yet another proposition - Forget square wheels… what if the bicycle had NO wheels?
The US-based YouTuber pulls out all the stops with his absurdly fascinating videos. He's made the world's smallest bicycle, a bicycle with 60 tennis balls for tires, and even one with split, semi-circular wheels. The great part about all his experiments is that as bizarre they may sound, they still work at the end of the day… and you get the pleasure of watching The Q build out the bicycle concepts throughout the video, just in case you want to build your own wacky mode of transportation too!
Designer: The Q
While The Q's bicycle doesn't have wheels, it still relies on rotating elements that help push it forward. The bike comes with two sets of wheel belts, mounted at absurd angles to create one of the most attention-gripping silhouettes one could imagine. The way the Wheelless Bike works is sort of like a tank, with the rotating wheel belts driving you forward. Is it 'technically correct' to say that this bicycle doesn't have wheels? No, because it does have rotating elements all across the board… but it ditches those large rubberized wheels that make up the iconic bicycle's archetype.
Pedal away and the wheel belts rotate, carrying you forward. Don't expect to hit high speeds, given how small the wheel belt's curved radius is, but you can definitely expect a few curious stares and maybe a couple of questions from bewildered onlookers! Would I recommend riding this on rough terrain or a bumpy road? Probably not!
To build the wheelless bike, The Q found himself a bike frame sans the wheels. Instead of installing the conventional circular wheels, though, he used linear metal members with chains mounted on the rim, and a rubber tread around the chains, like the wheel belt seen on tanks. To have the pedals work this belt, The Q added another gear to the bike frame, connecting the pedals to the top of the rear 'wheel'. To secure the wheels in place, they were then fixed at two points, allowing them to hold their angular mounting position as you rode the bicycle.
The entirely silent YouTube video doesn't provide much scope for justification - for example, why angle the treads when you could make them flat like a tank for extra stability? Or why build something as absurd as this AT ALL? However, the 6-minute 47-second visual journey The Q takes on is quite a fun ride… just like his bicycle, I suppose!
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The transgender cycle is here ==>
You know Nerm, I found this interesting, but why make this political?
Preemptive.
A complete waste of time.
Or wait, maybe he is reinventing the wheel.
An interesting display of creativity and craftsmanship.
Ultimately, though, this is vastly inferior to the conventional bicycle.
Great conversation piece though.
Without a doubt. A great party question: "can you imagine a working bicycle that does not have wheels?".
So I watched the vid carefully, and I have to say, that it appears to have more stability. It might be better for city streets. Still, not sure about going around corners cleanly.
Good luck trying to go up a hill or incline on that thing.
The key problem is that you lose all the advantages of gliding down inclines. And it clearly will take more effort (work) to move oneself by moving a tread in the opposite direction than to simply rotate an axle.
If stability were the goal, I would make an adult tricycle.
You've been beaten to the punch. I've seen several of those around.
Yup, the motorized kind are especially interesting.
Some friends own one of the motorized ones. But I've also seen some pedal-powered ones. One man in our town seems to use his as his primary form of transportation.
Because of my heart condition I was going to get an adult tricycle. In fact I took it home with me after a short test ride. I had my doubts about it but the bike shop owner told me the issue I was having was just from my unfamiliarity with it. So I took it to the park and tried it out for about for about a mile. It is far more difficult to ride an adult tricycle than you might think ( it constantly pulls in the direction of the slightest incline or variation of the riding surface). So if you are riding ,lets say ,through a park where the surface is likely uneven in spots you have to be constantly pulling it back to a straight line, or you will end up in a ditch or hitting a parked car or something.
I took it back and got my money back. They cost about twice as much as a regular bicycle by the way.
The bike shop guy told me they pull to one side or the other depending on the surface flaws because there is no wheel in the back that is in alignment with the front wheel. He said you have to be strong and fight with it, and I said I'm not going to fight with my damn bicycle.
I have one. It’s recumbent. Very comfy, and probably faster than a two wheeler on flat or down-hill ground. However, it’s harder the get leverage going uphill. Also, being a 3-wheeler, you need to be careful in the turns.
How about Triangles?
Not sure if that is better than round.
I'm sure its not.
I would say no, but haven’t tried it either.
But it’s good to see innovation and experimentation is alive and well.
That thing looks very unpleasant to ride. What is the point beyond this guy showing us what a skilled craftsman he is?
I think the guy just enjoys the challenge of doing the atypical.
Totally.
Don't knock it till you've tried it I say.
Creative. Not better, but I think part of having a fruitful imagination is being willing to think of any idea, not just really good ones.