The Magazine of The Sierra Club
Bikes Reimagined: 3 Groundbreaking Designs
While we often marvel over the beauty and simplicity of the bicycle, we aren't usually surprised by new designs. Yes, shifting systems have become more complex, bikes are constantly becoming more lightweight, and styles have certainly changed. But the bike's basic structure — the fork, the frame, the wheels — has remained basically the same for years.
A few brave innovators, however, have decided to take a hammer to the classic bike — simplifying it, making it more efficient, and crafting it into a more versatile machine. These three groundbreaking new designs caught our attention.
For those of you who thought the fixed gear bike was too bare bones comes the bicymple — a chainless single-speed that looks like two unicycles fused together. This simple bike presents the rider with extra movement capabilities, a very light build, and as seen in the video below, a new way to revisit the bike. Josh Bechtel, the Washington-based designer of the bike, created a Kickstarter for the bicymple that was successfully funded for double the goal amount. Bechtel is now taking preorders for the bike.