I did not see him pedling at all, deal breaker if it's just a scooter. Looks like a prototype that will never get further, the cost for that many high quality hinges will put the manufacturing price way past a reasonable price point.
He doesn't have a chain connecting the pedals to the rear tire so its not really functional. Check out the video - he never pedals, and when he folds it you can see there is no chain.
You can't have a joint that changes the geometry between the rear hub and the pedals. On this bike there is a hinge and they end up being next to each other. On current folding bikes the hinge is forward of the pedals - the locking mechanism is usually the weak point, spend time improving that.
For this to work I think the drive-chain would have to be a jointed drive shaft. I actually ride an (un-jointed) drive shaft bike - very handy in very harsh winter conditions.
However, that sort of drive chain would add even more complexity and cost.
You absolutely can have variable geometry between the axle and bottom bracket -- most all rear suspension designs do it, and then have clever linkages to cancel out the force of the chain.
Fold up bikes are a great concept. There is one 'but' though, they are not nearly as robust as a regular bike and hopping a curbstone or a pothole can have serious consequences.
The pedals are usually a little lower over the road surface than on regular bikes and the wheels are small. They are also less rigid.
When I was a kid I would ride a fold up bike to school every day, for two years without incident, then one day one of the hinges suddenly gave way. It's very surprising to find yourself on two half bikes in the middle of a busy city intersection!
I had a Strida in London. It seemed like one of the best-designed folding bikes around: kevlar belt (instead of a greasy chain), folding and unfolding an A-frame bike took literally 10 seconds.
But here's the catch: the tires are all really small, so it's much trickier to balance, and it's much less comfortable than a full-size bike.
S&S bikes have been mentioned, but they aren't really folders they're simply bikes that are relatively easy to disassemble for travel whilst still offering a full sized bicycle and the stiffness and qualities that gives.
There are some small bikes along the Japanese "minivelo" style that require only minimal disassembly. Such as the Moulton TSR which is a fantastic bike with a ride quality not far from a full bike.
I would steer clear of the BSOs (Bike Shaped Object : http://www.outrider.org.uk/wiki/Bike_Shaped_Object ) that offer a folding bike for far too cheap a price. There's a reason those things ride like hell and don't have a good reputation.
I second KWD's recommendation of BikeFriday bikes. I have a Tikit folding bike. Its far more stable and durable than any other compact folder I've ridden and have taken it over curbs and through pot-holes without a problem. Basically the folding mechanism can't engage as long as there's weight on the peddles.
You will have some flex in the frame, but less in my opinion than other folding bikes I've ridden. All the issues with a lower slung frame still apply.
The killer features for me are: 1) I can fold it in about 5 seconds; 2) I can wheel it around while folded; 3) other than the frame it uses standard bike parts.
It all depends on how much folding you want. If you just want to be able to travel with it a bit more easily than a full size bike, you can do something like this:
S&S couplers are necessary for bike travel these days. Bikes now incur a $175 surcharge on any domestic flight I've been on in the past year. If you can get the bike into a suitcase you avoid the charge.
However, couplers on a real bike are nothing like a strida, brompton or bike friday tikit. These bikes are designed to fold up and unfold very quickly. They are also much smaller and can fit on public transportation where you're not allowed to take a full sized bike.
I used to cycle a lot when I lived in California. I knew several people that used a Bike Friday, and they were as durable and functional as a regular bike. I'd even see them on Century (100 mile) rides. http://www.bikefriday.com/
Why are they a great concept? Non-folding bikes aren't particularly heavy or unwieldy. Finding a place to park/lock your bike isn't hard in most cities (I think).
I guess I don't understand what problem a folding bike solves.
Probably in cities where crime rates are high. I've gotten 3 bikes stolen in SF already. The last 2 bikes used some heavy duty U-locks that almost cost as much as the bikes themselves. Some office buildings in SF don't let you carry a bike inside, but they don't care if you fold it up and stick it in a bag. Also, if you have a car, it's a lot easier to throw the folded bike in the trunk than taking apart the front wheel of a normal bike and squeezing it in the back.
In Amsterdam a friend of mine observed that the combined weight of bicycle and a lock strong enough to ensure that it will not be stolen is a constant.
We still haven't figured out the depth of this observation, does he mean that the lock is so heavy that the weight of the bike is negligible or does he mean that as the weight of the bike goes down the weight of the lock must go up...
(Wowza, if this guy completes his proof of concept, it would rock the foldable bike world.)
I just wanna jump in here, while our brains are thinking about foldable bikes, and say I have a foldable bike, and in less than 3 weeks it has already changed my life for the better.
I don't even have the nicest foldable bike, and I'm not what you would call a bicycle enthusiast.
I just completely get off on the extra independence the foldable bike gives me.
Basically foldable bikes allow for a lot more spontaneity than regular bikes:
* They are allowed ON Amtrak (US train system), like regular luggage. (If you have a full-sizes bike, you need to check to see if there is a special bike car, or worse, a box you need to use that requires removing some bike parts to make it fit.)
* They are allowed on every public bus system that I've tried in Oregon and California. Usually buses make you put your bike on the rack in front (oh yeah, check to make sure your route HAS a rack, and there aren't special rules.)
* They can easily fit into your friends' small cars without disassembly.
* You can bike yourself to exhaustion without worry if you have the energy to make the round trip, just put bike on any of the methods of transportation listed above.
* Depending on the bike you get, you can carry it into places that you'd never get away with.
* (This one is good or bad, depending on how you look at it. I'm more introverted, so i wish it weren't so true.) Foldable are bikes are quite the conversation starter, young and old alike.
No drive? The reassembly part of the video a reverse of the disassembly? I have an awesome gadget which refuels my car as I drive, or I will, as soon as I locate a black box with some wires and pipes sticking out of it, and splice together some video that shows the rev counter and speedo going the right way, while super-imposing the fuel gauge returning to full. Maybe I'm just a cynic and the video doesn't reveal all the secrets.
Folding bikes are nothing new, but if he's right about this one being able to 'take punishment', I'd buy one. My current folding bike is handy for taking on the T, but besides that, I call it the clown bike because of how it looks and how it handles.
Here is a Taiwanese site called international bicycle design competition http://www.ibdcaward.org (Sorry, this site doesn't show enough information for bike design), Anyway,we already have similar bikes in production for people who take to the train and subway. More information at http://www.brandingtaiwan.org/eng/index.aspx
Can't view all the details from this browser - don't the handle bars project outside the wheel cicumference, or can they be folded further?
Personally I think the emphasis on folding bikes which seems to there appears to be at the moment is wrong. We should be looking at properly connecting the bike with mass transit - trains and buses that are easily accessible for bikes/cyclists.
To sum this up: This 'bike' has neither a chain nor driveshaft nor belt, thus you can't pedal it. It also lacks the necessary structural integrity and -- as seen on reddit -- at least the rear brake most likely doesn't work. But hey: It has a neat design and you can pull it around when it's folded. What is this? A parody?
The IF Mode bike (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BD2lFgMfh2k) folds much faster and the pedals actually connect to the wheel. I've been told that they started selling them already, but they seem to be a bit pricey.
I used to have a folding bike made by Kama. Can't say it was very convenient. To get it inside an elevator, it took more time to fold it, than for the other kids to fit their regular bikes in. And the small wheels made the speed a lot slower.
Really slick... I especially like that you can wheel the whole package around while it's folded up. It looks like the chain is somehow internal to the frame?
Looks like it has too many points of failure i.e. the design ultimately sacrifcies rigidity and strength for convenience. Bicycles have to be extremely strong, or this happens:
