Now You Are Just Being SILLY!

Calling all urban-transport alternativistas! Your ultimate statement for differentness may have just arrived with the aptly named “HALFBIKE”, a think-outside-the-box velocipede (bike, to the rest of us), a device that allows you to jog and cycle at the same time.

The design which is essentially a Frankinstein-esque marriage of tricycle and miniature elliptical trainer is the minimalistic brainchild of Bulgarians, Martin Angelov and Mihail Klenov, a pair of architects bent on reshaping urban transportation.

“It’s fun to ride, provides great exercise and is very light and compact,” Angelov said. “It fits in most places that would be too tight for a regular bike, like a car trunk or an elevator. You can also take it aboard public transportation, which allows for a faster commute.”

Weighing in at a mere 9 kilos, the folding ‘bike’ measures 120cm tall and 40cm wide, and is made from a frame of welded aluminium and an impregnated plywood ‘handlebar’. The bike comes in three different sizes, but as of yet there is no multi-gear option to help you get up hills and thus we can only assume that the bike will be most seen in flat countries.

The Halfbike was started via yet another Kickstarter campaign which raised US$82,000 to fund the product development and is already being manufactured by MBS Mountainboards in the US of A, and can be purchased for a not-too-shabby US$999.

“The inspiration came from a bike-design competition that I took part in several years ago,” Angelov explained. “I love optimising things to an extreme. We spent quite a lot of time prototyping, making a total of four or five completely different frame types. After trying more than a few handlebar designs, we finally had a Halfbike."

“Our main target is active people who are curious about exploring new modes of transportation and having fun in the same time,” Angelov said. An enjoyable, low-impact, eco-friendly way to get around? Maybe…but we think that this reimagination of the faithful old bicycle will probably fall by the wayside. 

image: halfbikes.com