Folding bikes, like the amazing Brompton, are brilliant feats of engineering, but they're complex and expensive.

A simpler solution is the Reduced Bicycle. It doesn't fully fold up like a Brompton but it does get a bit smaller, very simply. It can do this because the crossbar can be detached from behind the front forks and hinged down, allowing the rear wheels and supporting forks to pivot forwards via a second hinge point at the pedal crank location.

This has the net effect of reducing the entire length of the bike by about a third. It's not a tiny package like a Brompton, but it can now more easily fit into the boot of a small car etc, and it only takes a few seconds to re-compose securely to its original size.
-- xenzag, Feb 02 2018

While I couldn't agree more that sideways-hinging bikes violate the laws of nature, I don't think your idea's going to get more than say a 15% length reduction from a normally-proportioned machine.
-- FlyingToaster, Feb 02 2018


I thought this would be a compound you mixed with an Oxidised Bicycle, to create some kind of bicycle thermite reaction.
-- Wrongfellow, Feb 02 2018


// bicycle thermite //

AHAHAHAHA ! HAHAHAHA ! MUHWHAHAHAHAHAH !!!

Ahem.

<manic twitching and giggling>

Magnesium bicycle frame filled with thermite. What's not to like ? Arrive at destination, pull igniter cord, "FRRRRWHOOOOOOOOSSHHHHH ...." - no more bike.

If you're going to put folding elements in the structure, you might as well do a proper job. Making it fold "just a bit" actually adds weight and decreases strength (a little) - cost/benefit analysis ?
-- 8th of 7, Feb 02 2018


Surely a reduced bicycle would be an icicle?

Also, let us pause for a moment to not forget the Brompton cocktail.
-- MaxwellBuchanan, Feb 02 2018


Surely a unicycle fits the bill?
-- RayfordSteele, Feb 02 2018


You're too kind, [8th]. Lock it to something in an obviously defeatable manner, set igniter cord trigger to respond to lock removal, THEN no more bike.
-- normzone, Feb 02 2018



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