If your commute involves biking to a Metra station or the El, you know the hassles involved with storing your bike on a train. If the train is packed, or you're dealing with multiple cyclists in a train car, odds are it's going to be a pretty miserable transportation experience for everyone.
But a Chicago engineering company has designed a bicycle that might alleviate some of those problems. Great Scott Technology has developed the Occam Cycle, a foldable bike with no seat that becomes small and light enough to carry with you virtually anywhere. It folds up in less than five seconds and comes with bullhorn handlebars that are adjustable to a person's height.
The company has launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds for prototype development and production, with hopes of shipping to customers in July of next year. The Kickstarter launched on Wednesday, and GST is looking to raise $105,000. It has raised just over $6,000 as of Thursday morning.
The makers say the Occam is not much different than riding a regular bicycle, with the most common comment being that you use your arms a bit more than you would with a normal bike, according to the Kickstarter.
We studied existing folding bikes extensively and determined that more folds can be detrimental to the user experience. Complex and time consuming mechanisms cause riders to leave folding bikes in the unfolded, "riding ready", position all the time. Our goal was to minimize the effort of going between folded and "riding ready". In an effort to meet this goal the decision to remove the seat from the bike occurred early in the development process as we discovered that eliminating the seat greatly simplified the frame design, and reduced the required number of folds and weight of the bike.
Early Kickstarter backers can get the bike for $275 for a limited time. Once those are sold out, backers can purchase one for $325.
Image and video via Kickstarter.
