Bicycles

Transport bicycle packs a storage compartment in the front wheel

Transport bicycle packs a storage compartment in the front wheel
The Transport bike, with a storage "trunk" located in the hubless front wheel
The Transport bike, with a storage "trunk" located in the hubless front wheel
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The Transport's front wheel is fitted with an open compartment made from lightweight PET-G plastic that's large enough to hold most backpacks
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The Transport's front wheel is fitted with an open compartment made from lightweight PET-G plastic that's large enough to hold most backpacks
The Transport's front wheel holding a backpack
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The Transport's front wheel holding a backpack
The hubless design keeps the center area stationary, so the tire can turn without spinning the trunk's contents around like a washing machine
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The hubless design keeps the center area stationary, so the tire can turn without spinning the trunk's contents around like a washing machine
The back wheel has a standard gear system
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The back wheel has a standard gear system
Unfortunately, while it may look nice, the current prototype of the Transport isn't actually rideable
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Unfortunately, while it may look nice, the current prototype of the Transport isn't actually rideable
Since they didn't have much of a budget for their project, the designers were forced to build the bike mainly from plywood and glue, with only a handful of steel supports in particularly breakable areas
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Since they didn't have much of a budget for their project, the designers were forced to build the bike mainly from plywood and glue, with only a handful of steel supports in particularly breakable areas
David Hotard, Matthew Campbell, and Edwin Collier developed the Transport for a studio course in bike design at Georgia Tech, which was sponsored by bicycle component maker SRAM
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David Hotard, Matthew Campbell, and Edwin Collier developed the Transport for a studio course in bike design at Georgia Tech, which was sponsored by bicycle component maker SRAM
The group's goal was to produce a bike that included of a "trunk" like you'd find in most other vehicles
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The group's goal was to produce a bike that included of a "trunk" like you'd find in most other vehicles
The group's goal was to produce a new take on the common bicycle that would appeal explicitly to urban commuters
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The group's goal was to produce a new take on the common bicycle that would appeal explicitly to urban commuters
David Hotard, Matthew Campbell, and Edwin Collier developed the Transport for a studio course in bike design at Georgia Tech
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David Hotard, Matthew Campbell, and Edwin Collier developed the Transport for a studio course in bike design at Georgia Tech
The Transport replaces the spokes on the front wheel with a handy storage compartment
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The Transport replaces the spokes on the front wheel with a handy storage compartment
The group believes the bike could appeal to commuters who value the extra storage space
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The group believes the bike could appeal to commuters who value the extra storage space
The designers built the bike mainly from plywood and glue, with only a handful of steel supports in particularly breakable areas
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The designers built the bike mainly from plywood and glue, with only a handful of steel supports in particularly breakable areas
The Transport bike, with a storage "trunk" located in the hubless front wheel
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The Transport bike, with a storage "trunk" located in the hubless front wheel
View gallery - 14 images

More and more city dwellers are taking to the streets on bicycles these days, but many of them run into the problem of how to carry things while riding. Most people will wear a backpack or attach saddle bags to their ride, but wouldn't it be easier if a bicycle had a built-in trunk instead? That's what three industrial design students wanted to find out when they made the Transport, a bicycle that replaces the spokes in the front wheel with a handy storage compartment.

David Hotard, Matthew Campbell and Edwin Collier developed the Transport for a studio course in bike design at Georgia Tech, which was sponsored by bicycle component maker SRAM. The group's goal was to produce a new take on the common bicycle that would appeal explicitly to urban commuters, with the inclusion of a trunk like you'd find in most other vehicles.

The hubless front wheel of the Transport consists of a large, round frame with a standard bicycle rim and six bearing fitted over it. As the bike moves, the wheel's frame stays in place while the tire rotates around it on the bearings, essentially using the frame as an over-sized axle and leaving the center of the wheel empty. Meanwhile, the back wheel has a standard gear system that provides motion when the cyclist pedals.

Where most hubless wheels tend to leave the center space open, though, the Transport's front wheel is fitted with an open compartment made from lightweight PET-G plastic that's large enough to hold most backpacks. The hubless design also keeps the center area stationary, so the tire can turn without spinning the trunk's contents around like a washing machine.

The hubless design keeps the center area stationary, so the tire can turn without spinning the trunk's contents around like a washing machine
The hubless design keeps the center area stationary, so the tire can turn without spinning the trunk's contents around like a washing machine

Unfortunately, while it may look nice, the current prototype isn't actually rideable. Since they didn't have much of a budget for their project, the designers were forced to build the bike mainly from plywood and glue, with only a handful of steel supports in particularly breakable areas. The most recent model is mainly for proof-of-concept purposes, though the group has stated plans to make one out of stronger materials in the future.

It's hard to imagine that a few books or a laptop sitting inside a wheel wouldn't affect the bike's handling, but the designers say they tested a regular bike with additional weight on the front and found it didn't hinder its performance too much. The group admits that even a fully functional hubless bike might not be as stable or cost-effective as a regular one with spokes, but they believe it could still appeal to commuters who value the extra storage space. They've also mentioned possibly remaking the compartment out of a wire mesh, to cut down on crosswind resistance and allow rainwater to drain from it.

Sources: David Hotard, Core77

View gallery - 14 images
17 comments
17 comments
Gadgeteer
Like all hubless wheels, this will have problems with sealing the bearings and faster wear from higher bearing rotation speed. If hubless wheels were at all practical, they would be on the market by now.
BZD
Silly and sad.
A bicycle is such an amazing thing because form follows function. When function takes the back seat to design for the sake of making something look different it is silly and when the item in question is something so perfect as a bike then the whole deal is just sad.
I'm all for new ideas and the later years have brought amazing tweaks to bicycles, but ignoring the laws of physics when trying to improve bicycles is a no go.
Yusuf Khan
Why not just have the basket at the side, or one at each side for better weight distribution (and that gives me a good idea for a DIY addition.) Also this wheel would make a too costly product and ruins the amazing "magic" of a hubless wheel.
Smitty Jl
Or simply wear the "Back" pack on your back as it was designed to be and take a vacation with the money you save.
Paul Adams
Not the finished article but might inspire something good in the future, nice try.
bergamot69
Whilst it is sometimes necessary to carry luggage alongside the front wheel, eg on long-distance touring bike, the bulk of the luggage is always carried on the rear of the bike, as this has much less of an effect on handling and stability.
Putting all of the weight of luggage over the front tyre is silly, and is compounded by the fact that the front wheel is effectively a solid disc, meaning that it will be adversely affected by wind, not to mention airflow from large urban vehicles such as buses and lorries.
So basically, not fit for purpose.
StWils
This is a gigantically bad idea as laughable as the spoof of Eddie Bauer some years ago proposing "Front Packs" to match up with backpacks for camping. BTW, there were reports of bumkins actually trying to buy some of them new front packs.
Nelson Hyde Chick
Cool, but I would hate to fix a flat, it must be a pain to do so.
TomorrowMan
Nice looking bike! However, I must agree with the other comment. Whoever designed the bike has never ridden disk-type wheels, ever! As an experienced Time-Trialest who has raced outdoors with racing disk wheels, I can tell you that the slightest bit of wind can cause the rider to lose complete control when using a front disk. This is the "steerer" front and adding saddle bags to the front causes even a greater percentage of the rider going down. The "Hubless" wheel can be made where air can flow through like some of the more aerodynamic carbon fiber wheels being used right now. Unless you are racing against the clock, who wants to concentrate so much on steering that you lose focus on where you are going or if you are going to get there! Back to the drawing board for tweaking the front wheel and moving the weight/bags to another location.
Bruce H. Anderson
Either the Noomad and S-Cargo would be my preference. An interesting exercise though.
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