There's a tradeoff with folding bikes – if they're going to fold down into a small package, then they need to have small, often-impractical wheels. That's where the tuck bike comes in, as it has full-size 700c wheels that actually fold along with the frame.
The tuck bike was invented by Alex Animashaun, a California-based chartered mechanical engineer who is originally from London. He previously helped develop hybrid cars for Jaguar Land Rover, and got the idea for the bike when working in Kenya for automaker Mobius Motors.
Currently in prototype form, the tuck bike can reportedly be folded or unfolded in under two minutes. And yes, that includes the wheels, which are clad in airless foam tires. But just how is that wheel-folding action able to happen?
"Imagine you have a pizza in front of you, cut in three slices," Animashaun tells us. "The tuck bike wheel folds by lifting one piece, twisting it around and stacking it on the other. Do that again and you three slices stacked together. The wheel is locked at each rim joint and at the hub. The rim joints have a clamp that you slide in and out of place then tighten. The hub has a simple clamp."
Once its wheels and frame are folded down, the singlespeed bike can be pulled along on a built-in set of caster wheels. The whole thing reportedly tips the scales at 14 kg (30.9 lb).
Plans call for the tuck bike to be the subject of an upcoming Kickstarter campaign – potential backers can register for updates via the Source link below. We're told that its estimated retail price is in the range of US$1,600 to $2,500.
The folding mechanism is demonstrated (albeit briefly) in the following video. And for another example of a folding wheel, check out the Revolve.
Source: tuck bike via Designboom
