Ever felt like taking your bicycle with you onto a plane, or carrying it with you in a lightweight backpack? This is now possible thanks to an Italian innovation, the Sada Bike.

This folding bicycle makes optimal use of a well-designer frame to fold down neatly into a pack about the size of a thick umbrella. The two wheels are about 66 cm across – slightly smaller than standard European city bikes – and include another surprise: they have no spokes.

Clearly, this design is about rethinking the bicycle. Of course, we have all seen folding bicycles before. Now, the Sada Bike, named after its inventor, Gianluca Sada, includes a host of other novelties that are worth taking a look at.

For a start, the construction is of an aluminium alloy which reduces weight while maintaining strength. Of course, this helps with carrying the load, but also means that the bike’s central structure, the frame, can be kept to a small size.

More impressively, the aluminium alloy used means that the wheel weight is kept down. This is important as the load-bearing strength of the wheels is all in the rim. The wheels are truly special as they feature neither a hub nor spokes.

The frame fold up tight through a fairly simple push action. It would perhaps be a better concept still if the frame would fold up to fit within the wheel rims, for tighter packing. Still, the overall design is highly imaginative. The frame is anchored to the wheels using clamps, and the chain powers a small driving wheel attached to the outside of the rear wheel.

Overall, it is the materialisation of the bike that makes the design work. Using lightweight and strong materials again make for a winning combination when applied to clever design.

 

Images via Sada, the inventor.