# upbike upright bicycle concept industrial bicycle design concept (v1.0): an "up bike" - a personal transportation vehicle powered by utilizing every movement of the body in its full range of upright biomechanically optimal motion such a bike would allow one to 'sprint with wheels' - evoking the sensation of flying at ground level one sentence pitch: "like nordic rollerblading"or "striding with wheels" // image here: upright tensegrity bike concept (v. rough draft) robert what has discussed this at length by email with designer of the strida bike mark sanders and ey seemed to dig it here's a "little gazelle" workout machine in motion // video here perhaps such a bike could somehow utilize tensegrity to mirror and extend the biotensegrity model of the body; this would allow hands and feet to move independently of each other yet still provide movement power // image here: tensegrity icosahedron it's basically like speed skating with bike sized wheels // video here consider also the pullback motors seen in toy cars - and flywheels continuous and proportional dynamic tension could be one key; all muscles should be used in powering the bike at each and every point/cycle-moment of energy generation steering might be involve a combination of leaning andor foot/hand twisting vertical 'poles' (power transferring structures) may move across body in an elliptical motion // image here: like 'walking a bike' regarding the role of the pelvis; old bikes take one's own weight off the feet but disengage use of this weight-potential transfer to the wheels as power a fully upright bike would encourage - and indeed also require - more optimal posture (aka alexander technique) - no more the 'pinched neck' look of the hunched over bike rider possible design metaphors for such a bike: "break the traditional frame to release this inner (upright) bike"; tendons rather than muscles; generating 'nordic torque'; the idea of 'walking a bike' consider 'nordic walking with wheels' the use of smart ultra-light rheopectic materials - holistically; less about gears and chains and more about flexible free-floating integral structures generating elastic / bow-like power (possibly also electroactive) for such a design to work one needs to understand how muscles work in the body - and therefore reconsider one's (dynamic) relationship to/w/ frames - and wheels for some reason kolelinia's upright "halfbike" also appears to be going in the right direction - as is the bicymple - i've emailed them both with a link to this page (no response so far] image here: kolelinia company's "halfbike" upright bike project update submitted this design concept to design boom on wed 3rd sept 2014 at 19:16 gmt (update: design rejected] article title: upright tensegrity bike concept (published under category: design) abstract: a push bike for standing riders utilizing dynamic tensegrity an upright tensegrity bike uses buckminster fuller's concept of tensegrity enabling the whole upright body in its full range of dynamic motion to power it as with standing desks at work an 'upright bike' places the rider in a more ergonomically optimal position such a bike also uses smart (eg. rheopectic electroactive) materials to help generate motion visual metaphor: like (nordic) 'walking a bike' or 'striding with wheels' rather than simply another consumable product for mass production the idea of an 'upright tensegrity bike' is designed as a conceptual catalyst to be used for reconsidering the fluid inter-relationship between the body and the wheel; specifically how power and motion are and could be generated there is nothing remotely 'original'(tm) about this design. in many ways it already exists // republic of bob