You can't keep a good British eccentric/inventor down. Take Sir Clive Sinclair, for example. According to The Independent:
Sir Clive Sinclair is about to take to the roads again, two decades after his electric tricycle the C5 flopped so spectacularly.
The Cambridge inventor will usher in what he describes as a new era in personal transport next month when he unveils his latest product - the world's lightest portable bike.
Weighing in at just 12lbs and small enough to fold up inside a rucksack and stow on the luggage rack of a train, Sir Clive claims the A-Bike will revolutionise urban commuting.
Actually, the forthcoming release has been a few years in the making with Guy Kewney reporting on the development of the A-bike back in 2004:
The A-Bike is - according to Reuters, the world's smallest and lightest folding bike (or so says Sinclair!) and the picture (courtesy Reuter) shows that Sir Clive himself (admittedly, a keen amateur athlete) has no problems holding it in one hand.
It looks like this will just about be a bike that people can carry "around on their arm like an umbrella".
The Independent continues:
The A-Bike is made of heat-treated aluminium, folds in three places and sports tiny buggy-sized wheels, which is not obviously suited to pot-holed urban streets. However, a spokesman insisted that the bike had been road-tested and would be suitable for UK roads.
Yeah, I reckon there's something in that. But I don't think comfort of ride is a major concern for a vehicle like this – it's obviously intended to let people make short rides and easily mix their modes of transport. Speaking to Kewney in 1992, Sinclair said "You'd be able to take it into the train even if they had a 'no bicycles' policy".
I guess he's done his market research (then again perhaps not) so there must be a market for this sort of vehicle, but (to play Devil's Advocate for a sec) I'd have thought anyone who wanted that sort of transport would probably already by satisfied with a folding scooter?
Previous attempts
Sinclair's got a thing for personal transport: the C5 was a futuristic (for 1985) single-person electric trike and the Zike was an earlier attempt at a folding electric bike - a commercial flop but now a collector's item.
Well I wish the old fruitcake good luck with the latest incarnation. I don't think it's my sort of machine but one of the things I love about bikes is the way people keep on tinkering and innovating with them.
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Comments
It's a nice idea, but I think the small wheels would make it a bit of a dodgy proposition on anything but the smoothest of pavements. But it might be ok for short trips, which is probably what it was designed for.
Yeah, I think the "carry it around on your arm like an umbrella" line gives away the intention: it's a back-up bike for those times when you'd say "if I had my bike with me I could be there and back in 5 minutes". It's a niche to be sure, and it'll be interesting to see if it's big enough to make the A-bike a go-er. I must admit, I won't be rushing out to buy one.
Hi everyone, I just got my Sinclair A-Bike and it's great fun! The world's lightest bike at 5.5kg and looks so cool :)
I wouldn't use it for anything more than a 5 minute ride, but it's better than you'd think from looking at the photos. They are now in Selfridges if you want to try one first, and there's also a dedicated forum for it at
http://www.abikecentral.com
The main things that need improving are the handlebars are too short, and so is the seatpost!
It gets comments from people everywhere you go, and is a great conversation starter. Would be very useful for anyone wanting to attract the ladies ;-)
Does anyone else here have one yet? What do you think?
Harry
Have you seen the www.zikebike.com site just great
That's cool (in a daggy kind of way).