Support road.cc

Like this site? Help us to make it better.

Back to news
news
Thin bike - space saving skinny bike for city spaces + videoThin bike screen grab.jpg

Thin bike - space saving skinny bike for city spaces + video

Simple clever design points to urban bikes of the (near) future
by Tony Farrelly
Thu, Aug 19, 2010 15:10
10

Here's one of those ideas that's so simple and yet so clever you wonder why no-one has thought of it before*, the Thin Bike. It's the brainchild of of Treehugger founder Graham Hill and it's designed to help those, particularly city dwellers, who have to accommodate bikes in confined spaces, but anybody who parks their bike in a hallway would find it useful too. We'll let Graham explain the concept in the video below.

Graham, who's other bike is a Strida wanted a bike that was faster and more fun to ride, but which again didn't take up too much space in his sixth floor apartment. He got in touch with German bike maker Schindelhauer who specialise in fixed and singlespeed machines, (we saw them at Eurobike last year) and asked them to custom build him something.

At first sight the resulting looks pretty close to the Schindelhauer belt drive but it has a few extra refinements that turn it in to the Thin Bike – well two, a really cool Speedlifter rotating stem and some MKS folding pedals which immediately turn the bike into a much slimmer storable package. Because it's oil free the Gates Belt drive adds extra in-house friendliness meaning you can park the bike up in a hallway or wherever without he belt side against the wall without fear of marking it - which is the problem with a chain driven bike… the downside there is of course that that the chain and more particularly the chainset are likely to leave their marks on unwary passers by.

As he explained to Treehugger, Graham had been working on his own design for a rotating stem when the guys at Schindelhauer found the Speedlifer and suggested that.

Given that all of the parts that make the thin bike, thin, are available off the shelf and the Speedlifter is retrofittable it will be interesting so see how long it takes other bike companies to come up with their own thin bikes - who knows maybe some already have? We'll be on the look out at Eurobike when cycle companies from across the world get together to show off their wares.

Thin bike
Speedlifter
Schindelhauer
Tony Farrelly

road.cc's founder and first editor, nowadays to be found riding a spreadsheet. Tony's journey in cycling media started in 1997 as production editor and then deputy editor of Total Bike, acting editor of Total Mountain Bike and then seven years as editor of Cycling Plus. He launched his first cycling website - the Cycling Plus Forum at the turn of the century. In 2006 he left C+ to head up the launch team for Bike Radar which he edited until 2008, when he co-launched the multi-award winning road.cc - finally handing on the reins in 2021 to Jack Sexty. His favourite ride is his ‘commute’ - which he does most days inc weekends and he’s been cycle-commuting since 1994. His favourite bikes are titanium and have disc brakes, though he'd like to own a carbon bike one day.

Add new comment

10 comments

Avatar
Pub bike | 10 years ago
0 likes

An alternative solution that is not quite so convenient (but a lot better if your stem is almost slammed) is to get a 28.6mm steerer clamp and put it under your stem.

28.6mm steerer clamps are quite hard to find but it is possible to get a 28.6mm seat-tube clamp and file away the flange that normally sits on the top of the seat tube so that the inside is flush.

To fit it, insert under the stem, adjust your headset, and then tighten the bolt on the collar and then the stem bolts.

When you need to twist your bars, loosen the bolts that tighten the stem to the steerer tube, and twist your stem out of the way. It is not necessary therefore to adjust your headset.

I think I read this on Sheldon Brown. It is great for touring when your bike has to be packed down.

Avatar
Kim | 14 years ago
0 likes

Another silly solution in search of a problem. As some who lives in a third floor flat with three bike I know that this is not the solution, what we really need is more secure cycle parking at ground level.

Avatar
Tony Farrelly | 14 years ago
0 likes

yeah, apparently that occurred to him too afterwards, but it was too late + the range of colours on the Schindelhauers I saw on their stand at Eurobike ran from white to ball burnished alu to, er that's it. So maybe he didn't have much choice. I'd have gone the ball burnished route myself though

Avatar
scook94 | 14 years ago
0 likes

Looks like a ghost bike... 2

Avatar
Mr Sock | 14 years ago
0 likes

Designed or not, it's a helluva a lot more useful to a heck of a lot more people than the Copenhagen Wheel

Avatar
Tony Farrelly | 14 years ago
0 likes

As far as I can see miffed there's nothing to stop you turning your current bike into a thin…ish (maybe a slim) bike, you can't retrofit the belt but that only adds cleanliness in to the mix, there's a link in the story to the Speedlifter faq page, think you can buy one of the stems direct and you should be able to source a pair of folding pedals fairly easily. If you do, send us a pic

Avatar
miffed | 14 years ago
0 likes

Thats pretty ace. My bikes take up loads of room in my flat and for a commuting bike would be brilliant. As for did he design it who really cares, its a good idea and if it means that its possible to buy a thin bike i for one would be impressed. I just hope you can get it as a fixxie

Avatar
David French | 14 years ago
0 likes

He goes, "I designed it last year." Followed by saying all the individual parts were already made by other companies.

39

Avatar
Tony Farrelly replied to David French | 14 years ago
0 likes
David French wrote:

He goes, "I designed it last year." Followed by saying all the individual parts were already made by other companies.

39

yes, got to say I did think 'designing' was maybe stretching things a tad, but fair dos for putting both those things together on one bike, as I said in piece the Schindelhauer doesn't look that different to the one we saw at Eurobike but hey! Let's be generous 1

Avatar
MikeyF | 14 years ago
0 likes

Nice but not exactly a new idea. The Airnimal Joey and Mike Burrows' 2D bike are both made for narrow spaces.

Latest Comments