Objective
Goals • Object of this work is to provide -by means of product and process innovations- an advanced compactable bicycle, making it practical to carry along a bicycle aboard public transportation, easily, safely and for a large number of passengers. The ultimate goal is a synergic, intermodal integration of public transport and cycling, expanding the share of both modalities in the urban mobility. Drivers • Bicycling, very efficient in the short range, but not so on longer distances, could be re-introduced into daily travel to handle the trip’s end portions, enhancing the effectiveness of other modalities through an additive effect, re-balancing in a cost-effective way the modal mix in favor of micro-mobility and public transport. The state of the art doesn’t allow a collective, pervasive use of the folding bikes in “intermodal duty”, because of excessive weight and volume when collapsed -often exceeding the baggage limits of city bus and metros- discouraging their use out of practicality and safety on board. • The proposed research aims at providing a solution developing a fully engineered, production-ready, new bike typology, based on an innovative concept for a bike frame already tested on mock-ups and working models. The advantage over the state of the art is an unprecedented compactness (factor 6 over common folders) and low weight (factor 3) obtained combining a collapsible, pre-tensioned space-frame with a modern industrial process centered on the use of contemporary engineering plastics. The process innovation will also allow low cost, quality control, opening-closing automation, electric power assistance and last, but not least in a design-conscious world, aestethic value. The work program will develop a new supply-chain, assembling several application-specific know-how modules of mature and well known technologies, all commonly and economically available. • Both direct, project-specific, and extended, broadly applicable results are expected.
Fields of science
Not validated
Not validated
Call for proposal
FP7-SST-2008-RTD-1
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Funding Scheme
CP-FP - Small or medium-scale focused research projectCoordinator
CAP 10100 Torino
Italy