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'Stringbike' Replaces Bike Chain With Wire Pulley System

by Amar Toor on September 22, 2010 at 03:20 PM

stringbike
Meet the Stringbike, a new, chain-free bike that will solve all the problems you never even knew you had. Designed by a team of Hungarian cycling enthusiasts, the 19-gear Stringbike replaces the traditional chain apparatus with a significantly more complex wire and pulley system. Whenever a rider applies pressure to a pedal, a swinging arm swings back and forth on its shaft, and pulls the wire around a pulley system, which rotates the wheel. (See a hypnotic animation here.)

As Wired reports, the baroque bike also boasts a few extra benefits, including a pedal system that can be replaced according to your riding needs, as well as a rear wheel that can be removed and replaced within seconds. And, unlike common chains, the driving wire is made of a high-density polyethylene resistant to mud, water, dirt, sand and humidity.

While most of us have probably never questioned the traditionally asymmetric placement of a bike's gear system, the Stringbike's creators argue that this structural "asymmetry has been the source of lots of problems." What those "problems" actually are, however, remain unclear, although the creators claim that most of them are "unnoticeable" until you actually experience a symmetrical system. But, of course, they could just be pulling our chain.

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Tags: bicycle, biking, cycling, design, green, Hungary, stringbike, top, transportation

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