Reinventing (everything but) the wheel

What will the next urban bike look like? Well, rooting around on the web we found this on Core 77 an industrial design website.  J.Ruiter, a design firm from Michigan, think it'll look like the above. and here's why.

"Our project, simplicity in inner city bicycling, was at first glance a fun aesthetic opportunity in new trends, color, and materials. Our target lived / worked in an inner city environment with minimal space. Bicycling at this level can be more about fashion and culture than speed and performance.", they say.

"After the first few brainstorm sessions we knew there where bigger opportunities. The project ended up rethinking what a “frame” meant, getting rid of basic key components, and creating a new type of compact bicycling. Inspired by the first "hobby horse" from it's simplicity and secondly the cafe race scene. Each is an exercise in stripping something down to its core."

Hm.

Not so stripped down to its core, it would seem, that the new urban commuter doesn't need suspension forks. And disc brakes. The starting point is obviously an MTB, although it's not at all obvious why, since that's hardly the best kind of bike to commute on. And then there's the rethinking what 'frame' means. That's not the only thing they're redefining, I'd suggest: the concepts of 'comfort', 'ease of use' and 'fit for purpose' have taken a bit of a beating too...

Good for wheelies though