A Narrow-Track Tilting Tricycle With Variable Stability That the Rider Can Control Manually

Many health, environmental, and quality-of-life benefits due to cycling have been identified, including exercise, zero-emissions, reduced pavement requirements compared to cars and busses, and nearly silent operation. A significant fraction of the population, however, is unable to join in this activity with traditional upright bicycles, including people with balance or joint limitations caused by injury, disease, or age. One solution to these ergonomic difficulties is the recumbent bicycle, but many riders find them difficult to balance and steer because of several factors, including center of mass location and distribution. Another solution, the recumbent tricycle, must have a wide axle track and/or low center of mass for lateral stability when turning, which requires more pavement and creates more aerodynamic drag than the bicycle equivalent. We present a solution that aims to combine the best attributes of these vehicles and eliminate the drawbacks: a tilting tricycle with variable stability that the rider can control manually. It balances and leans into corners like a bicycle when going fast, and it balances and stays upright like a tricycle when stopped or going slow to reduce the steering burden on the rider. Between these two extremes, the rider can finely adjust exactly how docile a bicycle it mimics.

It’s not just about speed: Reviewing the recumbent bicycle once more

Why did the recumbent bicycle never become a dominant design, despite the fact that it was faster than the safety bicycle on the racetrack? Hassaan Ahmed et al. argue in their recently published paper that the main reason for the marginalization of the recumbent bicycle was semiotic power deployed by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI). Here, I demonstrate that the authors drew their conclusions from an incomplete application of the Social Construction of Technology (SCOT) framework. Understanding the diffusion of alternative bicycle designs requires considering more than speed, and more than the UCI as a powerful actor. The recumbent bicycle was fast, but rather tricky to ride, and was not really feasible for the transport needs of the working classes, which constituted the most relevant social group of bicycle users during the 1930s.

Design Specification Determination with Collaborative Approach for Indonesian Short Wheelbase Recumbent Bicycle

Determination of specification for product development is useful, as it includes an overview of product-related information. However, it is not an easy thing, especially for new and innovative product. In the view of designer as the subject who has never made the product, he needs to work closely with the manufacturer so that the concept can be designed to become a feasible product. In addition, in order to reduce product design life cycle and minimize design errors, the designer needs to communicate and collaborate with the manufacturer. This research proposes a design specification based on the paradigm of Concurrent Engineering (CE) from Collaborative Product Development (CPD) strategy in the development of a new ergonomically designed Short Wheel Base (SWB) Recumbent Bicycle. This collaborative process involved an expert from bicycle practitioner which already had experience in building custom bicycle. The result of this study is a frame set design of the bicycle which considers human anthropometry and the detail list of its components. Beside of that, the process of collaboration with practitioners bicycle produces 37% change in the components used and 3 changes in shape of design SWB Recumbent Bicycle.