'flex' by ran amitai 'seoul cycle design' competition shortlisted entry

‘flex’ by ran amitai

‘flex’ by ran amitai from israel is one of the shortlisted design entries from more than 3000 participants in our recent designboom competition, ‘seoul cycle design 2010’, organized in collaboration with seoul design foundation.

the design of the compact city bike aims to achieve a holistic aesthetic by reducing visual noise: the back fork is combined with the chain cover and the frame’s form is monolithic rather than a sum of different parts.

designer’s own words:

‘flex’ is a compact city bicycle. the intention of the design is to create a bicycle that has a whole form, as opposed to a normal bicycle which has many parts that are completely separated in terms of aesthetics. to achieve this, I did two things: one was to create a monoblock form instead of many mechanical connections; and two, I combined the back fork with the chain cover for one element, which reduces the visual noise and creates a new iconic look. the brakes are located in the back wheel and operated by reverse-peddling. the handle bars are narrower than usual in order to achieve better transferability in crowded urban conditions. the body is made of carbon fiber which was formed on top of the fixed mechanical elements and still allows access to change old parts.

profile

back fork / chain cover detail

front fork details

— for those who wish to republish an excerpt of this article, please have the courtesy to mention that the project is a part of the seoul cycle design competition, organized by designboom in collaboration with seoul design foundation, and link back to the original publication on designboom. thank you.