Adonis Diaries

Collapsiblele Bicycle: Cyclopse Not to fold under you… and Bike Generation

What is it?

Cyclopse is a collapsible bicycle. A clean, compact, lightweight urban mobility solution we developed this past year. It takes you around your city efficiently and in style while giving you a minimum amount of exercise. It’s intuitively collapsible, sustainable and is designed in a way that empowers commuters to get to their destinations: office, school, university even restaurants an outings in a fun and efficient way without taking up a lot of storage space.

Nour Sobh, civil engineer from the American University of Beirut, and Nabil Tabesh, craftsman with more than 20 years of experience in craft production, posted: Cyclopse: Collapsible Bicycle (cyclopse.henri@gmail.com)

Key Specs

• Sustainable/Clean – Made from recyclable plastic material in addition to aluminum alloy.
• Compact – Easy to store when commuting, in office or when traveling in the trunk of a car.
• Lightweight – Easy to carry on stairs or around buildings.
• Low Step-Over Height – Easy to mount / dismount, especially for ladies in a skirt.
• Innovative – Hub-less wheels, a reinvention of the bicycle’s archaic design.
• Vintage – classic handlebars and seat
• Easy to Maintain – Assembled with bolts and screws, without any welded components. Parts are easily replaced if damaged.
• Grease Free – Driven by a grease-less rubber belt (no greasy chain, no dirty clothes!)
• No License Required – Buy and ride with no delay or hassle.

Who are we?

Nour Sobh holds a civil engineering degree from the American University of Beirut whilst Nabil Tabesh is a craftsman with more than 20 years of experience in craft production.

We’re a couple of dreamers who want to change the way we commute in cities, particularly in Beirut where we both grew up and spent most of our lives. We want to provide an alternative to driving your car, and if you don’t have a car and use public transportation we thought maybe you should be able to commute without the hassle of the unstable public transportation system.

This project is more than just about producing a prototype. It’s part of my journey of self-exploration.

After a decade of designing crafts as a hobby, I left my corporate job to do things I’ve always wanted to do, one of which was producing this bike design particularly because it directly influences urban life. My aspirations partnered up with Nabil’s effort to make something out of nothing.

His passion is to build crafts from pure mechanics and away from electronics has been an age old one. He dedicates his efforts on this project to his bicycle-loving friend Henri whom he unfortunately lost a few years ago. The rise of the bicycling trend around Beirut was another factor of motivation towards the project. Calls for having pedestrians zones are springing out around the city and the Do It Yourself and entrepreneurship cultures are thriving, particularly Lamba Labs – Beirut’s Hackerspace in which I was involved with so I thought maybe the world does need a do it yourself bicycle?

Why?

Beirut is a relatively small city yet the capital and biggest in Lebanon. It’s heavily congested. The public transportation system is insufficient, non maintained and unreliable. The continuously soaring gas prices and the deficient job market prevent affording a car or a motorbike. The air and sound pollution storm the population every day.

Being late to everything became a fashion, and commuting is a stressful hassle. This project is an attempt to shape the future of commuting in Beirut, the Middle East and the world.

Where do you fit in?

Producing a testing model and prototyping a unique collapsible bicycle isn’t cheap. We’ve built a conceptual model and exhibited it in Beirut Design Week 2013 last June. But at this point we lack the raw material. Cyclopse has little to no conventional components that can be procured directly from the market, particularly the wheels, so there is a need to cast molds and build most of it from scratch.

By supporting our project you will be part of a movement for positive change in the way we get from home to work – helping to provide a seamless way to use public transportation and lessen our dependence on single occupant automobiles. As well as helping to radically change our lives that are partly occupied by long stressful waits in traffic jams and related delays. You will feel better, and more connected to your community by riding a bike, it provides a light workout, reduces stress, forces you to get fresh air and sun and therefore increases happiness.

This folding bike will empower you to widen your commuting options;Even if your distances are far, you can cover part of them through carpooling with friends or public transport, and the rest of your trips can be done by bike. The best part is that it’s foldable so compact, and light so you can take it almost anywhere.

Every Bit Helps!

So far, we’ve been funding ourselves but now we need your help, and every dollar counts! You can contribute to bettering transportation methods and being a part of our project. But if you believe in what we’re doing but can’t help us financially, you could spread the word tell your friends, Like and Share our Cyclopse page on Facebook, and tweet or blog freely about it as long as you let us know in the comments. Feel free to contact us for more details on: Email: cyclopse.henri@gmail.com or Facebook.

How will your contribution be used?

Our funding goal of $13,000 will allow us to have a prototype up and running. If we hit our goal, those who have pledged with be kept in constant communication until Cyclopse is done. Please follow our progress on Facebook and thank you for your consideration in supporting our project.

Special Thanks goes to our partners in crime: Moussa Shabandar for the filmography, Sara Takkoush for the graphics, George Tabatadze for the initial renders and the friends that encouraged us and pushed us to do this, you know who you are you awesome people.

Bike generation shared Green Wheals photo