Las bicicletas son modulares, que es una de las razones por las que estamos vehículos más populares de la Tierra. Si quieres una relación diferente de engranajes, o llantas más fuertes, o más cómodo manillar, no hay mucho que un ciclista aficionado y un pequeño kit de herramientas no pueden hacer que suceda. Puede, con una tarde libre, incluso cambiar el cuadro de su bicicleta - aunque ahí radica una cuestión existencial: ¿Cuántas piezas se puede cambiar antes de que sea una moto totalmente diferente?
Una gran cantidad de diseñadores han tratado de responder a esta cuestión, evitando por completo. Han creado bicicletas que pueden cambiar con las diversas necesidades del piloto, haciendo cosas tales como la conversión de los pasajeros a pedales para robustos carros de la compra. Debido a un interminable necesidad de reinventar la rueda, la moto expansión / convertible es un experimento mental preferido de tiendas graves escandinavos de diseño, estudiantes de diseño español caprichosas, y - en bucle sin fin en mi feed de Facebook - los conglomerados lucrativos bebé-ciclismo.
- Evolution of Design
- Bicycles
Out of one bicycle, many
Designers have created a whole host of balance bikes that carry kids through the first years of riding, from the stylish bent-wood Wishbone to classics from Radio Flyer. LittleBig bikes is an Irish company that takes an extra step, converting from a small balance bike to a bigger balance bike with a clever rotation of the frame, and then on to a chain-driven pedal bike for kids up to 7 or so. Spanish performance bike manufacturer Orbea produces the Grow line of bikes, which expand as their riders do, though typically only for two years of growth — though the lightweight aluminum frames make for a child-friendly ride. Even bike manufacturing giants such as, well, Giant are in on the trend, with Grow Technology that offers cranks with two pedal positions and a frame that extends by 3.5 inches.
Infento in its many forms
But in the world of convertible, growing locomotion, the most droolworthy must be Infento. This modular kit handles kids from before their first steps (in wagon mode) all the way up to their teens (with a recumbent trike). Infento comes as one of four kits, each a box full of struts, wheels, seats, cables, and everything else you’d need to assemble any of a dozen different rides, from scooters to choppers to burly bikes — and that’s before you sub out snow skis for the wheels. The parts are designed to be assembled by parent and child together, scratching that erector-set itch while providing a decade or more of transportation options. And while we can’t imagine building a vehicle from piece-by-piece is easy, we can’t imagine it’s more frustrating than a 3,152-piece Lego Star Wars Super Star Destroyer — and when you’re done, you can ride it to the playground.
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