The designers’ imagination has no limit and that’s why we appreciate them so much at Futura! And the least that can be said of this concept is that its author has really “let go”. The Infinity Bike is a bike whose wheels are replaced by a single caterpillar which connects the front to the rear like an infinite loop.
We owe this idea to Stephan Henricha German designer who works at the confluence of thearchitecture and some robotics. The mechanism he devised for the operation of the Infinity Bike is as clever as it is elaborate. The internal structure of the caterpillar is made up of “teeth” which change function depending on the area where they are during the movement. Thus, when the caterpillar is on the rolling part, a system of guides makes it take a circular shape so that the teeth are tightened to offer the rigidity equivalent to that of a rim of bike classic.
And when the caterpillar passes through the center of the frame, it is “pinched” in order to spread the teeth which then act as notches driven by the crankset. Stephan Henrich even imagined a box of speed integrated into the eight-speed crankset as well as a front and rear suspension system.
The concept of Infinity Bike was born a long time ago, in 2009. But its creator says he received many marks of interest for this bike and believes that with enough and investment, it could become a reality. To be continued…