There is a very distinct lack of integration in regards to both public transport and personal transport and commuting in majority of places across the globe. With growing green consciousness and awareness of eco-commuting, it is only obvious that more and more want to take up cycling as a medium of commuting over a short distance. But the problem with this seems to be that public transport providers are both reluctant to let the bikers carry their bike in their vehicles and even people are too lazy to do it.

The Suitcase Bike seems to offer the perfect solution for that. With an attempt to change such a situation bike enthusiast and designer Gosha Galitsky set to design a bicycle which will operate seamlessly with public transport. It might not fold to the smallest possible size as other bikes of the same nature do, but when it is folded, there are no sticking-out wheels, sprockets or cables that can get entangled with other passengers and make them dirty. The delicate (and greasy) components are all enclosed inside the suitcase-like body of the bicycle, forming a neat rectangular package that can fit easily between your legs when you ride the subway or on the luggage rack in the train.

You can even lock the Suitcase Bike in place so you can snooze through your commute without worrying about the bike being stolen. When you get off and need to get out of the station, the bike can be easily dollied along using the small front wheel. And when it is unfolded, you can ride it just like any other bicycle. Gosha says that the design process of the Suitcase Bike started from some 200 sketches and variations, a steel mockup was welded to test the strength of the proposed frame. Then the design was transferred into a CAD program and developed into a fully working 3D model, and in parallel a working (ride able and foldable) prototype was built out of scrap bicycle parts and CNC machined folding fixtures. Gosha is looking for prospective investors and being both auto and eco fanatics we surely hope he finds them very soon to make his Suitcase Bike a commercial success as well!

[Thanks: Gosha Galitsky]296573