There are tons of folding bikes on the market, and more and more urban
commuters are grabbing their own to help with their urban lives. Folding
bikes add the convenience of being stowable to the convenience of
avoiding traffic and parking hassles. Add the convenience of being the
lightest folding bike in the world and you get the Hummingbird.
Hummingbird Folding Bike
Beginnings Of Folding Bike Innovation
Petre Cracium, designer of the Hummingbird, lives in a small studio-apartment in London, and he is a self-proclaimed "bike fanatic." In his free time, he is constantly on bike forums and working on his bikes. The Hummingbird idea was born when he realized that folding bike, while great to ride and stow, weren’t great to carry around when folded–they were too heavy.
What’s the use in having a bike that can be folded and stowed, if you have to lug around a heavy chunk of metal after the bike is folded? This question is what Cracium attempted to solve when he set out to create a lightweight, carbon folding bike–a bike that would be the best option for urban commuters.
Take Hummingbird On The Train
Hummingbird Features
First, and most obvious, the Hummingbird is a foldable bike. This means that traveling around the city is a snap. Whether you’re going a short distance and need only the bike, or you’re going across the city and need a combo of bike and public transportation, the Hummingbird gets you to your destination, and when folded, is small enough to be carried onto public transportation or stowed at your desk.
The folding system may be the biggest innovation on the bike. It is part of the reason the bike is so lightweight. The pivot for the rear triangle is located at the bottom bracket shell, and there is no tensioner. This lightens the system and also makes it more safe.
World’s Lightest Folding Bike
The material used to make the Hummingbird, carbon fiber, is one of the strongest, lightest materials available today. It is five times stronger than steel, twice as stiff and a third of the weight. This also contributes to the bike’s being the lightest around.
Speaking of being lightweight, as I’ve mentioned, this bike is the lightest folding bike the world has ever seen. The bike is less than 14 pounds. That’s about 6 pounds lighter than the lightest folding bike currently on the market.
Hummingbird Colors
However, the Hummingbird isn’t yet on the market. Craciun is currently running a Kickstarter campaign to fund production of the bike. You can visit the Hummingbird site to find out more information or pre-order one on the Kickstarter site.
