The hotly anticipated IF Mode folding bike had its American debut at ICFF, and Fast Company got a sneak peak.
The buzz behind the bike comes for good reason: It's the first folding bike with a full-sized frame and wheels, which is essential for commutes any longer than a couple miles. It's also the brain child of one of the most innovative bike designers alive, Mark Sanders, who previously designed the Strida and has always been obsessed with enabling easy hybrid commutes--for example, from a bike to a train to a bike then to work. Both the Strida and the IF Mode are distributed by Areaware, an excellent purveyor of design. Noel Wiggins, the company's head of product development and one of it's founders, showed us the magic behind how the IF Mode folds up:
Granted, it's currently priced at $2,250, but Sanders says that he's working on a lower price point, while Wiggins says that they're trying to hit $900--a magic number, for high-end bikes aimed at the mass market.
Related: Rides Like A Bike, But Folds Like Origami
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Related: 9 Cutting Edge Bikes for 2009
Read more Fast Company stories about ICFF 2009 here.
Related Stories: | Topics:Innovation, Technology, Design, Ethonomics, ICFF 2009, IF MODE, Strida, Areaware, bicycles, commuting, Carbon Footprint, Noel Wiggins, industrial design, Transport, transit, Mark Sanders, Noel Wiggins, Fast Company Magazine |
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Recent Comments | 3 Total
May 18, 2009 at 6:29pm by Lawrence III
Here's a slideshow demonstrating the way the IF MODE will arrive when shipped to your door...
http://ridethisbike.com/2009/05/first-look-production-model-if-mode.html
By the way, if you'd prefer not to wait a month or more, order your IF MODE full size folding bike here and you'll have it within 2 weeks:
http://ridethisbike.com/products/P-Cycles/IF-Mode-folding-bike.htm
July 25, 2009 at 2:36pm by Ram Chandran
Why do these guys think anyone would pay $2329.00 for a portable thing like this, its no more than a normal bicycle expect it has the folding feature.
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