Don’t be embarrassed by ugly fitness equipment in your room anymore!
Ciclotte might just be the first designy exercise bike. Designed by one of Milan’s leading designers, Luca Schieppati and made by the Italian Lamiflex Group, Ciclotte is like another piece of contemporary furniture in your home. Complementing your existing modern space, the gym-standard training machine is only 121 lbs, so it is easily movable from room to room.
The large wheel is the main focus of Ciclotte. Reminiscent of a 19th century monocycle wheel, the bike features sleek design elements such as the carbon handlebar, a touch screen display, and stylish supporting fins for stability.
Just because it’s pretty doesn’t meant it won’t perform. It is designed to reproduce the dynamics and performance of road cycling and is ideal for high intensity spinning workouts. Ciclotte uses an epicycloid system, which works by generating a concentrated magnetic field using a copper ring that is rotated at a high speed in front of five magnets. The resistance is controlled via the touch screen.
Ciclotte is the evolution of the product Ciclò, an innovative prototype of a city bike-wheel, which after having participated in several international exhibitions is now part of the permanent collection on display at the Triennale Design Museum in Milan.
Ciclotte will likely retail for £6,800 (read: not cheap) and is available in Carbon, Silver, and Purple. The bike will be launched in the UK at 100% Design from September 23-26, 2010 at Earls Court, London.
anne on 08.23.2010 at 14:29 PM
It might be cool looking, but it isn’t functional. They didn’t think this out at all. How is it usable as an exercise bike. Think about sitting on that and pedaling. It won’t work. This is a BAD design.
Albert on 08.23.2010 at 14:41 PM
anne, care to elaborate?
The concept seems to be sound. The seat is in the right position in relation to the pedals and handlebars, assuming there’s some range of adjustability along the ring body.
I’d suggest that the hand grips be positioned horizontally at least at the ends, to mimic the regular grip of a bicycle.
The resistance system is proven, and I like that there’s the potential to have no fast rotating parts exposed.
anne on 08.23.2010 at 14:50 PM
I’m just comparing it to my own upright exercise bike that is sitting in front of me. It doesn’t look like enough of an angle between the seat and the pedals. It looks like there would be too much strain on the knees or have to be used by really short people. Hehe.
The design/shape is fantastic. I just wish the pedals were in a different location on the bend. Perhaps it would be neat if they were adjustable to where the user wanted them. Maybe they are, I might have skipped over that part in the description. For example, this bike could double as a recumbent or an upright. I prefer the upright where my husband likes the recumbent. This way we could share one bike.
Like I said, it might be in there, I might have missed it, but it seems like they missed a lot of opportunities with this design. The hand grips were something that jumped out at me too. There is no design thought to those. I trip, I stab my rib cage out.
Bicycles Mark on 08.24.2010 at 15:32 PM
The geometry is sound and magnetic resistance is relatively quiet…. the main issue with indoor trainers.
Completely agree about the bars though – a ‘performance road bike’ has at least 4 hand positions for good reason, arm fatigue is a big issue.
Above all it doesn’t actually do anything better than existing design.
trish on 08.25.2010 at 15:39 PM
this looks so unsafe, i would be scared to get on it.