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“Only crazy people will buy this bike,” admitted Che Jing at Eurobike. He’s the CEO of IDSG Engineering of Singapore, and co-designer of the MC2 “Multi-Configuration Cycle.”
He added: “If you are shy you will not buy it. But if you like all eyes to be on you, you will buy it.” The MC2 certainly attracted a lot of attention at Eurobike. The price also turn heads: it costs $10,000, with no plans to release a cheaper model this year. “Maybe next year,” said Jing.
Billed as “the world’s first transforming bike,” the MC2 is equipped with “Transform and lock” quick-release levers on the frame which allow the bicycle to be reconfigured as a recumbent, and even as a penny-farthing style machine albeit with carbon fibre handlebars and saddle. The wheels – one large, one small – can be switched within the frame. (For history geeks, that means the MC2 can be made to look like both a penny-farthing and an American Star circa 1881, i.e., a high-wheeler with the small wheel at the front.)
There’s no chain – the MC2’s wheels are direct drive, yet with a freewheeling action. The MC2 was one of the winners of the 2014 International Bicycle Design Competition of Taiwan.
PIC The MC2 transforming bike ridden by IDSG Engineering’s Che Jing. Co-designer Sario Dang looks on.
