What is a bicycle? The name literally alludes to the two wheels that attach to the vehicle’s frame and propel it forward. But, innovators and design experts are getting creative with the traditional bicycle design, inventing new ways of cycling around the block.
Recently, Youtuber Sergii Gordieiev, more commonly known as “The Q,” unveiled a cycle with no wheels, reported Interesting Engineering. Instead, The Q gave his invention two long, vertical stilts that intersect the frame at ridiculous angles. Amazingly, his apparatus is fully capable of propelling him around. But, it does raise the question - can a wheel-free, stilt-like set of continuous tracks mounted on a bicycle’s frame really be called a bicycle? Or, is it something new altogether.
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The Q reinvents bicycles
This isn’t The Q’s first foray into creative bicycle designs. He has also produced viral videos reimaging bicycles as having square wheels, tennis ball wheels, and even a bicycle where the back wheel is split into two (non-round parts).
Amazingly, all of these inventions work, in that The Q is able to pedal them from point A to point B (although he isn’t setting any records for speed). His latest model, a wheel-less bicycle perched on nearly-upright stationary ellipses doesn’t look roadworthy either. Still, at the end of his video, The Q takes it for a spin. And while he may have elicited some stares from passersby in the park, he was able to move the “bike” forward by pedaling.
A wheel-less bicycle
Yanko Design explains how The Q’s newest model functions. Instead of freely spinning tires, the bicycle runs on moving wheel-belts. These wheel-belts act like caterpillar or tank tracks looping and turning forward in response to the pedal and gear motion. Given the near-vertical angle that these “wheelless wheels” are set at, his invention isn’t as efficient as its military or agricultural continuous-tracked vehicle counterparts. But, it does allow the bicycle to move without its traditionally circular, spinning wheel-and-axle apparatus.
The Q also shares his design process in the video. Viewers can watch him carefully cut rectangular pieces of metal to size to fit them on a wheel-free bike frame. Next, he welds chains and a rubber tread onto the “wheels,” before fixing them onto the bike frame and taking the machine for a “spin.” His engineering and cycling journey has gone viral with more than 13 million views on his Youtube video called Epic Cycling: Wheelless Bike.
The Q’s wheelless cycle is a testament to the power of human creativity and ingenuity. From the invention of the wheel more than 5,000 years ago, to the modern wheelless redesign, humanity’s been demonstrating its capacity for innovation and unconventional thinking. After all, if people can put a man on the moon, then they can certainly propel a stilted non-wheeled vehicle around the block.
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