Lunartic: A Hubless Urban Bike
The bicycle has come a long way since the kernel of its invention in 1817. One of the most interesting innovations in cycling over the past few years has been the hubless, spokeless wheel and a particularly compelling new iteration of it comes from British designer Luke Douglas.
Lunartic is a compact urban bicycle that uses a combination of different wheel sizes, a toothed belt drive and a hubless rear wheel to harness the power of the gyroscopic effect for a faster, more efficient ride. The small front wheel offers the maximum space-saving benefits possible without folding, while the large rear wheel provides more contact with the road, offering the stability of a hybrid.
Maneuverable and stylish, Lunartic presents a promising model for the next generation of urban bikes.
Lunartic is one of the finalists in designboom and Seoul Design Foundation’s Seoul Cycle Design Competition, which received over 3000 submissions.
Maria Popova is the editor of Brain Pickings, a curated inventory of miscellaneous interestingness. She writes for Wired UK, GOOD Magazine, Design Observer and Huffington Post, and spends a shameful amount of time on Twitter.
