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Forkless Bicycle Design by Olli Erkkila
Finnish bicycle designer Olli Erkkila has always designed bicycles that can really surprise us. Look at the white bike below. It is his graduation project for Institute of Design in Lahti. Have you discovered the difference? It works without front fork. The odd bicycle just adopts a modified frame that is steered using handlebars connected to a steering rod that turns the front wheel. The frame is modified to support the rider in the absence of the front fork, with added tubing below the seat. enjoy~
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Post published on 5th July 2010
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There are 56 comments
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bill
July 9th, 2010 at 12:01 am
how much is this
benjamin
July 9th, 2010 at 7:13 am
great and fantastic it must be cost a lot of fortune to buy it but I could not imagine what will happen if we ride this bike on sloping upward road.
John
July 9th, 2010 at 6:43 pm
steering…?
VectorMan
July 10th, 2010 at 5:44 am
Great design! Its looks very clean and expensive:)
I would like to buy this bike
Chris Ronk
July 10th, 2010 at 8:50 am
really trippy looking. Look s like you would have a hard time making a sharp right turn though.
Grover
July 10th, 2010 at 10:18 pm
One bump and that front wheel frame will be bent out of shape.
anon
July 11th, 2010 at 12:08 am
i want one
Arlene Rosen
July 12th, 2010 at 12:39 pm
I love this bike… Is it available to purchase anywhere?
jordn
July 12th, 2010 at 1:59 pm
so i guess a hard right is out of the question?
Lennon Woodbury
July 13th, 2010 at 5:23 pm
This bike is pimp.
Charles
July 17th, 2010 at 3:26 pm
I want one!!!
wonder if he is going to sell some of them…
Harry
July 17th, 2010 at 10:25 pm
Awesome!
Stephanie
July 18th, 2010 at 4:54 am
I think the bike looks great but how would you use the breaks?
stickers cuisine
July 18th, 2010 at 1:31 pm
really cool design.
Where can i find that?
Meara
July 18th, 2010 at 2:42 pm
How exactly does the steering work? Way cool design but Im curious!
Kelly J
July 22nd, 2010 at 11:34 am
@Stephanie
Bikes don’t have “breaks.” They employ brakes. I am thinking it is a friction drum brake as the old Bendix brakes used to work.
Aaron
July 24th, 2010 at 6:21 pm
It’s an interesting design, but I wonder how much the front end flexes.
Hermitbiker
July 29th, 2010 at 8:17 pm
…. ya gotta love those Finn’s !! What a wild concept in biking !!
proton
August 6th, 2010 at 11:00 am
unusable..
Buddy
August 8th, 2010 at 8:17 pm
Made a simple and practical design into one that is neither. What is gained?
Alan
August 9th, 2010 at 11:11 am
Silly. Looks structurally unsound and far heavier than a traditional design. A solution in search of a problem?
richard
August 14th, 2010 at 8:16 am
this is the most amazing custom bike i have ever seen. i want one in black for beer runs.
Justin Miller
August 17th, 2010 at 5:22 am
It’s a curious design but I’m afraid that the fork still wins out on functionality, stability, and simplicity.
will
August 23rd, 2010 at 2:25 pm
I dunno why but it kinda reminds me of the west coast chopper logo… but actually made as a bike.
DAN
August 23rd, 2010 at 6:18 pm
Excellent! Model 2 would hide the steering rods within the supporting arm. Maybe hydraulic steering on model 2. Still, this is great.
kropped
August 24th, 2010 at 1:43 am
silly…
World's Top 10
August 28th, 2010 at 10:35 am
Where to buy this amazing cycle?
ingenious
September 11th, 2010 at 11:18 am
Ingenious. Curious to know if it can turn as much to the Right as it can to the Left. The bar holding the front wheel might touch the tire while making a Right turn.
Bill
September 15th, 2010 at 4:47 pm
Whats the point lol
scarecrow
October 11th, 2010 at 11:11 am
This world needs more creative people like Olli.
We have too many Grover-proton-alan-buddys
James Junget
October 29th, 2010 at 10:31 am
Totally great great design. So it has a few bugs. Big deal. The workmanship is excellent. A+ for effort.
allie
November 10th, 2010 at 11:36 am
Does it use pedal back breaks that are on some kid’s bikes?
Philip
November 18th, 2010 at 5:25 pm
Astonished not sure if it will take off though! I assume it is just a prototype looking at it and there is more work to be done before it can be said to be practical?
cut out people
December 11th, 2010 at 9:56 am
this is great and looks so much fun!
Finearte gallery
December 11th, 2010 at 12:02 pm
A piece of art!
Popito
December 11th, 2010 at 3:19 pm
Looks cool, but that’s as far as this goes. I’m not sure that a sacrifice of functionality this big will be worth whatever this costs just to look nice.
Meh…
business cards psd
December 14th, 2010 at 6:54 am
Awesome bike
Riley
December 14th, 2010 at 11:03 am
you rock!
most bikers
December 14th, 2010 at 10:22 pm
At all the people complaining that it cant make a hard right:
If you turn left twice, its effectively a right turn!
Ahmed
December 30th, 2010 at 12:36 am
Great n innovative .. it looks funny but quite noticeable.
shyam kushwaha
December 30th, 2010 at 1:43 am
it has hydrolyze system.this bicycle works without fork.it is new invention.thank for your invention.
Peter
December 31st, 2010 at 4:10 am
pointless idea. works fine as it is. this does not look better than a usual bike, requires more parts (more to break) and looks lethal if you ever came off it while riding. -10 points.
fulvio
December 31st, 2010 at 3:22 pm
he should have put the handle behind the back…it would have become more interesting to ride
greg urbano
January 6th, 2011 at 4:19 pm
pretty interesting
Patrick
January 16th, 2011 at 5:03 pm
Dear designers:
The bicycle is fine. Please FUCKING STOP IT. Thank you.
-Cyclists of the world
harry
January 17th, 2011 at 3:04 am
Stunning, to take a machine whose essential shape is so familiar to all of us, cut the middle out and still have it function as if that part is still there, is pure genius!
chantal
January 19th, 2011 at 6:14 am
Funny, not very comfortable unfortunately!
bill
January 19th, 2011 at 5:12 pm
Oh wow! A very clean, visually striking look. How does it feel to ride? Love the white-out too.
bill
January 19th, 2011 at 5:58 pm
After reading other comments I must give some answers. First, for those who’ve never ridden a bike, most of the turning is done by leaning. There’s plenty of room for a right turn. Two, brakes, (breaks for those who can’t spell). the rear hub has a drum brake inside. Back pedal a little to apply. That’s right, no cables, calipers and levers to clutter the design. Three, its a pleasure bike for tooling around the neighborhood.Its not for road racing, mt. biking or BMX. Wearing your rainbow, gay, spandex and toy helmet won’t get the girls to look. They will be over with Olli fawning over and begging for a ride on his way cool bike!
Zach
January 19th, 2011 at 6:07 pm
To the idiot wondering how it steers, just look at the pics. Self explanatory. To the idiot about going up slopes, your a f-ing moron. The world is fool of idiots. Sweet bike.
gordon
February 2nd, 2011 at 11:07 pm
its cool and all but whats the point. its awkward and pointless
jim
March 24th, 2011 at 2:35 pm
that steering mechanism is sweet! you’ve given new meaning to the term ‘white knuckle ride’
Bojo
October 20th, 2011 at 11:06 pm
Cool, but useless and dangerous. I’d love to see one try and get it up a curb or make split second decisions on this. It’s like a fixed gear or big wheel bike, there’s a reason people don’t use them, same with this.
Anna
August 9th, 2012 at 12:00 pm
Its cool and very eye catching. If I saw one I may just fall off my own bicycle.
freda davies
January 5th, 2013 at 2:39 am
Love the design.
It will certainly get folks intrigued.
Freda, National Cycle Museum, Mid Wales
Westy
January 13th, 2013 at 3:53 pm
It’s a great bike and a great show of imagination and ingenuity, for all you Lycra clad tools, a bicycle does not have to be an instrument for you keep fit or just get to work, they are for fun, fun to ride, fun to build and just darn nice to look at, or do you hate getting on your carbon fibre, light as air (due to imagination and ingenuity) multi geared speed machine?