suspension shaft folder?

dbmnk

Today I just saw a glimpse of what I believe to be a shaft driven dual suspension folding bike. Well, perhaps it wasn't a folding, but had the same smallish size (popular in Japan for some reason).
Now what immediately caught my interest was that the bike had no seat- or chainstays! Only the shaft holding the rear wheel - and did I mention it was with suspension?
Have been googling a bit around but found nothing - anyone seen anything similar?

lae

Nah. Sounds ace though. With a shaft drive you could have bevel gears so you can collapse the drivetrain. Or the shaft could be telescopic (I suppose it would have to be telescopic if the rear had suspension as it would have to change length, like the propshaft of a car).

Could you draw a diagram of it? I'm doing a vehicle design degree so this kind of thing is right up my street

stickman

There was zero-cycles in the uk and various american brands of chainless cycles, I looked up this stuff years ago so don't know if they're still around.

stickman

Just had a look, found this http://www.optibike.co.uk/hawk/ace.htm
I want one!

Anonymous

WOW that's expensive
:shock:

dbmnk

frinkmakesyouthink wrote:

Nah. Sounds ace though. With a shaft drive you could have bevel gears so you can collapse the drivetrain. Or the shaft could be telescopic (I suppose it would have to be telescopic if the rear had suspension as it would have to change length, like the propshaft of a car).

Could you draw a diagram of it? I'm doing a vehicle design degree so this kind of thing is right up my street

I'm sorry, I only had a glimpse, so not shure about all the technical stuff. But here's a sketch: