RideBike
Children's vehicle with a laminated wooden frame and a decentral spoked drive.
THE TASK
How do you foster children's motor skills and coordination through play? The brief: a product that picks up their urge to move and sparks joy in locomotion through muscle power and dexterity.
APPROACH
A decentrally spoked rear wheel generates propulsion through up-and-down motion alone, with no further parts. A frame of laminated wood is the visual highlight, ecological and locally producible. The low-complexity build keeps the vehicle light, robust and low-maintenance.
CHALLENGES
- → Making the wooden frame light, elastic and still stable
- → Reproducible fabrication of a free-form wooden frame with simple means
- → Reducing parts and complexity
- → Making a durable offset rear wheel in-house
RESULT
The unusual drive method is fun and first demands learning the necessary coordination: balance, timing, weight shift. The frame with integrated footboard is light, elastic and beautiful to look at.
TECHNICAL EXECUTION
- → 1:10 paper model to check proportion and feasibility
- → Layers of 7 mm waterproof-laminated gaboon plywood, hollowed for weight
- → Steering tube rolled and laminated from 0.6 mm sheet steel, light and stable
- → Spoke lengths simulated in Adobe Illustrator, cut and Z-bent to size
- → Form lamination with a custom mould
WHAT STANDS OUT
The decentral hub position, an almost forgotten drive technique, reinterpreted here. The wooden frame could be produced to a high quality with simple means.