I thought folding bikes were the most epic city bike due to it’s small, transportable size.  Could this new concept bike from J.Ruiter be the next major trend in dense cities, crowded trains or even airplanes?

Upon first glance, there are any number of elements that make this bike “sick”.  The look is sleek, simple and artistic.  It has a single disc brake and a suspension fork in the front.  It appears to run on 29″ rims with city tires.  Platform pedals mean you can roll your Chuck Taylor’s or your Hush Puppies.

Once all of the coolness wears off, I can’t help get to the functional elements of this bike.   In all fairness, this is purely a concept bike, but I think that the seat might be uncomfortable to men and women riding further than a few blocks at a time.  Additionally, the cranks are strangely similar to a unicycle; short.  The pedaling of such short cranks would make any city dweller sweat through their business or hipster outfits.  That’s a lot of work to look cool.

One of the great things about this bike is that commuters that don’t want to do a cab, need to ride a train or want to carry a smaller lock will be super happy with a bike like this.  What’s more, I could see this bike being easily stored in the smallest of apartments in Mahattan, San Francisco or Tokyo.

The makers of this bike are a design firm based in Michigan called J.Ruiter. Apparently they specialize in all things cool.  They like to push the boundaries of design, manufacturing and prototyping.  And you thought Michigan was filled with hunters, ice and flannel shirts.  Firms like J.Ruiter are here to show us their other, creative side.

What pros and cons do you see?  How would you improve it?

Germany makes tasty beer.  The people are great and love David Hasslehoff.  Overall, they are direct, receive tons of vacation time and create sweet ideas like the bike carrier for commuter trains.  USA cities, like Los Angeles, better get out their notes pads.

Commuting via train with a bike is probably one of the most difficult things to do in Los Angeles when riding the MTA lines.  Between waiting to get your cell phone stolen from a bunch of gangsters that didn’t even purchase train tickets and watching a girl try and stab a boy with a steak knife on the platform of Wilmington Rosa Parks Station, it very difficult to balance a bike in tighlty packed cars.  The space where one can position a bike is the very space that all of the moms with strollers compete for positioning.  It’s tough going.

If the MTA slapped one of these big metal platforms onto their trains, commuter life in LA would be so much easier and we’d most likely see more people riding the train with their bikes.  That means more cash for the MTA.  Are you hearing this, MTA?

People that ride bikes know that that riding through the ports to get to and from the South Bay from Long Beach is a death sentence.  Others that want to ride from downtown LA to Long Beach or Norwalk know all too well that their loved ones would never see them again.  That leaves cars or dodgey trains.

It would be great if a city like Los Angeles and the MTA organization considered adding a few of these to trains.  What are your thoughts?  Would you like to see one of these on a train in LA?  I know I would.