Crossbreed Folding Wheel Makes Bikes Even Smaller

Folding bikes are great for apartment dwellers, especially those without elevators. One problem, though, is that those tiny wheels don't exactly soak up the bumps in city streets. Industrial designer Duncan Fitzsimons wants to change this with his Crossbreed, a full-sized folding wheel.

Ingeniously simple, the Crossbreed has a rim split in six places, allowing it to collapse when the two crossed spokes are scissored in on each other. The patent pending design hasn't yet gone into production, but in an interview with Bike Radar, Fitzsomons says he's in talks with manufacturers to build a bike with a carbon fiber implementation of his wheel:

The aim is to try to get a really high end city bike or courier bike that can fold up into a package like a golf bag, which could go into an overhead rack on a train or go into a plane locker.

The Crossbreed looks pretty solid, but I can't help thinking that pinching the tire every time it is folded might cause some trouble with the inner tubes.

Project page [Duncfitz via OhGizmo!]

Could folding wheel solve commuters' conundrum? [Bike Radar]