With a threatened tube strike set to paralyse London for two days this week many people will be looking for alternative ways to get to work. I've stumbled across Richard Thorpe's British-made GoCycle, which could well do for bicycles what Sir James Dyson has done for washing machines.
By Richard Tyler Published: 5:51PM BST 07 Jun 2009
The result is a stunningly attractive set of wheels, that is portable, assembles easily will motor along at up to 15mph
Thorpe, a former McLaren design engineer with a specialist knowledge of carbon-fibre composite components, has taken what he learnt making supercars and applied them to – a bike for commuters. The result is a stunningly attractive set of wheels, that is portable, assembles easily and, at the press of a James Bond-like button, will motor along at up to 15mph.
Carbon fibre is too expensive for the mass market, so Thorpe used a new technique of injection moulding magnesium called Thixomoulding, more commonly used for mobile phone and laptop casings.
The innovation cut the GoCycle cost to a fifth of the carbon-fibre equivalent but meant he had to invest in bespoke robotic tooling and conduct a global search for investors (successful), strategic partners (fruitless so far) and suppliers (successful).
The first few thousand bikes have now been produced by two companies in Britain and the initial reception has been positive – the GoCycle ranked in the top five new products in April's Gadget Show.
The price is steep at £1,158 online, but Thorpe's company, Karbon Kinetics Limited, has set up a government-approved tax-free "cycle to work scheme", which lowers the price to £599 – if you can get your employer to sign up.
http://www.gocycle.com/
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