LIKE RIDING A BIKE
- DannyM
- 3 days ago
- 2 min read
Updated: 2 days ago
It wasn't, at first, but I've come to LOVE this thing.
Behold-- the HALFBIKE. No seat, no steering...
and a short but steep learning curve.
My knees are killing me lately... arthritis and irreparably torn menisci in both of them conspire make most weight-bearing movement-- especially up and down stairs-- a painful chore. Twin cortisone shots last month provided surprisingly instant albeit temporary relief; the full resumption of pain barely a week later reminded me that I really should shed about fifteen pounds to forestall my seemingly inevitable double knee replacement.
Trucking is both sedentary and time-consuming; I needed some sort of quick yet effective workout I could do while I'm out on the road. But with running inconceivable and conventional bicycling nearly impossible, how was I to simultaneously burn calories, get some quality cardio in, and maintain my leg and core strength?
Enter the HALFBIKE. (Click HERE for the company website.)
This contraption is WAY unlike any other bike. First and foremost, it has no seat. And it steers not by turning a wheel but rather by leaning; its frame is essentially composed of leaf springs that flex sideways. It has a disc brake and a STURM-ARCHER 4-speed transmission within the main wheel's hub, just like the "English-Style" bikes that preceded the lightweight 10-speeds in the early 1970's.
Were I to consider the value of a product as strictly the sum of the cost of its components, the HALFBIKE's retail price (~$1k, with shipping from Bulgaria) would likely constitute an obscene 10-fold mark-up. But alas, engineering and development contribute greatly to the cost of pretty much everything... Just ask your pharmacist. It took me a while, but I now consider this bike worth its bloated price because it solved my exercise dilemma with a surprisingly full-body workout AND gives me emergency transportation if I ever have to quickly cover a few miles away from my truck. It is also quite portable. This bike folds up into such a tiny package that keeping it in my truck is much easier than storing my orthodox 10-speed road bike in my truck's cozy sleeper berth. I am now enjoying this thing more than I thought I would... and my knees agree. A daily workout makes them feel better, not worse.
At the end of my short but steep learning curve, it's just like riding a bike.
NOTES:
The first Halfbike prototype was created in 2010 by Bulgarian architects Martin Angelov and Mihail Klenov from the studio Kolelinia. The design evolved over several years, with the enhanced Halfbike II launched on Kickstarter in 2014 and released in 2015.
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