Patent ID: 6364335
Filing Date: 2002-04-02
Classification: B62K

Abstract:
A bicycle (10) whose bulk when folded for transport is substantially that of two wheels (11, 12) placed side by side, wherein: at an upper end of a rear fork (80) is an articulation (34), at a lower end of a frame (20) with its axis parallel to that of a rear wheel (12) that permits the rear wheel to bent up to a top of the frame (20); a pedal unit (110) with a gear (14) is supported uppermost by a tubular bar (90) and whose upper end is an articulation (38) placed at one lower end (22â€²) of the frame (20) with its axis parallel to that of the pedal unit (110) that permits the gear (14) to be bent up to the top of a frame part (20); a bar (90) of the pedal unit (110) can be anchored to the rear fork (80) by a hand-operated locking device (95) placed at an apex of a locking triangle formed of a junction between short bars (92, 93) at an angle to one another, that departs from lower and upper position of the bar (90) providing stability of the rear fork (80) and the pedal unit (110) when the bicycle (10) is open out for use; a handle bar (60) shaped as an upward facing (U) is mounted on a rod (63) that can be fixed to the front fork (40) by a hand-operated locking device (65) that permits rotation of the handle bar (60) on an axis orthogonal to the rod (63) until hand grips face downwards and are substantially coplanar with the rod (63), the front fork (40) is supported by a rod (41) freely turning above inside a tube (42) fixed to a front (21) of the frame (20); the rod (63) carrying the handle bar (60) slides inside a steering column (50), at whose upper end is a hand-operated locking device (55), said column being fixed to the fork (40) on the front wheel (11) above by a lateral hinge (53) on a geometrical plane transverse to an upper rod (51) for rotating the fork (40) and oriented substantially at 45Â° in relation to a longitudinal geometrical plane of symmetry of the front wheel (11) and laterally by a locking device (45) placed at a top of the upper rod (41) of the fork (40); the tube (42) that supports the upper rod (41) of the fork (40) is fixed to the front (21) by a bracket (43) and by an articulation (28), whose axis is substantially orthogonal to that of the rear wheel (12), on a hand-operated articulating and locking device (25); a saddle (13) is supported by a rod (101) that slides into a tube (100) joined at one lower end (24) of the frame (20) by an articulation (33) whose axis is parallel to that of the rear wheel (12) near the articulation (34) of the fork (80); by a hand-operated articulation and locking device (105), at a top of the tube (100) joined to a tie rod (107) that slides inside an upper tubular extension (23â€²) of the frame (20), a sliding movement of the rod (101) of the saddle (13) and of the tie rod (107) can be stopped and both parts locked in a desired position; a pin (112) in a left pedal (111) is supported by a hand-operated locking device (15) at an end of a pedal crank (114) that permits rotation of the pin (112) around a longitudinal axis of the pedal crank (114) till it is substantially parallel to the rearwheel (12) when the bicycle (10) is folded for transport; it is thus possible when the bicycle is open for use, to release the locking devices (65, 55, 45, 95, 25, 105, 115) one after the other and transform the bicycle (10) into its folded position for transport, bringing both the gear (14) and the rear wheel (12) to an upper part of the frame (20), rotating the handlebar (60) downwards, pushing the rod (63) of the handlebar (60) inside the steering column (50), turning the column (50) around the bottom hinge (53) at 45Â° against the front wheel (11), rotating a group comprising, side-by-side the front wheel (11), the front fork (40), the column (50) with the handle bar (60) against the rear wheel (12) and the pedal unit (110) inserting the rod (101) supporting the saddle (13) inside the tube (100) and the tie rod (107) of the saddle (13) inside the tubular extension (23â€²) of the frame with rotation of the tube (100) toward the frame (20), rotating the pin (112) in the left pedal (111) until it lies substantially against the group, thus reducing an overall bulk of the bicycle (10) so that it substantially corresponds to the dimensions of the two wheels (11, 12) placed side-by-side.