Did the SHIFT bike ever make it to production?

August 11, 2008 6:10 PM

Years ago, I found this press release about a design award winning bike from Purdue called the shift bike. Does anyone know if it was ever produced, and where to learn more about it if so? My googling only brings up the Purdue press release and some design blog coverage.
posted by Steve3 to Travel & Transportation (5 answers total)

The simplest/easiest way to teach most kids to balance a bike is by using a so-called "push bike" or "draisine".

However (as bicycling guru Sheldon Brown says) there is no need to manufacture any special product such as this. You can make a push bike in about 2 minutes by taking any small bicycle (small enough for the child to sit on the seat simultaneously and put both feet flat on the ground) and removing the pedals.

After the child learns how to balance by using the push bike for a few days, you just put the pedals back on and off they go.

So as neat and clever as something like a "shift bike" is, there is really a huge barrier to market entry when there is another perfectly capable, widely available, inexpensive solution available--and one that can be converted to a regular bicycle after (short) learning period is over.

See also teaching kids how to ride a bike.
posted by flug at 6:56 PM on August 11, 2008

That bike looks overengineered. I second flug's recommendation of a "push bike". We bought a LikeABike (expensive, but well made and beautiful wooden push bikes from Germany) for our daughter when she was 3. She learned how to balance in about a week of riding in our hallway and from then on, she was off to the races. We live in NYC and our daughter formerly walked to preschool, on her LikeABike we could make the trip 5x faster.
posted by dudeman at 8:18 PM on August 11, 2008

He's not asking if it's a good idea, or how you 'should' teach kids how to ride, just if it was ever made.

Steve3: Like you, I can't see that it ever moved beyond the Purdue prototype.
posted by iwhitney at 8:30 PM on August 11, 2008

It was never produced.
posted by fixedgear at 2:18 AM on August 12, 2008

I am friends with a couple of the designers. It has never been produced.

If you want to produce it, I can get you in touch.
posted by grieserm at 3:09 PM on March 10, 2009