Core77

Shinichi Konno Designs Bicycles with Flow

By Rain Noe - March 12, 2012

in Cars

The confines of designing a bicycle seem pretty tight, but custom bike builder Shinichi Konno breaks out of them admirably. Shown here is his Silver Flyer track bike, which recently won both Best in Show and the President's Choice award at the North American Handmade Bicycle Show.

Photos by John Watson

Photos by John Watson

At last year's NAHBS, Konno pulled the sheet off of the equally-striking Air Line Bike, a very different take on fluidity that still manages to break new aesthetic ground while fulfilling its mechanical duties.

Tokyo-based Konno is a second-generation master bike builder who heads up Konno Cycle Works and its attendant brand CHERUBIM, both of which were founded by his father Hitoshi wayyyy back in 1965. To see more of their stuff, check out the (mostly-Japanese-language) Cherubim website here.

Comments

Tony

12 years ago

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My bike has a high center of gravity - I'm 6'5, on a thrift store 24" frame made appropriate with a REALLY long seat post & quill stem (the short frame suits my surprisingly short reach & absurdly long legs), and I can't say stability is an issue. Once you're rolling, gyroscopic force makes stability nearly automatic.
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Frank

12 years ago

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Thanks Ray - the first one has a reasonable geometry, given that he has merely extended the usual triangle shape to include the swooping forms.

The red one however would leave the rider at full arm stretch to reach the handlebars (which don't look great either)!

I'm more impressed by the design put into the UCI Approved (which is a joke, but nm) road bikes that you see in the Tour De France etc.
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Ken J

12 years ago

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That silver one is beautiful! I'm sure some lines can be tweaked for a more pedestrian ride.
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Pericles Leite

12 years ago

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And they`re not UCI legal.
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powers

12 years ago

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Wow, that silver one is simply gorgeous. The red one is interesting, but looks like something Colani would come up with.
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Ray

12 years ago

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Frank - Thanks for your comment. I can't say for sure because I haven't seen either bike in person, but the geometry actually seems pretty close to that of conventional track bicycles, which typically have steeper angles and deeper drops than regular bicycles. Yes, they are inherently unstable (and less comfortable for long rides), but that's simply because these cycles are specifically designed for aerodynamics and ultra-responsive handling on the velodrome.

That said, your point about "form over function" still stands: I imagine that the sleek curves come at the expense of the bikes' stiffness, which means less-efficient power transfer and handling.

-Ray, Core77 Editorial Team
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Frank

12 years ago

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Great example of form over function. Both bikes would leave the rider with a very high centre of gravity, making them inherently unstable.
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