Following a concentrated period of research into bicycles and the current cycling market, the design of The Commuter was initiated. This began with the generation of a Product Design Specification, which enabled all members of SynopTech’s design team to produce concept ideas.A rigorous process of examining the advantages and disadvantages of all the concepts, finally converged on a base-model from which to build our design.

 

The main characteristics of the chosen bicycle concept include a single member directly connecting the front steering column and the seat tube. A hinge is centrally located in the aforementioned member so as to fold the bicycle in half, with both wheels to be axially aligned after folding. The bottom bracket through which the pedals and forward gear hub connect, was moved forwards in order to allow the seat tube to drop all the way through the frame.

 

This section outlines the various detailed design steps that were involved in the development of The Commuter. To manage the workload, the folding bicycle was split into three distinct categories - Main Frame, Drive Train, and Steering. Ultimately these were all collated to produce the Final Assembly Model.