#1088: Bi-drive

There’s not much that can be done to improve on the basic bicycle design.

Today’s invention, though, is an attempt to provide all-wheel drive to this venerable contraption.

It only takes a few degrees of handlebar rotation to steer a bike: any more and you simply fall off. This allows both wheels to be driven by a flexible, toothed rubber belt which passes over a drive wheel in the middle and coordinated derailleurs on each wheel hub.

It opens up the possibility of optimising the angular velocity of each wheel independently, improving traction on a variety of surfaces.