Skip to main content

Using pulleys and strings, the Stringbike ditches the chain — and the grease

Stringbike
Ask any bike expert and they’ll tell you that spending more than $1,000 on a bike without a chain is madness. Though they certainly aren’t wrong, these same specialists will likely eat their words after taking a look at the innovative new bikes produced by Stringbike — a Hungary-based manufacturer that has recently thrown the bike world for a loop with its chainless designs. By instead leaning on a system of strings and pulleys, the Stringbike’s drive system is wholly innovative.

Designed in Budapest and constructed entirely in the European Union, each Stringbike — be it a single-speed, carbon, or aluminum variety — comes standard with its unique drive technology. On paper, its advantages over a chained drive system are many — there’s no grease, the bike produces a quiet ride, it avoids gear slippage when shifting, and its dual drive system lets riders custom tune specific weight resistances for different legs.

Related Videos

Aside from its traditional seated models, Stringbike also offers its innovative tech in the form of two separate handbikes — one specifically for use with wheelchairs and a tricycle. Like the the bipedal options, these handbikes produce no grease, deliver a whisper-quiet ride, and quickly disassemble for easier storage or transport.

An innovative and potentially game-changing tech in its own right, Stringbike can also count movie prop on its bike’s list of achievements after appearingh briefly in Denis Villenueve’s sci-fi epic Blade Runner 2049. Stringbike’s website says the production company was looking for “futuristic bikes,” so the team sent five to be kept on set for the duration of filming.

As of now, Stringbike’s popularity (and demo availability) is mostly in Europe but the brand does allow anyone to purchase a model of their own via its website. With prices ranging from $3,500 to $4,500, the Stringbike certainly isn’t cheap, though innovative technology like this rarely is.

Editors' Recommendations

Microsoft Teams Premium uses AI to automatically recap your meetings
Three women in a Microsoft Teams meeting.

Microsoft has just made Teams Premium available for a short time. The preview will allow Microsoft's customers to test out some of the new features that won't be widely available for a while yet.

A few interesting features are making an appearance during this short trial run, including the ability to add custom branding to meetings, live translated captions, and meeting recaps prepared by artificial intelligence (AI).

Read more
2023 Mercedes-Benz EQE SUV preview: The EV lineup grows again
Front three quarter view of the 2023 Mercedes-Benz EQE SUV.

As Mercedes-Benz has steadily expanded its EQ range of electric cars, the lineup has become a bit like the late stages of a Tetris game. It’s mostly complete, but with a few gaps still left. And the 2023 Mercedes-Benz EQE SUV is the piece that perfectly fits one of them.
Mercedes recently launched two other electric SUVs at opposite ends of the price spectrum. The EQS SUV is positioned as the lineup’s flagship, while the EQB is the entry-level model. The EQE SUV slots between those two in size and, presumably, price. The latter hasn’t been confirmed yet, and likely won’t be until the EQE SUV’s planned March 2023 on-sale date.

Design
As the name says, the EQE SUV is a utility-vehicle version of the EQE sedan, which will likely beat it to showrooms by a few months. Mercedes did the same thing with the EQS, which is available in both SUV and sedan body styles.
With its tall, upright profile, the EQE SUV definitely looks like a proper SUV compared to the low-slung EQE sedan. Park it next to an EQS SUV, though, and you’ll have to get out a measuring tape to spot the differences.
The EQE SUV is 0.6 inch narrower and 1.2 inches lower than the EQS SUV, but the most significant difference is in length. The EQE SUV is 10.3 inches shorter than the EQS SUV, with a 2.1-inch shorter wheelbase. And while the EQS SUV has three-row seating, the EQE SUV has two rows. Based on our experience with the EQS SUV’s third row, that’s not a big loss.
The interior design theme carries over from other Mercedes EQ models, with an expansive sloping dashboard designed to accommodate many screens, and multicolor ambient lighting that should look pretty dramatic at night. However, leatherette upholstery is standard, rather than real leather, which Mercedes is now spinning as a vegan option.

Read more
2024 Chevrolet Equinox EV aims for affordability with $30,000 base price
Front three quarter view of the 2024 Chevrolet Equinox EV.

The 2024 Chevrolet Equinox EV isn’t the General Motors brand’s first electric model, but it might be the most consequential. Chevy has plenty of EV experience, but with the Equinox EV, which is scheduled to go on sale in fall 2023, it’s prioritizing mass-market appeal.

The third electric vehicle unveiled by Chevy this year, following the Silverado EV and Blazer EV, the Equinox EV aims for greater affordability with a targeted starting price of around $30,000. Its compact crossover SUV form factor is also more suited to American tastes than the current Chevy Bolt EV and Bolt EUV.

Read more