WOOD AS A TOOL FOR SUSTAINABLE URBAN MOBILITY

The use of bicycles for transportation activities has shown a high contribution to the environmental care in urban contexts. Between all bicycles types, folding bicycle is presented as the most effective for intermodal... [ view full abstract ]

The use of bicycles for transportation activities has shown a high contribution to the environmental care in urban contexts. Between all bicycles types, folding bicycle is presented as the most effective for intermodal transport strategy since combine easily its use with the use of subways, buses and streetcars, among others. On the other hand, wooden bikes has been built since the beginning of the bicycle history, however, during the XXI century, the wood has reborn as a material full of metaphysical, mechanical and environmental properties for the building of bicycle frames. There are a lot of bicycles frames made out of wood, but there is no one commercial folding bicycle built with this material. The aim of this project was to design a frame for a folding bike using local wood available in Colombia. To do this a strategic alliance between the Design Studies Research Group GED at the Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana and Materials Group for Furniture MATERMOB at the SENA CTM arises. A methodological scheme of systematic concurrent design process was used in which science of materials, structural design, techniques of digital manufacturing and industrial design converged in a multidisciplinary design team. The requirements for the project were identified as well as the wood was selected, the geometry of the parts and the structure and the different components were defined. Finally, the folding mechanism was developed and several prototypes were built and validated in order to define the final specifications for the product. The final model was made out of teak strip board showing not only aesthetic features but also an acceptable structural behavior. It was found that teak strip board could be used for folding bikes frame if a set of variables related with an optimum combination between shape, material and structure are considered. Morphological transitions between all the parts of the frame, wood grain orientation, adhesive materials and flexural behavior were identified as the main design parameters.