You’ve probably seen a folding mountain bike before but this one is different – it’s meant to be carried in a backpack! The “Mountain Monk” is from German designer Thomas Kaiser and the idea is that you hike up a mountain with the bike on your back then ride the thing back down – sorta like a self-shuttled downhill run. Although at least one prototype exists Kaiser is still looking for production partners.
The Mountain Monk sports both front and rear suspension and disc brakes but skips the pedals since it’s meant for downhill riding only. The bike isn’t light – the current model is about 21 pounds – but it still beats pushing your 40 lb. rig uphill. The 3 gallon backpack also includes a pouch for your helmet and gloves. Could this be the start of yet another mountain biking offshoot – bike hiking? We’ll be keeping an eye on the Mountain Monk…
Via Wired Blog.
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Pretty cool looking gadget and would be great for the go-cart/soap-box kid rolling down a hillside, but it looks like it would cause some serious backaches being bent over from a standing position like in the photo for us older/seasoned riders. Hmmmmm!
Here it is in action:
Bergmönch from Thomas Kaiser on Vimeo.
Ok, so it’s a bike because it has two wheels, but the pedals don’t pedal. More like a scooter than a bike, if you run out of steam you gotta kick it skateboard style.
Neat gadget though – I could see myself with one.
[…] Singletracks Mountain Bike Blog via Wired […]
[…] This week we came across an article showcasing some interesting bike concepts and as always it got us thinking about the future of mountain bikes. Of course the article is chock-full of folding/collapsible bikes and all-weather rigs which aren’t really cutting edge anymore – there are actually several production models of both. There’s also the Mountain Monk, or what we’re calling the “BikePack,” that’s a FS mountain bike you can wear like a backpack as you hike to the top of gnarly DH runs – but that’s last year’s news. […]