Morphing handcycle

It’s the morphing handcycle. In a stretched-out low-rider position, it’s a traditional bicycle - but when “morphed” into high-rider position, it has a wheelchair’s agility for navigating doorways and aisles. It also puts the user at eye level with standing persons.

The morphing handcycle involves no electronics. To morph into high-riding position, the rider sets the brake and rolls the rear wheels forward, as with a wheelchair. The 24-speed cycle employs twin mechanical gas shocks, specified for the rider’s weight, that assist in the lift, enabling the user to switch to high-riding mode with single-hand force. Other components are standard bike parts.

Rory McCarthy, Bill Warner, and Graham Butler designed the machine under the aegis of McCarthy and Warner’s nonprofit Move With Freedom, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Butler, the product designer, turned McCarthy’s high-level designs into detailed virtual prototypes using Solidworks software. ’This was critical in conceiving and refining the four-bar linkage and the crankset/steering assembly, which needs to turn smoothly in both low- and high-riding positions. As a result, we’ve got a highly functioning physical prototype ready for user feedback,’ said McCarthy.