Video: Halfbike, "a new type of personal vehicle" seeks funding on Kickstarter

Currently looking for funding on Kickstarter, here’s Halfbike, a short-distance urban bike that’s one of the more, erm, intriguing crowdsourcing pitches we’ve seen.

The invention of architect Martin Angelov, Halfbike is a seatless, short-wheelbase pedal-powered trike that you steer by leaning. Martin says it’s intended for short urban rides - between the office and the train, for example — and the idea is that it’s compact enough that you can take it on the train easily, and then get it in the lift up to your office.

It’s rather like a pedal-powered Segway, though Martin clearly hopes it will be used by more than just mall ninjas.

On Halfbike’s Kickstarter page, Martin says: “It all started from my passion to optimize things that surround me and my love for bicycles. I started sketching different concepts for a simplified bike and soon reached a point where I needed to test these concepts in real life.

“For some of the early prototypes I used old bicycles and parts I found at the attic. I was amazed how well people reacted to the idea and that made me want to keep up. Along the process other people were drawn into the project creating a small team.

“After further development and experiments with various rider positions followed by even more prototypes, the desired level of control was finally achieved. What we have now is a patent pending new type of personal vehicle ready for the market.”

Martin is looking for $80,000 and with 28 days to go $24,234 has been pledged, most of it from the 25 people who have signed up to get themselves a Halfbike for $799.

Here's the Kickstarter video: