WTF? This 3D printed bike has no seat tube!

We’ve seen some unusual bike designs over the years, but this is a new one on us. There’s no seat tube!

The bike is the work of Germany company Urwahn Bikes and a special collaboration with Vagabund Moto, a company that specialises in seriously trick looking handcrafted motorcycles.

The new Urwahn Bikes X Vagabund Studfuchs project is a bike pitched as a “pithy commuter” with a handmade steel frame, Gates belt drive, disc brakes, wide tyres and a Brooks Cambium saddle.

The standout feature of this new bike is of course the frame design. Where there would normally be a seatpost there is nothing, just thin air. Instead, the top tube flows into the dropped seat stays via a very short section of seat tube, just enough to house the seat post.

Far from being a funky design to entice bike journalists to write about it, there’s some interesting tech that helps the frame to stand out, which has been recognised with a Red Dot Award.

The steel frame has been produced using 3D printing technology for the main lugs (bottom bracket, head tube, seat tube cluster and rear dropouts) which it says has allowed it to reduce the weight close to the realms of an aluminium frame. Obviously removing the seat tube saves a chunk of weight.

A distinctive head tube houses two front lets and provides internal cable routing ports. A rear light has also been integrated into the back of the seat tube.  It’s a 1x only bike naturally, since there’s no where to fit a front mech.  It’ll even take a set of mudguards and rear rack too.

It’s an unusual design for sure. We’d love to know how it rides. Does it provide lots of seated comfort? How is lateral stiffness? Obviously it’s not UCI legal but this is not a bike that will ever see a race, other than the race from the traffic lights.

And how much does it cost? €4,499, available from https://vgb-essentials.com/collections/all/products/urwahn-x-vagabund-stadtfuchs