The LDN Concept Bicycle you can actually Buy

The thing about concept bicycles is that they are interesting and often beautiful to look at, but they almost never get built or sold. They are a bit like avant garde fashion designers. Amusing but nobody would ever actually wear that in public.

Enter the LDN bicycle shown here on the right.

Its a concept bicycle, but its actually being produced and sold.

It is the creation of British designer Ross Lovegrove, and unlike other concept bicycles which were basically designed by 5-year-olds with access to Autocad and with ill-conceived notions of what a bicycle could look like (without any engineering background to make it actually work) this bicycle DOES work and look interesting at the same time.

FORM + FUNCTION = Huzzah!

So one of the first things you may notice about the LDN ("London") is that it has that big hole in the frame in the middle... A hole which in theory may make it more difficult to lock it up. The hole is meant for hanging the bicycle on the wall apparently like its a piece of engineering artwork.

And if you're a fan of locking your wheels to the bike to prevent wheel theft you will notice that the frame doesn't really allow that either. This therefore is not a good bicycle if you're intending to have it locked up outside regularly. The designer apparently wants you to carry it indoors, hang it above your mantlepiece (how many people have that?) and admire it while sipping Scotch and enjoying your faux fireplace.

Thus as a "London" bicycle its not really practical because as you can see below most people in London support locking their bicycles outside.

Ross Lovegrove designed the LDN for a company called Biomega and they're marketing it for use in the city and keep using the word "urban tool" in their marketing, which seems silly because its not practical for urban use... It does have some nice features like hub gears and a covered shaft draft which keeps everything clean in contrast to the standard exposed chain links design.

The LDN is also not female friendly if you like riding in a skirt or dress, but hey, that is a common enough problem for female cyclists when it comes to finding a bicycle that matches their skirts.

OUR REVIEW???

2 stars out of 5. It may be pretty and it may be sold, but it just isn't practical for city use. Not very practical for trail riding either. So really only practical for small towns with zero crime.