This wacked-out conveyance was the subject of a small thread started by Edward W on the Yahoo! Kickbiking mail list. From the FLIZ Concept website:
The FLIZ concept represents an expansion of urban mobility for different users. The starting point for this was the investigation of the walking machine of Baron Karl von Drais, the forerunner of the bicycle.
I’m sorry, but I’d expect more from German engineers
– this to me is daylight madness. So one can run, pick up one’s legs and coast at times – but one must be strapped in, which takes time and can’t be very comfortable. If one had to bail (and had a quick-release buckle), one would still be run over by the rear wheel (and this infernal machine can’t be that light) after falling flat onto the ground. More likely one would be carried into the lake at the bottom of the hill, or into an intersection threatened by a bus…
And I’m not sure von Drais designed anything this goofy – his hobbyhorse that I’m familar with at least had a seat and tasked gravity with keeping one mounted.
What about descending a hill on this contraption? Where would you rest your feet? The more I think about it the stupider it seems. It must be a hoax.
The scooter – or for that matter the bicycle – isn’t going to be improved on very much save through refinements in materials. This reminds me of why I stopped reading GizMag (where I first saw this) for pleasure.
Bob Dymond thinks that this may qualify as a genuine chindōgu. Some regard the footbike as a similar device. Though it may be unintended, he’s poking fun at the extent humans will go to avoid walking.
I want to be charitable, so maybe it is satire. Sure.
Filed under: Design |
ScooterSport.wordpress.com 
I cant believe someone I would assume to be a fellow footbiker would be so close-minded as to write off hpv related design as if it were a joke. That’s very juvenile of you. Your like a road biker that jokes on scooters, shame on you. That design looks very functional.
You also wouldn’t have to ask “where would you rest your feet” if you did actual research on what it is your trying to dismiss. There are streamlined rear footrests for descending. There is also another real company that makes machines like that you can buy right now and their expensive, well built machines. If you were a true athletic hpv enthusiast than you d already know about that company as well.
“…You’re* like a road biker…” “…they’re* expensive…”