Meet the Footloose, an e-bike that breaks the chain - PHOTO

While eliminating the dreaded greasy trouser leg, going chainless has another advantage: it allows the bike to fold compactly. Designer Mark Sanders – who has previously designed electric and folding bikes for Pacific Cycles, and the amazingly collapsible, if improbably triangular, Strida bicycle – created an ingenious folding mechanism for the Footloose that allows the 48-pound bike to be rolled on both wheels into subway or office, or lifted easily into the trunk of a car. The price is a little heftier, at around $4000.Range is 18 miles on full charge, or 28mi with pedal charging along the way, and the Footloose is good for a top speed of 15mph. Riders can charge the bike from a household outlet, or pedal to top off the battery. One could, conceivably, pump through one’s own personal spin class in the garage, and then zip around, perspiration- and guilt-free, on Li-ion-stored muscle power. It’s personal mobility meets personal motivation.Beyond its home market of Korea, the Footloose is presently on sale in some key e-bike markets, including most of western Europe, the US, the UAE, Russia and Singapore. The price, unlike the bike itself, is a fairly hefty $4000.Nobody said progress was going to be cheap.(BBC)Bakudaily.Az