The rumors are true: the bicycle industry is folding.

As much as I love being out and about on my mountain bike, there’s one experience above all that affirms my love for it…and that’s when I arrive anywhere. I step off – padlock – I’m done. But even this hassle-free process is becoming obsolete. Every year designers are squeezing and folding bicycles into ever more compact, portable shapes – take Brompton’s range, this beauty by Mercedes Benz, or Thomas Jowen’s “One” (below).

But you still have to lug these miniaturized marvels around by hand: portable, but still pretty hefty. And that’s why Bergmönch’s bicycle (top) is such a breakthrough. When the wheels have stopped turning, you fold it into a backpack and sling it around your shoulders.

The “crossbar” is actually a sturdy backpack in itself, with over 12 litres of storage – and when this is empty, the whole bike weighs less than 10 kilos.

Those wheels are designed for the roughest terrain. And of course, when you reach the other side of the hill…

Sign me up. That is, after I’ve finished paying off my glow in the dark bike.

And the grow-your-own bamboo bike…

More on Cycling:

Biking to Work

Where Facebook and Bicycles Collide

Old Bicycles Become New Art

…and furniture

A Guide for the Bike Curious

Images: Bergmönch and Thomas Jowen

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