Blending the mechanics of cycling, the movement of running, and the balance of skiing might sound like a design impossibility, but the Halfbike makes it look effortless. Stripping away complexity, this innovative vehicle reimagines personal transportation with a sleek, seatless form that invites curiosity and delivers a whole new riding experience. Designed for urban explorers and fitness enthusiasts alike, the Halfbike proves that sometimes the boldest ideas come from thinking simply and differently.

The prospect of blending cycling, running, and skiing into a single product sounds extremely complex. Many would imagine a Swiss Army knife–like contraption with a wide array of intricate components. The team behind the Halfbike went in the opposite direction, offering something so simple in appearance and execution that it’s hard to believe no one had previously envisioned it.

Despite the simplicity of the Halfbike’s design, it bears one significant similarity to the Swiss Army knife: it utilizes a folding mechanism, allowing the product to be stored and carried with greater ease than standard bikes. Using the folding mechanism requires little effort, as does carrying the product, thanks to the use of aerospace-grade aluminum, resulting in a weight of just twenty-one pounds. This is essentially in line with typical adult bicycles, minus the bulk.

The curving blades that form the body of the Halfbike reveal another simple yet impactful design feature. Two slender yet sturdy-looking pieces of metal, resembling hockey sticks, bend smoothly from the tip of the handlebars, joining with two more blades at the front wheel to form the folding mechanism. These slim strips certainly convey a more aerodynamic experience than the tubular poles most similar products employ.

In addition to structural curves, the product’s learning curve is another indicator of just how distinct the Halfbike is, especially when compared with the everyday bicycle. Halfbike describes riding the product as requiring a technique “unlike anything you’ve tried before.” It goes on to explain: “In that sense, knowing how to ride a bicycle, for example, would be of little help.” Instead, the Halfbike requires around twenty minutes to grasp the basics, with the finer points developing over time, much like any well-designed piece of personal transportation or exercise equipment.

Perhaps these facts explain why the Halfbike came nearly two hundred years after the seated bicycle, while also highlighting the spark of genius that eventually brought it into the world. Designers of pedal vehicles generally assume that the product should have a seat, resulting in the same general body positioning as a bike. By taking a risk and eliminating this expected feature, the Halfbike’s inventor, Martin Angelov, has opened up a whole new facet of personal transportation.

The Halfbike makes the Segway—with its motors, batteries, and AI mobility enhancements—feel hopelessly overengineered. Even without electronic gadgetry, the Halfbike feels more modern and innovative than anything currently being introduced by companies with shelves full of technology awards. On the other end of the personal transport device spectrum, it’s fair to wonder whether the typical seated bike design was a major step in the wrong direction—and whether its popularity has suppressed the development of products like the Halfbike until now.

The true test of outstanding design is how a product makes the user feel. From this perspective, the Halfbike is undoubtedly leagues ahead of the competition. Without resorting to gaudy embellishments, it gives the rider a sensation of finesse simply by pumping pedals and turning the body in an intuitive motion, providing an experience that feels almost like flight.

Halfbike describes creator and founder Martin Angelov as a pure minimalist. After a successful architectural career, he reestablished himself as an inventor focused on products that facilitate urban utopias. After years of prototypes and enhancements, he teamed up with a friend from architecture school, Mihail Klenov, to finesse the design and raise over $1 million in funding to bring Halfbike to the world.

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Discover other products in the Graphis Journal, #384.