Twisted and Minimal Horsy E-Bike Concept Looks Like a Faceplant Waiting To Happen

Folks, before you sits a design known as Horsy, a concept from the mind of Emre Özsöz, a senior industrial designer with a portfolio that includes some creations that make you question if it'll work at all.

Well, in the case of Horsy, this concept has been deemed worthy and has even won some respect at the 20th annual International Bicycle Design Competition. Time to have a look and see what you could be riding one day.

Emre mentions on his Behance page that Horsy is designed to solve overcrowded streets and cities lacking a transportation infrastructure. To do that, Emre created Horsy to be compact, agile, and, yes, electric.

Now, Horsy shows off shapes and lines unlike any other I've seen before; it literally looks like the remains of what was once a bicycle. However, these remains are infused with modern tech suitable for city use.

During riding, Horsy is set up very similar to...I literally have no point of reference to describe what it could look like. I know, a twisted tricycle with a cockpit resembling the one on your exercise bike at home.

While all that may sound silly, this sort of cockpit is actually shaped like the steering wheels found on some sports cars. By the looks of that head tube angle, this sucker has got to be twitchy as hell when you take a turn. Don't get me wrong, responsiveness is nice and all, but this may be a bit out of line. The size of the front wheel doesn't help either.

Back up towards the cockpit, you can see a component/joint holding onto the remainder of the bike. Well, it's here that Horsy unfurls its most valuable capabilities, that of being compact. Here, the bike's rear connects to the front, but once you're done riding, just hop off, fold the bike, throw it under your arm, and off you go.

Yet, there seems to be an issue. In a short animation posted by the designer, the rear of Horsy seems to pivot a bit while taking a turn. Now, this is only possible if that joint doesn't actually offer any rigidity. If it did, the pivot wouldn't happen. This means you're riding this bike along without any rigidity between the front and rear sections of the bike; it can fishtail as it pleases.

Now, that seems rather difficult and almost impossible to ride. Well, what if I told you that a bicycle manufacturer produces bikes with a similar principle, Bicymple. However, those bikes are chainless, and the cranks are mounted into the rear wheel, while Horsy is FWD.

Finally, Emre mentions over and over that this bike is electric. No mention of where the battery pack could be, how much power we can expect, or even how far it can take us, none of that. The only component I can make out would be a hub motor mounted into the front wheel.

Alas, we've reached the end of this short dive into a questionable concept, to say the least, and I still can't figure out any other vehicle it could resemble other than a clown bike. Honestly, it is just a concept, so don't get your hopes up in ever riding it around town. But if it does make it into a real trinket, I'd be one of the first to try it just to see how long I can avoid falling on my face.