Julian Casablancas’ Electric Folding Bicycle Patent May One Day Improve Our Commutes

As one observant Reddit user has pointed out, the Strokes frontman Julian Casablancas has a patent for an electric folding bicycle (the Redditor also humorously suggests this is why we’re still waiting for a follow-up to 2012’s Comedown Machine).

Casablancas, director Warren Fu and former Strokes manager Richard Priest are listed as inventors on the patent, which was filed in 2012 and published in March of last year. The patent is somewhat dense, but essentially, Casablancas is proposing a battery-powered, folding bicycle that would eliminate many of the arduous realities of being a cyclist:

The present invention includes a folding bicycle and method of use that is preferably ergonomically comfortable when riding, preferably can be readily folded into a compact arrangement, preferably can be battery powered, gas powered, manually powered, preferably can be provided without the traditional drive chain mechanism and pedals of manually powered bicycles, preferably can be easily transported and stored, and/or preferably can maintain its structural rigidity and integrity despite repeated folding and unfolding.

The patent includes a series of diagrams of Casablancas’ invention and details all of the many reasons it can suck to ride a bike in a city:

Although riding a bicycle for transportation can alleviate the above drawbacks, bicycles typically are bulky and inconvenient for portability and storage. This inconvenience of portability and storage often results in bicycles being left outside, leaving them susceptible to theft...

Current folding bicycles typically have pedals, thus requiring the user to exert a substantial amount of energy to ride. Exerting the amount of energy necessary to ride a bicycle often results in the user sweating upon arrival at his or her destination. Because riding a bicycle causes the rider to sweat, the user often must dress down and change into appropriate clothing upon arriving at his or her destination.

Last year, Casablancas told Rolling Stone he’s still working on the bicycle. "It's kind of breaking my heart with how long it's taking, but it's pretty amazing,” he said. “It's an electric folding bicycle thing, no pedals, and it folds up to the size of a briefcase.”