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This is an ingenious idea, and one I wonder if could be used for more personal modes of transit. I live in NYC, where one of the biggest obstacles to owning a
by jaredwiener 7y ago
This is an ingenious idea, and one I wonder if could be used for more personal modes of transit.
I live in NYC, where one of the biggest obstacles to owning a car comes down to parking. Even a bike would take up precious living space. I would love a vehicle that I could deflate and store in a closet of sorts -- all of a sudden my building would be able to offer "parking" to all of the tenants if the parking were stackable.
- Aloha 7y agoI suspect they're very heavy
- jpm_sd 7y agoIf you've ever owned an inflatable kayak - or even an inflatable mattress - you'll already know that: Inflation takes a long time. Deflation takes a long time. Folding it back up neatly is impossible. Leaks appear out of nowhere and are tough to patch reliably. It's really heavy and floppy to carry around.
- evanriley 7y ago> Folding it back up neatly is impossible. Leaks appear out of nowhere and are tough to patch reliably. Easily my biggest issues with any inflatable item I've ever purchased. You'll never get it back into the box it came in, and you're folding is almost always going to be awful. Like trying to fold a fitted sheet before watching that one youtube video/someone who knows how to do it. If a leak appears I just consider it a lost cause, I don't think I've ever fixed a leak in an inflatable item that I was sure would allow me to use it confidently.
- quakeguy 7y agoHaving fixed bike tires for years, i can say that once a leak is there, it is due to material exhaustion. You'll end up in a carpet of patches.
- toast0 7y agoAssuming this is a powered craft, you can add powered inflate/deflate and get that time down to probably less time than driving around to your floor in a parking garage would have been. Leaks and weight are still a problem. Although, you could take the bounce house approach and always run the inflator and not fully seal (may reduce the effectiveness of power deflation).
- Scoundreller 7y agoThe state of pumping technology has vastly improved. Now they’re li-ion based, charge over USB and astutely let you put the valve on the inflate side or deflate side. One of these or its clones are awesome: https://www.amazon.ca/FLEXTAILGEAR-Portable-Rechargeable-Lightest-Mattress/dp/B07C2WF5T3/ https://www.amazon.ca/FLEXTAILGEAR-Portable-Rechargeable-Lig... Source: have one for a giant inflatable floating that holds 8 adults and weighs 70lbs dry. And had lots of juice left to make new friends pumping up their smaller floaties on a camping trip. But yes, they never fold like they did from the factory.
- ljf 7y agoFor a small but excellently usable folding bike check out a Brompton https://www.brompton.com/ https://www.brompton.com/
- xattt 7y agoLaziness will prevail. No one will want to deflate their method of transportation.
- JackFr 7y agoImagine the the highway safety statistics if everyone drove inflatable cars....
- roywiggins 7y agoJust dedicate all car parking to bike storage, and there'd be plenty of room.
- Johnny555 7y agoEven a bike would take up precious living space. I'd be surprised if you can fit any kind of deflatable vehicle into less space than it takes to store a folding bicycle.
- raquo 7y agoPowered paragliders fit the bill, but still require infrastructure like some open space for launching / landing.
- squarefoot 7y ago"This is an ingenious idea, and one I wonder if could be used for more personal modes of transit." I ckuckled as I recalled that inflatable costume Woody Allen wore in "Sleeper" which essentially would be to a wingsuit what the inflatoplane is to a regular plane:)