Hungarians Invent Revolutionary "Stringbike"

In Hungary, manufacturers of a new chainless bicycle are hoping their new design will take the world by storm. Let's take a look at what makes this bike different.

At first glance it appears to be a normal bicycle. But check out the pedals and the chain.

This is the String bike - possibly the most radical redesign of the bicycle for 120 years - replacing the chain with polyethylene cord and pulleys mounted on either side of the rear wheel.

The bike is the brainchild of two Hungarian inventors who say the system finally consigns the oily chain to history.

[Mihaly Lantos, Stringbike Inventor]:
"The idea behind making this new drive system was to retain all the advantages of the chain system and to review the potential, not so good properties of chain-driven bikes."

Now in production at Schwinn-Csepel, Hungary's oldest bike manufacturer, it is posing quite a challenge, according to general manager Peter Klimon.

[Peter Klimon, Schwinn-Csepel]:
"Even manufacturing is a totally new concept to the normal bicycle manufacturing. We've been doing the bicycle manufacturing for more than 80 years. Of course this requires on the manufacturing side different skills and different practices of course. So the materials we are using is different, no more the chain but the polyethylene string, so something revolutionary."

According to the designers, the symmetrical nature of the Stringbike's propulsion system makes the ride easier and smoother.

It also lets the cyclist change gears while standing still and they say that as well as being more efficient than a chain, the strings are also more durable.

[Mihaly Lantos, Stringbike Inventor]:
"The basic was to use chords which are polyethylene, high density chords with high strength instead of the chain because this is clean, flexible and widely used in sailing boat applications."