Any and all applications for which a foreign or domestic priority claim is identified in the Application Data Sheet as filed with the present application are hereby incorporated by reference and made a part of the present disclosure.
The present disclosure relates generally to bicycles. In particular, the present disclosure relates to a bicycle having one or more integrated cup holders, one or more integrated front racks, and/or one or more integrated front baskets.
Many types of bicycle designs exist. Some such bicycles include a cup holder. However, conventional cup holder designs typically are coupled to a handlebar of the bicycle and/or suffer from many drawbacks, including being overly complicated, heavy, expensive, and difficult to assemble or adjust. Similarly, some such bicycles include a front cargo holder such as a front rack and/or a front basket but conventional designs typically are coupled to a handlebar of the bicycle and suffer from drawbacks. For example, when the bicycle park on street, the handle bar and wheels will always turn around lying toward the side of kickstand, making the bicycle unbalanced.
Accordingly, a need exists for improved bicycle attachment designs and arrangements, which, in some embodiments, overcome one or more of the drawbacks of the prior art or at least provide the public with a useful choice. The systems, methods and devices described herein have innovative aspects, no single one of which is indispensable or solely responsible for their desirable attributes. Without limiting the scope of the claims, some of the advantageous features will now be summarized.
A preferred embodiment involves a bicycle comprising a front wheel, a rear wheel and a frame supporting the front wheel and the rear wheel. The frame also includes a bottom bracket defining an axis. A pedal crank assembly is supported for rotation about the axis and includes a drive gear. A driven gear is rotationally coupled to the rear wheel. The drive gear is coupled to the driven gear by a suitable drive member or arrangement. The frame also includes a vertical plate having one or more through-holes. The vertical plate comprises a mounting surface adjacent to or surrounding the one or more through-holes. The mounting surface receives a mounting portion of an attachment structure (e.g. cup holder, or cargo carrier) and a fastener passes through the through-hole to secure the cup holder to the vertical plate.
In some configurations, a cup holder is provided on each side of the vertical plate.
In some configurations, the vertical plate comprises a single through-hole.
In some configurations, the vertical plate comprises a pair of through-holes.
In some configurations, the cup holder comprises the mounting portion, an upper ring, a lower ring, an upper horizontal support which connects the upper ring to the mounting portion, a lower horizontal support which connects the lower ring to the mounting portion, and a base which at least partially extends across the lower end of the lower horizontal support.
In some configurations, the attachment structure is a front cargo carrier, wherein the cargo carrier comprises a pair of bases each having the mounting portion and extending to the front side of the bicycle from the mounting portion.
In some configurations, the front cargo carrier further comprises a rack shelf mounted on the pair of bases, wherein the shelf is configured to hold cargo thereon.
In some configurations, the rack shelf comprises a plurality of bars.
In some configurations, the front cargo carrier further comprises a mount support structure mounted on the pair of bases, wherein the mount support structure comprises a mechanism configured to reversibly hold another structure thereon.
In some configurations, the mount support structure comprises an elongated rectangular shaped bar.
In some configurations, the front cargo carrier further comprises a basket mounted on the pair of bases, wherein the basket is configured to hold cargo therein.
In some configurations, the basket is reversibly foldable and is configured to have a planar shape when the basket is completely folded.
In some configurations, the basket comprises a bottom panel, a front panel, a back panel and two side walls, wherein each side wall comprises a side center panel and two side corner panels, wherein the basket comprises at least one hinge connecting two of the bottom, front, back, side center and side corner panels.
A preferred embodiment involves a bicycle comprising a front wheel, a rear wheel and a frame supporting the front wheel and the rear wheel. The frame also includes a bottom bracket defining an axis. A front cargo carrier includes a pair of bases each having the mounting portion and extending to the front side of the bicycle from the mounting portion. The frame includes a vertical plate having one or more through-holes. The vertical plate comprises a mounting surface adjacent to or surrounding the one or more through-holes. The mounting surface receives the mounting portion of each of the pair of bases of the front cargo carrier. One or more fasteners each passes through one of the one or more through-holes to secure the pair of bases of front cargo carrier to the vertical plate.
In some configurations, the front cargo carrier further comprises a mount support structure mounted on the pair of bases, wherein the mount support structure comprises one or more through-holes from a top surface to a bottom surfaces.
In some configurations, the front cargo carrier further comprises a basket reversibly mounted on the top surface of the mount support structure, wherein the basket is configured to hold cargo therein.
In some configurations, the basket comprises the bottom surface having through-holes, the through-holes configured to be aligned with the through-holes of the mount support structure and receive fasteners to fix the basket on the mount support structure.
In some configurations, the basket is reversibly foldable and is configured to have a planar shape when the basket is completely folded.
A preferred embodiment involves a bicycle comprising a front wheel, a rear wheel and a frame supporting the front wheel and the rear wheel. The frame also includes a bottom bracket defining an axis. A pedal crank assembly is supported for rotation about the axis and includes a drive gear. A driven gear is rotationally coupled to the rear wheel. The drive gear is coupled to the driven gear by a suitable drive member or arrangement. A basket has an attachment portion and is removably coupled to the frame. The frame comprises a bracket having a support portion that supports the attachment portion of the basket and a retention portion that is configured to inhibit movement of the basket in a fore-and-aft direction.
The foregoing and other features of the present disclosure will become more fully apparent from the following description and appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. Understanding that these drawings depict only several embodiments in accordance with the disclosure and are not to be considered limiting of its scope, the disclosure will be described with additional specificity and detail through the use of the accompanying drawings.
Embodiments of systems, components and methods of assembly and manufacture will now be described with reference to the accompanying figures, wherein like numerals refer to like or similar elements throughout. Although several embodiments, examples and illustrations are disclosed below, it will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that the inventions described herein extends beyond the specifically disclosed embodiments, examples and illustrations, and can include other uses of the inventions and obvious modifications and equivalents thereof. The terminology used in the description presented herein is not intended to be interpreted in any limited or restrictive manner simply because it is being used in conjunction with a detailed description of certain specific embodiments of the inventions. In addition, embodiments of the inventions can comprise several novel features and no single feature is solely responsible for its desirable attributes or is essential to practicing the inventions herein described.
Certain terminology may be used in the following description for the purpose of reference only, and thus are not intended to be limiting. For example, terms such as “above” and “below” refer to directions in the drawings to which reference is made. Terms such as “front,” “back,” “left,” “right,” “rear,” and “side” describe the orientation and/or location of portions of the components or elements within a consistent but arbitrary frame of reference which is made clear by reference to the text and the associated drawings describing the components or elements under discussion. Moreover, terms such as “first,” “second,” “third,” and so on may be used to describe separate components. Such terminology may include the words specifically mentioned above, derivatives thereof, and words of similar import.
Cup Holder of
With reference to
The illustrated frame 106 includes several frame tubes, such as a top tube 130, a down tube 132 and a head tube 134, possibly among others. The frame 106 can be of a double triangle design having a front triangle that supports the front fork 108 (and, thus, the front wheel 102) and a rear triangle that supports the rear wheel 104. In the illustrated arrangement, the frame 106 includes seat stays 136 that extend forward of a seat tube 138 on opposing sides of the top tube 130 and terminate at a forward end of the down tube 132. However, the frame 106 can be of any suitable arrangement.
The frame 106 also includes a vertical plate 140. In the illustrated arrangement, the vertical plate 140 is located at a junction between the top tube 130, the down tube 132 and the head tube 134. In some configurations, the vertical plate 140 is positioned vertically between the top tube 130 and the down tube 132 and contacts each of the top tube 130, the down tube 132 and the head tube 134. The vertical plate 140 can reinforce one or more of the top tube 130, the down tube 132 and the head tube 134. A fourth side of the vertical plate 140 can be exposed and not connected to any tube of the frame 106. In some configurations, the frame 106 is a metal (e.g., aluminum or steel) and the vertical plate 140 is welded to the tubes 130, 132, 134. The vertical plate 140 can include a logo cut-out.
The vertical plate 140 can include at least one mounting surface for mounting of a cup holder 150. In the illustrated arrangement, each side of the vertical plate 140 includes a mounting surface that receives a cup holder 150. Thus, in the illustrated arrangement, the bicycle 100 includes a pair of cup holders 150, which one cup holder 150 on each side of the bicycle 100. The vertical plate 140 can include one or more through-holes through which a fastener 142 passes to secure the cup holder(s) 150 to the vertical plate 140. In the illustrated arrangement, two fasteners 142 secure the cup holders 150 to the vertical plate 140. However, in other arrangements, a single fastener 142 may be used, which can make manufacturing easier by eliminating the need to properly space and align two through-holes. In such arrangements, another anti-rotation mechanism can be utilized to inhibit or prevent undesired rotational movement of the cup holder(s) 150. In some configurations, the fastener 142 is a double threaded fastener such that it can couple the cup holders 150 on each side of the vertical plate 140.
The cup holder 150 can be configured to hold any desired type of cup or beverage container. In the illustrated arrangement, the cup holder 150 can accept a standard size bicycle water bottle. However, other sizes can also be provided or the cup holder 150 can be adjustable, if desired. With reference to
Front Rack and Basket of
Bicycles may include a front cargo holder coupled to their frame.
The front rack 250 includes a pair of bases 252a and 252b extending to the front side of the bicycle 200, and a rack shelf 256 disposed on the bases 252a and 252b. Like the vertical plate 140 of
In the illustrated arrangement, two fasteners 242 secure the bases 252a and 252b to the vertical plate 240. However, in other arrangements, a single fastener 242 may be used, which can make manufacturing easier by eliminating the need to properly space and align two through-holes. In such arrangements, another anti-rotation mechanism can be utilized to inhibit or prevent undesired rotational movement of the front rack 250. In some configurations, the fastener 242 is a double threaded fastener such that it can couple each of bases 252a and 252b of the rack 250 on each side of the vertical plate 240.
The rack shelf 256 of the front rack 250 may be welded to the bases 252a and 252b such that the components of the front rack 250 can be held together as a one piece. However, in some arrangements, the shelf 256 may be attached to the bases 252a and 252b with adhesives or any other suitable means. In some arrangements, the shelf 256 may be detachably attached to the bases 252a and 252b (e.g. by hooks or clips), such that the front rack 250 can be reversibly disassembled and removed from the bicycle 200 by the user of the bicycle.
The illustrated rack shelf 256 has a rectangular planar shape overall, and constructed from multiple bars. However the rack shelf can have different shape and sizes to accommodate to various uses of the bicycle. For example, in some arrangements, the shelf 256 may be a continuous plate rather than a set of bars, such that it can hold smaller items which may fall between the bars of the illustrated rack shelf 256. In some arrangements, the rack shelf 256 may additionally include mechanisms to receive and secure additional structures on it, such as baskets. In other arrangements, the illustrated rack shelf 256 may be substituted with other structures, such as a basket or a box mounted on bases 252a and 252b directly or with a support mount support structure(s), wherein the basket or box includes sidewalls enclosing a volume or space to hold items. Thus, references to one of a rack, a box and a basket herein could be replaced with any other of a rack, a box and a basket.
Major and minor support bars may be fixed between bases of the front rack by various mechanisms.
As described elsewhere in the specification, rack shelves described in relation with
The front rack 550 may include a mount support structure mounted on bases 552a and 552b, instead of rack shelves 356 or 456 of
In the illustrated arrangement of
As described elsewhere in the specification, a box or a basket may be mounted on mount support structures of a front rack, such as the front rack 550.
Removable Basket Assembly of
In some embodiments, basket can be removably coupled to the frame of a bicycle.
The illustrated bracket 716 includes a support portion 724 that supports a portion of the basket 714, such as the attachment portion 722. The support portion 724 can comprise a support surface that provides vertical support to the basket 714. In the illustrated arrangement, the support portion 724 comprises a recess that receives a portion of the attachment portion 722 of the basket 714. The recess and cooperating portion of the basket 514 can comprise a wedge shape such that the bracket 716 retains the basket 714 in a fore-and-aft direction or toward and away from the head tube 718.
The bracket 716 also includes a retention portion 726 that is configured to retain a portion of the basket 714 and inhibit movement of the basket 714 in a fore-and-aft direction or toward and away from the head tube 718 of the bicycle 712. The retention portion 726 can retain the basket 714 by any suitable arrangement, such as a locking element (e.g., locking pin 728) in the illustrated arrangement. A portion of the attachment portion 722 can overlap or surround a portion of the bracket 716. Each of the attachment portion 722 and the bracket 716 can include an opening or passage that receives the locking pin 728, which can be a quick-release type locking pin 728.
In use, the attachment portion 722 of the basket 714 can be placed onto, into or otherwise in contact with the support portion 724 of the bracket 716. The basket 714 can be lean backwards or moved toward the head tube 718 of the bicycle 712 until the attachment portion 722 is aligned with the bracket 716 such that the locking pin 728 can be passed through the aligned openings of the attachment portion 722 and bracket 716 to secure the basket 714 to the bracket 716.
Such an arrangement secures the basket 714 to the bracket 716 at two spaced locations to provide a sturdy connection between the two. In the illustrated arrangement, the support portion 724 is positioned below the retention portion 726; however, in other arrangements, the support portion 724 can be positioned above the retention portion 726.
The bracket 716 can be affixed to a suitable portion of the bicycle 712, such as the head tube 718, by any suitable arrangement. In one configuration, the bracket 716 comprises multiple pieces that can be connected to one another in a clamping arrangement about the head tube 718. The bracket 716 can be split in a vertical direction or along an axis of the head tube 718. The bracket 716 can have two halves that are connected to surround the head tube 718 or can have more than two pieces. In some configurations, the bracket 716 is a single piece that is clamped to the head tube 718 by suitable clamp members. If desired, the support portion 724 and the retention portion 726 can be integrated into a portion of the bicycle frame, such as the head tube 718.
It should be emphasized that many variations and modifications may be made to the herein-described embodiments, the elements of which are to be understood as being among other acceptable examples. All such modifications and variations are intended to be included herein within the scope of this disclosure and protected by the following claims. Moreover, any of the steps described herein can be performed simultaneously or in an order different from the steps as ordered herein. Moreover, as should be apparent, the features and attributes of the specific embodiments disclosed herein may be combined in different ways to form additional embodiments, all of which fall within the scope of the present disclosure.
Conditional language used herein, such as, among others, “can,” “could,” “might,” “may,” “e.g.,” and the like, unless specifically stated otherwise, or otherwise understood within the context as used, is generally intended to convey that certain embodiments include, while other embodiments do not include, certain features, elements and/or states. Thus, such conditional language is not generally intended to imply that features, elements and/or states are in any way required for one or more embodiments or that one or more embodiments necessarily include logic for deciding, with or without author input or prompting, whether these features, elements and/or states are included or are to be performed in any particular embodiment.
Moreover, the following terminology may have been used herein. The singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the” include plural referents unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. Thus, for example, reference to an item includes reference to one or more items. The term “ones” refers to one, two, or more, and generally applies to the selection of some or all of a quantity. The term “plurality” refers to two or more of an item. The term “about” or “approximately” means that quantities, dimensions, sizes, formulations, parameters, shapes and other characteristics need not be exact, but may be approximated and/or larger or smaller, as desired, reflecting acceptable tolerances, conversion factors, rounding off, measurement error and the like and other factors known to those of skill in the art. The term “substantially” means that the recited characteristic, parameter, or value need not be achieved exactly, but that deviations or variations, including for example, tolerances, measurement error, measurement accuracy limitations and other factors known to those of skill in the art, may occur in amounts that do not preclude the effect the characteristic was intended to provide.
Numerical data may be expressed or presented herein in a range format. It is to be understood that such a range format is used merely for convenience and brevity and thus should be interpreted flexibly to include not only the numerical values explicitly recited as the limits of the range, but also interpreted to include all of the individual numerical values or sub-ranges encompassed within that range as if each numerical value and sub-range is explicitly recited. As an illustration, a numerical range of “about 1 to 5” should be interpreted to include not only the explicitly recited values of about 1 to about 5, but should also be interpreted to also include individual values and sub-ranges within the indicated range. Thus, included in this numerical range are individual values such as 2, 3 and 4 and sub-ranges such as “about 1 to about 3,” “about 2 to about 4” and “about 3 to about 5,” “1 to 3,” “2 to 4,” “3 to 5,” etc. This same principle applies to ranges reciting only one numerical value (e.g., “greater than about 1”) and should apply regardless of the breadth of the range or the characteristics being described. A plurality of items may be presented in a common list for convenience. However, these lists should be construed as though each member of the list is individually identified as a separate and unique member. Thus, no individual member of such list should be construed as a de facto equivalent of any other member of the same list solely based on their presentation in a common group without indications to the contrary. Furthermore, where the terms “and” and “or” are used in conjunction with a list of items, they are to be interpreted broadly, in that any one or more of the listed items may be used alone or in combination with other listed items. The term “alternatively” refers to selection of one of two or more alternatives, and is not intended to limit the selection to only those listed alternatives or to only one of the listed alternatives at a time, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise.
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
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3995803 | Uitz | Dec 1976 | A |
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6173801 | Kakutani | Jan 2001 | B1 |
20080116238 | Tseng | May 2008 | A1 |
20100295264 | Denais | Nov 2010 | A1 |
Number | Date | Country |
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29612547 | Sep 1996 | DE |
Number | Date | Country | |
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20180050756 A1 | Feb 2018 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
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62377041 | Aug 2016 | US | |
62530551 | Jul 2017 | US |