Quite often, Dominic Hargreaves says, people approach his fully assembled prototype bike simply to remark on how beautiful it is. "I then say: 'Did you know it folds up as well?' They look a bit shocked when I show them how it works."
As well they might. The new graduate's invention, called the Contortionist for the way the full-sized aluminium frame collapses sleekly into the circumference of its wheels, is creating such a fuss that it looks likely to be one of those extremely rare items that move directly from design student project into the shops.
The bike, created for Hargreaves's MA final show at the Royal College of Art in London, has already been shortlisted for a prize sponsored by the entrepreneur and inventor James Dyson.
Now Hargreaves, 24, is talking to three companies about a possible production model. "They're car firms. I can't say which but they're all German," he says.
Foldable bikes are an increasingly common sight around the UK, mainly in urban areas where commuters can fold them up for train or bus journeys, or store them in the flat for the office.
However, the most compact models tend to get much of their portability by using small wheels, which affects comfort and rideability.
Hargreaves said he set out to create a folding model based around full size 66cm (26in) wheels. "I wanted a bike for everything, one you could use in the city or off road without compromises, but would also fold up within the circumference of a wheel."
The resulting frame "rolls up rather than folds up" using an ingenious set of pivots in the frame, as well as a lockable universal joint in the front fork.
This resultant bundle can then be pulled along on its still-spinning wheels using a pull-out handlebar section, rather than carried like normal folding models.
It remains eyecatching even when assembled: it is probably the only bike you'll see where the front and rear wheels are not fully in line but offset slightly to assist the folding process. They are also attached to the wishbone-shaped frame on just one side each.
"There's a danger of sounding pretentious, but I really wanted to design something that was not only practical but beautiful, that you'd desire," Hargreaves said.
Despite the trickery, he believes a production model need cost no more than £400: "There's no reason why not. There's nothing on the bike that couldn't be mass produced in a bike factory."
Hargreaves has already won a prize for an earlier bike-related invention, a parking device by which cycles can be hoisted up a house or flat's exterior wall out of the way of thieves.
He admits to owning 14 bikes, although many of these are in bits "so I can see how they work".
Whether or not the Contortionist makes it into the shops, he has won praise from Dyson for the bike's "effortless elasticity [which] is mesmerising".
"I love that quote," Hargreaves says. "It means a lot."
