SIR CLIVE SINCLAIR, the veteran inventor, is about to unveil his latest creation to the British public — a lightweight folding bike which he hopes will revolutionise commuter travel.

The man who brought us the much derided Sinclair C5 pedal and battery-powered buggy is planning to market his new bike this summer, priced at about £200.

Called the A-bike — because it looks like a letter A when unfolded — Sinclair’s new invention has taken him nearly 20 years to develop and bring to production.

Carried in a rucksack, it weighs only 12lb and, with practice, can be folded and unfolded in 15 seconds.

The frame is made from nylon reinforced with glass fibre — similar to that used in the aerospace industry and in sports cars such as the Lotus Elise.

With wheels no more than six inches in diameter and with only one gear it is primarily designed to be used for cycling short distances, such as between home and a railway station, and then from another station to your work.

The bike has been developed by the inventor’s company, Sinclair Research, at a laboratory in south London, and is being manufactured in China by a Hong Kong-based firm called Daka.

“It’s for people using planes, trains, buses and boats,” said a company source. “It’s not a replacement for your normal bike, it’s for the starting part and end bit of the commute.”

Sinclair believes that the bike will also appeal to people seeking “greener” modes of transport and those who have had bicycles stolen in the past. Its light weight and size when folded mean that it can be taken inside a shop or cafe, making it less vulnerable to thieves. It can also be fitted under a desk or in a locker.

Billed as the smallest, lightest bike on the market, Sinclair hopes to sell 100,000 in Britain during the first year following its launch in July, and similar numbers in other European countries, as well as Japan and America.

In trials it has achieved a top speed of about 15mph, although the accompanying manual will warn cyclists that with its 6in wheels it would be wise to avoid dropping off kerbs, attempting wheelies or any off-road riding.

Anyone over 6ft 4in is likely to find that their knees bash into the handlebars, and the company says people weighing more than 15 stone 10lb should not attempt to use the bike.

Sinclair will be hoping to avoid a repeat of the commercial disaster that was the Sinclair C5, his three-wheeled buggy. Launched in January 1985, the C5 was widely ridiculed, sales flopped and it cost him millions.

The A-bike follows Sinclair’s earlier plans for the X-bike, a scissors-like bicycle which he planned to manufacture but eventually abandoned.

In the meantime, others have entered the market in the quest for the ideal mode of personal urban transport. There are established competitors such as the Brompton which, although heavier, is seen as a well engineered bicycle.

In 2001 Dean Kamen, an American inventor, launched the electric-powered Segway Human Transporter — a stand- up scooter which is steered by leaning in the right direction. It has made some headway in America but so far has failed to catch on in Britain.

Last week cyclists gave Sinclair’s A-bike a cautious welcome. Tom Bogdanowicz, of the London Cycling Campaign and who has ridden one of the new bikes, said: “I’m amazed at the size of the wheels, but it does go reasonably well on smooth surfaces.

“It’s obviously not a bike for long journeys, but I can see an application for small journeys. It’s extremely light and easy to carry.”

He said the bike’s unusual configuration made the steering “a bit stiff” and users of such a small bike might feel more confident away from heavy traffic.

Sinclair pioneered many innovations in consumer electronics. After leaving school at 17 he launched the world’s first pocket calculator in 1972, the first pocket television in 1977 and the ZX Spectrum home computer in 1982.

With the design for his A-bike now, he believes, perfected, he is looking to the future — an electric-powered version that would, in effect, be the first lightweight portable scooter.

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