This paper reports part of the research results carried out within the National Centre for Sustainable Mobility (MOST—CN4)—Spoke 5 “Light Vehicle and Active Mobility”—funded by the Italian National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR). Specifically, it presents the design of a bicycle frame based on the pursuit of maximum modularity and adaptability. The research investigates multi-level modularity as a strategic design lever to improve flexibility, usability, and production efficiency in light vehicles. A design-driven and interdisciplinary methodology combined a systematic analysis of 76 patents with a qualitative cross-comparison of 15 case-study products and collaborative co-design activities involving domain experts. The resulting insights informed the development of a modular bike frame prototype, enabling evaluation of user-centered adaptability, production-oriented modularity, and functional transformations such as e-bike integration and cargo configurations. Findings provide evidence-based, qualitative insights and practical design exploration for modular light vehicle development, offering an operational framework and laying the groundwork for a structured, generalized framework to guide future research and industrial applications.
Rinaldi et al. (Fri,) studied this question.