How a cable can tow a bicycle uphill
The lift works by separating the power source from the bicycle. A motor drives a continuous cable hidden in a channel beneath the road. At the surface, a small carrier attached to the cable emerges through a narrow slot. The rider places a foot on the carrier, which pulls them and the bicycle up the slope; the bicycle itself needs no motor or special drivetrain.
The rider still steers and balances. The carrier provides forward pull, not a rail to hold the bike upright. At the top, the rider releases it and continues under their own power. That simple handoff is central to the design: the lift helps on the steep section without changing how the bicycle works on the rest of the route.
Why put the mechanism under the street?
An exposed tow system would take up space and obstruct other road users. Recessing the cable keeps most of the machinery out of sight and leaves the street usable when the lift is not carrying riders. Only the moving carrier needs to meet the cyclist at the surface.
That arrangement also makes the lift a piece of transport infrastructure, not just a gadget attached to one bike. It can assist many ordinary bicycles in sequence, while riders remain in control of their own steering. The tradeoff is that the road must accommodate a powered mechanism and a surface opening—engineering that makes sense where a steep climb repeatedly discourages cycling. On such a hill, the unusual sight of a bicycle being towed is the visible endpoint of a much less visible system beneath the pavement.
