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Bicycles

autoliv pedestrian protection system

Autoliv's Hood Airbag System Saves Dumb Walkers From Dumb Drivers

Autoliv's new Pedestrian Protection System combines a hood that opens to cushion impact and a pair of hood mounted airbags to reduce the risk of serious injury when a car comes into contact with an unfortunate pedestrian, cyclist or motorcyclist. The tech's safety specs are impressive: "From almost certain death to less than a 15% risk of life-threatening injuries in a car-to-pedestrian impact at 40 km/h." [Autoliv via Autoblog via Inventor Spot]

multi-level bicycle parking

Japanese Multi-Level Bicycle Parking

The Multi-level bicycle park at Tokyo's Kasai Station might sound like a crazy overblown way to tidy up the streets, but the woeful lack of available parking spaces at most Japanese train stations is a real problem. In some places legal parks are impossible to find and private security guards are known for performing periodic sweeps where bicycles are tossed in the back of a truck and impounded. At 100 Yen (about $1) per day or 1,800 Yen (about $18) for a month, a multi-level parking spot is a lot cheaper than the impound fee. Here's hoping that they proliferate. [Japan Probe]

moritz waldemeyer

Joyrider, Possibly the Most Expensive LED Spoke Lights in the World

Moritz Waldemeyer, London-based shiny, spangly design person, has designed what must be the most expensive pair of spoke lights evah. Auctioned off at the ICA Gala Fundraiser in London last week, the Joyrider LEDs, which put a smile on the wheels of your bike, went for almost $4,000. Perhaps that's because they came attached to a couple of vintage-style bikes that Waldemeyer has designed.
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wooden bicycle

High School Student Builds 100% Wooden Bike

16 year-old Marco Facciola built this completely wooden bike for a school project, managing to avoid using any metal at all. Yes, this wooden wheeled wonder even has a chain and gearing made of wood, held together with wooden joints and glue. The detail in the free-wheeling ratchet and spacers between the chain links, pinned with tiny dowels, is amazing. Marco had to complete this as a non-academic project for his International Baccalaureate, and inspiration came from his grandfather, forced to make wooden wheels for his bike during the war due to rubber shortages. [LeeValley via Neatorama]

electro-cycle

LongRanger Electric Bike Won't Win Any Beauty Contests, But It'll Get You There

Take a stack of car batteries, design a bicycle around it, and you have the build-it-yourself LongRanger electric bike, whose practicality certainly outdistances its dog-ugly appearance by a country mile. In the video, marvel at the quiet of this DIY electro-bike, and then check out this shot, giving you a good idea of just how fugly this sucker really is: More »

bikes

Bicycle With Unlimited Gears Inspired By Leonardo

This DaVinci inspired gadget won't help you find a secret religious conspiracy and seduce a French lady, but it will help you get up and down mountains slightly easier. It's called "The Ride," and it's a bike that has a "NuVinci" transmission with ball bearings and metal disc systems to allow you to set the gear ratio at exactly the rate you want—essentially giving you an unlimited number of gears. More »

electro bikes

Dekochari Art Bikes Light Up Japan

Dekochari bikes are the baby brothers of Japan's well-known Dekotora electro trucks. Every inch of them is customized with crazy paint jobs, lights, banners, chrome and you can see them, big bumpers and built-up back ends, tooling round the streets of Japan of an evening. Catch them in detail in the video, after the jump.

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rollin thunder

Bicycles With Mega Soundsystems Need Mega Bikelocks

You may have seen some bicycles tricked out with huge soundsystems before, but probably not all in one place. Today the NY Times ran an article examining this extremely confusing and expensive hobby—complete with about 10 sweet photos and a video. One of the examples featured a 5000-watt system that cost in the neighborhood of $4000. The example above even features a TV screen and DVD player. Personally, I wouldn't enjoy the prospect of pedaling one of these things up a hill or getting bikejacked and shot by some crazy dude on the street. [NYT via Boing Boing]

cycling

Arantix Carbon Mesh Bike From Delta 7: Light, Sturdy, Shrapnel-Resistant? (Video)

Delta 7's Arantix bike frame is see-through and weighs just 2.75lbs but is so strong there's no rider weight limit. It's made of Isotruss, a material consisting of carbon fiber strands bent into a wide mesh to emulate the sturdy geometry of steel truss structures. That tech ain't cheap: Expect to pay $7,000 when it ships next spring (frame only—the other parts will run you $4K more). We are a little creeped out, though. If it's all about sports, why this talk about how well it withstands shrapnel hits? When we asked about military applications, one of the Delta 7 dudes said, simply, "Rapid deployment." Kinda alters the significance of "light artillery."–Video by Richard Blakeley [Delta 7 Sports]

cycling

Strida 5.0 Folding Bicycle Sheds Weight, Improves Overall

The folding bike continues to evolve, and here's one of the best, the Strida 5.0. Its folding mechanism is about as simple as you can get, collapsing in seconds into a size that fits easily into a car trunk or under your desk. It's a significant improvement over version 4, with disc brakes instead of the less-effective drum brakes. Most of it is made of cast aluminum, and instead of plastic wheels it now has alloy rims and hubs. Best of all, it's lighter than its 22-lb predecessor at just 19.4 lb. Shipping on October 25 in silver and red, early December brings even more color choices. Simplicity and feather weight have a heavy price, though, it's $799. [Strida, via Treehugger]

bicycles

Switchbike, The Transformer Cycle for Pedaling Flip-Floppers


Not sure if you like to ride your bike sitting up straight or getting all laid back? Then the Switchbike is for you, letting you go all AC/DC on your bike, riding it upright in a conventional style or transforming it into a recumbent bicycle when the spirit moves you. With a quick flick of the handlebars, this strange design by Ron de Jong transmogrifies into something completely different. It's not exactly a great-looking racing bike—since it obviously got hit pretty hard by the ugly stick—but there's something strangely appealing about its unique versatility. [Fresh Creation]

bicycles

Trek Madone: The Bike That Owned the Tour De France

This weekend, Spaniard Alberto Contador won the Tour De France mounted on a 2008 carbon-fiber Trek Madone bicycle. What is shocking is that the 2008 high end 6.9 pro frame wasn't used in this race, since it wasn't ready. No, the Discovery team rode and won on their 5.2 midrange bike, with stickers for the 6.9 wrapped around the side. Sure, it's more about the rider's manly thighs and the quality of the steroids injected into one's buttocks, but at any rate, this bike has tech that Trek can brag about.
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peripherals

On Yer Bike with the iH85B, iHome's iPod Speaker


Cyclists may be so excited by the iH85B, iHome's waterproof and impact-resistant speaker unit with its ingenious design that hides iPods deep within its shiny black polycarbonate carapace. And the 99-buck unit is remote controlled, too, so you won't find yourself wobbling across five lanes of traffic and into the path of an oncoming bus just because you decided that it wasn't the time for Avril Lavigne*.


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design concept

Jano, a Bicycle Built of Wood

Designer Roland Kaufmann has gone and built a bicycle out of wood. He calls this gorgeous cycle Jano, and says it's a dual bike, equally at home trekking cross-country or taking its rider to and from work every day. But wood? Really?
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move over segway

Bicycle/Bike-Lock Sculpture Wards Off Thieves, Actual Bike Riders

If you want to be really, really sure no one's going to jack your bike while you're in the library, you could always take a cue from this sculpture of an ultra-mobile bicycle by a Vancouver artist. And by ultra-mobile, I mean not mobile in any way, shape, or form. More »

gadgets

Trek Lime Bicycle Now Shipping, Has Electronic Automatic Transmission

Here's an unusual bike, the $580 Trek Lime that's just now becoming available, and it has a few distinguishing characteristics, such as its electronically controlled automatic transmission on its rear hub that's powered by a generator in the front hub. It also has a covered chain that's quite attractive, and that cover is available in six different colors, too. More »

gadgets

Bike by Ellsworth, Transmission by Leonardo da Vinci

Bicycle transmissions have clearly caught up with those of cars. We've already seen automatic transmission bikes by Shimano and others—and now there's a continuously variable transmission (CVT) in this Ellsworth bicycle that works in a similar way to our Honda Civic Hybrid. More »

gadgets

Shimano Rolls Out Simple Auto Transmission for Bicycles

Shimano, bicycle gearmaker to the stars, has made a three-speed automatic transmission for those who don't take biking quite so seriously. Shimano Coasting Components make a bike smart enough to shift its own gears, giving you a riding experience that doesn't require any attention or input. More »