This week at TreeHugger: We pull the wraps off the Giant Twist Freedom DX, a nice, normal-looking bike with an electric secret. Want to listen to music, but don’t want to have to remember to charge your player? We’ve got you covered. Lastly, the one and only Poweriser, that you use to “Powerbock,” is back; after popping up (ha-ha) a year ago, they’re taking Europe by storm and even have their own social networking site. Bock on.
The Giant Twist Freedom DX pretty much works and looks like a regular bike — it even has those classy fenders that the chicks love — with one small exception that’s difficult to see (and we think that’s a good thing): a torque sensor that monitors your pedaling and controls a 250-watt DC motor located in the front wheel. Power comes from two 26-volt lithium-ion batteries, and provides range of up to 75 miles. Ready to crank? The sensor tells the motor to back off. Feeling lazy? The motor kicks in to overdrive and all of the sudden it’s a bicycle you don’t have to pedal. And it’s got a ticket for the real world; they’re set to come out in May with a price tag of about $2,000.
If you’re ready to get down with your bad self but don’t want your tunes and mp3 player tied to the grid, here are two media players that’ll shake you all night long without need for a traditional power supply (that’s right — you: 1; your electric utility: 0). Get jiggy with the Media Street eMotion, (above, on the left) runs for nine hours after 12 to 15 hours of charging; in direct sunlight it can play all day; the Eco-Player (on the right) cranks out 40 minutes of playing after one minute of cranking.
Lastly, after first appearing about a year ago, the Poweriser stilts are taking Europe by storm and popping up everywhere around the world. Fans of the crazy bouncing stilts — which might be the coolest, craziest form of human-powered transportation we’ve seen to date — are all meeting up in Germany in a few weeks, and users of the Powerisers, who are called “powerbockers” (after their inventor, Alexander Böck) even have their own social networking site. But the real fun is to be had on YouTube, where some of the more adventurous ‘bockers have uploaded videos of themselves performing feats of strength and other wacky craziness in acrobatics and extreme sports. All we can say is this: Bock on!
TreeHugger’s EcoModo column appears every Tuesday on Gizmodo.
