Team Geared Up

ZURICH, SWITZERLAND (Team Geared Up) - This first one is probably one of the strangest hybrid devices I’ve ever seen. It’s called the SkidScooter and its an “amphibious scooter”. The idea is that its a device that can help you get across two different environments. It is a kick scooter that will get you acros (paved) land and has built in motors and propellers in the wheels to propell you through the water. Could you imagine this thing being pitched, I’m sure it would have gone a little like this: “Have you ever been in a situation where you were scooting along a road but were suddenly stopped by a large body of water and only wish you had someway of getting across it? That is where the SkidScooter comes in!” Other than people who live near beaches where they might find use for this, don’t expect this to ever leave concept.

All bikers when biking on streets have one common fear. Cars. One thing that drivers hate and bikers have a hard time protraiting is the direction the biker is going to turn. We’ve all been taught when we learned how to ride that we put our arm out to signal the direction we are going.
However that often leaves us unstable and prone to a possible accident as our control of the bike may become hindered when we only have one hand on the handles. This is where this clever device comes in. Designed by Leah Buechley, the jacket has blinking LED lights on the back to show which direction you are turning. Although only a conceptual project now I can see this becoming a reality sometime in the future. The real product will most likely be a thin vest that can go over ones jacket and have a small bluetooth enabled control that sits on the handle bar. Ideally I cool function would be some kinda of modual that could detect when the bike was slowing down and then a red LED will flash on the back to signal the biker is slowing down or stopping. Plus this would be an awesome accessory at raves! (via DVice)

In the comments of a post I did on the Cube foldable bike Robin gripped about the fact that we have amazing colapsable bikes but no colapsable wheels. Reader pointed us to this video. Its a prototype design for a wheel that can be fitted on any bike or wheelchair that pretty much folds in on itself. This along with a Cube bike and you’ll pretty much be able to carry a bike in a backpack in the future.
Last I have the “The Ride” by Ellsworth Handcrafted Bicycles. This is quite a stylish looking bike with a sleek aluminum frame and suspension. But is most exciting about this bike is the NuVinci CVP gear system. Its both a gearless and multigeared system. It is silent, will not skip and allows for a much more fluid change in intensity when pedaling. Check out the video to see what I’m talking about, its really quite amazing!

-Alx-