Hasta La Gadget!

Zaff’s concept Globike looks like it would smash at the first pothole

Zaaf Design’s Globike “is inspired by ergonomic principles enjoying comfort with style.” It’s a shame that while the Italian design house was enjoying this inspiration, and studying the “energy needed to produce movement,” it didn’t stop to make a bike that could actually last five minutes on a real road.

Aesthetically, it is indeed inspired, a gorgeous take on the classic Dutch bike. It also looks comfy, with a laid-back geometry position and high handlebars for an upright riding position. And the combination of carbon fiber frame and titanium seat post should keep it light enough to ride up hills and carry up stairs.

But take a proper look. Let’s start at the front. The head tube curls around into the down tube in a joint that looks as if it would snap like a chicken’s wishbone, and would flex distractingly right up until it did so. Let’s move down that down tube until we reach the shame that is the seat tube and bottom bracket. The seat tube goes straight through the main frame in another flex-friendly joint, and continues down to the crank, which appears to be dangling down there at the bottom.

As someone who broke two steel frames in this exact spot, in the space of one month, I’m pretty sure this is a high-stress area. There appears to be a cable strung down from above, but lord knows how it would help.

As for the “specs” of this concept design, Zaaf has decided on hub gears, a disk brake and a nice sprung saddle. These off-the-shelf pieces seem to be the only practical part of the entire concept.

To finish, one more quote from the blurb:

All these elements permit flexibility and control of the main frame and forks to achieve a distinguished lightness and comfort.

Flexibility? Oops.

Globike [Zaaf via Bicycle Design]

See Also:

• Cannondale Concept Updates The Dutch Bike
• Flawed Bike Concept for Danger-Loving Hipsters
• Folding Penny-Farthing Is a Closet Unicycle
• Flawed

Wouter Scheublin’s Construction Toy is a vehicle construction kit for kids. It is also — if the concept design ever becomes a real product — a lawsuit waiting to happen.

The kit is a lot like Lego Technic, featuring modular splined tubes, bolts, cogs and wheels that can be put together in almost limitless ways. The difference is that Scheublin’s kit results in life-sized toys that can be driven and ridden by kids. Bikes, karts, trikes and (shudder) recumbents can all be put together with some imagination and a little hard work.

I think it’s fantastic — but you knew that, as I’m a bike nut and a DIY fan. I would have loved this thing so hard when I was a kid, and I’d be still be pretty happy to play with one today.

But without parental supervision, little Danny will likely put something together, take it to the top of the steepest, twistiest hill in town and launch himself down it. The amazing machine will lose a wheel at the first corner and poor Danny will be thrown to his doom, ending up broken at the foot of the slope surrounded by Scheublin’s tubes and connections.

But lawyer-bait aside, this oversized construction kit could — with the right parental help — be every nerdy kid’s dream. Note to Mr. Scheublin: If you ever get this into stores, sell it in Europe, or anywhere but the U.S. Over here people like to take responsibility for their own actions.

Construction Toy [Wouter Scheublin]

Pictures: Wouter Scheublin

See Also:

• It's a Wind Up: Gorgeous Spring-Powered Toy Car Not for Kids …
• Makedo Connects Junk Together. The Best Kid's Toy Ever?
• Wheels

You know all those hub-less wheels that “designers” like to throw onto their CG concept bicycles? Well, a student of Loughborough Design School in England has actually made one. He even threw in a belt-drive for good measure.

It’s called the Lanartic, and it was designed and built by Luke Douglas. Despite being having a full sized wheel, the wheelbase is much shorter than that of a regular road bike, and because the seat sits over the rear wheel the seat-to-handlebar distance remains similar to a bigger bike.

The hubless design opens up a lot of extra opportunities, not least of all luggage carrying. You could put a bag or basket inside that rear wheel (taking care to keep it away from the rider’s heels) and it would put the load at or even below the bike’s center of gravity for a very stable ride.

I imagine the friction of this kind of wheel is a lot higher than that of a regular hub, thanks to so much more contact between wheel and the “frame”. It looks like crazy fun to ride, though, and wheelies should be dead easy with the seat so far back over the rear wheel.

Lanartic [Loughborough University via Doobybrain and Make]

See Also:

• Orbitwheel: Hubless Wheels for Your Feet
• P-fars
• YikeBike

This bike pump could become as familiar as public water fountains

One of the things I like best about visiting the U.S is the public water fountains. It’s a simple thing, but it means that you can drink free (and in New York, delicious) water whenever you like. They’re even in the airports, which means that you can take an empty bottle through the security theater checkpoint and fill up in the departure lounge. So civilized.

But what about my poor bike? What if its little tires get “thirsty” for air? Sure, I should have my pump, but what if it was confiscated at that same TSA checkpoint because I accidentally called it by its Spanish name, bomba, and the TSA drones freaked out? In this elaborate and highly unlikely scenario I could — hopefully — turn to the Public Bicycle Pump, made by U.K company Cyclehoop.

You may know Cyclehoop from its hoop-shaped add-ons which turn street signs into bike racks. The pump is designed to be installed in a public place and left there so cyclists can get some air. It’s probably a lot safer than the common alternative, which is pumping up your tires with the gas station air hose, a solution which leads to popped inner tubes.

Even better, as you see below, the pump can be integrated into a bike rack so you can park up and also top-off your tires.

The pump can also be integrated into a bike rack

It’s a small thing, to be sure, but in a world that is designed to suit the automobile, it is a step to make cities a little more human-friendly.

Public Bicycle Pump [Cyclehoop]

See Also:

• Amazing German Bike-Carrying Train
• Free Bike Repair Stations Pop Up in Cambridge, Massachusetts …

Mad Catz’s Airdrives sit outside your canal and let ambient sound in

This next sentence is going to drive some of you crazy: bike friendly headphones. But before you scroll past the rest of this post and start writing angry comments about road safety and how listening to music means cyclists deserve to die (whilst forgetting that you regularly balance a hot cup of Starbucks on your paunch while texting and driving), read a little longer.

The Airdrives are from Mad Catz, and they don’t block your ears at all. Unlike earbuds or over-ear designs, the Airdrives sit on that little cartilaginous nodule at the front of your ear-hole. The speaker is held there by the cord, which hooks over your ear and cinches tight. This also helps keep them in place, which is essential when doing sporting activities.

Because the sound is sent in from the outside, it’s no different from listening to the radio in your car. You can still hear ambient sounds, and identify the direction they come from. The design also combats listening fatigue, letting your ear shape and process the sound from the ‘buds as it would any other external sound.

I’m interested to try these out. Too-loud music will of course still be too loud, and drivers will still hate you for wearing them, but for podcasts they may just be ideal. The Airdrives also have inline controls and will answer your compatible phone. This last is probably a terrible idea, though. It’s one thing distracting yourself with a phone-call when you’re in a two-ton cage and can only kill others. When you’re on a bike, you can only kill yourself.

Still want to write a nasty comment? Go ahead. Just don’t say I deserve to die because I don’t use the same environmentally destructive form of transport as you do. From $15. Pictured model $50.

Airdrives product page [Mad Catz via London Cyclist]

Airdrives on Amazon [Amazon]

See Also:

• Budfits Keep Earbuds Where You Want Them
• Headphone Hat For Stealth Listening
• Awareness App Pipes Outside Sounds to Your Headphones
• Tunebug Turns Your Bike Helmet into a Speaker
• Bike Speakers Rock Your Commute
• Wireless Bike Speaker Beams Tunes From iPod To Handlebars
• Podio Bike Speakers Turn Cycling into “Enjoyable Melodious Tour …