A round up of unusual bikes, including articulation, crime prevention, climate control, odd sized wheels and laundry!
Sue Archer writes:
Lightfoot Bigfoot Spotted on the Recumbent Blog, some footage of the 'All Terrain Cycle' from Lightfoot Cycles in action. This quadricycle has large wheels and an articulated frame to handle any sort of terrain you can throw it at. It can also be set up for foot or hand cranking, or a combination of both.
Laying down the law, laid back style West Midlands Police have unveiled their latest weapon in the fight against crime - a high-tech recumbent video quadricycle. The quad, which is fitted with video screens, has been patrolling areas of Dudley, playing crime prevention messages. The eyecatching shape attracts attention, and the messages are reinforced by Police Officers giving out advice and leaflets. Bike based advertising has the advantage of being at pedestrian eye level, and being able to access, and park in, areas closed to motorised billboards.
The DigiBike is the latest idea from Media Displays, who already operate video display vans. Designer and developer Ian Taylor recently appeared on BBC TV's Dragon's Den and sucessfully bid for further investment in his bike advertising business. We haven't been able to find any information on whether the bike platform is custom built, but it looks similar to the Brox, which can be seen advertising in a less high-tech fashion in this Velo Vision story from some years ago.
Congratulations, Klimax We mentioned the Hase Klimax trike project back in our Pre-Eurobike round-up, and we're pleased to hear that it won first prize in the Eurobike Green Award 2010, as a pioneer in Green Mobility. You can read about the award and the winners on the Eurobike website.
Big Wheel, Little Wheel Jason Patient sent us a link to this Walyou Blog post, featuring the Lunartic bicycle. This design features a regular small front wheel, paired with a larger, spoke-free rear wheel, which is belt driven via a toothed drive operating on the wheel rim.
According to the blog article "The relatively larger rear wheel can travel faster, adding more speed to the prototype." Hopefully they don't mean faster relative to the whole bike, or you're going to have problems with control. If they mean it spins more rapidly per pedal rotation, perhaps someone could introduce them to the concept of gears...
Still, it's an eye-catching design, and no doubt guaranteed to provoke 'cool bike!' comments from younger viewers.
Dispelling Wash-day Blues the green way From two wheels, we skip straight to no wheels, with this idea spottedon the Celsias blog. A static exercise bike charges a battery, which in turn powers a washing machine - twenty minutes of pedalling gives you one cold-wash cycle. Clever, but for the ultimate in energy effiency, cut out the power entirely with a machine like the Bicilavadora designed by students of MIT for use in areas without reliable electricity supplies.
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