News

Cars get built-in vacuum cleaners

April 16, 2013

The modern day car has become so homogeneous in terms of appearance and efficiency that they say it’s the small details that sell one model over another; iPod compatibility, coloured mood lighting, additional cup holders and now the in-car vacuum cleaner. The Honda Odyssey Touring Elite MPV will from next year be equipped with its own...

Breakdown

British motorists now pay £1,000 per second in fuel duty

April 11, 2013

Road clock counter reveals the astonishing amount of resources consumed, and pollution created, as a direct result of the way we travel each day. Car breakdown provider, ETA, looked at the driving habits of 800,000 motorists over a three month period and used that information to provide a fascinating insight into how much money we motorists...

Breakdown

Lights built into bicycle wheels

April 9, 2013

A new type of light that fits discreetly to the outside of a bicycle wheel rim promises to be harder for thieves to steal and easier for motorists to spot. The designers of the Revolight set themselves the task of building a wheel-mounted lighting system that - dramatically increased side visibility, seamlessly integrated a functioning...

Cycling

Clothing printer transforms old clothes into new cycling tops

April 5, 2013

The Clothing Printer is a wall-mounted appliance that turns old jumpers, threadbare socks and worn out T-shirts into new cycling tops of almost any description at the push of a button. In the same way as one might use a paper shredder, old garments are fed into the top of the machine where they are broken down into thread. The thread is...

Cycling

When IKEA met Airfix – the flat pack bicycle

April 5, 2013

Winner of the international bicycle design competition in Taipei the 'sawyer' by sculptor and designer Jurgen Kuipers is a bicycle IKEA might sell – a flat pack low-rider made from sheets of plywood. A surreal twist to what is otherwise a fairly conventional-looking beach cruiser is its availability as a 1:1 scale non-functional model kit,...

General News

Used car prices predicted to fall

April 5, 2013

Drivers who value the environmental and financial advantages of buying second hand cars will pleased to hear that prices look set to drop. CAP, publisher of the Black Book price guide used by the used car trade, warns of a “shadow hanging over the market”, but what might be bad for dealers is good for the buying public. Prices during the...

Driving

Ban on women cycling is lifted…partly

April 4, 2013

The ban on women riding bicycles in Saudi Arabia has been lifted according to reports by Al Jazeera and daily newspaper al-Yawn. Head of Saudi Arabia's Commission for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, is quoted as saying that it's not the commission's "job to search or follow women who drive bikes", which is understandable because...

Cycling

Car drives on energy you harvest in one day

March 29, 2013

Will it be possible for a new design of car to redress the imbalance that exists between much of technology and nature? Designer and engineer Jim Kor believes so and set out to build one of the most world’s most environmentally-sustainable powered vehicles; the Urbree is designed to efficiently store and use exactly the amount of solar and...

General News

Bicycle inspired collapsible wheel

March 29, 2013

Not content with helping originate pneumatic tyres, ball bearings, asphalt roads, lightweight steel tubing and powered flight, cycling has brought the world the collapsible wheel. The folding wheel was originally conceived as a folding bicycle wheel by Duncan Fitzsimmons when he was a graduate student at the Royal College of Arts. Following...

Cycling

Pedal-powered Popemobile for the people's pontiff

March 27, 2013

Having already established a reputation as the Pope who takes the bus, Pope Francis will take another step towards cementing his image as the people's pontiff when he takes delivery of the first ever pedal-powered Popemobile. The entirely carbon-neutral, pedal-powered Popemobile was originally commissioned by the Environmental Transport...

Cycling