News

With London’s new ‘Boris Bikes’ hire scheme in full force, the number of urban cyclists on the increase and winter fast approaching this is the perfect time for designers in Sweden to have unveiled the Hövding – a winter jacket with an airbag helmet built into the waterproof collar which on impact inflates around the head to protect it. In...

Anyone who has been through the rigmarole of trying to claim damages following a collision without the benefit of witness statements will know that it can become an impossible task. The law in mainland Europe quite sensibly places the legal responsibility in personal injury cases involving car drivers and cyclists on the motorist (unless...

An international team of scientists has developed ultra-thin sheets of inorganic light-emitting diodes (LEDs) for implantation under the skin for biomedical applications, reports PhysOrg.com this week. The technology could pave the way for bicycle lights worn under the skin. Light-emitting ‘tattoos’ The LEDs are tiny in size and are...

The world’s first goggles that show GPS information on a micro-LCD heads-up display inside the lens could prove a useful piece of kit for cyclists. The Recon/Zeal goggles have been developed for snowboarders, but instant access to data on location, speed, altitude and temperature without the need to look away from the road or track ahead...

A short film of it on Youtube has already had 230,000 hits, but until now the B.O.N.D bike we unveiled at the Cycle Show last week has not been seen in its natural terrain, snow. At the request of Channel Five’s Gadget Show we took the B.O.N.D bike to the incredible Sno!zone indoor ski slope earlier this week to test its snow-going...

A new type of cycle helmet made from cardboard launched at the London Cycle Show last week is stronger than the commonly-used polystyrene and plastic construction and is designed to withstand multiple shocks. Conventional cycle helmets need to be thrown away if they sustain a blow. Royal College of Art postgraduate Anirudha Surabhi is...

The 95,000 members of the Barclays cycle hire scheme in London have notched up an incredible one million journeys in the ten weeks since its launch. Dubbed ‘Boris Bikes’ by its fans, the scheme stretches from Notting Hill Gate to Wapping, and from Regents Park to Borough Market. So successful is the scheme that it is already turning an...

The BOND bike is a new type of bicycle equipped with flame-thrower and ejector seat - an ideal way for 007 to get to work. The flame-thrower fitted in the handlebars prevents overtaking motorists getting too close. The ejector seat disposes of thieves who beat the padlock and chain. And the bike – which would make Bond’s gadget inventor, Q,...

The fact that the bicycle has remained largely unchanged for one hundred years does not deter designers from trying to improve on it. A team of Hungarian engineers this week unveiled a new design of wire drive which they claim is a more efficient and cleaner alternative to a bicycle chain. The Schwinn ‘Stringbike’ features interchangeable...

A pedal-powered ornithopter is the most beautiful, environmentally benign, but physically demanding way to travel by air. Environmentally-friendly flying Engineering students at the University of Toronto designed and built the ‘Snowbird’ ornithopter and in August this year made what they are confident is new world record for an aircraft of...