BEAUTIFUL WHEEL REINVENTIONS
Reinventing the wheel is a cliched quest -- a holy grail for new ideas -- a rare feat despite countless brilliant minds that have tried. We took a look at the latest, most beautiful wheel and wheel-related designs happening right now.
Monkey Light Pro is a bike wheel display system that can show images or even animations in 4,096 colors on your wheels while you’re riding. It can be installed on any standard bike wheel. It is vibration-proof and has a built-in stabilizer to yield good quality and sharp images within the speed range of 10 to 40 mph. And the battery’s run time is a whopping 8 hours.
Video: Courtesy of MonkeyLectric
You can opt for the pre-loaded custom animations and images created by 10 different artists. Or you can express yourself by designing your own with Monkey Light Pro’s web application.
Loopwheels is a radical new bicycle wheel designed by British engineer, Sam Pearce. Look mom, no spokes! Instead, three carbon fiber springs that form an integral suspension system which adds comfort to the ride. It’s the coolest looking shock absorber we’ve ever seen. And it works in a totally different way. If you hit a curb head on, the outer rim of the wheel flexes, as usual, but the curved spring sections flex, dramatically, to bring the hub closer to the rim.
You no longer need the suspension power of large volume tires. Pearce says it makes riding on a bumpy road 'feel like velvet.'
“I first had the idea of a wheel with suspension inside it when I was sitting at an airport waiting for a flight,” Pearce told Bike Radar in a recent interview. “I saw a mother pushing her child in a buggy. The front wheel hit a slight kerb and the child jolted forward because of the impact. It happened several times in the hour I was there and that’s what sparked my idea for better suspension, within the wheel itself.”
Brilliant as the idea was, Pearce, a mechanical engineer whose day job is to design things for pushcarts, put this epiphany on the shelf for two years before he revisited it. One afternoon, to battle momentary boredom, he remembered his spark and played around making a model with springs made from plastic guttering he bought, using a pencil as a hub. And it worked.
Pearce is a bike enthusiast, so the idea immediately became grist for a bike innovation. "I love cycling, so I thought it would be awesome to ride a bike with in-wheel suspension,” Pearce explained.
After four years, and many prototypes, testings, and redesigns, Pearce perfected his wheel. It wasn’t so easy, because as simple as a bicycle wheel might seem, the physics and logistics are a bit complex. For example, the two wheels need different spring rates. The rear wheel has to be tuned to manage torque effectively and efficiently under both acceleration and braking, all while yielding a smooth ride.
The design also had to consider compatibility with a variety of hubs, achieved through interchangeable connective components between the rim and hub. And then there are derailleurs and disc brakes to think about.
Following a super-successful Kickstarter campaign which raised £48,000 for development, Loopwheels is set to go on sale in September. The first wheels are designed around the 20-inch wheels commonly used on fold-up bicycle. Pearce plans to sell bikes with the wheels fitted for £1200, and the wheels alone for £600 to fit existing bikes. Once the 20-inch wheel is in production, there are plans for a larger version for mountain bikes and even the possibility of a car version in the future.
Another beautiful new kind of wheel is a new kind of self-balancing people mover. Like its older cousin, the Segway, the Solowheel, from Inventist, Inc. is an advanced form of low-energy, zero-emission, ultra-portable transportation.
Solowheel is a single wheel, with a small handle on top so you can take it with you easily rather than having to bother with trying to find a parking space. Weighing in at 25 pounds, it could stand to be a wee bit lighter for our taste, but still, it rocks.
Photo: Courtesy of Inventist
Solowheel’s 1000-watt motor gives it a top speed of about 12 miles per hour, running on a lithium ion battery that lasts about an hour without a top up. It uses a power regeneration system that can recharge the battery using the kinetic energy of braking or gliding which can extend the battery life. A gyroscope keeps you upright.
There are no real controls. Like the Segway, you start the Solowheel by putting your feet on the small platforms extending to each side of the wheel, standing up, and leaning forward. You brake by leaning backward. And you steer it by leaning sideways in the direction that you want to go. Balancing on one wheel, however, makes Solowheel a bit trickier than the Segway, but you’ll get the hang of it soon enough to go for a very beautiful cruise.
Video: Courtesy of Inventist Inc, Youtube
Riding your cool Loopwheel or Solowheel to work would be even more of an exercise in beautiful design if you didn’t have to lug a clunky helmet around with you. The new foldable helmet, by Carrera, is a beautiful solution. While inspired by the old leather pistards helmet, Carrera’s has a patented invisible flexible frame that optimizes comfort, safety, and easy portability. Plus, it’s the coolest helmet we’ve ever seen, especially in orange!
And you can keep a cool head with Carrera’s front-to-back vents. It adapts to the shape of your head, perfectly, with an elastic fitting system.
Photo: Courtesy of Carrera
When folded, you can strap it to your bike, or tuck it into a bag. And off you go to your meeting. No muss. No fuss. And way cool.
Feel like some beautiful new low tech glory? These gorgeous retro bike baskets by Peterboro add sweet romance to your wheels.
Made of Appalachian White Ash, the same hardwood that baseball bats, snowshoes and axe handles are made from, these baskets are hand woven as they have been for over 150 years, in Peterboro, New Hampshire. A Peterboro brass medallion is nailed to each rim with brass nails. Two adjustable leather straps will attach to a bike, scooter, wheelchair or even a walker to carry your fresh picked flowers, books, or baguettes in style.
Make your basket even more beautiful, if you’re feeling crafty, with a garland of silk blossoms, as Eleanor does. Full instructions found at EleanorsNYC.
While you are feeling nostalgic, take your bike for a spin with Chalktrail, a genius new device that makes for good old-fashioned fun. It is a colored chalk holster that attaches easily, without tools, to any bike or scooter so that, when it is ridden, a colored trail gets laid down on the street or sidewalk. Ride around in circles? Zig zag. Carve? Ride a flower or a ripple. You’ll make your mark wherever you go. Each piece of Chalktrail Chalk lasts for up to 1 1/2 miles so your neighborhood becomes your canvas.
Check out more beautiful wheels all week on BeautifulNow. And enter this week’s BN Competition. The theme is Beautiful Wheels.
