Because of this passion, I just love any innovation that involves 'bikes'...the Segway, the Trek underseat storage (even used on our company website homepage).
I was chuffed to see that the recent James Dyson award in the United States (design and innovation awards) went to the MIT SENSEable City Lab Invention - the Copenhagen Wheel
"Top prize goes to MIT's SENSEable City Lab for their Copenhagen Wheel design, a sort of smart wheel that attaches to existing bicycles and transforms them into "hybrid electric-bikes with regeneration and real-time sensing capabilities."
A description of the Copenhagen wheel reads - "Its sleek red hub not only contains a motor, batteries and an internal gear system - helping cyclists overcome hilly terrains and long distances - but also includes environmental and location sensors that provide data for cycling-related mobile applications. Cyclists can use this data to plan healthier bike routes, to achieve their exercise goals or to create new connections with other cyclists. Through sharing their data with friends or their city, they are also contributing to a larger pool of information from which the whole community can benefit."
