Toyota推出Winglet

這次豐田給我們帶來的這款產品，秉承了日系廠商小巧的特點，和Segway比起來是有些許的可愛，名字也起得不錯， Winglet，雙翼。你可以馬上聯想到造型酷似昆蟲的翅膀，同時這個系列的產品提供了3個型號，S，M，L，顯而易見是為那些不同身高的人準備的；和 Segway的原理是一樣的，配置了許多感應器，包括平衡感應，可以感知人體的傾斜度從而實現前進後退，同時還增加了一個障礙物感應功能，可以在你看不 見或者是開小差的時候幫助躲閃，在接下來的2009，Winglet會在日本國際機場和酒店等場合進行進一步測試，在2010年量產，我們已經迫不及待要 知道價格了。 Winglet S:265×464×462mm，重9.9公斤，最高速度6 km/h，充電時間1小時，可巡航5 km。 Winglet M:265×464×680mm，重12.3公斤，最高速度6 km/h，充電時間1小時，可巡航10 km。 Winglet L:265×464×1,130mm，重12.3公控，最高速度6 km/h，充電時間1小時，可巡航10 km。 http://chinese.engadget.com/2008/08/04/segway-toyota-winglet/

Intense Cycles

Just see the pic, smart and cool. This photo is the SS(Slope Style) model come from Intense Cycles. "This bike is built to perform in the MTB park environment giving you the ablility to throw tricks and fly over built lines with ease. With slope style specific geometry. this bike will redefine how MTB park riding is meant to be."

Indicator Glove

This indicator Glove for safer cycling, it can give the signal when you stop, trun righ or left. Cool and simple design! Each glove contains a micro-switch located inside the fabric of the first finger. The switch operates a bank of 4 Ultra-Bright red flashing LED's and can pressed on/off quickly and easily with the thumb. An existing product - Safe Turn Indicator, which you can buy. It's a wrist-mounted amber LED lamp which uses a tilt switch to recognise when a signal is required.

A-Bike

Sir Clive's A-Bike measures only 67 x30 x 15cm. It weighs in at only 12-pounds and can be folded up within a mere 20 seconds. It is a super-light bicycle, you can easily take it to the bus and subway. Check out more see this adorable A-bike.

Bi-Cycle

A fun bicycle, and a new way to ride the tandem bicycle. A unique tandem bicycle, Bi-Cycle allows both riders to contribute equally to the riding experience. Since both riders can steer and pedal at the same time, riding this bike demands a trust bond between the riders. Check out see the video.

Bust a Moov: concept bike goes 'biomechanical'

I know what you're thinking: "I've always wanted to get into extreme sports, but they're just not high-tech enough for me." Let me introduce you to the Moov, a seriously badass concept bike conceived by student Jean-Michel Raad. He designed it so the rider can quickly change the separation between the rear wheels, making it easier to perform acrobatic stunts. When Raad presented the concept at the Coventry University MA Design Show last December, he described the Moov using "biomechanical muscles" to achieve its transforming ability, but exactly how they work isn't clear. What is clear is that Raad knows what he's talking about when it comes to extreme biking — he's an aficionado of Parkour (a.k.a. "free running"), the French practice of cycling through treacherous urban landscapes and generally tearing up the streets of Paris. The judges at the design show were apparently convinced, and they gave him first prize based solely on the concept and some animation. We like the idea — and love the design — but hope Raad gets Mooving on a prototype soon, lest we turn to the ScarPar for our extreme needs. — Peter Pachal

Maintenance-Free Drivetrain

The swiss bicycle manufacturer KATZ-Bikes has one objective: Maintenance Free Bicycles! Here is the first concept for a maintenance free MTB. The drivetrain consists out of a Rohloff Speedhub in combination with a completely capsuled chain drivetrain. The rear wheel can be removed without touching the chain. This is realized by a special couppling between the internal geared hub and the rear pinion gear. The rear pinion gear stay on the bike and is a part of the drivetrain. The efficiency is pushed by the following details to a high level: - capsuled drivetrain - the chain has a wide overlapping on the chain wheel and the rear pinion by using to little guiding pinions. These two guiding pinions are on the untensioned side of the drivetrain with a low influence on the efficiency. The tensioned upper chainline has a straight effective direction! - the chain will be tensioned by the two guiding pinions (like a derailleur). There is a whole bundle of maintenance free details on this bike concerning other parts. A price is not defined but the bikes will be available next spring. Phil´s veloblog is also discussing the benefits of this concept.

CUBE Urban Concept Bike

CUBE a german bicycle manufacturer released a Urban Bicycle Concept. coperation with the University Coburg/Germany (Productdesigner Gregor Dauth, Professor Gerhard Kampe) shows a 28″ wheel folding bike. Here are the main features of the concept: CUBE has a sportive bicycle portfolio. So the customers are focused on a sportive urban bicycl concept. The lightweight urban bike can easily carried into the flat and the working place. Two folding links to fold the bike and transport for long distance travel (Car, train, plane) Interesting to see that also here a internally geared hub with 8 speed is used (See also Cannondale Sram Projekt ONE with a Sram i-MOTION 9 hub). The hole drivetrain is completely capsuled. This protects the chain from rain, dust,….. I cannot understand that there are so many urban bicycles on the market who disregard this fundamental necessity! The HEBIE Chainglider is a revolutionary invention and nearly no bicycle maufacturer uses this fantastic part. Also in this bike concept the essential urban fenders are missing. Who wants to ride with this bicycle to work on a rainiy day! Sorry!!!! Maybe most of todays urban bikes are looking better without fenders and capsuled a drivetrain but when you face real world the cool design will not protect the designer cloth from getting dirty. The 28″ rear wheel can be released out of the frame. The rear pinion gear and the rear brake disc rests on the frame. This means the rear wheel looks more or less like a front wheel. There are no additional parts on any side of the hub. This has the advantage, that no oil or dirt from the rear pinion gear can touch your clothes and it´s much thiner part to store. Also interesting to see that the rear brake disc is mounted on the derailer side. This is the opposite side compared to actual bicycles. Do YOU have any idea why? This urban bike concept is another proof how bright the future of internal geared hubs is. Check also the Bicycle Design Blog for a deeper sight…

SeeSaw Bike

BI-CYCLE

A unique tandem bicycle, Bi-Cycle allows both riders to contribute equallyto the riding experience. Since both riders can steer and pedal at thesame time, riding this bike demands a trust bond between the riders.

BMW GINA LIGHT VISIONARY: CLOTH BODY

The GINA LIGHT is a roadster concept on which the usual body sheet metal found on production vehicles such as bonnet, side panels and doors have been all replaced with a special, flexible, highly durable and extremely expansion-resistant fabric material that stretches across a metal wire structure. A number of elements of the substructure are actually movable and the driver can shift them by means of electric and electric-hydraulic controls resulting to a change the shape of the outer skin. For example, when the headlights are not active they are hidden under the special fabric cover. As soon as the driver turns on the lights, the contour of the front ends changes revealing the twin-headlights –just like a human being opens his eyes. http://www.bmw-web.tv/en/channel/new

新生活運動：大家來踢碳

最近打開新聞頻道，四下討論的，全都是怎麼「節能」——從少用水到少開冷氣，從脫外套到騎腳踏車；一時之間，彷彿新生活運動再現，全台灣都變成了環保小天使，更多分析歐美先進國家怎麼愛護珍惜能源的環保論壇，也紛紛上場。 拜長期在歐洲旅行之賜，我對於歐洲人的環保作為習慣已久；雖然是否大家都如此愛護地球我不知道，但有一點是肯定的——歐洲的「能源」真的很貴，貴到用水用電用油用瓦斯都嫌肉痛的境地，以此猜想，歐洲人久而久之變得這麼講究節能便情有可原了。因此面對這次能源高漲的一波波攻勢，我反而覺得這或許是個契機，逼大家養成節能的好習慣。 前陣子讀到美國環保生活雜誌「VegNews magazine」盤點全球十大「最綠城市」，赫然發現名列第一的竟然就是我很熟悉的荷蘭阿姆斯特丹。雜誌的評鑑分析說明阿姆斯特丹政府每年會撥出4000萬美元的預算，用於城市基礎設施的環保改造：在阿姆斯特丹，37％的市民都騎車出行；另外從2009年底開始公布一項限制舊汽車進入市中心的計劃，規定所有1991年前生產的汽車都將被禁止進入阿姆斯特丹市中心區域，以減少城市的空氣污染。 說實話，雖然我經常在這裡晃盪，但從未特別感受到該城市特意提倡環保、節能、綠化等訴求，現在想來，這些都是城市居民生活的一部分，而且並非僅首都阿姆斯特丹，而是全荷蘭都身體力行，顯然這不僅是政府提倡，而是國民生活長久累積的一種習慣。以騎腳踏車為例，在全世界熱烈討論腳踏車可以為地球節省多少油耗、減低多少廢氣之時，荷蘭人早已習慣出門腳踏車代步，家家戶戶可以沒汽車，卻每人都有一台腳踏車(關於荷蘭人的腳踏車生活，請見在荷蘭騎腳踏車)； 此外在荷蘭用舊貨是普遍接受的概念，落實垃圾分類的同時，各城市亦有交換二手家用品的專門機構；阿姆斯特丹最大的跳蚤市場滑鐵盧廣場，充其量只是給觀光客滿足逛街樂趣的觀光景點，更多規模更大的跳蚤市場漫佈在城市的四處，其他城市亦同，我在荷蘭最大的樂趣之一就是每週去逛這些地方尋寶，最常消費的則是二手書店(關於我與舊貨的故事，請見I am Garbage Queen)； 在我們感受不到的地方，荷蘭的環保科技也一直不斷在進步著：在荷蘭，全國55%的垃圾都可以得到循環再利用，就算不可回收的也經由焚燒處理再形成的熱量提供發電，碎渣提供築路材料，廢氣也經過淨化後排入大氣；污水處理系統讓污水的循環再利用律高達90%；近年來最新突破則是利用地下巖土蓄能讓建築冬暖夏涼，新公寓不再需要空調系統，利用地下水達成溫度調節功能……荷蘭是個土地與能源都相對匱乏的國家，科技研究的心思放在節能上是很容易理解的。 「最綠城市」名單上其他九個地方也透過不同作為，進行著他們自己的環保主張： 1. (荷蘭) 阿姆斯特丹 特點：鼓勵環保交通工具 2. (美國) 芝加哥 特點：氫氣燃料、風力發電 3. (巴西) 庫裏提巴 特點：公共交通系統獨特 4. (德國) 弗萊堡 特點：太陽能發電 5. (尼泊爾) 加德滿都 特點：屋頂綠化、建築限高 6. (英國) 倫敦 特點：徵收車輛環保稅 7. (冰島) 雷克雅未克 特點：氫燃料巴士、地熱 8. (美國) 波特蘭 特點：綠色建築、發展輕軌 9. 新加坡 特點：零耗能建築 10. (加拿大) 多倫多 特點：LED照明系統、深層湖水冷卻系統 我對於排名這件事一向抱持存疑態度，更相信全世界還有更多城市也正在對地球環境盡一份心力，不在前十名並不代表他們就做得不好；同時，雖然我也是能源短缺物價飆漲的受害者，但我響應環保卻不是為了省錢，而是真的覺得地球需要我們舉手之勞的努力。很少人知道今天(6月5日)是聯合國訂定的「世界環境日」，大家朗朗上口的「我們只有一個地球」口號，早已是34年前第一次世界環境日的主題了。今年的主題則是「踢除舊習，邁向低碳經濟 (Kick the Habit! Towards a Low Carbon Economy)」。就從這天起，讓我們大家一起身體力行，讓地球多活幾千年，也給自己一個更健康的生活環境吧。 資料來源:http://tw.myblog.yahoo.com/cat_been/article?mid=24012%20

Extravagant Designs by Luigi Colani

Luigi Colani is a legend among industrial designers (see both his sites 1 and 2). We've featured radical-looking Colani trucks, and his streamlined piano, but now - thanks to the photo material provided by Roger Todd, exclusively for DRB - we can have a glimpse of his other designs, namely - Aerodynamic Planes, Trains and (more) Automobiles ...all from a never-never land of the most far-reaching imagination of the modern designers. To describe these concepts simply as streamlined is a huge understatement. They are wild, exciting, totally unexpected forms - a tribute to a Golden Age of futurism (see our futurism category). This era is largely gone... we don't see designers becoming superstar celebrities anymore, who would capture and shape world's imagination. Industrial design has become an 'apropos' feature of our life, but perhaps it lost some of its glamour and inspirational influence that defined the image of 1960s and 70s. Let's start with trains. A steam train for Soviet Russia, no less! -

This is the Coal-Dust-Powered Steam Locomotive for Siberia, 1979, more precisely for the BAM (Baikal Amur Mainline). I have no trouble imagining these beasts devouring infinite taiga-covered miles, no trouble at all. Too bad it did not materialize (BAM itself was not properly finished) -

Mono-track ideas? Sure. Here is an experimental shape for the Hamburg-Munich line "HM-1" -

More ideas for the aerodynamic high-speed trains:(I wonder if Japan is going to use any of them for their Shinkansen "bullet" trains)

Outrageous TransportationGiant Flying Boat (Ekranoplan) "The Lida", 1983Considering the Soviet love for ekranoplans ("wing-in-ground" vehicles), it is really surprising that they did not actually made this beauty:

Even larger one:

This is what I call truly radical aircraft conceptsSome of them beg the question "Why not?" (like this sketch done for the Japan Air Lines) -

...and others will leave you scratching your head, but also - perhaps considering the thought that the modern aviation is long overdue for a design overhaul:

Cars & bikes that will re-define luxury (again)

More recent design for the streamlined mobile home:

Horch Luxury Automobile design (so over-the-top that no apologies are necessary) -

Check out this hood ornament:

More incredible aerodynamic shapes:

"Frog" - aerodynamic study for a motorcycle, 1973:

Many of his shapes will haunt your sense of beauty - you can either love them, or hate them, there is no middle ground. However, this is the essence of exciting design: to challenge the predetermined (and possibly stale) mainstream sensibilities. Luigi Colani has been doing this like no one else since the 1970s.Final image: This is how our space program could look, if designers like Luigi Colani had their say -

資料來源:http://www.darkroastedblend.com/2008/05/extravagant-designs-by-luigi-colani.html