I never thought I’d ever want to go back to school again, but the captains-in-training at the Warsash Maritime Academy in England have to start out on these amazing supertanker replicas before they ever get the chance to pilot the real thing. And with a price tag of over $240,000, you’re actually better off strapping a lawn chair to the RC Titanic replica I wrote about on the weekend, then trying to buy one of these for your own amusement. But replicas or not, apparently piloting these miniature supertankers can provide plenty of useful experience for the real thing, without the fear of causing the next Exxon Valdez disaster because you spent the night before your big exam partying.
I would have never considered riding a Vespa or any kind of scooter to be an ‘extreme’ activity, but apparently all you have to do is remove the seat and you’ll end up with something like the Standbike Board which appears to be an easy way to make the evening news. (In a bad way.) Powered by a 250 ccm Aprilia engine, the Standbike has a top speed of about 87 mph and it provides a unique riding experience since without a seat you need to use your whole body to brace and balance during acceleration, braking and cornering. Not surprisingly the Standbike isn’t street legal and is designed to be enjoyed on a closed track with plenty of safety gear, but there is a seat accessory that can be easily attached allowing it be used like a regular scooter on public roads.
At the moment the Standbike isn’t quite available to the public, but if you’re interested there’s a no obligation sign-up form on the company’s website and applications will eventually be filled based on the order in which they were received.
It’s not actually powered by steam in any way, and according to the creator ‘bdring‘ it can’t really turn very well, but if you’ve been looking for an extremely cheap DIY alternative to the Segway, head on over to Instructables where you’ll find everything you need to build your very own Legway. It’s even eco-friendly since there’s no emissions (unless you count sweat) and the original model pictured above was constructed from mostly found materials.
From what I’ve seen, the large wheels on the Segway are capable of maneuvering over most terrain, but there’s clearly a reason why humans have legs and feet instead of wheels. So a bunch of students from the University of Louisiana decided to build their own Segway, called the Cajun Crawler, that uses a bunch of short legs underneath the platform to move about. While I wouldn’t necessarily call it fast, in the video below the Cajun Crawler does move a lot quicker than I thought it would.
And if the walking mechanism used by those legs seems familiar, it’s because the Cajun Crawler was actually inspired by Theo Jansen’s kinetic walking sculpture that wanders the beaches of Holland.
Bicycle sharing programs, where you grab a bike at one locale, ride it to your destination, and then return it to another, are not uncommon in large urban areas. But sometimes a non-human powered mode of transport is preferred, and the ‘Link’ Urban Scooter System is just that, finding itself somewhere between bike sharing and renting a car. The ‘hubs’ can be mounted to existing light poles, which are already secure and wired for power, and each one contains 4 collapsible electric scooters that can be borrowed and used for short trips around the city.
Users would have to pre-register with the program in order to gain access to the scooters, and they’d also be issued a mandatory helmet which would have to be worn at all times. Clearly the guy in the photo montage above is NOT a registered user.
The ‘Link’ Urban Scooter System concept was created by Anton Grimes, a student at the University of New South Wales, as part of the Australian International Design Awards. But it also suits Sydney’s 2030 plan to reduce the amount of cars in the city and make it more pedestrian-friendly.
The Monowheel has never come across as the safest looking mode of transportation to me, but shrink them down so they’re small enough to wear on each foot and you’ve got my attention. That’s what a company called Inventist did with the Orbitwheels, which they were showing off at this year’s Toy Fair. While they look like a monowheel crossed with a pair of inline skates, riding them is apparently more akin to being on a skateboard, though to propel yourself you have to make an ’s-pattern’ type movement with your feet. Now I’m not sure if Orbitwheels can be considered a safer alternative to skates or a deck, but the long warning scroll at the beginning of this instructional video doesn’t inspire a lot of confidence in me.
But if a skinned knee or a shattered wrist is a small price to pay for a new adventure, you can order a pair of Orbitwheels from the Inventist website for $119.95.
I can’t say I’m as fond of snow as I was in my younger days, but it still provides the occasional opportunity for reckless fun that you just can’t have in the Summer time. Snowmobiles are a good example, but if you live in a climate that experiences all 4 seasons, they tend to sit unused in the back of your garage for the majority of the year. The RadiX kit however can easily convert a dirt bike into a snow-friendly thrill ride, allowing you to use it all year round. The front wheel is replaced with a single ski that can be adjusted for extra stability while trail riding, or sharp-turning for racing down hills, while the back wheel and suspension are replaced with a patented ‘curved-paddle’ track design that works equally well on packed or powder snow.
Installing the kit will take you about 2 1/2 hours, but learning to ride a snowmobike only takes a few minutes, particularly since the bikes can stand by themselves, making balancing easy. The company claims to have hit a top speed of about 92mph on a RadiX equipped bike, and because it comes with a high-end shock system, you should have no trouble making big jumps and busting limbs. All for just $4,250.
In today’s uncertain financial climate (I’ve really no idea what that means, I just heard it on CNN this morning) it might not be the best time to buy that new car you’ve been dreaming of. But you’ve still got to get to work somehow right? Why not give the Auto Moto a shot? It falls somewhere between a motorcycle and a car, but thanks to its 150cc high performance GY6 engine, it gets somewhere in the neighborhood of 83mpg. And unlike a scooter, it comes with a windshield and wipers providing you with a bit of protection from the weather. (Though not the temperature.)
Given its compact wheelbase, I’m tempted to say that the Auto Moto looks like it’s ready to tip over at the slightest turn, but it features a unique tilting “rocker system” that ensures both rear wheels remain firmly planted on the road at all times. I was a bit skeptical of this claim, but the Auto Moto website features a video of it careening all over the road at relatively high speeds without it even coming close to tipping over. So I’m sold.
The Auto Moto will be available in the U.S. sometime in 2009, and since it’s technically not a motorcycle, you only need a standard drivers license in order to operate one. It also comes in your choice of nine different color schemes, features a sound system with MP3 player hookups and 4 speakers and has an MSRP of just $3,800.
It may not be the electric car you were dreaming about, but the USurfers from Urbanmover provide another environmentally-friendly way to get around a crowded urban city center. While they both feature a skateboard deck, the UM71sx (pictured top left) has a set of nylon wheels while the UM70sx (pictured top right) has a set of larger rubber wheels that look suitable for off-road terrain.
They both take advantage of a 36V, 800W rare earth magnet electric motor that will run for about 4 to 6 hours on a single charge (with a top speed of about 20mph) with stepless acceleration provided by a wireless, pistol-grip style throttle. The USurfers even come with an electronic ABS regenerative braking system to harness the power from stopping and slowing to recharge the battery. Sadly, there doesn’t appear to be any pricing info for either model on the Urbanmover website, and the “Launch date May 2008″ message isn’t that encouraging either.
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Given its compact wheelbase, I’m tempted to say that the Auto Moto looks like it’s ready to tip over at the slightest turn, but it features a unique tilting “rocker system” that ensures both rear wheels remain firmly planted on the road at all times. I was a bit skeptical of this claim, but the 
