Technabob » gear

ALPHA: The World’s Most Innovative Bike?

Range — Sat, 30 Apr 2011 22:52:33 +0000

While to many people, bike tech doesn’t seem to evolve much, there are refinements every year making bikes somewhat more efficient than just a decade ago. But that doesn’t stop some people from wanting a quantum leap in tech advances. A team of University of Pennsylvania mechanical engineering students have been working on a prototype bike that boasts a bunch of innovations. It’s called ALPHA.

For starters, ALPHA’s drive-train is completely enclosed inside the frame. The rear wheel hub contains a three-speed gearbox, and there’s an electronic clutch allowing you to switch between fixed-gear mode and freewheel mode. The bike has an LCD screen mounted on the handlebars to display stats that can be downloaded via a removable SD card. There’s even integrated LED lighting. Plus, all of the electronics are powered by the dynamo that’s in the front wheel hub.

Just like you’d expect from something this cutting-edge, the frame is mostly made out of carbon fiber, with some aluminum bits.

The ALPHA bike isn’t for sale, but it’s possible that some of these technological advances could trickle down into production frames over the coming years.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

[via Core77]

Homeloo Gear Clock Spills Its Mechanical Guts

Technabob — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 11:30:10 +0000

This over-the-top wall clock has way more gears than it really needs – but it’ll definitely draw stares from anyone who tries to tell time with it.

Homeloo’s Jumbo Gear Clock has not 2, 3 or even 10 gears. Nope, it’s got an more than 50 gears – each and every one of them exposed on the surface of the clock for everyone to see. Check out the video below to see all the gears in action:

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

The clock measures in at 16″ in diameter, and it takes 4 D-cell batteries to keep the entire mechanism turning.

The Jumbo Gear Clock is available from Homeloo for $78 USD.

Clock Hands Stay Put, Numbers Move Instead

Technabob — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 15:55:18 +0000

Unlike a normal clock, this funky modern timepiece keeps its hands stationary, letting the numbers on its dial rotate around the hands to tell the time. A simple gear-drive mechanism moves the outer ring around the clock mechanism.

The desk clock gets it’s name, “Pisa” from it’s eye-catching leaning tower design. And if you really feel like going all out with the 12th-century Italy theme, the dial can be reversed to show roman numerals instead of digits.

So far I’ve only been able to find this clock from Korea’s Earlyadopter Mall (priced at 15,800 KRW, about $17 USD) but post a comment if you manage to find them somewhere in North America.

Rolling Treadmill Speeds You Down the Street

Technabob — Sat, 07 Jul 2007 03:46:38 +0000

The guys over at dutch design firm OOOMS are best known for their wooden memory sticks, but here’s another interesting contraption that they also are responsible for.

Looking like a treadmill on wheels, the Speedy Rollator uses a special gear drive system to multiply your walking efforts and increase your pace.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

While you won’t look quite as cool as those hipsters tooling around on their Segways, you might end up getting there just as quickly.

[thanks for the tip, roadside scholar!]