Tag: Transportation

Apparently firm believers that no ideas are bad ideas, the YouTube channel Play To DIY constructed a bicycle almost entirely out of concrete. The behemoth bike weighs an incredible 134.5 kg (~296 lb), and actually balances and rides pretty smoothly, all things considered.

I’ve heard of couch potatoes before, but never bed potatoes. But here to prove there is such a thing, a 39-year-old man from China named Zhu Jianqiang went and built himself a joystick-controlled bed so he never has to get out from under the sheets to go about his day.

Because 3D printing offers a glimpse into the future, Jón Schone of YouTube channel Proper Printing used the technology to print a car rim that can successfully be driven on without failing and causing a horrific accident.

Because there’s a personal electric vehicle for everyone no matter what their taste, InMotion has released the $2,000 V11 electric unicycle, a one-wheeled EV with a traditional unicycle form factor. Obviously, I’m about to take my circus act to the next level.

Segway has a new personal transport vehicle that Paul Blart wouldn’t be able to use. The vehicle is called the Ninebot by Segway miniPro and it has a maximum weight capacity of 185 pounds. If you meet that weight capacity, it will haul you about 14 miles per charge at a max speed of 10 mph.

You think you know traffic jams? You have no idea what one is until you’ve experienced China’s infamous traffic jams. The country has some epic gridlock problems, but this cool elevated bus might help if they go ahead with their plans for it.

So you want a cool personal transporter that can carry your stuff. Bikes take up too much space. Segways are too slow and expensive. A group of industrial design students at California State University in Long Beach wanted to tackle these problems, so they invented the Nimble Urban: a human-powered scooter with a built-in cargo platform.

If you haven’t heard of the Hyperloop, you are missing something that will be awesome if it comes to fruition. Hyperloop is a very high-speed transportation system proposed by Tesla founder Elon Musk, that will carry people and cargo from place to place.

Growing up, I had a very steep driveway that was about a quarter of a mile long. It ended in a pile of dirt and those weeds with little burrs that will impale you we call “stickers” in Texas.

If you’ve fallen flat on your face one too many times while attempting to ride a Segway, then the Commute-Case may or may not be the right method of transportation for you.

So many people end up in car accidents every year. One of the common reasons was because the driver wasn’t paying enough attention. Some apparently can’t let go of their smartphones when they’re on the road, while others are too busy tinkering with their radios, or putting on makeup.

There aren’t that many maglev trains in operation yet (one is currently operating in Shanghai, China and another is in Japan). There have been skytrains and monorails before, but this is the world’s first magnetically levitating system of mass transit, which will be built in Tel Aviv, Israel.

Personally, I hate speed cameras, especially the new mobile ones that are hard to spot. Now, can you imagine drones flying all over the place and handing out speeding tickets if you go over the limit?

City life is tough. Sure, you can walk most anywhere you want or take a cab, but having your own mode of transport gives you a bit of freedom. But cars are expensive. Bikes are good, but require a lot of energy on your part.

The fastest train that I’ve been in is Taiwan’s High Speed Rail and it went about 190 mph. That’s pretty fast for a land-based vehicle if you ask me. You can basically get from one end of the island to the other in about 90 minutes.

I learned how to ride a bike pretty late in life (not sure if I can say that I really know how to “ride” one – “wobble” is more like it.) So when I’m tired of wobbling and the occasional swerve sometimes, I hop off and walk the rest of the way to my destination instead.