While electric cars may get the most attention, there’s other eco-friendly options out there, too. And, frankly, electric bikes are far more friendly to the environment than most electric vehicles. Unfortunately though, the charging stations that juice up the bikes tend to not be. But Kyocera is looking to change all that, thanks to their brand new Solar Cycle Stations, which the company officially announced late yesterday.

Considering the pretty straight forward design, it’s surprising that no one has thought of this before. But, Kyocera is the first to jump on it, bringing to the world a regular looking bike stand that actually features solar cells on it. Once an electric bike is plugged into the rack, the bike will charge. There will be different variations of the stand that Kyocera puts out into the market. The main version will be one that features three solar modules, which will be able to put out a total output of 79.8V.

Electric bikes are taking off, especially in Japan, so it makes sense that Kyocera would want to develop a new way for them to be charged. Especially ones that focus on the environment, much like the bikes themselves. However, with helping the environment usually does, it doesn’t come cheap. For $23,000, someone can install the new Solar Cycle Station right now.

[via CrunchGear]

We wouldn’t normally talk about insurance companies here on SlashGear, but ilovemybike must’ve known they’d be appealing to geeks when they put together their BOND bicycle prototype.  According to ETA it’s intended to answer the three main criticisms of urban bikers, hence there’s a flamethrower in the handlebars for cars that get too close, caterpillar tracks at the back for dealing with potholes, and an ejector seat for disposing of bike thieves.

Video demo after the cut

There’s also a ski blade on the side, which can be interchanged with the front wheel just in case you get some heavy snow.

Of course, they don’t intend to actually offer the bike commercially; it’s just an eye-catching promotion to get you to think about bike insurance.  The BOND name apparently stands for “Built of Notorious Deterrents” but is an obvious nod to 007.

[via OhGizmo!]

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We have seen all manner of interesting bike concepts over the months and a new one has surfaced today. The bike is from Wallpaper and is a limited edition bike that appears to be handmade. Folding bikes are cool and all, but they usually look strange.

The Wallpaper bike looks normal when it’s put together, but breaks down and can be stored in a bag for transportation or storage in small apartments. The bike frame is held together by S&S couplers and comes with a bag to carry it in.

The bikes were built by several skilled craftsmen and are one-off units and the bike has a price to match the exclusive nature. You can get a bike with a 54cm dark blue frame for £2,450 plus shipping or the larger 58cm frame bike for £3,000 plus shipping.

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The Spider bike concept is designed by Zviad Tsikolia for Tsikolia Design R&D Ltd. The concept bike would be built using techniques form the aircraft manufacturing industry. Mostly that tech appears to be in the form of lots of square aluminum tubes.

The bike looks like a cross between a mountain bike and a road-racing bike with the fenders from that red bicycle that Peewee Herman road around. The thing has front and rear suspension and the spokes are angled to look like the legs of a spider.

The chain guides are stamped together using a cold process and the aluminum tubes are welded together. The thing looks heavy, but presumably, with an all aluminum construction it’s rather light.

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We’ve been seeing dynamo-powered gadget bicycle chargers for, well, ever. But it’s good to see a company with the global reach of Nokia getting into the action with a €15ish kit all its own. Nokia says that a 10 minute bike ride at 6mph (10kph) will produce enough power for 28 minutes of talk time or 37 hours of standby. The kit, primarily intended for developing markets, ships globally before the end of the year with a handlebar mount, dynamo, and 2-mm charger jack. But there’s nothing stopping you from picking up a micro USB adapter (at your own cost) and using the charger with Nokia’s smarter (and more power hungry) handsets like the N97, N900 and forthcoming N8** — any micro USB handset really, regardless of vendor. Coupled with Nokia’s free turn-by-turn guided Ovi Maps, the kit could be quit handy when navigating the countryside on a long weekend bike ride, or for navigating within cities, like, oh we don’t know, Amsterdam.

** Nokia N8 can be charged over 2mm or micro USB connectors, fancy.

Continue reading Nokia’s €15 bike charger will abide

Nokia’s €15 bike charger will abide originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 03 Jun 2010 08:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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VW has unveiled its first ever 2-wheel design at the Auto China 2010 show. The electric bicycle sans pedals is dubbed the bik.e and is powered by batteries. Is it just me, or does this thing look like the design was based on the Kool-Aid man’s smile?

The bike is designed to fold down quickly and store away in the spare tire area of a car. Autoblog Green reports that it has been told the bik.e will actually be commercialized. The bike has a 12.5 mile range and has a top speed of 12.5 miles per hour.

VW wasn’t clear on where the bike gets it power, but Autoblog Green presumes it gets juice from the car DC power system and the wall outlet. I can see this being something that people in crowded cities that have to park a long way from their destination might like.

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In some urban areas where there are lots of cars and people the fastest way to get around is often a bike or walking. In more spread out rural areas riding a bike to work can mean a trek of many miles. A cool new bike concept with a carbon fiber frame and electric power has turned up that makes getting where you need to go cool and green.

According to the designer, the carbon fiber frame is conductive and would be used to conduct the electric power rather than wires. The concept has electric motors between the dual-rims in front and back of the bike.

The concept also uses regenerative braking to generate power for the battery that drives a counterturning axle rather than gears or chains like most bikes use. This concept is a bit farther along than some we have seen, the creator already has a prototype built and in testing. I wonder how the bike protects the rider from the power sent through the frame.

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Pedal Brain iPhone kit smartens up your bicycle originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 28 Dec 2009 14:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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