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Very fond of the Harley Davidson Sportster for many reasons. The size, the handling and the styling. When someone tweaks the original design I’m interested. The Shaw F1-XLR Harley Nightster is a design transformation of the mainstay HD Sportster, a somewhat de-chromed (blacked out) Nightster, and the English custom design shop [ Shaw Speed and Custom ] HD does itself offer black-out custom DIY models.
This bike is a prototype. The big 21-inch wheels and the heavy redesign of the seat, rear fender and swingarm gives the bike a very aggressive profile. The pipes are one-off that look very loud.
out of-the-box nightster
The Shaw F1-XLR Harley Nightster Motorcycle is inspired by Harley’s board racers of the 1920s. It comes with the smoky grey paintwork as the McLaren Formula One team.
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[ designapplause updated post ] It came to our attention that an 2009 electric concept vehicle thought to have been literally unplugged in 2010 has won “European e-Scooter of the Year” Award for the VX-1 Li/Li+ at Belgium’s Circuit Zolder’s “CleanWeek 2020” Event this past May 2012. [ CleanWeek 2020 ] Current images of the scooter above and below:
USA distributor [ details ] [ pierspeed ]
[ The content below from a DesignApplause 16 July 2009 post ]
The Tesla of the electric scooter world is on life support. Almost everyone laid off.
above photo: flickr
above photo: flickr
The company has not made any money but they have invested heavily in the product. It would be nice to see this product plugged back in.
via treehugger
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It’s been difficult for tokyobike fans not living in Japan to get ahold of one of the company’s well respected city bikes, but on May 17th their London shop will officially open. To celebrate Dezeen is giving away a single-speed tokyobike worth $840. To enter, just show up to the opening party in Shoreditch this Thursday night. The winner will get to ride home on the bike that evening, and five runners up with get Gropes leather handlebar grips worth $40 apiece.
If you’re unfamiliar with tokyobike, it’s a small, independent bicycle manufacturer founded in 2002 in Yanaka, a suburb of Tokyo. The name references the bike’s purpose. “In the same way the mountain bike was designed for the mountains, so tokyobike was designed for Tokyo.”
So what makes a bike suited to zipping around the streets of a congested city like Tokyo? “Smaller 650mm wheels and slim, compact, steel frames make the bikes easy to handle and light to ride. More about slow than fast, tokyobike is as much about discovering your city and enjoying the ride as it is about the destination.” It might not be best choice for a bike messenger, but it will do quite nicely for the rest of us.
Before setting up shop in London, tokyobikes hit the streets of Milan for Salone del Mobile – watch a cute video of design week goers biking to events.
about perrin drumm
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Four years ago I drove to New York from California with my faithful beach cruiser strapped to the roof of my car. I rode the hulking thing to work and play for three solid years, but after pedaling fifty pounds of steel up an extra steep bridge one hot, Summer day, I decided it was time to get a “real” bike, something lightweight and fast. I love my current bike, a speedy little Specialized, but whenever I see the classic, swooping lines a beach cruiser my California heart goes pitter-pat.
Today I discovered Public bikes, a light-weight beach cruiser-style bike. It’s about a year too late for me, but if you’re inclined to cruise these easy-shifting, seven-speeders are super affordable. Normally they’re $595, but for another week ( SALE ENDS 3/21 ) you can knock $100 off the normal retail price – just in time for the warm spell that’s sweeping the East coast.
about perrin drumm
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Anyone who uses their bike to commute to work or for more than just a leisurely Springtime spin knows that peddling away, even in the Winter, often means arriving to the office with a sweaty back and pits (and, let’s be honest here, sometimes a sweaty butt, too). It’s not the greatest way to start the day. But for many bikers, myself included, our road warriors are badges of honor, and replacing them with an electric or electric-enabled bike would be the ultimate ride of shame. Now, however, it looks like we can have our cake and eat it, too with DK City’s dbRevO, a wheel that automatically converts an ordinary bike to electric simply by replacing the front tire.
The wheel houses a motor, battery and controller that operates with a wireless console, allowing the rider to communicate with their bike and record information about their ride. It can go for 25 miles when fully charged, enough to take you from the southernmost tip of Manhattan to the top of Central Park and back again – and then back one more time. It comes in two sizes and a variety of colors with more options coming soon.
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There’s no shortage of great looking, new bikes being designed all the time now, and as more and more urban planners around the world design their cities with bikes in mind – and bike riding moves steadily from the realm of the leisurely weekend jaunt to actual transportation – you can expect designers are only going to crank out more lustable bikes and accessories. With that in mind, here’s the latest crop of two-wheeled wonders and other bike-related news.
Cannondale/Junk Food Clothing Collaboration: Don’t let the name Junk Food fool you. The LA-based clothing company teamed up with Cannondale to make some seriously luxe leather accessories, including a saddle, a convertible messenger bag (it snaps onto the frame and can be taken off and carried as a bag) and an itty-bitty saddle bag designed to carry a rolled up t-shirt so you can change your sweaty tee post ride and arrive fresh. (You can also enter to win a sweet Cannondale Bad Boy.)
Oregon Manigest Bicycle Design Challenge: You’ve probably seen pictures of the striking, orange and white, surfboard-carrying bike designed by Yves Behar’s Fuseproject in collaboration with Sycip, but that’s actually one of three collaborations designed outside of the competition, presumably to give it some some star power without imposing their celeb status on the decidedly less famous participants. I don’t plan on biking to the beach for a surf sesh any time soon, but I would love another alternative to my awkwardly front-heavy wire basket. The contest ended a few weeks ago; Check out some of the entries.
“Modus,” a Quirky bike: Though Quirky is better known for designing better corkscrew, dog leashes and other home goods, the NY-based community-sourced design powerhouse recently teamed up with Sony Pictures Entertainment on the Moneyball project, a 24-hour design challenge to reinvent the bike. They came up with an open frame structure that houses a clip-in, multi-purpose accessory that is a bike lock, boombox, battery and briefcase, all in one. And yeah, battery means it’s a hybrid, so it’s even more functional as a commuter bike.
“Hal” skateboard light: Do you know how many nights I bike home and almost collide with a skateboarder gliding through the bike lane dressed all in black? Okay, maybe almost collide is a but of an exaggeration, but seriously skateboarders: you guys (and gals) are hard to see at night! Go put one of these new Hal (Clever 2001: A Space Oddyssey reference, anyone?) safety lights under your board so I don’t mow you down on my PM commute.
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If you notice, more cyclists and inline skaters are wearing helmets. It’s taken awhile to get to this point. And with this increased usage we will probably see more safety testing and innovation to create a better helmet. Here’s one, Kranium, a bike helmet that is made from the same cardboard used for the boxes you find at the supermarket. The concept by design student Anirudha Surabhi was presented in October 2010 in London. The design has already been licensed to major manufacturers and may be available to buy soon.
There are questions like, “what if it rains?” The plan with the helmets is to size your head to be able to get the perfect fit. The helmet is then assembled and you pick an outer shell depending on the look you want. Pretty cool. Oops. That raises another question.
[ london cyclist ] [ nutcase helmets ]
A Swiss designed mini bike by Japanese brand Bruno, the Bruno Mini Velo 20″ Road bike.
producer: bruno
the world’s most versatile electric motorcycle.
designed to be agile in the dirt and quick on the street, the zero ds. powered by the most advanced drive train in the industry, the zero ds is a fully electric motorcycle that can handle any surface you can throw at it. navigating obstacles and maintaining control is accomplished using a specially developed suspension system and a rugged wheel set. bike features an innovative quick charge option that cuts the charging time in half. normal charge time is two hours. range 58 miles.
[ zero motorcycles ]
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out of-the-box nightster
