Category: Personal Transportation

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Personal Transportation

The One Wheel Motorcycle plays the heavy, won’t take on Harleys

When it comes to getting from point A to point B, the urban environment begs for experimentation. Results come in the form of increasingly inventive form factors that reimagine how getting around could look like.

Another one of these ideas is the One Wheel Motorcycle. It’s a self-balancing unicycle powered by a 1000w brushless motor that generates speeds of up to 13mph. While not remarkably fast, it will certainly get riders places: the company claims riders can squeeze out about 63 miles out of a full charge.

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Cycling Personal Transportation

Slim down your electric ride with the Sondors THIN

The holy grail of lightweight and electric personal transportation is still a long way off. Fortunately, crowdfunding websites like Kickstarter and Indiegogo are incubators of tomorrow’s designs, with many having been fully supported and brought to market — which means all these products should be overrunning the street, right? Well, not entirely. For a lot of people, price and size are still huge barriers making a truly affordable, lightweight electric vehicle something to be integrated into daily lifestyles.

Claiming to have developed the most lightweight and affordable option on the market, the Sondors THIN Electric Bike is now on Indiegogo. Coming in at just 38 pounds, the Sondors THIN features a Panasonic Single-Cell Battery — the same technology used in Tesla’s Model S — to power a 350W motor for a top speed of 20mph and max distance of 50 miles.

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Personal Transportation

Row, row, row your board gently down the street with the Braap Stik land paddle

The craze of land paddling has sprung up in many cities around the world, leading confused pedestrians standing idly in confusion. A common issue with a lot of land paddles centers on stiffness, lack of contact and lack of portability, making it hard to truly incorporate the activity into everyday life.

The Braap Stik’s small design cues are big on solving these issues. It uses a bouncy, fiberglass arm to not only maintain contact with the ground but also provide riders with more balance, power and distance with every stroke — all with less effort. In its closed, retracted position, the Braap Stik measures 30 inches long while it reaches 6 feet when fully extended.

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Personal Transportation

The future is back: ArcaBoard is a genuine, extra chunky hoverboard

Hoverboards have been on the tip of the nation’s tongue for a long time now, particularly as the misnomer for balance boards that have led to their eventual yanking off of Amazon. It’s no doubt been a precipitous fall from grace but, at least, the term ‘hoverboard’ can be reclaimed and bestowed on something that actually hovers — something like the ArcaBoard.

Let’s be clear: the ArcaBoard is a true blue hoverboard, not the type that needs an entire park to be built in order to make it work. By using 36 high-powered electric duct fans, the rectangular board can support up to 243lbs and pump out a whopping 272 hp for a top speed of 12.5mph. A built-in stabilization unit helps riders float safely, with an option to control it either using an iOS or Android smartphone or only the body — which the team at the ARCA Space Corporation recommends for a more authentic experience.

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Connected Objects Personal Transportation

This compact scooter can take you wherever you Zar

That pesky last mile: the scourge of all commuters worldwide. After a long day spent working, the last thing anyone wants to do is extend their trip by another 20-minute walk. Fortunately, the last few years have seen an explosion of options. The Zar by Crazyfire Technology is another.

While claims of having created the world’s best anything is usually met with doubt, Crazyfire’s Zar might just be the lightest, smallest e-scooter to date. Weighing in just 8.8lbs, with a length of almost one and a half feet and a height of almost 4 feet, the Zar is tiny enough to be folded up into a bookbag. This is due to the aluminum and fiberglass construction of its frame. The Zar boasts a 6.2 to 12.5-mile range depending on the battery configuration, with both being able to reach a top speed of 12.5mph.

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Personal Transportation

Innovation is reduced to a Single Foot Skate

It seems like every day in the crowdfunding world brings yet another way to shave down the commute or simply get around in a new and novel way. And while there are many respectable alternatives (FIT and the Freedom Trike both come to mind), some aim to create a completely new experience — sometimes pushing the boundaries a little too far.

The Single Foot Skate (SFS) is exactly what it says it is: a skate designed to be used with one foot. Although it is admittedly light, easy to carry, and potentially somewhat easier to use, it certainly looks as awkward as it sounds. It also incredibly DIY-looking and is far from any sort of a finished product. The SFS is going for $180 and is expected by June 2016. The campaign is looking for $3,150 by January 18th, 2016 to begin the process of injection molding the product.

The product seems half-baked. Subtracting a skate from the pair does not a good idea make. On the plus side, it’s made from completely recycled materials, so kudos to the eco-friendly nature of the product. The equally silly Walk Wings are a better idea as at least they offer retractable wheels on a entire set of skates, but at the point you might as well risk catching fire on a hoverboard. 

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Fitness Personal Transportation

Keep FIT with a former trike turned citywide full-body trainer

The search for improved methods of exercise is a ceaseless one, every decade full of half-baked fads and products that introduce new ways to do the same things. The fitness potential of Me-Mover’s previously self-titled Kickstarter success was realized only after lots of feedback gave them the idea. Thus, FIT was born.

FIT is the next generation of of the Me-Mover, this time more focused on providing a full-body workout while to rider rather than just another mode of three-wheeled transportation. While using FIT, users can activate and engage six to eight muscle groups quickly while working on balance, stamina and strength at the same time—all with less impact on the body than by running. A setting for variable resistance lets riders match a runner’s pace or turn it up to achieve a higher intensity workout as well, both out in the city or at home with the included training kit in those colder months. A FIT is $1,399 and should ship by June 2016. Me-Mover is looking for $100,000 by December 16th, 2015.

A little engineering and a lot of marketing have transformed the original Me-Mover into the FIT. Based on the enthusiastic response of the original’s fitness capabilities, there’s obviously a large demand for a product that spices up everyday life with a bit of fitness. The product is also great for injured athletes who need low-impact rehabilitation. The Halfbike II offers similar fitness benefits but lacks the comprehensiveness of the FIT.

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Personal Transportation

Grandma can burn rubber with the Liberty Electric Scooter

One of the biggest challenges for generally immobile seniors is a short list of choices. For the most part, bicycles can be dangerous and mobility scooters leave them stationary even while going places. Unfortunately, the scooter—the most widely available and accepted option—is heavy, cumbersome, and robs seniors of the opportunity to be active, a problem that leads to so many others.

Electric Bike Technologies has a noble aim: give seniors their sense of freedom back so they can go anywhere and do anything they’d like. To do so, they’ve created the Liberty Electric Tricycle. It combines an electric motor with a sturdy and compact American-made frame for an alternative mobility solution emphasizing activity over stagnation.

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Personal Transportation

Freedom trike gives makes you free to ride along with or without battery

To cut down the commute, or at least make it easier or more fun, people are always on the lookout for anything that will help. Segways-inspired hoverboards, foldable bikes, and motorized scooter have all vied for attention on multiple crowdfunding platforms but have yet to really make the sort of impact they want.

Add Freedom by TRIKKE to the mix, a foldable trike that can be used with or without its direct drive, brushless motor. Without the motor, TRIKKE claims Freedom to be an intense cardio and strength workout. With it, though, Freedom can reach a max speed of 11mph with a range of 11 miles.

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Personal Transportation

Smart Ped kick bike assists riders to travel farther, faster

While there are a variety of ways to get around city streets, all of the effective ones — bicycles and motorized scooters for starters — require all-or-nothing decisions due to their lack of portability. As such, the opportunity to combine them with multiple forms of public and private transportation to cover longer distances isn’t really there.

FlyKly is attempting to cover that middle ground with the only legal kick bike on the market: the Smart Ped. The minimally designed scooter’s standout feature is its all-in-one kick assist system that propels riders farther with every kick. In combination with its 16-inch wheels, Smart Ped aims to provide a smooth, less intensive, more comfortable ride, reaching speeds of up to 16 mph while doing so.

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