Categories
Fitness Pets

Rodents get revenge with One Fast Cat, a hamster wheel for felines

One Fast CatCats are ferocious creatures, but many are forced to remain indoors. One Fast Cat is an exercise wheel exclusively for your cat. Why should hamsters have all the fun? This large black wheel features tread and easy assembly. Perhaps in the future, the energy of the wheel could be harnessed to power the house. While an interesting concept for cat lovers, one may save a few extra pennies by simply letting the cat outdoors. One Fast Cat is going for an early price of $175 or $199 at a regular price with estimated delivery in September 2014. This feline exercise wheel hopes to raise $10,000 in a month-long campaign on Kickstarter.

Categories
Automotive Tools

QuickTrick SL/SLX helps keeps your tires aligned

The Premise. Out of whack steering can be scary when you’re driving. Bumps, potholes, hitting curbs or everyday wear and tear can mess up your wheel’s alignment over time. It can be costly and time-consuming to bring your car to the mechanic in order to have the alignment checked.

The Product. The QuickTrick SL is a wheel alignment diagnostic system. The product attaches easily to your wheel on the ground, so no lift is needed. It comes with a digital reader that uses arrows to alert the user whether or not the wheel needs to be realigned. The product is made of metal and is about the size of a tire iron, making it easy to store in the car itself if needed.

The Pitch. The campaign opens with a high-quality video showing the QuickTrick being manufactured as well as narrative from the creator about the inspiration for the product. She goes on to explain in detail how to use the product. The rest of the campaign shows testimonials for people who like the QuickTrick and different statistics about the U.S.’s high rate of tire use. QuickTrick hopes to raise $28,250 in a 30-day Kickstarter campaign.

The Perks. Early backers can nab a first production-run QuickTrick SL for $145 with an estimated delivery date of July 2014. Later backers will receive the QuickTrick for a $195 donation in August 2014. The highest $5,500 reward tier offers a trip to Alabama as well as accommodations. The creators plan to use the money from the stretch goal toward attending and competing in a large automotive venue new products competition.

The Potential. While the Internet offers a slew of “home remedies” for diagnosing alignment problems, all depend on feeling instead of hard data. The QuickTrick SL is a great way to save a trip to the mechanics by doing a simply diagnostic all by yourself. The reliability of the instrument is unknown, but if it is completely accurate, the QuickTrick will no doubt enjoy success on the automobile accessory market. 

Categories
Cycling

Upper Wheel Fairings streamline your bike

The Premise. Cycling is a fun sport and a great way to get around for millions. It doesn’t feel so fun when battling against headwinds, however, which can slow you down and make it hard to get anywhere.

The Product. Upper Wheel Fairings by Null Winds Technology is a bicycle accessory designed to make headwinds easier to bear. This product fits onto the tops of the wheels of a road bike. It is designed to make the bike faster and more aerodynamic. The Fairings are made out of white or black aluminum and have the creator’s logo embossed on it

The Pitch. The campaign video consists of a long explanation of how wind works and in which ways the product battles wind resistance. The poor sound quality and monotone voice of the creator make it a little hard to watch, unfortunately. Details about production, testimonials of Upper Wheel Fairings users, how to mount the product, and more physics lessons permeate the rest of the campaign. Null Winds hopes to raise a high $120,000 in its 60-day Kickstarter campaign.

The Perks. Different reward tiers offer either a front wheel only package or a full set of the product in either white or black, black being more expensive. For a full set of white Upper Wheel Fairings, early backers need to donate $229 , $249, or $259 with a regular price of $269. For black, early tiers go for $269 or $279 with a regular price of $289. The regular prices are set to rise once lower tiers are filled up. Estimated delivery dates bounce all over the place seemingly randomly ranging from June to October 2014.

The Potential. Bicycle enthusiasts love anything they can get their hands on that will make them go faster. Those with road bikes especially crave speed. The Upper Wheel Fairings state in the campaign that the product, unfortunately, cannot be used in any type of race settings, but is perfect for recreational or commuting riders. Other products aimed at battling headwinds really focus on the helmet and attire of the rider along with special wheels. There doesn’t seem to be anything else out there quite like the Upper Wheel Fairings product. Null Winds Technology, however, will need to clean up their campaign in order to have success in raising funds for this product.

Categories
Personal Transportation

Onewheel rolls through the middle of an electric skateboard

The Premise. Lots of folks love to use their skateboards but are tired of having to kick their way through town. Maybe the shock inflicted by every little crack or pebble they roll over with their existing board is too much or they want a more enjoyable means of transport. Or maybe they just love to surf or snowboard and still itch for the slopes and the surf even with no powder or waves to shred.

The Product. Meant to satisfy that itch while being super-intuitive and easy to use, the Onewheel is the latest in electric skateboards. It looks like a skateboard with a go-cart wheel sticking up through the middle of it, allowing you to put your feet on either side of, kind of like those pogo-balls from the ’80s.

The Pitch. The campaign video artistically and professionally depicts Onewheel riders rolling and carving through city streets, turning the heads of the hip, urban youth as they do. A comprehensive chart of components leads into a by a detailed breakdown of their attributes/technical specs. An extremely comprehensive shipping production chart is provided, and all pics are pertinent and professional. The campaign highlights Onewheel’s construction attributes, like its 6061 billet aluminum frame, its brushless, direct-drive hub motor, and Canadian maple deck, as well as its inventor’s and technician’s well-established qualifications. A little more explanation of how a motorized wheel’s only moving part can be the wheel seems warranted, however. Pictures of high-tech production equipment that looks like something you’d find on a nuclear sub, and terms like algorithms, gyroscopes and accelerometers, even when duly explained, can still fly well over the layman’s head.

The Perks. The Onewheel is not a toy, unless your kid is Richie Rich. One (blue) Onewheel can be had for a backing of no less than $1,299. Be prepared to shell out another c-note for the 20-min charger, and another three on top of that if you want to choose from the black or pink options. The Potential. The Onewheel provides only 20 minutes of ride time per one-hour charge (20-minute with a high-speed charger). Despite that, it still seems like it would be that must-have plaything of the cool people if it didn’t cost those cool people a few months’ worth of not-so-cool rent.