If the concept bikes out there at the moment are anything to go by then in the future ipod docks are going to be standard features on most bikes. I don’t want to speculate on what this says about the corporate dominance of Apple but it does make sense to utilise all that pedalling you do to power something other than your generator light. Still using it for something like your ipod seems to be a step sideways, if I was going to power anything with my bike it would be something cool; like a ray gun or um, maybe you’d better check out these designers, some of them might have more sense.

There are a lot of designs for the hubless bike out there. Which is nothing strange as the workable design has been out there since the late eighties. But though it may look cool it has a huge number of practical disadvantages, such as the expense of manufacturing them and the design requires that a large amount of the working parts are exposed to the elements. Never a good thing with a bike, so don’t expect to see these mass produced just yet.

Cardboard Bike

Designed by Phil Bridge this bike will sell for around £15 apparently and the cardboard is robust enough to withstand the rain. The downside? Well you have to be under 12 stone to be able to ride it, and it still seems like a pipe dream at the moment. The cost of producing the wheels will most likely drive the price up and would you trust the brakes. Plus it’s also been parodied in this April Fool by Firebox which doesn’t bode well (I hear they’re very thorough on their research so if they’re making fun of it…).

The Di-Cycle

The designers of this bike have combated the obvious impracticalities of this design, like the fact that it’s enormous, by giving it the ability to travel on water. Though it’s not clear where the propeller is, maybe its designed so that the feet are submerged acting as a crude propulsion device? What also needs to be cleared up is where the life boats are stored?

According to it’s designer Michael Kilan this bike is excellent training for snowboarders as it uses the same body movements. Though as snowboarding relies on you shifting your stance to dig the edges of your board in. So apart from that sickening feeling you get as you fall over backwards, and know that it’s going to hurt badly, this bike doesn’t seem to have anything in common with a snowboard. Well maybe the same ability to look goofily cool.