bike

If a picture speaks a thousand words, then this image of a cyclist perched on a bike rack that's hanging onto nothing more than four suckers on a car's rear window has me sold.

I don't bike. But I do know a few friends who are hard-core cycling fiends. So, these SeaSuckers could well provide the answer to grappling with conventional rooftop or rear-end bike racks that are so frustrating to install.

A spinoff from SeaSucker's marine products, the big difference here is in the built-in pump. It helps the rubber vacuum cups stay in place, so your precious $7,700 Scott doesn't take a diving crash off your vehicle's rooftop.

SeaSucker claims there's enough suction force to allow people to climb up the sides of buildings, though I doubt our intrepid boys at CNET will be taking up that challenge anytime soon.

Installation is almost idiot-proof. You moisten the underside of each cup, put them in place, then work the pump button to suck the cups down. To remove, you lift a tab and this releases the air. As a guide, when the red line on the pump button starts to turn visible, it's time to top up the pressure within the cup. This happens after it's been attached for a while. … Read more

Riding along on your bike, it looks like you're sporting a stylish scarf-ey thing. But if an accident happens (heaven forbid, bite your tongue), that same scarf-ey thing fully inflates into a head- and neck-protecting airbag within 0.1 second.

Meet the "Hövding," or Chieftan, a collar-disguised airbag hood for bikers developed by two Swedish industrial design students. It's being shown off this week at the Scandinavian Technical Fair Stockholm and could be available in Europe by spring of next year.

When inventors Anna Haupt and Terese Alstin asked cyclists on the street why … Read more

It's hard to deny, looking at today's flame-throwing bicycles and ultrafoldable-bikes-in-a-briefcase, that bicycles have ridden a long way since the basic balloon-tired cruiser with coaster brake and white wicker basket.

But they're poised to pedal even further toward the future, if any of the winning designs from the international Seoul Cycle Design Competition 2010 ever hit the pavement. The contest, organized by design magazine designboom in collaboration with the Seoul Design Foundation, tasked inventors with envisioning cycles that could advance Seoul, South Korea, as an eco-aware, design-conscious city.

More than 3,000 designers from 88 countries took … Read more

I've always been amazed by foldable bicycles, but the Wallpaper limited-edition bikes really take the cake.

The "International" bike, designed by Kinfolk and Coat, is a racing model that can be broken down and stored in a leather bag created by Nivaldo de Lima. The "City" two-wheeler by Level goes for the Japanese-salaryman look and fits into a Brooks briefcase.

Though these amazing bicycles were originally intended as works of art, you can actually buy them via e-mail. The "International" version starts at 2,450 pounds ($3,815.65), while the "City&… Read more

This week on Crave, there's a hidden euphemism in just about everything, but you'll have to listen for the juiciest bits. The preview goes a little something like this: a liquid pencil fails to impress Eric, we hem and haw over giant people sculptures made to replace ugly electricity pylons, and a couple wheeled gadgets are getting creepy...and emotional. Also on tap--literally--a kegerator iPad app, and a curvaceous camera that gets more than a few comments from the peanut gallery. Finally, a little food porn in the form of a bacon bouquet.

There are times, I am sure, when you believe your car is talking to you. Your lawn mower too, no doubt. These machines sometimes groan and squeal as if to say "Ease up, big boy" or "Honey, I have a headache."

I have to tell you, though, that these messages are all in your mind. Machines do not have feelings. They will never truly love you.

Well, all except one. A bike called Precious.

Precious has been fitted with all sorts of clever sensors that reveal the bike's thoughts and feelings at any given moment. As Precious rides along, the sensors send the average of their readings by text message back to servers that analyze the true emotional soul of this extraordinary machine.

This analysis leads, it being the modern world, to tweets at Twitter.com/yesiamprecious. Did I mention that Precious is currently on a 3-month journey from the East Coast of America to the West, in aid of Livestrong? Well, I should have, because it makes for some fascinating understanding of how a machine's brain and emotions really work.… Read more

This week, Crave branches out onto our friendly neighborhood tech blogs to bring you a super fantastique, ultra huge, raver-friendly digital turntable thingie...and a bottle opener. Don't be too let down by that second one: it's over-priced and attaches to your bike, so it still has some cache. Also, Donald and Eric get extremely excited over a glorified statue, an electric Datsun leaves a Nissan GT-R in the dust, and a giant robot arm is put to good use. Plus, Jasmine squeals over an elephant with some monstrous dental work, and we take a look at a camera lens cleavage coffee mug.

On those occasions when you have to carry your electric bike, instead of the bike carrying you, it certainly can't hurt for the two-wheeler to fold up nice and neat.

With this in mind, we give you the VeloMini fold-and-carry electric bike from ELV Motors, released Wednesday.

The Santa Clara, Calif.-based company already has a significant lineup of electric bikes, scooters, and hybrid motorcycles. The VeloMini adds to the array a 32-pound electric bike that reaches a top speed of 12 miles per hour.

The lithium-ion battery that powers the VeloMini gives the bike a range of about … Read more

On this week's Crave vodcast, we attempt to answer the pressing question of which is creepier: a Barbie cleavage cam or a machine-gun-wielding security cam. Either way, a camera's gonna getcha. Also on tap are a wide array of robotic walking aids, from an even lazier version of the roller shoe to sweet bionic legs for the disabled and the military. Plus, Jasmine thinks a killer drone is cute, Donald geeks out on a Super Mario star tattoo, and Eric is just...Eric.