bikes

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.

What's not to crave about a pole-dancing bike? We can think of a few things, actually, but it's still pretty cool. Donald, Eric, and Jasmine also have a go at a supersimple phone for Luddites and get very serious about George Lucas's neck fat. Plus, Jasmine wants to take a ride in GUSS, Donald has a massive crush on a limbless robot, and Eric wants to take a date to Burger King. Finally, a little bit of ear candy for the MP3 Insider holdovers with some knobtastic speaker furniture.

CBS Early Show features reporter and weatherman Dave Price took the weather to a whole new level Monday morning by working up a sweat.

Price brought an innovation in exercise to the show--an outdoor elliptical bicycle called an ElliptiGO. It's a low-impact, high-output, cross-training bike that combines running and cycling.

He took the ElliptiGO for a spin around the 59th Street plaza, giving New York bike riders a run for their money.

According to ElliptiGO co-founder Bryan Pate--a former cyclist and Ironman triathlete who suffered hip and knee injuries--the eight-speed bike is meant to help runners avoid beating up … Read more

The bendable bike by young U.K. industrial designer Kevin Scott is a bicycle with a flexible frame that allows it to be locked to a pole without using a separate lock. Of course, the frame is rigid when ridden, but pushing a lever collapses it so the user can wrap it around a fixed lamp post.

It's quite a clever idea and, according to the Daily Mail, Scott is looking for investors to help him develop it further.

My immediate impression is that you'll still need separate locks to secure the wheels and seat, parts that can … Read more

LightBike 2 is a fast-paced, Snake-style arcade game in which you compete in vehicles similar to the light cycles in the classic movie "Tron."

You turn at 90-degree angles by tapping touch-screen buttons on your right and left, as you build walls to try to box in your competitor bikes--AIs or fellow humans, via Bluetooth or Internet--and you can also tap buttons to jump and temporarily boost your speed. You have both a first-person view and an inset top-view radar, and you can choose between standard and death match modes on two different maps.

The rounds go very … Read more

Daredevil Dave is a funny, quirky, stunt-based arcade game that offers limited gameplay but lots of heart.

The game's personality and humor--surely inspired by premillennial celebrity weirdo Super Dave Osborne--is evident from the main menu and the tutorial, as you play a self-absorbed and proudly reckless (but still somehow lovable) motorcycle daredevil, portrayed with pop-up cartoons and hyperbolic voice-over.

The game has 18 levels in all, ranging from more-conventional stunts involving trucks and flaming hoops to utterly ridiculous situations with lava, sharks, helicopters, and bombs. In each stunt, your goal is to hit the landing ramp as precisely as … Read more

It's no surprise electronic garbage commonly referred to as e-waste is piling up in our nation's landfills, but the Australian National Park Service has a creative alternative: Repeat Plastics Australia just opened a new bike path made entirely out of excess plastic materials from discarded printer cartridges.

The 10.6-mile bike path stretches between Alice Springs and Simpsons Gap in the northwest territory of Australia and sees over 120,000 visitors every year. According to Parks and Wildlife Minster Karl Hampton, the bridge echoes the Australian government's commitment to sustainable development, "saving landfill, trees, and ensuring … Read more