Best Inventions 2005: Up and Away
COURTESY PURDUE UNIVERSITY
Training Wheels
Inventor: Scott Shim, Matt Grossman and Ryan Lightbody
Availability: In late 2006; $100
To Learn More: designapkin.com
Learning to ride a bike can be fraught with anxiety, but it doesn't have to be. Industrial designers from Purdue University have invented the Shift tricycle, whose rear wheels move closer together as the rider picks up speed, then separate for easier balance at slower speeds or at a standstill. A spring-loaded mechanism in the rear hub controls the rear wheels, and there are no spokes or exposed bike chain. The 25-lb. aluminum trike won an international bike-design competition in Taiwan this year. Now its creators want to produce it commercially.
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