TIME’s picks for the best new gadgets and breakthrough ideas of the year, we’ll feature some of the ones we find interesting.
It’s like getting your first Big Wheel all over again – and you don’t even have to pedal.
An innovative bicycle-design concept derived from the old-fashioned penny-farthing, the YikeBike is a folding electric bicycle out of New Zealand.
The rider sits on the seat, holds on at the sides and zooms around at a top speed of 12 m.p.h. You lean left or right to steer, and it even comes with electronic antiskid brakes.
The first 100 YikeBikes will be road-ready by mid-2010 in New Zealand as well as the U.K. and selected other countries in Europe.
The YikeBike weighs roughly 20 lb. and runs on a lithium phosphate battery that can be charged to 80% capacity in 20 minutes.
Photo by carbonfibergear.