New Bike Wheel Powers Cyclists Up Hills

A bicycle wheel that captures energy from pedalling before releasing it to power cyclists up hills has been hailed as one of the world's best new inventions. The Copenhagen Wheel is fitted with a hub containing a small motor charged up solely by the bike's movement and braking. The "engine", designed into a hub on the back wheel, is controlled through a rider’s smartphone docked on the handlebars. It connects to the hub of the wheel using Bluetooth, which can also lock the bike. The bike wheel contains all you need so that no sensors or additional electronics need to be added to the frame and an existing bike can be retrofitted with the blink of an eye. Carlo Ratti The invention, created at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has won the US heat of the James Dyson Award for the best inventions of 2010. "The Copenhagen Wheel is a 21st century upgrade to the bicycle," said Dyson, the British inventor and founder of the international design award. "The wheel uses a technology similar to the KERS (Kinetic Energy Recovery System), which has radically changed Formula One racing over the past couple of years," said developer Carlo Ratti...Read more