Electric bike maker FlyKly is bringing its stylish, powerful and eco-friendly bikes to San Francisco after having a blowout launch in New York earlier this summer. The company, which opened up shop on June 20th, sold out its entire stock of bikes in July at a pop-up store in Soho. Now, the bikes are being made available in San Francisco.

Calling these things “bicycles” seems odd, though – a term that conjures up streamers from from the handlebars and a wicker basket tied to the front. Instead, these “bicycles” look more like scooters. But since the bikes don’t go over 20 MPH, you don’t need a license to drive them.

The new bikes come in two designs: vintage and modern, each which sport a 100% electric lithium-ion battery. For just a $1′s worth of electricity, you’ll get 1,000 miles of riding, says FlyKly, at 40 miles per charge. (The battery reaches a full charge in just a few hours.) The battery is also removable, so you can charge it anywhere you want. And if the battery ever runs out, you can pedal manually to keep going.

Like ordinary bikes, FlyKly bikes can be parked and tied up to fenceposts, bike racks, sidewalks and parking garages offering spaces for bikes. The steering column and rear wheel are locked when parked. And just in case, the bikes also include a GPS tracking system for locating your bike if it ever starts moving when you’re not on it.

Oh, and in case you were wondering, “Kly” is a Greek word that means “constant energy or movement.”

FlyKly sells the bikes for $1,900 and shipping is free in the U.S. You can learn more about the bikes on the company’s website here: www.flykly.com.

The Stemie is a rubber cover that fits over the part where your handlebars meet the frame. The concept is quite simple: instead of risking potential castration, you put a rather unsightly rubber ball on your bicycle, and protect the family jewels. The Stemie is a mere $19, which is a small price to pay to prevent a crushed testicle. Plus, it beats shoving a cup down your bicycle shorts.

[via Bike Snob]

These two bicycles were designed by a company named Kinfolk, with the paint done by Coat. There are two models, the International looking like a racing bike, and the City which is inspired by the rides of the Japanese businessman. Both bikes started out as art concepts, but are available for sale. Expect to pay a premium though, because each bike is handcrafted in Osaka by a 71-year old master frame builder. As such, there are a limited amount of them available. The International (pictured above) will cost a cool $3,815.66. The City bike, being smaller (and pictured to the right) will only cost $1,954.55. Both bikes are only available from the Wallpaper bicycle company, and you’ll need to email them in order to buy.

[via Cnet]

Check out the video:

[via DVice]

The real question is, will this be a completely new device, or is Apple going to create something that integrates with the iPhone or iPod Touch, that perhaps mounts into a cradle on the handlebars for example. The patent application discusses the possibility of adding sensors to the user’s bicycle in order to track altitude, incline, distance, and all those other little details that cyclists love to track. Of course, this is just a patent application so we don’t have any real details like availability or cost at this time.

[Patently Apple via Mac Rumors]

The app is called Ride the City and it’s connected to a free website with information on Austin, Louisville, New York City, San Diego, San Fransisco, Seattle, Toronto, and the Washington DC metro area. The best part about the app is that whenever the developers add a city, you get that city added to your app for free! Currently the app sells for $2.99, and updates automatically.

What’s the point behind the app? Well, Ride the City helps you find the safest and most efficient way to get to your destination. The app will help you to find the best bicycle lanes, trails, paths, and greenways to get you where you want to go. Not a bad deal for $2.99 eh?

The guest sits on the bicycle, and pedals to add power to the hotels grid. After generating 10 watt hours of electricity, which takes about 15 minutes, the guest will receive a voucher worth about $44 in the hotel’s restaurant or bar. The program started on Monday, and if it is successful should be showing up in hotels all over Europe and the UK. Sounds like a great idea, I hope it comes to the U.S.

[via Crave]

Gaskill’s Hop shop isn’t actually a bicycle shop, but rather a exhibition for the art bike projects of one “Gaskill”. Inspired by the vintage rat-rods of the 50′s, Gaskill’s projects are DIY, but definitely the work of an artist and not someone who just dabbles. The site is definitely worth a look, just for the cool speed trial style bikes he’s built.

[via Make]

The students that posted this up were in a mechanical engineering class at Yale, and wanted to prove that you could build a human powered spokeless bicycle. It’s a very impressive project, and make sense when you think about it. The design allows for the possibilities of an electric motor, or even (as the student put it) “some sort of gyro balanced storage basket”. Keep in mind, this is a prototype so it’s a little rough around the edges, but the concept is sound. Also, the design originally called for both wheels to be spokeless, however due to budget and time restraints they stuck to just the back wheel.

While electric bikes are gaining more and more ground in Japan, the situation in the rest of the world (at least for highly advanced models) is quite different. These vehicles seem to have a hard time in America in particular, although there’s anecdotal evidence the concept does have the potential to catch on in the US as well – basically speaking.

But most of the makers of these bikes, powerhouses such as Panasonic or Sanyo, never tested waters outside Japan. Yamaha, another such company, now announced [JP] a total of five electric bikes over the weekend, all of which are likely to never find their way outside Japan. The new models are part of Yamaha’s series of PAS electric bikes.

Yamaha says the main selling point of these new models is their “smooth” driving behavior, especially when accelerating or going up a hill. Weighing between 23.2kg and 27 kg, all bikes are powered by a lithium-ion battery. Drivers can choose between three modes: automatic, “power” and “auto-eco plus”.

The flagship model, the PAS-CITY M, for example, weighs 27kg and boasts an assisted travel range of up to 32km in auto-eco plus driving mode. It takes two to three hours to fully charge the battery.

Yamaha says they are targeting women in particular with the new PAS lineup that includes bikes in “cherry pink” and “cosmetic orange” (both are pictured). Prices vary between $1,100 for the most basic model and $1,300 for the PAS-CITY M. But, as indicated above, don’t expect these to become available outside Japan anytime soon.

Looks like germophobes everywhere will appreciate this one. They’re condoms made for bicycle handlebars.

These were originally made for Gym bikes, but they have found themselves being used on publicly shared bikes in Barcelona. Since 130,000 people have signed up for that bike sharing program, germs can be a serious issue. Made by a company called Cyclean, the bike condoms are available in Barcelona bike shops for 5 Euros for a box of 18, and are said to be made of “non-woven cloth,” whatever that means.

Sure this may help save some people from contagious illnesses, but what about the environment? Aren’t there better alternatives? Anti-microbial handlebars? Gloves?

[BikeSnobNYC via Treehugger]

Sanyo today unveiled the Eneloop electric hybrid bike [JP], which will be on sale in Japan in early February 2009. The company is following Toshiba, Yamaha (Yamaha even sells two bikes) and Panasonic with their new addition to its Eneloop series of particularly “green” electronic products.

The bike is powered by a rechargeable lithium-ion battery and harnesses energy from braking when the bike goes downhill while being able to double the rider’s pedal force when going uphill through powering the front wheel. Sanyo claims their bike can travel 1.8 times faster than non-electric bikes.

The bicycle will cost $1,400 and is available in white, green, black or grey. Sanyo aims to launch the new bike overseas “at some point in the future”, according to a company representative. Its seat height is adjustable from 24-inch to 26-inch framing (the adjustable saddle range is 18cm).

Yamaha started selling a lithium-ion battery-powered electric bike in Japan in August (Panasonic followed up with its Vivi RX 10-S soon thereafter) and now presents the PAS CITY-C [JP].

The new Yamaha bike, which was manufactured in cooperation with Tokyo-based design company Plus Minus Zero, bike will be Japan-only.

Yamaha claims the bike can reach an assisted travel range of up to 65km with a single battery charge (that takes around 2 hours). Aimed mainly at Japanese homemakers, the PAS CITY-C comes equipped with an extra-large shopping basket that can be attached above the front wheel.

The bicycle measures 590×1540×715～850mm and weighs 21.8kg. Yamaha says it’s limited to 20 units and will cost $2,000 (colors available: green and grey). It can be pre-ordered in Nippon starting November 28 and will be delivered to buyers at the beginning of next year.

I am just wondering why no Japanese company seems to plan to export electric bikes to foreign markets.

Know what’s great about owning a home? Nothing. Just ask me, I used to own one. In retrospect, I should have just bought a gigantic hole and a cheap shovel and set aside a weekend to scoop five years worth of my money in there.

Anyhoo, one of my least favorite things to do as a homeowner was mow the grass (a close second after shoveling). While this Mowercycle certainly would have eased the pain somewhat, it would have added another element to mowing the lawn; biking. And believe it or not, I don’t like riding bikes anymore. That stopped when I turned 16.

But hats off to you, inventor of the Mowercycle – whoever you are. You’ve given us all a little hope. Plus, this Mowercycle doesn’t look all that difficult to build. The front wheel of a bike doesn’t do much and those push mowers come apart at the base – you’d really just have to figure out how to connect the two together.

[via DVICE]

Last week Panasonic presented [JP] a new electric bicycle to be released on the Japanese market on August 20. The so-called Vivi RX 10-S will cost $1,400. Panasonic hasn’t said yet whether they will bring the bicycle to overseas markets as well.

The bike’s main feature is a braking system that can recharge a 10Ah Li-ion secondary battery, which weighs 2.5kg, has a rated voltage of 26 V and is located next to the rear wheel. Every time the owner brakes, a mini motor mounted on the front wheel generates power. According to Panasonic, charging the battery via this method alone proves to be almost impossible however. The recharging system fails when riding faster than 24km/h.

Panasonic says in internal experiments, the regenerative braking system extended the assisted travel range from 90km to 125km when riding in normal mode. Using the bike’s automatic mode, the maximum distance owners will be able to cover is 182km.

The so-called Vivi RX 10-S comes with an aluminum-made frame and weighs 25.7kg. The company says it aims at selling a total of 3,000 bicycles in the first year.