Cycling is a great way to stay fit. Many governments and city councils have moved towards turning city centres into more cycle friendly locations. Residents and tourists can navigate their way through the city streets to get to work or to simply observe the sights and sounds of the city they are in.

Traditionally this would be done on a run of the mill push bike. However, new technology that is being created throughout the world will mean that the days of the push bike could well and truly be numbered.  A lot of the technology that is being developed is gearing towards the area of hybrid transport.

An example of this can be seen at the American college MIT at their SENSEable City Lab.  They have been developing and have recently designed the Copenhagen Wheel. Essentially this is a wireless device that can be adapted to a bicycle to instantly transform it into an electronic hybrid.

The wheel operates by storing the energy being exerted by the rider when on flat ground and then stores it into a battery which the rider can use later on if they require a break from pedalling.  This also means that if the cyclist is travelling over difficult terrain or going uphill that they can use the energy stored to go onto a sort of auto pilot mode.

This device is even more impressive due to the fact that it possesses a sensor that is capable of registering the cyclists riding style and is capable of anticipating the road conditions ahead and can be controlled by a Smartphone app.

Believe it or not another example of where bicycle technology is going comes in the form of the Aerofex “Hover Bike.”  The Californian based technology company have been working on this bike for some time and it essentially uses ducted fans under the bike to hover off the ground and it can float up to 15 feet off the ground.  Aerofex believe that they will have a production model available in the next few years.

A physics student from Brighton University in England has probably invented the most practical invention when it comes to cycling technology. A major problem for cyclists is constantly having to be on the lookout for oncoming traffic and also how to remain visible on the road. The ne “Blaze” device is a lamp that cyclists mount to the front of their bike that can project a green laser image 5 meters in front of the bike to alert oncoming traffic that a cyclist is approaching.