New Bike Inventions You Should See

From bike locks that make thieves vomit to spray-on hi-vis jackets, let’s hit the road and pedal through some insane new bike inventions!

Water Bikes

Going for a bike-ride by the sea sounds lovely, but do you know what’d be even cooler? Cycling straight over the ocean. In 2020, the New Zealand-based company Manta5 made this possible with the invention of their XE-1 and SL3 hydrofoil e-bikes.

A hydrofoil is an underwater fin that’s designed to lift moving boats above the water-level, subsequently reducing drag and increasing speed. These hydrofoil e-bikes use pedals and an electric motor to power an underwater propeller. Then, once you’re travelling fast enough, the hydrofoil fins cause it to rise above the water, giving it a top-speed of 20mph and making it seem like you’re cycling on the surface!

Depending on the model, the bikes costs between 11,700 to $15,600. But if that’s out of your budget then there's a cheaper alternative.

The Shuttle Bike Kit is comprised of two yellow pontoons, some metal poles and a propellor that can attach to the front-wheel of any regular bicycle. It takes 15-minutes to inflate with a pump and fit to your bike, and afterwards, the propeller will spin as you cycle, so you can simply use it to pedal downstream.

What’s more, the whole kit can be deflated and fit into a backpack, so it’s perfect for river-cycling on the go. While the Shuttle Bike Kit’s top speed of 7mph makes it slower than road-cycling, it allows you to cross rivers without having to find a bridge, and, at a price of around $1500, it’s cheaper than buying a boat!

Smart Helmet

Kids normally think that wearing Helmets and Hi-Vis clothing is lame. But they’re both pretty important for cycling safely, especially if you’re riding around at night. Fortunately, a company called Unit 1 has created a way to cycle safely without looking like a dork, with the invention of a new smart-helmet called the Faro.

As well as standard white and red lights on the front and back for visibility, the Faro also has 40 multicolored LEDs fitted to a panel on the back. You can customize their intensity and color instantly with Faro’s app, and they automatically turn red every time you brake.

The helmet also comes with a remote that you attach to your handlebars with signal buttons, which you can use to display indicating arrows on the panel as you make a turn. Therefore, cyclists can be both visible and fashionable, prioritizing safety on the road and looking good in the process. So, you no longer have to worry if your commuter crush thinks you look dorky in your helmet, and, with the integrated lighting features, she’ll be sure to spot you from miles away.

Skunk Lock

Picture this: you’re a criminal walking down the street, when you spy a sweet new bicycle locked to a streetlight. So, you make your way over, cut the lock with your trusty bolt cutters, and immediately get overwhelmed in a cloud of vomit-inducing gas!

This scene is brought to you by the skunk lock, a unique invention that was created to stop bike thieves one skunking at a time. On the surface, it looks like any regular U-lock, made of protective hardened steel. But the 0.9-inch thick metal is actually hollow, and filled with a compressed, noxious gas that smells so terrible it will make would-be thieves barf and give up.

We all hate thieves but using chemical warfare against them seems pretty extreme. Still, this is all totally legal, because the gas is made of naturally-occurring fatty acids found in rotten food like butter and cheese, so it’s safe, just really pungent!

Skunk-Lock have also developed versions that include capsaicin, which is the spicy, pain-inducing component found in chilis and pepper spray. However, pepper-spray is illegal in some countries like the UK and heavily regulated across the USA. So the standard, non-capsaicin skunk-lock won’t burn your eyes, it’ll just churn your stomach!

Handlebar Heaters

Cycling is great for your health and the environment, but there are some downsides, and everyone knows the pain of cycling in winter with freezing hands. So in 2021, Brandon Lentz decided that enough was enough, and invented an ingenious heated-handlebar system called the Polar Plug.

Heated-handlebars already existed, but they usually involve replacing your bike’s rubber grips, which takes time and finesse. In contrast, Brandon’s Polar Plug is designed to replace the removeable plugs that sit at the end of your handlebars, and slide straight into your existing grips.

Once in place, each unit contains an electric heating element and a lithium battery, and they can be turned on or off with a power button on the protruding end. When switched on, the exterior reaches a toasty 100 degrees within 15-minutes, which is perfect for winter cycling!

Instead of having to wire the device to your bike for power, the Polar Plugs can simply be pulled out and re-charged by USB, and one charge will get you 5-hours of usage! This incredible invention was initially crowd-funded on Kickstarter, and it surpassed its $12,000 goal by an additional $10,000! However, the project ultimately failed for unknown reasons, as in 2022 Brandon announced that he was issuing refunds, and no Polar Plugs have been shipped as of 2025.

It looks like the plugs weren’t such a hot idea after all, but don’t pull your ski gloves out of storage just yet! In 2022 the British bike retailer Halfords released the Carrera Subway All Weather Edition bike for $619, that features a remarkably similar heated-handlebar system.

So if you’re considering getting a new set of wheels anyway, why not buy one with some built-in hand warmers?

Rubbee X E-Bike Conversion

We all need a burst of energy sometimes, but while humans often turn to coffee and Red Bull, the Rubbee X is a device that can instantly turn any bicycle into an e-bike!

It’s clamped to your bike’s seat post, which allows its spinning motor-belt to make contact with the rear wheel and drive you forward. Then, its wireless pedal assist sensor monitors how fast you’re pedaling to give you an appropriate amount of juice, with a top-speed of 15mph over a 10-mile range! Once you’ve arrived at your destination in record time, the device is then easily detachable to prevent theft while parked!

What’s more, the modular design allows up to two more battery units to be added, which increases the range and power of the device. Each one costs around $104, but be warned: the third battery unlocks a 350-watt power mode that reaches a top speed of 20mph, which makes it illegal to use in the UK and EU!

Coming in at $614, the Rubbee X is generally cheaper than buying a new e-bike. However, it’s worth noting that it isn’t as reliable as an actual e-bike, as the device isn’t waterproof so you can’t use it in the rain, and there are reports of it reducing the lifespan of tires. Still, if you don’t have the cash for a real e-bike or you have a favorite bike that you want to upgrade with a speed-boost, the Rubbee X could be the device for you!

Velomobile

Over the course of 4-years from 2017, a Polish inventor named Andrzej Burek built the Velomobile, a bicycle that is a near-perfect replica of a Mercedes SLS.

His invention is the slowest and most eco-friendly car in the world, and it’s comprised of a black steel frame that Andrzej made from scratch. This is housed in the replica Mercedes body, which was almost entirely handmade out of fiberglass, aside from the bumpers, which are genuine Mercedes parts.

Furthermore, the velomobile also has working lights and a speaker under the hood that plays convincing engine sounds! So, when the doors are closed, it’s almost indistinguishable from a real car, and as it’s technically classified as a bicycle, Andrzej can legally ride it on roads. You’d hate to get stuck behind him while running late for work!

While high-end variants of the SLS can cost up to $530,000, Andrzej built his for just under 8k, proving that if you want to own a Mercedes, you can just build your own!

Andrzej might’ve built a bike that looks like a car, but other creative inventors have gone in a different direction, by building bikes out of car parts. Hailing from Holland, this Volkswagen-forum user nederbug made his son the coolest kid at school by building him a modified bike with a rear-wheel from a Porsche G3.

The result looked like something out of Mad Max, and they showcased it at the 2011 Men In Volkswagen meetup for VW enthusiasts. Incredibly, the bike ended up snatching the Best of Wheels award, making it the only bike cool enough to win a car competition! It really shows that a father’s love has no bounds!

Hi-Vis Spray

Out on the road, every cyclist is united by one common nemesis: cars. On average, 81 cyclists are seriously injured in road accidents per-week, so being highly visible to cars is of the utmost importance. But why stick to boring old front and rear lights, when you could be the light instead?

In 2016 Volvo came out with LifePaint; a reflective substance that’s designed to be sprayed onto helmets, bikes and clothing to reflect car headlights and increase visibility. The hi-vis spray is invisible in daylight and comes off in the wash, so it can be applied to any item of clothing before you hop on your bike without worry of long-term damage.

Now this sounds like an awesome idea in theory, but in practice not so much. Many cyclists reported that despite the illuminating advertising, LifePaint wasn’t nearly as reflective in real life, and it required several applications to work, which could take up to half a can for a single jacket. Considering the cans retailed for over $16, it was far cheaper and easier to just buy permanent hi-vis clothing.

Moreover, LifePaint’s ineffective reflectiveness actually put cyclists at risk, because after a quick spray they believed they were fully visible to nearby cars when they weren’t at all. So, you probably shouldn’t throw away your vomit yellow high-vis jacket just yet. Although, I still think spray-on high-vis is a great concept and if the formula can be perfected some day, it could go down in history as one of Volvo’s brightest ideas!

Monkeycycle, The Bike That Grows With Your Child

There’s four words that every parent dreads to hear: I want a new bike! While it’s nice when your youngster wants to be active, bicycles are expensive, and kids grow like weeds. So by the time you’ve placed the order and the bike has been delivered, your kid is already too big for it and you need to buy another one!

Thankfully, in 2015, a dad named Antony Webb encountered this problem, and solved it, by inventing the MonkeyCycle. This is a modular bicycle kit that allows up to nine different kids-bikes to be built on the same frame, from a stroller all the way up to a pedal powered quad-bike. Now, instead of having to shell out for new wheels every six months, you can buy one kit that’s designed to be used by the same child from 9-months to 6-years-old!

Once Antony had designed the bike he took to Kickstarter to raise funds, and it turns out there’s a profitable market in the "annoyed parents" demographic, because he soon made $102,000 against his $25,000 goal! Today, the MonkeyCycle is sold on its own website, and the product ranges from $540-$695, depending on whether you want 5, 6 or 9 bicycle variations in your kit.

This is more expensive than most kids bikes, but remember, with the MonkeyCycle you’ll get all the parts to build several bikes on one frame, so the idea sounds absolutely amazing.

Snow Bike

When summer ends and winter rolls in, lots of people stow their bikes away and start taking the bus, especially in places that get a lot of snow. But before you do the same, first check out the 2022 Flex Snowbike from the Canadian e-bike company Envo. It’s the hybrid to end all hybrids, with a mountain bike frame fitted with a large ski and a pedal-driven rubber tread, which helps with better traction and grip on icy inclines.

Purpose-built for snow, it has a 1500-watt e-bike motor to assist pedaling as well as adjustable assistance levels, that allows you to reach speeds of 12mph and climb slopes with a 25% incline! Moreover, just one charge of the battery can last anywhere between 9 and 31 miles, depending on terrain and assistance level, and you can add a second battery to double it! All this bike needs are some heated handlebars and it’s the ultimate set of winter wheels. The bike also has a modular design, which means you can transform it into a regular e-bike by simply switching the ski and snow-tread for tires!

Square Wheels

Square wheels sound like something out of a practical joke, but if you visit New York’s Museum of Mathematics you can go on its famous square-wheeled tricycle, and believe it or not, it’s a very smooth ride. The trike is based off the mathematical principle that “there is a road for every wheel”, meaning that no matter how wacky a wheel is, you can design a surface that will make it roll perfectly.

So, the trike’s specially-built track is made up of dips called catenaries that are specifically designed to allow the square wheels to smoothly pass over them.

Incredibly, the track’s circular shape means that the catenaries actually get smaller towards the center, but, all the tricycle’s wheels are a different size, so they can all smoothly travel around a differently-sized circumference. These square, mismatched wheels result in a strange-looking trike that’s surprisingly comfortable to ride, and visitors at the museum are encouraged to try it for themselves!

Flying Bicycle

This is the Paravelo Flying Bicycle, and with it, we’ve now completed the trifecta of bikes that allow you to pedal on land, sea and sky!

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Self-described as “the world’s first flying bicycle”, the Paravelo actually consists of a huge electric-fan in a trailer that can clip onto any bike. Then once you start pedaling, you unfurl an attached parawing that catches the air from the fan to achieve lift-off. Once airborne, the wing allows you to glide at 4,000 feet at up to 25mph, making the sky your bike-lane.

The invention was crowd-funded on kickstarter, but unfortunately it never got off the ground, raising only $12,500 against its $64,400 goal. So the bike didn’t go into mass-market production but maybe that’s for the best. Something tells me the Paravelo’s first sale would coincide with the first ever case of raining cyclists too!

Still if you’re desperate to fly, you should know that the paravelo isn’t really the first airborne bike, and so-called Human-Powered-Aircrafts have been flying for decades. For a HPA to fly, the pilot cycles as fast as they can. Then the long, tapered wings catch the air and achieve liftoff like a regular plane!

Back in 1979, The Gossamer Albatross successfully crossed the English Channel in under 3-hours, and more recently, the Southampton University Human Powered Aircraft Society built an HPA with a wingspan of 85-feet called the Super Lazarus.

The whole aircraft weighs only 88 pounds and theoretically can fly as high as the pilot can pedal! So far it’s only been tested over very short distances, but SUHPA hope it’ll one-day follow the Gossamer Albatross’s footsteps and cross the Channel too!

If flying that high on pedal-power alone is too sketchy for you, then fear not, because I have an electric alternative, The Hoversurf Scorpion-3. This is the first commercial quadcopter hoverbike, and it uses 4 electric-powered propellers to carry up to 265lbs, at heights of 93ft, and top-speeds of 43mph!

Unfortunately, all that power costs $150,000, plus an additional $10,000 for required flight training, so for most of us, owning the bike is just a pipedream. However, no helmet on the market would protect you from crashing this bike, and falling straight into its propellers!

Premium E-Bike

Most people can agree than motorbikes generally look better than bicycles. But one company has tried to bridge that gap by building the coolest e-bikes on the market. Moto Parilla is an old Italian motorbike company that switched to making e-bikes in 2016. Their premium creations straddle the line between bicycle and motorbike, and they’re renowned for the use of carbon-fiber and distinctive thick tires that provide both better balance and traction.

Each bike is hand-crafted in the heart of the Motor Valley, a strip through Italy where several great Italian automobile companies were founded such as Ferrari and Maserati. Then after the building process, they’re painstakingly painted by hand. Don’t believe me? With the purchase of your bike, you also receive a free video of the creation process to prove it!

Each vehicle is fitted with a 1000-watt e-bike motor that achieves speeds of up to 25mph as you pedal, so these machines are as powerful as they are eye-catching.

However, with great style comes a hefty price tag, as a Moto Parilla can set you back a casual 7,000-$10,000 which is much more than the typical $1,000 you’d spend on a regular e-bike. Still, if you happen to have a cool 10k kicking around, then this is a no-brainer.

3D Custom Helmet

Hexr is a custom-made helmet that’s based on a 3D scan of your head to ensure a perfect fit. When you place an order, a special cap is first delivered to your house that allows you to scan your head with your phone’s camera. Then, once Hexr receive your measurements, they’ll start 3D-printing your custom-helmet with a strong honeycomb structure.

They print it from a totally plant-based material called Polyamide-11 which is created from castor bean oil. Helmets made out of beans, we really are living in the future! Once the helmet is complete they’ll ship it out to you, and if it’s ill-fitting due to a scanning error, they’ll make you another one for free!

The helmet’s honeycomb structure is integral to its design and functionality, as the shape has the highest crush strength to weight ratio tested, meaning the helmets are lightweight without sacrificing any protection. In fact, the Hexr has been proven to be 30% more likely to reduce brain injury than any other helmet on the market, making this the perfect present for any cyclist friends. You’ll just need to discreetly get their exact head measurements first.

Fastest Bikes

Since the rise of the e-bike, those of us on regular bicycles haven’t been able to keep up, and there’s nothing worse than being overtaken by an arrogant e-biker with a whirring motor. But the fastest bike in the world isn’t electric at all, it's totally pedal-powered. In 2013, the Velox3 broke the record for the fastest-human-powered-vehicle when it reached a whopping 83.13mph! Forget e-bikes, this thing could smoke some motorcycles!

It was built by a group of students from the Delft University of Technology in Holland to beat the world record, designed specifically for ultimate speed. Since then, the students have created new versions of the Velox to break the record again, but they haven’t managed to top their PB. In fact, the current holder of the record actually belongs to the company Aerovelo and their ETA bike, that reached a staggering 89mph in 2016!

Unfortunately, what these bikes have in style and speed, they lack in comfort. The Velox3 and ETA are recumbent bikes, which means the rider pedals lying down, which is very uncomfortable. Moreover, their aerodynamic shells mean they’re entirely enclosed, and the cyclist has to use a screen to see!

As you can imagine, turning and traversing uneven terrain is incredibly difficult, so these speed-bikes are pretty much only used for competitions and record-breaking on flat, straight planes. As a result, you definitely wouldn’t want to navigate a busy intersection in this thing, although you would be able to keep up with cars on the highway!

Airless Wheel

Cyclists and drivers often don’t see eye-to-eye, but they can agree on one thing, getting a flat tire absolutely sucks. Unfortunately, it’s an inevitability for all vehicles with air-filled tires. So what if we started using tires without air?

A Colorado-based company called Britek Tire and Rubber have tried to achieve this with their Energy Return Wheel; an airless tire that aims to eliminate flats and improve the performance of cars and bikes alike! Instead of air, the tires are filled with a structure made from rubber rods, making them hollow and completely puncture proof.

Furthermore, Britek claim that when the vehicle goes over bumps in the road, the rubber rods are compressed and filled with elastic potential energy, which gets released and converted to forward momentum when it decompresses. Supposedly this makes your bike faster, and when their tires are fitted to a car, it helps improve its fuel-efficiency.

The only downside is that their distinctive, open design would be susceptible to accumulating debris like rocks and dirt, making it difficult to take out on a casual cycle around the park. It gives a new meaning to the term dirt bike, but if that’s the price of never having a flat tire ever again, sign me up!

Hollow Wheels

They say that trying to reinvent the wheel is a pointless task. But one E-Bike company has done just that by removing the center of it. The Reevo is an innovative, hubless e-bike created in 2020, crafted from aerospace-grade alloys for optimum durability. Its signature hollow wheels are as practical as they are eye-catching, swapping out spokes for storage by providing a place to keep your bag!

The 750-watt electric engine can help you achieve 25mph and travel up to 37-miles on one charge. Furthermore, when someone inevitably tries to steal your incredible bike, they’ll be foiled by its fingerprint scanning lock and GPS tracker that lets you see its whereabouts on your phone. Sounds incredible, and maybe it's a little too incredible.

Reevo started as a campaign on the fundraising site IndieGoGo, and ended up raising over $6 million. But when bikes started shipping out, complaints flew in about the noise of the engines, the cheapness of the materials and bugs with the tracking app. In response, Reevo quietly closed down their website, leaving behind several disgruntled customers and a few hundred futuristic-looking bikes to collect dust in various garages across the world.

So if you were hoping to get your hands on one of these, your best bet will be to buy it off someone else, or avoid the dysfunctional bikes altogether.

If you were amazed at these bike inventions, you might want to read about amazing car inventions. Thanks for reading!