Last month we took a quick look at the Jyrobike, an upcoming bicycle project that promises to let your child learn how to ride a bike even faster than before – and now the guys behind the bike have just hit Kickstarter to get the bike into production. We managed to get a sneak peek at the latest prototype cycle, read on for our take on the incredible Jyrobike!
We stopped by the debut of the Jyrobike over in east London to get a closer look at the kid’s bike that ditches the stabilisers, and we’ve come away extremely impressed. At first glance, you might not suspect that the bike is jam-packed full of tech, as it looks like your standard 12- or 16-inch child’s bicycle, with a slick paint job and a solid construction, and when your child is riding it, it won’t even look like there’s any assistance involved: but on closer inspection of the front wheel, you’ll find that’s where the magic happens.
It’s not just a regular front wheel, as the Jyrobike team has built something they’re calling the Control Hub right into it instead. What you’ll find inside is the tech that powers the bike’s self-stabilisation skills, alongside its battery, with buttons on top. The Control Hub consists of a battery-powered, rechargeable motor-driven invention that drives a spinning flywheel at high RPMs – and when it’s switched on, the flywheel acts like a gyroscope, providing a balancing force to the bike, and it works just as gyros do to keep helicopters stable in the air, for example.
Of course, the biggest question you’re probably wondering is, does it work? We witnessed with our own eyes, and hands, that yes, it works incredibly well – correcting our steering as we tried to veer the bike off it’s straight path, and even when pushing the bike forward by itself, it kept itself upright.
This mini robot walks on your paper and prints while it goes!
Thanks to that self-stabilisation, the Jyrobike team reckon your kids can learn how to ride a bike in just one day. Certainly, it’s a joy for parents who really want their child to learn how to ride a bike, and the CEO and founder of the project, Robert Bodil, and the team think that their tech can help those with disabilities ride a bike too. Bodil tells us that during testing, they had one girl, Caitlin, who has Dyspraxia, which affects her motor coordination and has difficulties with writing, swimming and riding a bike. Up until now, her mum has been trying to teach her how to ride a bike, but with the Jyrobike, she was up and riding in twenty minutes flat. Bodill also tells us that, usually, kids have anxiety when it comes to learning how to ride a bike, so the team has built in a 105dB speaker into the Jyrobike that makes sounds to help reduce any nerves: that means your kid can ride around with a siren, a bugle horn or even a dinosaur noise, making the ride even more fun and worry free.
Bodill tells us that there are three adjustable balance settings on the Control Hub, ranging from low, medium and high, letting you adjust the balance settings to how your child is building confidence, while Bodill also says there’s plans for another setting in the future to add an extra range too. It’s also fully controllable from a handy wireless controller, giving the parents full control over the Control Hub, even from a distance. Once your child is riding with no worries, the gyro tech can also be removed from the Control Hub, leaving the bike just as a plain simple, ordinary bicycle, which also reduces the weight too. Simply by unscrewing the bolts from the hub, you can pop out the flywheel, and you can add it again in the future if needed.
As the hub is charged by a micro USB cable, that means you can juice it up wherever there’s a port handy, and with two hours charging, that gives you three hours of use from the wheel. The USB port also means you can also add new sounds to the Control Hub and even update the software too – Bodill hints that there are more settings and tweaks to be added to the Hub in the future, and they’ll be revealed in the coming weeks.
Adults also have a version on the way next year, but Bodill says there are even more advanced features planned for the larger bike, such as intelligent balance controls, so you’ll have to wait a while if you’re keen to learn with the same tech.
The project is now live on Kickstarter with various pledge levels available to get your hands on the Jyrobike. For early birds, a $129/£99 pledge will net you just a 12-inch Control Hub and a free wireless remote to transform your own bicycle you own, while £10 more will net you the 16-inch version. Plonking down $249/£179 will net you the full 12-inch Jyrobike itself, while a £$299/219 pledge will get the 16-inch version too. Early bird pledges will also be treated to a free wireless controller too, while if you’re looking for a controller by itself, it’ll set you back £28. There’s even a limited edition Curve model of the bike up for grabs too, with a slick green design, which is set for a $499/£339 pledge. The team is looking to raise $100,000 in the next 30 days to get production started, with a delivery estimate of January 2015 – you’ll have to wait a little bit to get your tykes learning with the Jyrobike.
