Gilbert Tang is worried. In just over two months, he plans on flying to New York from Los Angeles just in order to get on a bike and make the return journey. The idea is to draw attention to the fact that "our bodies provide everything we need to go wherever we please." This might be true, but Tang admits that he's not exactly in tip-top shape and this attempt to ride 3,000+ miles across America could very well end in failure. As he wrote in an email to AutoblogGreen:

The purpose of the trip is to raise awareness for reduced fuel and energy consumption. I'm trying to prove that people of average means and physical (and mental, I guess) health can utilize alternative methods of transportation in their daily lives without significant compromise.

On his blog, Gilbert writes:

I want people to know it's possible, regardless of age, fitness level, or income to contribute to our collective need for inexpensive, but feasible alternative forms of transportation no matter where we live or work. This journey is how I will do it.

Sure, cross-country trips can attract attention, but there's nothing wrong with just using alternative methods of transportation in his daily life to prove the same point. In any case, we look forward to checking in on Gilbert's journey and we'll see how far his legs will take him.

[Source: Gilbert Rides Across America]

BergToys has a great idea for a human-powered children's toy: Moov. The concept is your basic kid's big-wheel or push scooter but the parts of the toy are interchangeable and they allow a child to make several different kinds of vehicles. The creativity of the child is also opened up because they can create vehicles not in the manual. How about a unicycle? Hey BergToys, make one for us bigger kids because I wouldn't mind transforming my mountain bike into a scooter or a recumbent three wheeler. Want one for junior? The website says "We are doing our utmost to complete it a.s.a.p." Can't wait! In the meantime, check out the video of the Moov below the fold.

[Source: BergToys]

Tom Cruise is on the top of list to get Ducati's new $72,500 superbike, the Desmosedici RR, which was released this week. The bike uses lightweight but strong titanium, magnesium and tres green carbon fiber. Specifically, the rear seat support is made from high-temperature resin type carbon fibre, only found in racing bikes. The tail also includes a ceramic carbon fibre composite cover, the same technology used in F1 cars.

Tom has received some criticism in the press recently because of a video circulating the internet. We hope being the first to own one of these limited-production (only 1,500 will be made), 200 MPH bikes will cheer Tom up a little. Enjoy the video below the fold of Tom on a bike and lots of gun play in the movie Mission Impossible 2 directed by John Woo.

Related:

• Paris Hilton: "I'm buying a hybrid car right now"
• Brad Pitt thinks BMW's Hydrogen 7 is perfect for Ocean's 13 premiere
• Cameron Diaz in the Tesla Roadster = porn?
• Jessica Alba drives Prius in Good Luck Chuck

[Source: ABC News]

Michigan Live caught up with popular custom bike maker and host of Monster Garage, Jesse James, at the Detroit Auto Show Wednesday. Jesse was at AutoWeek's annual design forum awards dinner promoting recycling and talked about his plans to break the land speed record this Spring with his hydrogen gas-fueled "Green Scream." Has Jesse gone green? Not quite.

Jesse says "we all want to go faster and have cooler, neater stuff, so we all have to pay our dues. ... That's just me trying to find some balance. ... I want my kid to be able to drive my 'cuda. So that's my preachy speech." Jesse also says Al Gore is still "a dork" and "I don't want to go to an electric Formula One race."

How about a hybrid Formula One race, Jesse?

Related:

• Formula One hybrid racing coming in 2010
• New hybrid transmission for Formula One cars revealed
• Ricardo appointed as "Green" consultant to Formula One
• Jesse James & West Coast Choppers fined $271,250 for smog violations
• More on Jesse James, his CARB settlement and his hydrogen-powered land-speed car
• Cisco Burger eco-restaurant opened by Sandra Bullock and that Monster Garage guy

[Source: Michigan Live]

The Ditty Bops is a musical group that really like bikes. They tour by bike and even released a "Bike and Bikini" wall calender in 2006. The video above is a performance of the song "Walk or Ride" which includes these lyrics:

But I'm feeling quite confused by the people who refuse to see
A simple way of life that don't make you the looser.
They say we won't make it far unless drive there in a car,
But we'll be there with time to spare and find our own way home.

Perhaps this kind of attitude turns you off. If you really hate Hippies, enjoy instead this article from a 1971 issue of Time Magazine about Detroit naming Nixon car salesman of the year.

[Source: Treehugger, YouTube]

Super couple Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie were caught bike riding through their home town of New Orleans recently. Brangelina also had the kids Maddox and Zahara in tow as you can see in the video above. Brad Pitt is working in New Orleans with Make It Right, which seeks through good design and charity to rebuilt New Orleans with green homes.

Bike riding and home design are not the most interesting things in the world but Brad Pitt makes it cool. Just look at that photo: The shades and how in the world does he make the scarf do that while riding a bike? A perfectly design retro-styled cruiser bike I might add. The hat is cool too but he should have worn a helmet.

Related:

• Brad Pitt thinks BMW's Hydrogen 7 is perfect for Ocean's 13 premiere
• Celebrity watch: Thandie Newton gets hybrid; wants more Hollywood types to join green movement
• So, who wants to get into Daryl Hannah's biodiesel El Camino?
• Jessica Alba drives Prius in Good Luck Chuck
• Paris Hilton: "I'm buying a hybrid car right now"

[Source: YouTube]

If life was not rough enough with Lucy as your older sister, Peanuts' comic strip character Rerun must endure mom taking him for bike rides. As you can see in the video above, there is lots to worry about as a kid on the back of a bike. There is also lots of funny things you can say, and the clip has lots of jokes for you to enjoy. Rerun, your struggle was not in vain: your message of the horrors of tandem for children has reached many. We salute you and your brave mission.

Related:

• It's Friday: is a cat bus green?
• Cool videos: street lamp electric bubble car, Disney's 1958 hovering solar car
• Cool videos: Zorbing, Magic Wheel
• Cool videos: Modern Penny Farthing, body skating

[Source: YouTube]

I am looking forward to Brammo's electric bike but I am really looking forward to a possible Ariel Atom team's electric bike. As you can see in the Jeremy Clarkson face-destroying video above, the Ariel Atom is hella-fun and Autocar reports they just might release an electric motor bike. Brammo actually worked with Ariel and the Atom is the basis for the Wrightspeed X1 electric car. Maybe some kind of partnership is in the works? Anyway, I can't wait to see what Ariel comes up with on two wheels.

[Source: Autocar via Autoblog]

I don't know why, but Cerevellum plans to make a rear view video camera with video monitor for bikes. Bikes have no blind spots because, well, it's a bike, so the bicycle rear view monitor only saves you from turning your head and body slightly. If tipping you head or glancing down at the monitor on the handle bar is too much trouble, there is also a head mounted display unit. Only prototypes of the system exist but production version is expected to have GPS, measure your heart and cost $200. Would you buy it?

Related:

• TomTom Rider, GPS for bikes

[Source: Engadget]

Want to know the hottest trends in bikes? Well, you have come to the right place. The picture above is Dekra's "chainless" bike which replaces your standard noisy, greasy chain with a totally self contained system. Not simple enough? Another popular trend are super simple fixed gear or track bikes that are single speed, do not coast (the wheel only turns when you pedal) and have no brakes. Not strange enough for you? How about "retrodirect" bikes which, unlike most bike where pedaling backwards either brakes the bike or does nothing, retrodirect bikes pedaling backwards moves the bike forward. A video of a retrodirect bike in action is below the fold.

How about a biking controversy over a speed record (yes, biking actually has a controversy that didn't involve doping)? Graeme Obree made a bike from washing machine parts with the innovative tuck position (where the handlebars allow the rider ride with their hands close to their body) and broke biking records. The world governing body of biking, Union Cycliste Internationale, said the position is illegal, so Graeme created the superman position which the UCI said was illegal as well. The whole story was the subject of a book and movie, The Flying Scotsman, and you can watch the trailer for the film below the fold.

Related:

• Bikes: safer than cars, not as safe as flying
• How commuting by bicycle can reduce your car insurance
• Paris launching citywide bike rentals (and they're cheap!)

[Source: NRP, YouTube]

Robert Stewart was having sex with a bike in his locked hostel room. Robert said he was drunk and his actions misunderstood but when cleaners knocked and there was no response, they opened the door with a key and saw Robert having sex with a bike. The cleaners called the police, Robert got three years probation and is on the sex offenders list. The BBC website says their report on the story has over a million views and there is a legal debate.

John Scott, human rights expert says "the man involved in this case pleaded guilty to a breach of the peace so these issues of privacy weren't considered by the court. ... This case should not prevent people who want to engage in this sort of activity doing so." So, it's still legal to have sex with your bike in the privacy of a room. Just make sure to do it in a locked room, where the locks have no duplicate keys and you are able to hear a knock.

[Source: BBC News, The Mirror]

The video above is of Yamaha's very unusual Tesseract concept bike. The Tesseract has four wheels but the appearance is much more like a bullet bike than a traditional four-wheeler. The Tesseract is powered by a liquid cooled, V-twin, 2-cylinder gasoline engine and an electric motor. The clip above not enough for ya? Look below the fold for two more videos of the Tesseract.

The first is from CNET, which questions just who might want a leaning, four-wheeled bike? The second video is a look at lots of the bikes at the Tokyo Motor Show including smaller electric scooters, which is the usual type of electric bike you see. The Tesseract and Crosscage concept are slowly changing our images of electric bikes.

[Source: YouTube]

In China, you must register video games, blogs, online video, cars and very soon, your bike. In an attempt to cut down on theft, China is moving to a "real name" system for bikes. This is not the first time China has tried bike registration. In the past, China required bike registration with the transportation department, parts inspection, ownership papers from the police and even a license plate! Shockingly, no one bothered because... it's a bike. So, now the government is making the manufactures and bike shops do the work.

Bike manufactures can apply for codes starting October 21. Starting December 1, bike manufactures must print numbers on bikes. Bike shops must record the bike number and "basic information" when bikes are sold, and hand that information over to local government. That's according to a circular jointly released by the Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of Commerce, the State Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, and the State Administration of Industry and Commerce. That's a lot of government departments that really care about bikes.

There are editorials that wonder if numbering bikes will solve the theft of problem, will just lead to a bike tax and whether if it infringes on personal property rights. There are 470 million bikes in China and 4 million bikes (including 700,000 electric bikes) stolen every year, a loss to the bikers of 2 billion yuan ($267 million). From March to June, of the 393,000 stolen bikes recovered by the police, only about half were returned to owners. The new numbering system should make that process a lot easier. So, for future reference, if you want to buy a bike in China, don't forget your ID.

[Source: China Daily]

There were a lot of cool bikes at AltWheels Boston 2007. The video above is all about the New Amsterdam Project (or NAP), a delivery service in Boston that uses bikes. NAP uses the same bike as the Royal Mail service, the largest fleet of bikes in the UK. The bikes are made by Cycles Maximus and can carry 600 pounds with the help of an electric motor. Below the fold is a video of more bikes at AltWheels; folding bikes, recumbent bikes, electric scooters, and more.

The bicycle has long been one of the simplest and most efficient modes of transportation around. There are countless numbers of variations to the same theme: pedaling with your legs and steering with your arms. For instance, there is the recumbant bike, the tandem bike, the mountain bike and many more. And they all serve an excellent purpose; imagine Lance Armstrong riding down the side of a mountain with the same bike he rode during that French tour he was so enamored with. But, one thing remains constant with all of these bike designs: the rider faces forward. Well, all of them except this one.

Is it just me or does this look completely unnatural? Most of the designs shown on the website have two-wheel steering, which might allow for additional maneuverability in tight places. According to Michael Killian, the bike's designer, "The original bicycle has been around for 200 years. Don't you think it is time for a change?"

Eh, maybe. If you don't like bikes, there is always the sideways scooter. For now, I'll just stick with my 200 year-old design. Follow the break for a video of the machine in action.

[Source: Sideways Bike]