News

Electric cars like the Nissan Leaf and Tesla Model S do all they can to look and feel like conventional cars, but breaking free of this homogeneity is the Morgan EV3. The ash-framed three-wheeler might look like an automotive anachronism, but beneath composite carbon panels lurks a tubular space frame chassis and a liquid cooled 46kW motor...

The fact that as few as one in four cyclists are women has an added poignancy in the week we celebrated International Women’s Day. The bicycle has a strong association with women’s freedom and the suffragette movement. When Annie Londonderry embarked on a circumnavigation of the globe in 1896 (to settle a bet that a woman could not cycle...

As disposable plastic carrier bags edge towards extinction, their place is being taken by a new generation of lightweight reusable bag. The Reflective Bag and Backpack is ideal for cyclists because it packs to a tiny size and leaves both hands free for riding. Inside the simple bag is a pocket for your wallet you keys. When not in use, the...

The VeloMetro Veemo is a new take on the velocars of old; pedal-powered vehicles that proved a popular way of getting about towns and cities in France during the 1930s and 40s. So efficient were these lightweight machines, that they broke cycling speed records before being promptly declared ineligible to race by cycling's governing body....

Research reveals that 45 per cent of the adult population never cycle, despite knowing how to ride. The YouGov poll, commissioned by the ETA, shows that although the vast majority of Brits have learned to cycle (93%), more than half have not cycled in more than a year. Almost one in three has not ridden a bike in a decade or more. The...

Milan aims to boost sustainable transport on its crowded streets by paying people cash to cycle to work. In common with many of the world’s cities, the Italian industrial centre is blighted by dangerous levels of pollution. An app will monitor a person’s travelling speed, to check whether they are really cycling to work – although the...

The Oi bicycle bell reimagines a much-underrated accessory that has remained largely unchanged since it was invented in 1877. Unlike the traditional bicycle bell, the Oi is not a dome. The design wraps discreetly around the handlebar is a way that looks as good on a vintage ride as it does on a road bike. There are five styles. The standard...

Now that the five pence charge has drastically reduced the number of plastic carrier bags we use, the time has come for a more sustainable alternative. Biodegradable 'plastic' carrier bags made from corn starch do not offer viable means of further reducing the one trillion (one thousand billion) plastic bags used every year worldwide. A...

Paper luggage tags could soon be a thing of the past; travellers can now use their smartphone and digital luggage tags to check in their smart bag from home. There’s a poignancy about removing the old dog-eared luggage tags that have accumulated on the handles of suitcases, but according to those in the know, they are an outmoded way of...

The Rasa is a hydrogen car that aims to radically change the way we think of personal transport; an affordable, hassle free, fun-to-drive eco car. British company Riversimple aims to transform the way we use our cars by replacing outright ownership of diesel and petrol cars with hydrogen-powered vehicles you use like a mobile phone....