Ask any serious bike racer, and they'll tell you that a bike needs to be as stiff as possible to avoid wasting energy. That fine for hard core racers, but most of us want our rides to be comfortable too, so we buy bikes with a nice cushy seat, and a springy suspension system to help smooth out the bumps.
Designer Deco Goodman decided that there must be a way to harness that wasted movement, so he developed the Commuter Cyclist's Sustainable Energy Source. Attached to the seat post, this device harnesses movements in the seat post spring, along with energy produced by the brakes and a wheel mounted generator system, to deliver an electrical charge that powers a headlight and built in tail light. It also charges a battery which can then be used to juice up your cellphone, or top off your iPod so you have some tunes for the ride home.
This looks a whole lot more practical that some bike mounted wind generators we've seen.
Deco Goodman, via Ecofriend
editor@dvice.com
By IsoTek at 2:55 PM ON 11/04/08
My second bike (a Schwin metalic blue Stingray with banana seat) was host to a light that derived its power from a small generator. The generator was mounted to the rear tire brace and was positioned just so it touched the wheel enough to cause it to spin when the wheel turned.
By Moo at 4:53 PM ON 11/04/08
How about the energy of a bouncing car? A hybrid could get some of its energy from the suspension system.
By ryback at 3:16 AM ON 11/05/08
ISOTEK: You mean a generator like the one on the back wheel of the bike pictured above? duh..!
By Green Products at 1:00 PM ON 11/05/08
This is a great idea. It's safe and it uses one's own generated power to work! Great product!
By Manz9 at 12:09 PM ON 11/08/08
These generators mounted on the wheel been around since I can remember. I had one mounted when I was 10 years old. That's 62 years ago. Someone has balls to take an old device and make it fashionable once more.