Design for Living
Took a visit to the Design Museum in that there London yesterday. One of their current exhibitions is the Brit Insurance Design Awards - loads of lovely work but I do seem to drawn to the stuff with tyres...
Trek’s District bike features belt drive. The belt drive is a carbon fibre composite belt reinforced to prevent stretch. The worry-free, lube-rejecting, lighter-than-any-chain-you’ve-ever-owned belt also produces a ninja-like quiet ride apparently.
Green motoring ideas often promise lots and fail to deliver, but the Think electric car is an actual working solution made with typically Norwegian subtlety and attention to detail. I reckon the headlights give it a little of the Porsche 'face' and think it's cute - my compatriot disagreed...
John Barnard is one of the most innovative racing car design engineers of his generation. Uniquely he has been technical director/chief designer at both Ferrari and McLaren. He has collaborated with Terence Woodgate to create a table that spans an astonishing 3 metres and has a thickness of just 2mm at the edge - it really defies belief. The best bit? Although it employs carbon fibre composite technology in the construction it doesn't look like a massive slab of CF weave. I might get drummed out of the petrolhead club for this but overt use of carbon fibre can look really chavvy. There I said it. But the unidirectional natural carbon fibre of this table is unlike any finish I've seen before, very subtle and somewhere between ebony and slate.
Price is on application - but I suspect it may be a wee bit out of my price range... oh well.
posted by Chris at 11:03 am
3 Step to the white courtesy phone:
I'd love a go on that Trek District belt drive single speed. Just to see if it worth the £599 price tag here in the UK. Hmmmmmm..
March 09, 2009 1:19 pm
I was just chatting to a colleague (who also rides in to work) about it. It is a lovely thing, quality oozes from every detail but a single speed may be an issue - as long as the gear ratio was well selected it might be alright for Milton Keynes...
I really can't see the need for more than 3 speeds though; General Purpose, High (for the steep climb up Campbell Park) and Overdrive for high speed. I may return to the old 3 speed hub - much less complication and fuss, just a drop of 3 in 1 every once in a while :-)
March 09, 2009 2:26 pm
Bike looks nice - car looks like a kid designed it but is cute - the table is jaw-droppingly gorgeous.
Must dig the bike out of the shed this year.... or give it away..... ( I can see one of these two options appealing far too quickly)
March 12, 2009 7:25 pm
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