Sports

It wasn't all that long ago that things like air-sprung shocks and hydraulic disc brakes were just being introduced on mountain bikes. Since then, we've heard about electronic and hydraulic shifting, microprocessor-controlled shock forks, and continuously-variable sealed gearing systems. What's next? Well, how about a bike with two chains and no derailleurs that is claimed to be better than a traditional MTB in four key areas? According to its New Zealand designers, that's what the Zerode G-1 is. Read More

When you think of the hazards involved in playing American-style football, things like being slammed to the ground and buried under a stack of bulky opponents probably come to mind. One of the big dangers, however, is dehydration – this is particularly true for children, or athletes in southern states. While water is usually available at the sidelines, players may risk developing heat stroke before they have a chance to get to it. The Hydromax system is designed to keep that from happening, by supplying each player with their own wearable, armor-protected water supply. Read More

There was a time not all that long ago, when hydraulic brakes on mountain bikes were viewed as super-high-end equipment for the elite few. Now, virtually all bikes over the mid-range price point have them. At last weekend's Sea Otter mountain biking trade show in Monterey, a new product was unveiled that could lead to the same thing happening with gear-shifting, as German component-maker Acros presented its A-GE hydraulic shifting system to the world. Read More

As things currently stand, cyclists have two options for carrying drinking water on rides: bottles in frame-mounted cages, and hydration backpacks with sipping tubes. Bottles aren’t always that readily-accessible, however – not a big deal if you stop to drink, but more bothersome if you’re trying to drink on the fly, as happens in a race. Hydration backpacks, while much handier, can be uncomfortable. Showers Pass’ VelEau 42 is claimed to address both of these problems, by mounting a backpack-style hydration system on the bike instead of the rider. Read More

Kris Tressider may not be a boxer, but he is a fitness nut with a background in gymnastics and martial arts. It therefore isn’t surprising that some time ago, the Australian draftsman invested in a punching bag to add to his daily workout. It wasn’t long, however, before he began to get bored of simply slugging away at the defenseless bag. To make things more interesting, he created the Punching Pro – a one-off sparring apparatus that is built not only to receive blows, but also to deliver them via its extending robotic arms. Read More

With the World Cup always held in the European off-season in June and July, the awarding of the 2022 World Cup to Qatar offers the prospect of players and spectators sweating through the hottest part of the year. Doha sees an average top temperature of 41 degrees Celsius (106°F) in these months with the possibility of top temperatures as high as 50°C (122°F). While shifting the World Cup to the cooler month of January has been mooted and since rejected, a team of engineering scientists from Qatar University (QU) have taken a more high-tech approach to solving the problem – they've reportedly developed a type of artificial "cloud" designed to float above the World Cup venues and provide fans and players with relief from the blazing sun. Read More

Given that legendary Italian bicycle-maker Colnago has collaborated with Ferrari on limited-edition bikes in the past, it perhaps shouldn’t come as a surprise that another bicycle company might also see the technological (and marketing) value of hooking up with a maker of racing and luxury automobiles. This time around, it’s America’s Specialized, that has joined forces with the UK’s McLaren Applied Technologies. Together, the two have created what is being promoted as “the fastest complete performance bike in the world” – the S-Works + McLaren Venge. Read More

Consider your bicycle's handlebar stem cap for a moment. It's right there in front of you as you ride, yet it tells you nothing. Colorado mountain bikers Graeson Lewis and Mike Hogan obviously thought that just wasn't good enough, and decided to put the humble stem cap to work. The result is their product, the StemCAPtain, which replaces a conventional cap with one that incorporates a waterproof analog clock, thermometer or compass. Read More

In an activity that for many of its participants is akin to a religion, the merging of surfing and technology might seem a bit like blasphemy. But while surfing is still about lifestyle for many of us, these days it's also a competitive sport offering huge amounts of prize money, so it's no surprise to see the emergence of boards packing more than just polyurethane within their fiberglass shells. With the aim of "turning feelings into facts and figures", research company Tecnalia and Spanish surfboard manufacturer Pukas have teamed up to create a surfboard that packs a gyroscope, accelerometer, GPS compass, pressure sensors and strain gauges to measure the flex of the board – but no headlights. Read More