The Magic Wheel: the penny farthing of skateboards?

April 18, 2008 If you've ever dreamed of sailing down the footpath on a seatless unicycle with no pedals - and lord knows I have - you too will wonder why it took so long for the Magic Wheel to go into production. Thankfully, for ergonomic reasons, they've removed the seat post too.

It must be the increased proliferation of inner-city living; we're being bombarded with a huge range of portable short-range transport options, each hoping to reach the mainstream and replace the Razor scooters all the trendy office workers and art school students zip down the pavement on. We've seen electric skateboards, folding bicycles, pavement snowboards, caster boards, electric scooters... but perhaps only the Thrustpac backpack propeller system comes close to the Magic Wheel on the WTF scale.

It's basically a bicycle wheel with no pedals, a footboard either side, a small rear caster wheel and a plastic casing to stop clothes and dangling appendages from getting stuck in the spokes. One rides it by balancing on one footboard while kicking oneself along with the other foot. From the looks of the wobbly fellow at 1:49 in the promo video, it doesn't seem particularly easy.

In a nod to practicality, the Magic Wheel has a small handle - but this does little to negate the fact that it's slightly larger than a bicycle wheel in size. It's available worldwide for around UKP£80 from the Magic Wheel website.

Loz Blain