Mountain biking is always fun, but the air pressure that you set for the bike’s tires may not be correct all the time. If they are too soft, you won’t be able to gain that much speed on smooth stretches and the ride might become a bit bouncy if they are kept too hard. But you won’t face all these problems if your bike has ADAPTRAC, a system which will allow you to inflate or deflate your bike’s tires when needed while you are riding it.

Currently in the late prototype stage, the ADAPTRAC system consists of a control unit mounted on the handlebar (also mountable on the stem or down tube), a rechargeable compressed air tank (different sizes available) mounted on the down tube, a pressure regulator, bar-mounted analogue gauges, hoses, wheel hub, and “special, extremely low friction rotary seals”.

If you feel that there is a need for more air after checking the gauges, you just have to use the switches on the control unit to release air from the tank. The released air, brought down to 175 psi by the regulator, will go to either the front or rear wheel hub via one of the two frame-mounted hoses.

The rotary seals in the system will make sure that there is no leakage of air and will also allow the wheel to spin freely. And the air from the hub will be fed into the tire through another hose.

We presume that the air will be released from the tires into the atmosphere when softer tires are required. The new system, which weighs in at about 690 grams with an empty 9-ounce CO2 tank, will be shown off this week at the Sea Otter Classic Expo in Monterey, California. The price will be announced shortly after that.

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Think about what it means to be a green vehicle. These days, it’s typical to think of a biodiesel, a hybrid, or an electric car. Maybe you’re thinking of hydrogen fuel cells. However, none of those are likely as green as a bike that runs on, get this, compressed air.

I’d imagine there’s more to it than those canisters of compressed air that you use to dust your precious electronic components, but that sounds like the fundamental idea. Of course, just blowing air out the back isn’t going to provide much in propulsion, so the compressed air is being sent through two tanks to push the two-wheeler along.

This comes from a group of French designers: Charles-Edouard Berche, Ugo Spagnolo , Adrien Fuinesl, Frédéric Dobbelstein and Jean-Philippe Paries. The bike itself is kept like through mostly carbon fiber and, well, it looks pretty bad ass too. It’s a shame that we’re looking at just a rendering and the so-called Saline Bird motorcycle is little more than a concept.

The other green source of energy, I suppose, is manpower… but this looks like a lot more fun that pedaling away on a bicycle, don’t you think?

[Yanko Design]

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What does it take to shock the world? The answer is simple: innovation. And when it comes to innovation in the automobile sector, Volvo, arguably stands apart.

At the LA Auto Show, Volvo came up with a vehicle concept that may seem bizarre to some, cool to many and splendid to most. Yes, we are talking about the Air Motion Concept – a nearly 1000 pound four seater enclosed in a carbon-fiber clamshell. Alright, you may ask, so what exactly does it use? An eco-friendly gas kit? An electric motor? Actually, neither! The Air Motion Concept runs on a tank full of compressed air. And it doesn’t stop there, as Volvo even went as far as proposing wind-powered refueling stations in order to ensure that the power for the Air Motion Concept is borne solely out of thin air. Okay, in my opinion the last bit indeed sounds a tad bit exaggerated.

To quote from Volvo, the idea behind the Air Motion Concept is to minimize “weight and complexity while maximizing driver enjoyment.” Not a bad one indeed!

They surely have started on the right track as far as minimizing of complexity is concerned. The pneumatic engine doesn’t quite heat up as much as regular combustion ones (so this means you may, as well, bid farewell to all your radiator woes). The trade-off shall lie in the resulting limited range possibility, but that seems plausible enough as long the as pneumatic engine delivers all that is expected out of it.

Volvo did not bother providing any performance stats, so the ultimate output is anyone’s guess. But lightweight cars are, more often than not, well loved by drivers and the Air Motion Concept should be no exception. Giving it a spin shall surely be a joy ride, to say the least. Other air powered cars exist on the market today, but Volvo’s concept looks a bit more “sporty” and sadly something we won’t see for another decade.

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