Dicycles: The Scooter Gets a Hip Upgrade

 The modern-day city dweller has numerous transportation options, whether it's car, train, bike or even trolley. But finding the ever-elusive parking space, waiting out train delays and competing with rush hour traffic on your average 10-speed bike don't exactly optimize your commute. Some commuters are starting to adopt a more efficient, eco-friendly way to get around their cities — the electric dicycle.

Also known as a diwheel, the dicycle differs from single-track vehicles like motorcycles and bicycles because its two wheels are side-by-side. Picture the Segway Personal Transporter (PT) — the dicycle's inner frame typically balances on an axle between two parallel wheels, allowing it to pivot or rotate.

The dicycle concept has actually been around for more than 130 years, patented in the 1880s by E.C.F. Otto. It was considered a safer alternative to the bicycle, which first appeared earlier in the century.

Benefits of the Dicycle

Electric dicycles produce fewer emissions than motorcycles since they don't use gas, which in turn can reduce pollution. They're also more efficient in several ways; Segway, for example, prides itself on its energy efficiency, saying that the use of electric dicycles has the potential to reduce dependence on foreign oil and allows us to use the existing energy supply more efficiently.

The electric dicycle can also be more efficient than the average bicycle as far as time and effort are concerned. Instead of manually pedaling, you're operating an automatic vehicle, which can reach higher speeds than the average 10-15 miles per hour of a bicycle.

Lastly, the dicycle has the potential to be safer than motorcycles or bicycles (depending on design and other conditions, of course). The dicycle's wheel design is all about balance, meaning the rider is less likely to fall (and the UNO III's three-wheel transformation is more a safety function than anything else). Additionally, since dicycle riders will use paths and lower-risk roads instead of highways, the chance for accidents is far lower.

Since we've seen such immense technological advances since the introduction of the dicycle, it shouldn't come as much of a surprise that companies and individuals have innovated with the original dicycle idea. What's really interesting is how they've reworked the dicycle, each one innovative in vastly different ways.

The following three companies look to bring the two-wheeled vehicle to urban dwellers.

1. The Segway PT

 

The most popular example of the dicycle is the Segway PT, used around the world for commuting, city tours, exploring parks, traversing golf courses and even for law enforcement (as shown in the video above).

In 1999, inventor Dean Kamen founded the company with a vision of creating vehicle that was small, maneuverable and had zero emissions. By 2001, the first Segway PT was created, and it was unveiled on Good Morning America.

Since then, Segway has released numerous PT models, won various awards and even worked with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to convert Segway PTs into Robotic Mobility Platforms (RMPs) for Mars missions. In 2008, the Beijing Summer Olympics delegates used more than 100 Segway PTs, which were selected for their environmentally friendliness.

Forty-four states have adopted specific laws allowing and regulating Segway use.

2. The UNO III

 

When Benjamin Gulak was a high school senior in Ontario, Canada, he visited China with his father and witnessed the country's prevalent smog pollution caused by motor vehicles. As a result of his trip, Gulak wanted to create an eco-friendly alternative to gas-powered automobiles.

He founded BPG Werks and created the UNO, a stylish dicycle reminiscent of motorcycles, complete with wheelchair motors, batteries and gyroscopes. Originally Gulak's high school science fair project, the UNO was named one of Popular Mechanics' Inventions of the Year in 2008.

The third and most recent iteration, the UNO III (in the video above), is the most advanced — the rider can transform the frame from a dicycle to a three-wheeled motorbike, even while in motion. How's that for mobility?

3. EDWARD

 

The Electric Diwheel With Active Rotation Damping, or simply EDWARD, might look a little funny if you ride it down the street, but it's a pretty amazing creation.

An honors project at the University of Adelaide in South Australia, EDWARD is innovative because it has what many other dicycle attempts lack — increased stability and slosh control to prevent "gerbiling," which is the term for "tumbling in aggressive braking or acceleration maneuvers," according to the EDWARD project page
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With two giant wheels on either side of the seat, EDWARD can reach speeds of approximately 25 miles per hour and has a battery life of about one hour.

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