Change your bike’s gears, with your mind


Lately, I have been teaching my son to ride a bicycle, and it reminds me of my days of awkward bike riding. I remember that I had a hard time with changing the gears, but what if I could do it with my mind?

Parlee Cycles is apparently working on a concept bicycle made of carbon fiber that does just that. It is part of Toyota Prius Projects, and it uses a helmet equipped with neurotransmitters to read a wearer’s brainwaves. A wireless transmitter attached to the bike’s seat post gets the signal, and changes the gear.

As you might of guessed, this is still a concept. In fact, the developer hasn’t quite got the brain control working and still using a smartphone for the controls. I have heard of neuro-controls being used before, but I am guessing the technology isn’t quite as good as Bluetooth.

Still, I am wondering if putting a brain control on a bike’s gears is putting too much technology where it doesn’t belong. If we are going to electronically make a way for a bike to shift gears, then can we not create an automatic bike or something? Perhaps I am over-thinking this, but a brain-shifting bike doesn’t look under-thought.

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