Motorcycles are pretty rad, but there are some issues with them, like the fact that they can only turn corners by leaning your meaty flesh sack from side to side, and they can’t easily go backward or side-to-side. No, wheels are over. It’s time for all-electric belt-driven self-balancing omnidirectional orbs. This is the future of riding, and one day we’ll all be riding around on two big balls. If you could never fall over, quickly zip around any obstacle in the road, and look this future-cool doing it, wouldn’t you?
“I haven’t really been able to predict what’s going to happen, I’m just really hoping it’s going to work,” says the inventor of the ball-wheeled bike just minutes before testing.
Once YouTube inventor James Bruton figured out that he could get the bike to self-balance, even with him on it, he got really optimistic, but it wasn’t until he brought the whole contraption to a large “sports centre” gymnasium that the smile on his face became uncontrollable. The big ball bike just plain worked exactly the way it was meant to from the get go. The whole mess was basically fabricated from scratch with tons of 3D printed parts, laser cut metal brackets, and solid circus balls from a “juggling supply shop”.
There are a few downsides to the machine, because the control wheels kind of lose traction on the balls at high velocity, which just pops the balls right out of the bike. The balls also tend to get really dirty and that increases the slip of the control wheels on the balls. Maybe this isn’t going to replace your Honda CBR any time soon, but it’s a really cool experiment that is a ton of fun to watch.
