Gear

Leica M7 Hermes Edition

Hermès Leica M7

The Hermès Leica M7, made with silver chrome and exquisite leather finishes applied by Hermès, is a limited edition release of only 200 units. The body and the carrying strap of the camera are made in Swift calfskin, a drummed leather with extreme suppleness. For the connoisseurs of extraordinary quality and style this release is available in "étoupe" and "orange" varieties. The only downside might be finding film worthy of a camera of this capability.

Hermès Leica M7

Eurobike Gallery

Classic bikes by Electra
Classic bikes by Electra.

Core77 has a gallery of photos from Septembers Eurobike Show 2009, one of the world's leading tradeshows for the bike business. E-bikes seemed to be the hottest product segment at the show, followed by biking fashion and the more geeky bike parts and accessories.

The fashion show featured summer collections by brands such as X-Bionic, GORE Bike Wear, Inverse, Craft, Vaude, Scott, Parentini, Ziener, Löffler, Pearl Izumi, and Shimano.

Biking has become as much mainstream fashion activity as a lifestyle choice.

Core77
Eurobike Show 2009

Vanilla Trike

vanilla trike

This striking three wheeler features a Brooks leather saddle, cro-moly frame, headset from Campagnolo, front hub and rear wheels from Phil Wood and front end forks fashioned from stainless steel. It doesn't get much better than this.

OKES Lifestyle Bike

okes lifestyle bike

Beautiful sleek lines and great use of materials, the frame is composed of French Oak wood (though perhaps not as practical as bamboo), are part of what helps to create an amazingly stylish set of wheels. I think I was struck as much about the philosophy behind this limited edition bike and I was by the result. The designer Reinier Korsatnje writes:

In the modern society, the way you travel became more important in peoples lives. The choice of your vehicle reflects your image, culture and lifestyle. The car you drive, the bike you ride, if you take the subway and walk, it all has to do with who you are.

It's an obvious but pretty important statement for driving the development of a new bike such as this. Great work.

Paul Smith Bike Saddle

paul smith bike saddle

Mr. Stripes has teamed up with Japanese bicycle saddle specialist, Kashimax, on a limited edition saddle with his signature pattern. Only 20 will be available making this an exclusive addition to your designer fixie.

Paul Smith

A Litl netbook

Litl netbook

A new netbook ideally suited for those living and working within an urban network topology that supports always on connections. If your mobile lifestyle means computing in your kitchen and then moving to your living room than this may be of interest to you.

Litl is an innovative new web computer, or webbook, that marries the communication functions of a laptop and TV. Small, portable, and equally at home on a kitchen countertop or a living-room coffee table, the webbook is designed for families with multiple users who like to keep in touch and socialize. Litl is always connected to the web (with access to Wi-Fi) and flips upright like an easel for TV-like viewing of photos and video. It has no hard drive, files or applications of its own, but instead runs on the "cloud," using web-based applications like webmail, Google, Flickr and Facebook.

What interests me most is the UI which is more akin to appliance, iPhone, or WebOS -- forget Windows 7, this is the kind of interfaces devices like this should have or the kind that companies should be at least exploring. The interface work was done with the assistance of Pentagram.

Unfortunately the Litl at $700 feels overpriced.

Via Pentagram.

Focale 44 Fixed Gear bikes

Focale Fixie Bike

Focale 44 is a relatively new fixie bike brand from French BMX company - Superstar & St Martin. I couldn't much in the way of distribution information or a mention in their 2010 catalogue but Viacomit reports that this range of will features two complete bikes, frame/fork kits and selected parts. The Two models, the Prince and Relax when released cost 735 € and 699 € respectively. I love the smooth clean lines.

Urban Prefer notebook

Camera Notebook Concept

Great concept. Interesting play on the analogue and digital ways in which we capture our ideas. High quality materials and construction. Taipei based Urban Prefer is exhibiting at the Taiwan Design EXPO in Taichung.

Ideal Bikes

ideal bike fixed gear

Ideal bikes are an oem bike manufacturer with their headquarters located in Taichung, Taiwan. They have some nice designs in their catalogue including the fixed gear bike above and the trioBike below. I'm trying to see if I can have a brief ride while I visit the Taiwan Design expo tomorrow, an event which they are a major sponsor.

ideal bike trailer

I get a large amount of email from oem suppliers in China but few of them have product as fun as this.

Ideal Bikes

Bergmönch backpack bike

Going uphill you can climb unrestricted, with hands and senses free, then swoosh back down to valley level either standing or kneeling according to the terrain!

The Bergmönch backpack bike combines a number of my passions in a single product; great design, bags and cycling all in one. The bike is designed to be light and compact for carrying up hills for long distances. When you reach the top you unfold the bike, get on, and using the downward momentum of the hill you are quickly propelled to the bottom. It would be a great way to hit the ski slopes in summer. The backpack itself has room for a helmut and food for when you reach the top. The bike has no pedals or seat making other uses impractical for most but it's an interesting design nonetheless.