The Velopresso is the invention of Royal College of Art students Lasse Oiva and Amos Field Reid. It’s a fully human powered bicycle and coffee maker, driven by Gates Belt Drive to keep it all clean and grease free.
The design uses two belt driven systems – one to move the bike from point A to point B, the other to drive the grinder and other moving parts required to turn roasted beans into the sweet brown liquid so many of us enjoy. The only fuel used is a camp stove to boil the water and create steam, but Reid says they’re trying to figure out a way to create ethanol fuel from spent grounds. The goal is a zero carbon system.
Get your fix below…
The design has already won a Deutsche Bank Award 2012 for Design and 2nd place in the 2012 Pininfarina Design Contest. Now, they’re looking to commercialize the bike and have it roaming the streets of Europe and North America selling clean, green coffee.
A transmission lever switches pedal power from the wheels to the grinder, producing a double shot of espresso worth of grounds in about five seconds.
Thanks to Paul for the tip!
Wow! Seemingly smart guys wasting so much time on something so worthless. Awesome in its absurdity.
3 wheels=tricycle…? Not BIcycle.
That is awesome.
@CJ – For a cart vendor, this is not by any means absurd and would allow more profit by eliminating a battery or generator for electricity. It also removes the hassle of needing a tow vehicle to move the cart from place to place, unless of course you’re going a very long distance. I think these would be great in downtown tourist and business areas.
I’m constantly amazed by how people here are so quick to bash anything outside their narrow view of the cycling world.
Let me guess… the next project is a Velomicrobrewery?
It never ceases to amaze me how (deleted)
@Rhys – SO true !!! :-))
Me likey very much.
The real question is how good is his coffee? I assume he doesn’t refrigeration, and thus I can’t get a latte from him. Cool project.
Super cool!
Psi Squared, on their website you can see the outline of milk jugs (or some liquid container). If this were me, I’d use a small compartment for dry ice to keep milk at a decent temp for a good amount of time. Maybe they have a similar setup?
That’s hot.
Oh, and +1 Rhys.
Few things in life are better than bikes and espresso, and when they come together, it’s pure f*ing magic. Aside from the innate coolness of the concept, I love how well done it all is: from the machine-complementing finish of the shroud to the graphics on the side displaying the inner workings. Even the logo is cool.
@Psi, latte is not coffee. coffee is coffee. stop with cow mucus already.
@Steve: agree on both points. Surprised the dentist envy comments aren’t in yet!
The smug greening of a luxury… well done.
dose it come with a jack to repair flat tires?
How is this not in Portland?
+1 for Joe T… just the black stuff please!
Wow, I’m surprised at some of the NEGATIVE comments here.
Why not support those who invent?
And, yes Latte’ IS a coffee. Geez people…
If they were really looking for a zero carbon system, they should look into boiling water using an belt-driven electric generator coupled to a resistive heating element. But then again, that’s a lot of pedaling just to boil water.
Usualy negative people means owners of the negative comments!
The guys who invented this are really cool , smart , and trying to save the world and bringing you coffe at any place or any corner of the town.
Wish them all the best and hope that next project will bring bikebakery????
Sweet idea! I can think of a lot of places one could make a decent income with one of these (beach-fronts, parades, city squares). Milk can be kept fresh in an insulated box no prob and if they got a coffee grinder in there, there is no reason they cant fit a mixer to froth up the milk.
Genius! I want one. This is a potential gold mine! Wonder if you could race with it on a velodrome?
Check out http://www.BikeCaffe.com Been doing this since 2006,now in 21 countries and over 400 units. They have fridges/blenders espresso machine meet all health codes world wide.