The Ride
Ellsworth Bicycle’s “The Ride” is another bike you can actually purchase, if you’ve got the dough; but it deserves a place in this lineup for its crazy transmission. Instead of using a fixed number gears, The Ride’s “continuously variable planetary drive” offers an infinitely variable drive ratio. As you twist a dial on the handlebar, it changes the angle between two steel plates in the hub, adjusting the torque. The design was first envisioned by Leonardo da Vinci in the 1490s, and it can be yours for a mere $3,000.
