On The Go

By Maryanne Murray Buechner, Lev Grossman and Anita Hamilton

FREEWHEELING

If you thrill to getting from point A to point B while incurring maximum bodily risk, your ride is here: the Wheelman. Imagine strapping your feet to a clown-sized motorcycle, and you will get the basic idea. You steer with your weight, control the speed with a handheld throttle and pray with all your might. INVENTOR Grant Taylor AVAILABILITY Now, from $1,200 TO LEARN MORE www.wheelman.com.au

FAST IS BEAUTIFUL

Imagine a jet engine that doesn't pollute the atmosphere, flies at seven times the speed of sound and doesn't carry any fuel. Sound like a blue-sky pipe dream? One day last July, 300 km above the South Australian Desert, that dream became a reality in the form of the HyShot scramjet. A scramjet (that's top-gun shorthand for "supersonic ramjet") is a jet engine that is powered by oxygen it scoops out of the air as it flies, so it's not weighed down by a fuel tank (though it needs an initial boost to get going). This summer's launch represents the first time a scramjet has flown outside of a wind tunnel. It will take years of work before scramjets are available for practical uses, but they could eventually revolutionize space launches and commercial flights. At Mach 7, New York City to Tokyo is just a two-hour hop. INVENTOR The University of Queensland AVAILABILITY Alas, commercial flights are still many years away TO LEARN MORE www.mech.uq.edu.au/hyper/hyshot

ROCK 'N' ROLL

Why settle for two-wheeled scooters when you can have three? The Trikke may look a little silly, with its oversized polyurethane wheels and its odd, swiveling action. But it's a serious scooter, made of aircraft-grade aluminum (at the same Chinese factory that manufactures the popular Razor scooter), and it offers exceptional stability and dependable, handlebar-mounted brakes. Trikkes are a surprise hit in Hollywood, where Jennifer Aniston, Timothy Hutton and David Spade have all been spotted riding on them. INVENTOR Trikke Tech AVAILABILITY Now, $200 to $300 TO LEARN MORE www.trikke.com