Since the bicycle – like we know it today – was first produced in England in the mid-1800s and became so popular that by 1900 more than 10,000,000 Americans owned one, the invaluable invention has undergone some truly remarkable innovations.

Here’s five of the most inventive and innovative accessories for the humble bike.

Pit-in

This table was designed by Store MUU Design Studio and is intended to be placed outside cafes of coffee stands for cyclists to literally “pit into”. The wooden laminated tables conveniently means cyclists no longer have to dismount their bikes to have a coffee as they can stay in their seat and be served breakfast!

The Bike Shelf

Tired of stumbling over bikes and noticing the inelegant nature of bike management when he visited his friends small apartments in New York, designer Chris Brigham decided to fix the problem, and in doing so created the Bike Shelf. Made from solid wood and suspended by a steel square rod mount, the shelf can hold both a bike and anything else, enabling people ‘lacking space’ to utilise the space for items such as flowers, books or even bike accessories.

Handles that function as a lock

Designed by SCAD student Jaryn Miller, these conceptualised set of bike handles also function as a lock. Consequently when the lock is broken, the bike is unable to be ridden.

The Bike Hanger

Companies burdened with the problem of not knowing where to park the bikes of those employees cycling to work may be an affliction of the past, thanks to MANIFESTO’s Bike Hanger. As the name suggests, this giant rotating rack literally hangs bikes from buildings, and is big enough to hang dozens of bikes with the square footage normally required to store a bike.

Self-Healing Tires

From their inception in the 19^th century, punctures have been the bane of a cyclist’s life. Although Michelin may have come up with the answer with its self-healing tires. Instead of the dimples in a bike’s a vertical edge causing the tyre to reorient the air pressure that usually causes a bigger hole to emerge, the natural air pressure on these innovative tyres squeezes the hole shut and hey presto, no more puncture.

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