Coffee-loving bicyclists, meet the Velopresso: an ingenious pedal-powered mobile coffee stand designed to lower the carbon footprint of our collective caffeine habit. Created by two product design students from the Royal College of Art in London, the machine uses no electricity, making it perfect for street corners and off-the-grid locations. Velopresso not only gets around town by pedal power; the coffee grinder is also pedal-powered. Delicious coffee, no electricity, no motors, no noise.

“Velopresso was conceived against the backdrop of a global renaissance in cycling culture that is being driven by the desire for more sustainable cities and lifestyles,” says co-creator Amos Field Reid, pictured below kneeling behind the machine. “The urban coffee scene is also expanding and diversifying, including a convergence with cycling culture. Velopresso engages directly with these cutting-edge urban cultures.”

The only fuel use consists of a camp stove to heat the water and create steam. The stove now uses camping/mountaineer’s gas, but Reid and co-creator Lasse Oiva are researching methods to create ethanol alcohol from the spent coffee grounds, which would be used to fire the camp stove burner. “Research is underway to derive a zero-carbon fuel for the stove from waste grinds,” Reid says.

We love the Velopresso because it uses not one but two Gates Carbon Drives–one for locomotion and another to power the grinder, which produces a double-shot of espresso with five seconds of easy pedaling. With a click of a gear lever, the belt-drive transmission switches from powering the trike’s wheels to powering the custom-made grinder. The inventors say the clean and grease-free belt drive was the perfect solution: you don’t want toxic chain lube in your soy latte.

“The Gates Carbon Drive forms an integral part of the Velopresso,” Reid says. “The belt eliminated the problem of an oily chain getting mixed up with the coffee prep environment. It also rendered a chain guard unnecessary, allowing us to showcase this rational, progressive, pedal-powered technology and keeping it all naked as we intended. We wanted technology that looks good and performs perfectly. From the very earliest design sketches we located the Gates Carbon Drive that powers the grinder at the center of the machine–a statement of intent.”

Velopresso has already won several design awards including the Deutsche Bank Award for Creative Enterprises 2012, and second place in the Pininfarina Design Contest 2012. Reid and Oiva are now trying to commercialize Velopresso to sell them in Europe and North America. “The Velopresso project as a business is conceived around the production of multiple machines for sale or leasing to individual private vendors alongside coffee and bicycle related companies, as both an eye-catching new form of mobile retail operation and a highly visible promotional vehicle,” Reid says. The machine’s weatherproof side panels can be customized for company or corporate branding.

Until then, Velopresso is on our wish list. See more photos and contact Velopresso at: http://www.velopresso.cc/

To all you 29er mountain bikers, we present your dream commuter bike: the Proletariat, a 29-inch-wheeled ride with Gates Carbon Drive. This aluminum beauty is “the first of a new breed of 29er commuter (bikes) designed for Portlanders by Portlanders.”

So says Joe Bike , one of Portland’s finest bike shops and the go-to gettin’ place for utility bikes and urban commuters. In addition to the Proletariat, Joe Bike sells the Shuttlebug, a belt-drive cargo bike ideal for hauling groceries or children (or even for doing wheelies, though we don’t recommend it).

The ShuttleBug from Joe Bike

Joe Bike sells multiple belt-drive bikes including the Norco Ceres, an 8-speed, flat-bar city bike with Gates Carbon Drive.  We currently have a Ceres on test with Ecovelo.info, one of our favorite transportation bike blogs, and we’ll bring you news of EcoVelo’s review once the test is complete. The Proletariat is made by Portland’s Stop Cycles, whose mantra is “good beer, strong coffee, cheap bars, sweet bikes and a sustainable lifestyle.” Seems they’ve figured out the meaning of life there in Portlandia.

So to all you car commuters who live within bicycling distance of the office, we say check out the Proletariat. Get outside and breathe some fresh air and get fit by pedaling to work. Mix with your fellow proles and join the Portland bike revolution. You’ll save lots of gas money, which means you’ll have plenty of pocket cash for good beer and sweet bikes.

Bamboo is a highly renewable resource that is increasingly being used to build bikes. Now a China-based husband and wife team has devised a cool trike that can be used as a pedi-cab, or pedal-powered cab. It’s called a Treecycle. And it’s powered by a Gates Carbon Drive for strength and durability. Check out the article about the Treecycle in EcoBuild Magazine here.

photo: Justin Steiner, bicycletimesmag.com

The Globe Live 3 is a belt-drive bike with a French twist. Its large front rack and frame geometry are inspired by the porteur bikes used in the 1950s by Parisian newspaper carriers.

The Globe’s Carbon Drive System–combined with the front rack–makes this a clean and low-maintenance workhorse of a bike, perfect for trips to the grocery or farmers’ market. And who knows? If gas gets expensive enough, maybe we’ll even see paperboys using porteur bikes like the Globe again someday.

Justin Steiner of Bicycle Times has written a post about the Globe. Check it out at  www.bicycletimesmag.com. Steiner will pen a longer review in issue No. 7 of the magazine, available on newsstands this summer. Steiner has been getting his fill of belt drive bikes this year. He previously reviewed the Trek Soho, another great commuter bike with Carbon Drive.

photo: Justin Steiner, bicycletimesmag.com

Shuttlebug features Carbon Drive--ideal for soggy weather

Cargo bikes are great new category of practical transportation bikes that are growing in popularity in the United States. They allow cyclists to carry large bulky objects that previously required a car or truck trip. One of the pimpiest new cargo bikes we’ve seen is the Shuttlebug from Portland’s Joe-Bike. It’s based on the Dutch bakfiets design but with some great upgrades for the American market. The Shuttlebug features a Gates Carbon Drive for long life, ease of use and cleanliness–perfect for wet and sloppy winters in the Northwest that can rust a chain. Check out the Shuttlebug on the Joe Bike site by clicking here.

Huge cargo capacity. Fill er up with groceries