Registering bicycles to make them easier to track down if lost or stolen isn't new. Many bike retailers put identification numbers on bike frames, and in some cities you can register bicycles with the police. The problem is that these methods are generally only effective at the local level. Enter German startup MyBikeNumber. Launched in December 2009, MyBikeNumber is a free online service that lets consumers register their bicycle and components, or search for them worldwide.

Users register their bike on the MyBikeNumber site using the frame number, and add photos to the profile page to help visually identify their bike. Registered bikes are allocated a unique QR code, which can be printed as a sticker and affixed to the frame. The code can be read by many mobile devices. MyBikeNumber also allows bike retailers to register their entire inventory under a single "dealer code". Registered cycles can be reported as stolen or lost, or recorded as sold to a new owner, through the site.

Consumers can visit the site and check the unique identifiers to ensure that the bicycle they are looking to purchase is not stolen. In the event that a bike is found to be stolen, a message can be sent securely through the site to inform the rightful owner.

According to the FBI, there were 221,936 bicycle thefts in the United States in 2008. Globally, the number of bikes reported stolen annually is estimated at 1.5 million. MyBikeNumber aims to help bike owners worldwide avoid becoming a statistic. Could this be a model worth emulating to trace other possessions vulnerable to theft? (Related: Lost & found in the 21st century.)

Website: www.mybikenumber.com
Contact: press@mybikenumber.com

Spotted by: Bjarke Svendsen

When we wrote about Bamboo Bike Studio late last year, we noted the company's involvement in the Bamboo Bike Project, which seeds bamboo bike factories in developing countries. Working towards a similar goal is Calfee Design, which is helping entrepreneurs in the developing world make locally sourced bamboo bicycles for domestic and international sale.

Calfee Design has been manufacturing and selling its own bamboo bikes from its California studios since 2005, but a trip to Africa inspired founder Craig Calfee to promote the concept in Africa. In 2008, through an initiative called Bamboosero, Calfee set up two bike-building groups in Ghana—one in the capital, Accra, and one in Abompe. Both groups now build frames for several bike designs using locally sourced bamboo; they then ship those frames back to Calfee's shop, where the US team adds wheels and hardware before sending them on to distributors.

The Ghanaian entrepreneurs earn about USD 150 for every frame they build, while the finished bikes are sold for about USD 950 each, according to a report on SantaCruz.com. By December 2009, Calfee had sold 28 Bamboosero bikes and sent six back to Ghana for use by tourists and locals, the site reported.

Calfee hopes to expand the ranks of its bicycle entrepreneurs both in Ghana and in other developing countries, as well as to bolster the supply chain of bicycle parts for those local teams. One to sponsor, partner with or otherwise get involved in? (Related: Low-cost bicycles for (not only) the rural poor — Used Danish bikes help African poor.)

Websites: www.bamboosero.com and www.calfeedesign.com
Contact: craig@calfeedesign.com

Spotted by: Brian Yang

We've seen a few different efforts to help travellers share rides to and from airports, most recently Virgin Atlantic's Taxi2. Now one of our spotters has alerted us to another, Ridepenguin, which is currently in beta at Seattle's Sea-Tac and Las Vegas's McCarran airports.

Ridepenguin helps travellers reduce costs and emissions by sharing taxi rides to or from the airport. Users start off on the free service by indicating which airport they're going to, when, and from what part of town. Ridepenguin then estimates how much money and emissions would be saved if the traveller shared a ride, and invites them to broadcast their journey share request. If Ridepenguin finds a match, it informs users by SMS. From there, the individuals concerned can exchange messages or phone numbers to coordinate the pickup. The service is available both for desktop computers and for smartphones running a mobile browser.

Ridepenguin is the brainchild of Seattle software company EverythingIsTheBest, which hopes to expand coverage to other airports in the future. One to partner with to help make that happen? (Related: Londoners share lifts to Luton airport — Facilitating cab shares to the airport.)

Website: www.ridepenguin.com
Contact: team@everythingisthebest.com

Spotted by: Susanna Haynie

As the popularity of bikes for transporting people and products grows, innovative pedal-powered designs continue to pop up. Our latest spotting? Vrachtfiets, a new concept by two students at the Delft University of Technology. Primarily created to help people move house without renting a van, the Vrachtfiets is a two-person vehicle. As explained by the bike's designers, moving furniture usually isn't a solo effort, so why not have two people work the pedals, too? The bike also includes an electrical assist, which will be solar-powered in upcoming versions.

Having worked on Vrachtfiets for two years, Onno Sminia and Louis Pierre Geerinckx recently presented their final design to their first customer, the city of Delft. Quiet, emission-free and capable of hauling substantial loads, cargo bikes like Vrachtfiets will no doubt become increasingly popular for short-haul urban transport. One to get in on now? (Related: Waitrose using bicycles & carts for greener grocery deliveries — French cargo bikes embark on international expansion.)

Website: www.vrachtfiets.nl
Contact: info@vrachtfiets.nl

Spotted by: Martijn Turkenburg

First came stylish helmets for urban cyclists, then customised couture helmets for the scooter set, now Los Angeles-based apparel company, ScooterGirls, Inc. is adding some panache to protective scooter and motorcycle riding gear for women so that female riders no longer have to choose between safety and fashion.

ScooterGirls founder and CEO Arlene Battishill explains: "The main reason women do not wear protective clothing when riding is they don't like the way traditional gear looks or fits"—which isn’t surprising considering that women’s choices were previously limited to smaller versions of clothing designed for men. Launched at LA Fashion Week in October, ScooterGirls' GoGo Gear was created to appeal to image-conscious female scooter and motorcycle enthusiasts who want to go from their bike to a business meeting or social event without having to change clothing.

Priced between USD 239 to USD 389, the range of fully-armored, abrasion-resistant coats combine cutting-edge, feminine outerwear with robust interior engineering. The coats also feature integrated reflective details for night-time visibility that can be concealed during the day. Outwardly nobody would suspect GoGo Gear jackets were anything but a stylish dress coat, yet they are comparable to any other armored riding gear on the market.

As more consumers across the world opt for scooters and motorcycles to reduce their fuel bills and carbon footprints, the market for innovative products and services for riders is likely to grow. One to tap into! Or perhaps there are niches to be carved out by stylizing other non-aesthetically pleasing protective products? (Related: Stylish fire protection kits.)

Website: www.scooter-girls.com
Contact: info@scooter-girls.com

Spotted by: Cecilia Biemann

Much the way NeighborGoods lets consumers save and earn money by sharing tools, ladders and other household equipment, so RelayRides enables them to do likewise with their underused cars.

Serving as a sort of community-run Zipcar, RelayRides bills itself as the first person-to-person car-sharing marketplace. Launching soon in the Baltimore area, the site allows people with cars to earn money by renting them out to people who don't have cars of their own. Car owners begin by registering with RelayRides, which then arranges for a certified mechanic to install a device in the car that will allow authorized renters to access it without having to be given keys. It also establishes an insurance policy to cover renters during the rental period. Next, owners set the car’s rental price, along with where the car will be rented and when it is usually available. Renters can then reserve the vehicle by the hour or day within the owner-set schedule. RelayRides screens the driving record of every renter; it also promises to take care of owners in the event of any loss. A renter rating system, meanwhile, lets owners provide their own evaluations. With suggested hourly rates of between USD 6 and USD 12—covering 20 miles per reserved hour or 160 miles per day along with gas and insurance—owners can earn as much as USD 8,000 per year by renting out their cars for just 20 hours a week, RelayRides says.

Every shared car replaces 14 to 18 vehicles on the road, RelayRides says, so the benefits are obvious not just for renters and owners (a.k.a. sellsumers), but also for the planet, which gets a much-needed break. RelayRides is already planning to expand to other U.S. cities following its Baltimore launch—one to get in on early in your neck of the resource-sharing woods...? (Related: Parking operator launches car-sharing service — Bike-sharing comes to Asia — More social ride sharing.)

Website: www.relayrides.com
Contact: www.relayrides.com/contact.html

Spotted by: Michael Corrales

We've written about a few different efforts to help disadvantaged people in Africa by providing refurbished second-hand bikes from the developed world. Unlike such initiatives from Baisikeli and Bikes for Africa, however, Worldbike designs and distributes brand-new bicycles that are inexpensive and built specifically to withstand harsh rural conditions.

California-based Worldbike's bicycles are designed to handle large loads, rough terrain and inclement weather. They're configured to be not only affordable, but also maintained and repaired locally. Through partnerships with international and local agencies, private companies, foundations and NGOs, Worldbike even helps arrange microcredit financing for bike purchases and supplement sales with support from funders and private donors. Its bikes have already been brought to Cuba, Mexico, Rwanda, Senegal and Thailand, among other areas. However, as the company also notes, "the same cargo bike we deliver to rural Africa also turns heads on the streets of Seattle.” An official US version of the bike is now being configured, and proceeds from all purchases will help support bike distribution efforts in Kenya.

A shining example of what our sister site calls the functionall trend, Worldbike has already attracted funding and partnerships with companies and foundations around the world—time to add your brand to that list? Alternatively, how about brainstorming some functionall offerings of your own...? (Related: Single-use toilet bag turns human waste into fertilizer — Water bottle's plunger-style filter purifies instantly.)

Website: www.worldbike.org
Contact: info@worldbike.org

Spotted by: trendwatching.com's monthly trend briefing

We've been writing about swapping marketplaces for several years already, with Uneven Feet—which facilitates the trading of single shoes—being the most recent example. Working on much the same idea—but this time for frequent flier points and miles—is the Global Points Exchange, a peer-to-peer trading marketplace from Toronto-based Points International.

Points International already gives consumers a way to manage their reward miles and points from a variety of airline, travel and retail partners, as well as a way to move airline points and miles from one carrier to another. Now in beta, the company's new Global Points Exchange differs in that it lets users set the exchange rate for their trades. Through GPX, users of the platform can seek out other members who are interested in trading points and miles, either by posting a trade offer or responding to another user's posting. Either way, it's the users—not the airlines—who decide how many points and miles they get in one program, and how many points or miles in another program they must give up in return.

Users remain anonymous throughout the process. Once two members have connected and agreed upon an exchange rate, GPX allows them to transfer points and miles between their respective accounts. Current airline partners include Delta SkyMiles, American Airlines AAdvantage and Continental Airlines OnePass, among others. Posting a trade offer is free, but once the trade is made participants must pay a fee assessed by the reward programs along with Points.com's processing fee of USD 6.95. Earlier this month, Points.com added Facebook Connect functionality to the service, allowing consumers to post GPX trades directly to their Facebook walls in order to tap their extended social network in the trading process.

Giving consumers the flexibility to convert what they have into what they want, GPX is similar in many ways to GiftCardRescue, which lets consumers trade in the gift cards they don't want. With the addition of peer-negotiated exchange rates, however, it adds a degree of eBay-like control that other such services lack. A model to apply to the niche of your choice! (Related: IKEA organizes furniture swap — Amazon trades gift cards for used video games — Clothes swapping meets Netflix — Online exchange lets hourly workers swap shifts.)

Website: www.points.com/gpx
Contact: christopher.barnard@points.com

Spotted by: Julie Bates

Shoppers at Urban Outfitters can already design their own bikes in a rainbow of colours, but a new venture in Brooklyn takes that notion a step further. At Bamboo Bike Studio, customers actually build their own bamboo bicycles by hand through the company's guided weekend workshops.

Bamboo is "a renewable and performance-positive material growing right in our backyard," as the studio puts it, and it's stronger, lighter and easier to work with than steel. In Bamboo Bike Studio's weekend workshops, expert bicycle builders lead consumers through the process of assembling their own custom-fitted ride. On Saturday they begin by selecting an ideal mix of bamboo for comfort, strength and speed, then choose a geometry that fits their body and riding style. Next, they learn to use hand tools and the studio's antique drill press to turn seven pieces of bamboo into their bicycle’s frame. After lunch, they choose a fabric to join and lash their frame together. On Sunday they put their component package—pedals, chain, wheels and handlebars—on their frame. After learning a few basic maintenance techniques and a final safety check, they're ready to ride. Tuition for full bike weekend workshops is USD 932; for customers with their own components, a frame-only weekend workshop is priced at USD 632. All proceeds directly support Bamboo Bike Studio’s collaboration with the Columbia University Earth Institute-based Bamboo Bike Project and the Millennium Cities Initiative to seed the first bamboo bike factories in developing countries.

Of course, Bamboo Bike's workshops don't just allow consumers to customise an eco-iconic ride—or support a worthy cause around the world. They also leave them with a wealth of status stories sure to impress friends and family far and wide. The experience economy strikes again! ;-) (Related: Retailer helps tweens make their own clothes — DIY wedding rings — Retail chain for junior tuners — Upscale takeaway meets on-site cooking school.)

Website: www.bamboobikestudio.com
Contact: bikes@bamboobikestudio.com

Spotted by: Rick Noyes

Back in 2007 we covered Hitchsters, the New York site that combines social networking with ride-matching to help airport travellers share taxi rides and split the expense. Now, along very similar lines comes Taxi2, a beta project from Virgin Atlantic that's currently being tested in New York and London.

Touting the financial and environmental motivations for sharing a cab, Taxi2 is a free service for passengers of any airline. Users simply log on to the Taxi2 site and input their flight and destination details. From there, the system matches them with suitable cab-sharing companions and provides a protected way to contact them, allowing the travellers to decide whether to agree to the match. The system offers a way for female travellers to be matched only with other female travellers; it also protects all personal details. Once travellers agree on a match, Taxi2 even provides a printable and foldable sign to help them find each other at the airport. A mobile version of the technology is coming soon.

Much the way carpooling makes sense as a way to reduce the cost and impact of commuting to work, so cab-sharing seems like a no-brainer for all the many travellers heading in the same direction. One to emulate at a heavily frequented airport near you...? (Related: Londoners share lifts to Luton airport — Tweet to hail a green ride in London — Nationwide taxi booking & payment via mobile phone.)

Website: www.taxi.to
Contact: info@taxi.to

Spotted by: Raymond Kollau

P.S. Hitchsters is either temporarily offline, or permanently out of business. We'd love to know what happened to the company. If you have any information, please leave a comment. Thanks!

As the number of people who are twittering continues to rise, more and more businesses are adding to their existing methods of communicating with (potential) customers. An innovative example was recently introduced by London's eco-taxi service greentomatocars. The company, which we covered when they launched back in 2006, claims to be the first private hire service in the UK to take bookings via Twitter. Users simply send a direct message to @greentomatocars with the booking details, receive a tweet back with a unique booking reference, and wait for a Prius to pull up. Besides using Twitter for bookings, greentomatocars also hopes to encourage debate about environmental issues.

Although Twitter hasn't released hard data on how many active users it has, the service seems to be having a profound effect on business-to-customer communication, enabling companies to engage in an immediate, ongoing and intimate conversation with customers and potential customers, creating a better mutual understanding and forging brand loyalty. (For more, see our sister-site trendwatching's briefing on foreverism.)

Website: www.greentomatocars.com
Contact: mail@greentomatocars.com

There's been plenty of lip service paid to electric vehicles in recent years, but the fact remains that in many communities, they're still more frequently discussed than actually seen. Not so in several U.S. neighbourhoods, however, where golf carts and other diminutive electric vehicles are part of the very fabric of community life.

With many of the same gas-free benefits offered by larger electric vehicles—but considerably lower price tags—neighbourhood electric vehicles, or NEVs, are the transportation of choice for residents of several large retirement communities, an article on Wired.com recently reported. Golf carts are a common sight on the streets and specially designed paths of The Villages community in Florida, for example—and not just the ordinary, plain-vanilla variety. In fact, many of the community's 77,000 retired residents "pimp their rides" to look like fire trucks, 1930s roadsters and stretch limos, Wired reported, spending as much as USD 20,000 in the process of swapping in bigger tires or hacking engines to surpass the traditional golf cart's maximum speed of about 20 mph. Similar sights are apparently seen in other communities around the country, including the retirement mecca of Sun City, Arizona, and the all-ages suburb of Peachtree City, Georgia. Accessories are sold by companies like GoNEV.

Driver's licenses are not typically required for most golf carts, but full-fledged NEVs—which are street-legal in most states—require insurance and registration, Wired reported. Either way, such vehicles offer not only eco-benefits and credentials, but apparently also those of the more neighbourly kind: "If your neighbour is in his yard, you can't drive by in your golf cart without waving and saying hello," Gary Lester, VP of community relations for The Villages, told Wired. Chrysler's Global Electric Motorcars is one major maker of NEVs, selling its vehicles for as low as USD 3,644 with tax credits.

Lower prices, fewer emissions and social benefits on top of an eco-iconic appearance and government tax incentives? Legal and insurance issues notwithstanding, sounds like a potential winner to us. Who will put golf carts at the forefront of *your* community's next planning venture...?

Website: www.gemcar.com — www.gonev.com
Contact: www.gemcar.com/contact — www.gonev.com/index.php?main_page=contact_us

Spotted by: Katherine Noyes