Do you have to be really small to ride a nanotube bike?
Category: Cycling/Running/Fitness... Science, Nature & Medicine...
Posted Monday, May 01, 2006 at 04:18 PM [GMT-6]

Perceptive readers of the Gazette, or those of limited judgment and/or sociomedia outlets might recall this scintillating post about nanotubes, a term which you must admit is fun to say whether or not you understand the concept or, indeed, even believe that the material it represents exists.

As to the latter point, however, we need look no further than the website of Easton Sports, Inc., a well-respected manufacturer of bicycling componentry, where we find that the company is now employing carbon nanotube technology (CNT) in the construction of certain unnamed parts. My double-secret sources tell me that CNT is appearing in some of Easton's carbon fiber handlebars. (I'd feel more secret agent-like if those same sources weren't also running full-page ads in national cycling magazines, a tactic which makes me question the supposed exclusivity of the information I'm being fed.)

Seriously though, this is very cool geek-scifi stuff, even when applied to mundane items like handlebars. If you're interested in Easton's application of the technology, it provides a very readable FAQ here. (OK, "very readable" being a relative term and probably applying only to those who feel that a phrase like "...creating a multi-functional surface treatment technology which exfoliates, disperses, and optimizes the interaction between CNTs and the host matrix" is enlightening and not actually a coded message from the planet Zygorn.)

Personally, I think Napoleon (and Pedro) would be proud.

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Are these at all similar to nanites that can keep your Borg implants from taking you over?

Didn't think so, but couldn't resist asking.

You already told me I needed to get out more, so you really don't need to restate it. :)

Posted by: beth at May 1, 2006 07:00 PM

That's OK, Beth; I sense that you're getting some sort of therapeutic benefit, and I'm all for it. Plus, in a way, coming here is getting out. ;-)

Posted by: Eric at May 1, 2006 09:06 PM

I confess to having mixed emotions about nanontech. While on the one hand it would be great to just take a pill and have a bunch of tiny machines go where they're needed to busy themselves re-plumpifying the dried out disks in my neck, I've never quite gotten over the case of heebie-jeebies Greg Bear's Blood Music gave me.

It's not that I don't thrill to each really cool new bit of technology. I just worry that we, as humans, may not be detail-oriented or focused enough to be trusted not to cock it up.

My dentist tries to drill the wrong tooth. The kid at McDonald's can't get my order right, even after I've repeated it ever... so... slowly for the third time. Dell sends the wrong computer twice, finally sorts out the problem but sends two printers that I didn't order—and then tells me to keep the printers because it's too much trouble to sort out the mistake. The lines on the highway look like they were made by tying a paintbrush to the tail of a giant snake.

Sure, the folks cooking up applications for nanotech are way out of the hamburger pushers' league, but how will we know that they've been allowed to fully test everything in a world where products are routinely pushed to market by the decision makers more interested in profit than safety?

Or maybe I've watched too many zombie movies.

Posted by: Foo at May 2, 2006 11:58 AM

P.S. - The space elevator thingy is way cool.

Posted by: Foo at May 2, 2006 12:00 PM
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