A few years ago, Tyler Nelson, a college student from Dallas, Texas,聽was commuting聽home when he聽got stuck in the rain. A friend stopped to offer him a ride, but didn鈥檛 have a bike rack.聽Nelson was out of luck. Determined to never let that happen again, Nelson got home and聽started sketching blueprints for a blow-up, portable bike rack聽that would be small enough to strap onto a聽seatpost when deflated.聽
His final idea, called , debuted on Kickstarter in June and raised over $71,000 this summer. Products are slated to ship聽in October.
The engineering聽is simple: inflate the rack via the included聽pump, secure the rack to the back of a聽car (it fits onto any vehicle with a trunk or rear hatch), then attach the frame of your bike to the rack using the nylon webbing straps. The rack鈥檚 inflatable polyvinyl interior is protected by a durable,聽tear-resistant Cordura Kevlar outer designed to聽keep your聽bike secure without scratching the paint. When not on use, the rack compresses into a carrying case the size of a football.
The only bummer? Right now the rack only carries one bike. But a two-bike version is supposedly聽on the way.聽
$150,