Named the recreation Grand Award Winner for 2007 by Popular Science, “The Ride” by Ellsworth is the bike Leonardo da Vinci would have built. Based on a sketch by the universal genius, The Ride’s rear hub has roots in the 15th century.

The Ride’s rear hub mimics an infinite number of gears, rather than the mere 21 offered by the usual chain-yanking transmission. So you can always find the perfect gear ratio, whether starting from a stop or speeding down a hill. Twist a dial on the handlebar, and ball bearings in the bike’s NuVinci transmission tilt between two rotating metal discs. (Your pedaling turns one disc; the other transfers power to the rear wheel.) As the balls tilt, they touch the discs at varying angles.

The Ride’s revolutionary, or evolutionary, transmission will almost certainly lead to a multitude of uses from cars to turbines.

[via Popular Science]