Strap on Carbon fibre penny farthings for your feet

Given the carnage on the roads of Britain yesterday you'd be forgiven for looking to expand your transport options right now. The obvious choice, of course, is a bike. But if you fancy something a bit more leftfield (and possibly more dangerous) you could put an order in for some Chariot Skates.

We came across the skates on Oh Gizmo, who helpfully describe them as looking like a 'wheelchair that's been sawn in two' - essentially you're turning yourself into an extra from Chorlton and the Wheelies by strapping a 24" (we think) wheel to your leg. There's a little stabilising wheel too, making each foot look like a penny farthing.We're not sure it's a look you can really rock, but we're prepared to be persuaded.

So. Why? Well, the experience is a lot like skiing, apparently, and the bigger wheels allow you to venture onto rougher surfaces, although it's anyone's guess where that's going to end up. We're hoping that Chariot Skates are working on the suspended knobbly version even as we speak, we can't think of a better way to get from the top of Fort Bill to the bottom.

Okay, these are pretty tangential to cycling, we know, but hey. It's Christmas. The inventors claim that the skates 'cross boundaries into skiing and cycling', boundaries that we'd like to think were put in place by somebody with a modicum of common sense. They also go on to say that you can 'commute like a bicycle free of seat & handle bars', as if those particular inventions were somehow the root of all the world's ills. We quite like the whole sitting down/being able to steer aspect of riding. We also like braking: Chariot Skates' video showing how to use your hands to grab the rim and slow yourself down had us reaching for the notepad to do a big calculation including concepts such as 'momentum' and 'centre of gravity'. We concluded that it wasn't really the best idea.

Anyhoo, if you think the Chariot Skates are for you then you should be able to pick some in in about June next year, currently they're still in development. If you get some, do write and tell us how you get on, preferably before you break your wrists so we can read your handwriting.

www.chariotskates.com