Powered pedals claim corporate cash

Remember the powered pedals? There was plenty of discussion on road.cc as to whether they'd even work, let alone be a good way of getting some power assistance on your bike. Well we're a step closer to finding out whether the technology can make it to your bike shop, as inventor Stephen Britt has landed £50,000 from Barclays Bank to put towards further development of the pedals.

In case you missed the earlier story – and the associated discussion – the pedals themselves contain a battery, a motor and some sort of strain gauge which measures your power input and matches it with assistance from the electrics. The idea is that it's a simple upgrade to any bike that'll give short-range help on the hills.

"Winning the Barclays Take One Small Step competition is a fantastic opportunity", Stephen said of the award. "It allows me to take my Fast Forward Cycle Pedals to market and help people make the switch to a more bike oriented lifestyle. I can’t thank Barclays enough for this rare chance to help people live healthier lives in an eco friendly way.”

We can't help thinking that he might have to spend a small part of that £50k on thinking up a new name, as Fast Forward wheels probably won't take kindly to the current one, but other than that it's great news. We're still itching to try the pedals out for ourselves and we'll be dispatching our South Coast Correspondent to wobble round Brighton on them, hopefully in the next couple of weeks. Stay tuned!