Sofa transport. That’s what we’ve been waiting for. The Sofa Bike is the creation of Jacek Holubowicz and was recently displayed at the International Design Festival in Berlin. It has two separate 8 gear hubs, hydraulic brakes which are operated by the front handlebar and dynamic chain steering.

We want one. It would get us off the couch- Wait, no. It also has a built in stereo, a 17 mAh battery, and a convertible roof that can be folded down.

Okay, so you’ve been walking around all day and your feet are killing you. There must be some faster way of getting around without having to steal some dudes bike. What to do. If only you had a scooter kiosk at your disposal. You may be in luck if this idea catches on. It’s Anton Grimes’ entry into the Australian Design Awards competition and it would make life easier for those on foot.

The Link scooter system attaches to lampposts that are already there and it holds a lightweight electric scooter. It also charges it. The idea is that you encounter the lamppost, take a scooter and when you’re done, put it back at another station.

The Di-Cycle, by GBO Design is an amphibious bike designed for the city of Helmond in the Netherlands, because the city has just as many watery channels as it does actual roads. Therefore, the residents all want to make like amphibians, skimming across water.

The idea is that riders would be able to skim over the water just as if they were going across the land. Somehow I just don’t see that happening. It’s more likely to flip you over and fill your lungs with water as it keeps going, eventually depositing your corpse on the road your soul never made it to. It remains a concept for the moment thankfully.

Segway has been trying like hell to revolutionize how humans get around and it seems like they are selling more as gas prices go up. Toyota wants to give them some competition with the Toyota Winglet. The name alone doesn’t inspire much confidence. The Winglet’s body has a 10.4 x 18-inch footprint and stands 3.7-feet tall, depending upon the model you choose.(They come in S, M, or L models)

The electric motor can do a max 6km/h cruising speed for up to 10km. The user controls the Winglet by shifting his weight to move it forward and back or make turns. Consumer testing should begin at the Central Japan International Airport this fall with more testing in crowded places planned for 2009. It looks pretty sily, but as gas prices go up, it begins to look beter and better. Check out a video below.

We’ve seen some pretty weird bikes that want to keep the family traveling together, ever since the price of gas has gone crazy. The crazy Electric Bike Train comes to mind.

Well, here’s another idea. The Zigo bike has apparently taken dad from the equation all together, opting to put mom either behind or on the thing, while the kid or kids are in the danger zone up front known as the ChildPod. The ChildPod can be removed and transformed into a stroller lightning quick, and the Zigo can be used as a standard 2-wheeled bicycle once you attach the front wheel. It’s $995 worth of parts swapping with kids in tow.

If you don’t want to pick up a Segway for $5,000, you might want to check this out. It’s a manually-powered unicycle that will get you around town. To onlookers you will appear to be skiing on the sidewalk while sweating like a fat kid in gym class.

You might want to consider the workout tubby, what with rising gas prices. I’m sure your boss will let you park it inside too, to prevent theft. Won’t that be swell? Laughed at on the way to work and laughed at during. Oh, and on the way home. Sadly, it is but a concept, so you’ll have to find another way around for now.

The price of gas being what it is, and considering what it will reach, suddenly all kinds of personal transport concepts are looking more promising. Take the Electric Bike Train for instance. In a world of skyrocketing gas prices, it’s the perfect electric bike for an entire large family.

It’s designed by Jiang Qian, and while I can’t find anything about just how many bikes can be linked up, I would guess quite a few. The front wheel connects to the two rear tires of the next unit. See, even when gas is unaffordable, you can still listen to your kids bitch and whine and ask “Are we there yet?”.

By now I think we are all on board with the fact that the two-wheeled segway is ridiculous. Anyone riding one looks like they should be leaving a trail of drool in their wake. Well, Segway just redeemed themselves with this nice piece of work. The RMP “hyperdirectional” transporter was introduced at this year’s RoboBusiness, and can hold at least one super-size 400-pound human.

It has a nice tank type look. Seems like it can do it’s thing in just about in any direction too. Aside from that my friends, details are elusive. No release date either. But the term “fifty thousand dollars” should be enough to scare most of you off.