Picture a unicycle without a frame or saddle, and you have the Solowheel. Not working for you? Ok, add this to the picture: footboards that fold out from the wheel. To ride it, you stand on the footboards and straddle the wheel. Lean forward, and the wheel engages a battery-powered electric motor that can send it —and hopefully its rider— zooming along at 10 miles per hour. The wheel has a gyroscope that helps keep the rider upright. In other words, it's like a Segway with only one wheel.Because of the rechargeable battery, which has a 15- to 20-mile range, the Solowheel weighs 26 pounds. That's as much as a folding bike, but the Solowheel is more compact. It's sold by Inventist LLC for $1,800. Its creator is a serial inventor, Shane Chen, previously came up with the AquaSkipper, a human-powered hydrofoil.
Who's it for? Brave people with a good sense of balance, who want to utterly surprise everyone they meet.