The bicycle.

Its a bit of a tough question, which consumer product is best, as it depends on which qualities one deems as relevant to judgement.

For me the bicycle seems to score the best across the board. It terms of success, it is unparalleled in sales of transportation devices. Its currently estimated that there are around 1 billion bikes worldwide, around twice as many as cars, and the success makes sense. The product is cheap, easy to use, safe and provides a means of shrinking distances. The product is simple, easy to construct and therefore comparatively cheap when compared to a car which enables a larger spectrum of people to buy the product. It also does not have a large carbon footprint as its human powered and if made of steel can be recycled relatively easily.

The bicycle also has other desirable side effects in terms of health both physical and social. Firstly, because it requires the user to pedal it, it actually acts to improve your health during its use, a refreshing change in a world where everything seems to be carcinogenic. Socially, the bicycle has had a large impact on the way modern culture has evolved, relieving the strain on horses, there was a period where horses were so in need that they were being worked to the point of death in the streets, helped empower and liberate women by providing a means of transport and allowed workers to live away from polluting factories.

Through its development the bicycle has been a generator of new technologies and designs. Spoke wheels, ball bearings, sprockets and pneumatic tires have all been invented through the development of the bicycle whilst the furniture of Marcel Breuer and the other Bauhaus designers drew inspiration from the bicycle's use of tubular steel. The bicycle continues to generate design interest as well, one only has to browse the core77 website to find an array of new bicycle designs.

Above all however, bikes are sweet pieces of kit. Ive owned (and broken) a few but they're amazing pieces of design and provide me with guilt free transport which, in a world that is increasingly conscious of its environmental impact, seems most relevant of all.

Ed Hamer