The art of teaching your child to ride a bike hasn't changed in... well, ever, really. You get a running start, swallow your heart, and let go. Soon they wreck, you wipe up the tears, and start again. Hopefully, soon, the wipeouts become less frequent, and away they go. Daniella Reichstetter, the CEO of Gyrobike, wants to sell you a better way. With a powerful gyro, your child never has to eat pavement again.

"The majority of children learn to ride their first two-wheeler with training wheels, which incidentally, simply don't 'train' a rider to do anything," she told Ars. "At best, training wheels keep a rider from tipping over. At worst they cause nasty spills. Training wheels also teach bad riding habits that are counter-effective to correct riding technique." She points out that once the wheels are removed, children then have to unlearn those bad habits, often with even more accidents.

The gyrowheel is, at its heart, a simple idea. Create a wheel for children's bicycles that contains another rapidly spinning wheel, and as any physics students will tell you, the gyro effect will keep the wheel upright. That means that even first-time bike riders will be able to stay upright once one of the battery-powered wheel is attached to their bike. The technology was actually created as a tool to ride a unicycle. "We quickly realized however that there was a much more needed application—a way to make learning to ride a bicycle safer, easier and in the process more fun," Reichstetter said.

The idea may be simple, but the creation of the product was anything but, with two years spent in product development and testing. "Our challenge was not only to develop a front bike wheel with a disk that could do this, but also to find a way to get the disk to spin fast enough to create enough force (gyroscopic precession) that would help stabilize the bike at a low speed so that a rider could benefit from the stabilizing effect," she told Ars.

They balanced safety, form, and function... not to mention trying to make the product interesting for children. "We fully enclosed the disk to keep small fingers safe. We enclosed rechargeable batteries and motorized the disk. Ultimately, we created a 'cool' design that allows kids (and adults) to see the 'magic' disk in action."

The wheel includes a built-in rechargeable battery, and can be set to three stability settings, or be turned off altogether. As the young bikers learn how to ride, the power can be turned down accordingly until they're finally biking on their own. The battery can't be replaced by the user, but we're told that won't be a problem. "The batteries (NiMH) can be recharged at least 200 times. That’s about 200 days, or more than a season, of learning to ride one’s first bicycle."

The catch, and the future

Of course, this isn't an inexpensive product. The 12" wheel will sell for around $100, and there is not yet solid pricing information on the 16" wheel. The timing? "The launch of our 12-inch Gyrowheel is just around the corner [on December 1] and 16-inch Gyrowheels will launch this spring," we're told. "We also plan to offer 12-inch and 16-inch bikes with Gyrobike technology in 2010."

Adult bikes with the technology, which for now will only be sold through the website, could be good for senior citizens who would like a safe way to continue biking, and Reichstetter also said there is much interest in the original unicycle design. As for what configurations we'll see in the next few years, she would only say that they're working on a number of products.

It's an interesting idea, but are parents willing to pay $100 or more for a single wheel? The product has enjoyed quite the positive reception so far, and Reichstetter is nothing if not enthusiastic. "I knew Gyrowheel was going to be a hit when I first saw the proof-of-concept prototype in action back in 2006. It’s one of those products that makes you think, 'Why hasn’t this been done already?'" she told Ars. "The excitement has only continued to build from there. With thousands of consumer requests for Gyrowheel, along with positive reactions from the media, we are confident and excited about changing the way people ride bicycles."