Designer Ben Wilson has produced a monowheel - a cycle where the rider sits inside a large, spokeless wheel.

The cycle was commissioned for the XXIst Century Man exhibition at 21_21 Design Sight in Tokyo.

"As part of the exhibition the 21st century man (showing at 21-21 tokyo midtown until july) I was comissioned to create a new piece of work," says Wilson.

"Ever since cycling for the first time without stablisers I have been fascinated by human propulsion. Over the years the myth of the monowheel has become an equal fascination."

"Since the 1860s many patents have been filed in the monowheel's name and today there are even rumors of a production monowheel in China, but as it stands there is nothing currently available. As we couldn’t buy a monowheel we made one."

"We don't suggest for one moment that a functioning human powered monowheel could ever provide an improvement on the modern bicycle. Instead its value comes from the discourse and ideas generated as a result of this research."