Things that must exist

I have a theory that some things must exist.  The universe will keep shopping the idea around until it finds someone who actually follows through.

I base this theory on the fact that I'll often have an idea for something that I think would be pretty neat, and then about five years later someone goes and produces it.

Take this, for example:  http://zike.net/products.html

For years I've been thinking about combining a scooter with an old treadle-powered velocipede.

No, seriously.

Years ago I read about the treadle bicycles - a stage between the foot-pushing-against-the-ground draisine and the direct drive pedals of the boneshaker, and I thought it had potential as something to come back. Not as a bicycle, obviously, because it's kind of daft - but perhaps as a variation of a scooter...

It was, after all, not far removed from some popular exercise contraptions I'd seen in gyms.

If you look at my note books from a few years ago you'll probably find drawings and scribblings of something based around the idea of a pair of 20inch wheels propelled by something like a sewing machine treadle.

My idea was less chunky than the execution the zike people have come up with, and involved something more akin to the articulated arm thing of 19th Century treadles than the stair-master thing they have going, but the basic concept is more or less the same.  My treadles probably wouldn't have supported much weight, anyway.

When I saw one in the toy shop this morning part of me said "Oh, darn, someone's beaten me to it..."  but then I realised it was a bit daft for the universe to give me this idea in the first place.  I'm not an engineer - I don't know anyone who is, and I have absolutely zero back-yard inventor skills.

I can think things out, but I can't commit to buying stuff that I can use for tinkering or building up the skills necessary to make things stick together in a useful manner.  I've tried it in the past and I end up with a collection of useless things.  I spend about a fifty bucks on a project that probably needs about three hundred bucks worth of bits and bobs (and better quality bits and bobs than I'm willing to pay for), then spot the error of my ways and distract myself with something more cerebral - like learning German.

So, it's not surprising at all that someone else gets the same idea and then does something much more useful with it.

Mind you, now that I've seen these things in action, I'm convinced the execution would be much better if there was more of a skiing motion than a stepping one - which would bring back the treadles as a viable option...