All environmental eyes are focused on Copenhagen this week, but take a peek outside the summit and you’ll see the debut of what could be a revolutionary new wrinkle in the bicycle world. M.I.T. is debuting a wheel that could be quite revolutionary.

The Copenhagen wheels stores the kinetic energy created when the bike brakes or coasts downhill, just like a hybrid automobile. The motor kicks in when sensors detect that the riders needs some help up a hill or into a headwind. The hub interacts via Bluetooth with a iPhone mounted on the handlebars to shift gears, plus there’s a GPS to track your ride. You can even see where other riders are or where traffic is building using the iPhone app.

I’m a purist when it comes to my bikes, but with a price expected between $500 and $1000, would you use something like this on your bike?

MIT via The New York Times