Re:The Commuter Bike Redesigned and Electrified
by Derbasti on Monday February 07, 2011 @05:58AM
(#2188472)
Frankly, I don't see the point of electric bicycles. I have not seen any electric bicycle that offered any real advantage to a normal muscle-operated one.
As a matter of fact, bicycles are one of the oldest and most refined technologies available to us. They are marvelously efficient, they are light and versatile. Adding an electric motor and battery makes them heavy, limits your range and decreases the amount of control you have over the bike. Which is nice for, say, elderly people.
And maybe you are American and you don't know this, but many European countries have excellent biking routes everywhere and cars actually brake for cyclists. All that talk about cycling being dangerous is mainly an American problem. In most other countries, bikes are actually a lot safer than cars for the simple reason that they don't go as fast.
I think bicycles are plain fun. I ride my bicycle to work whenever I can. I love my bicycles. All three of them!
Re:The Commuter Bike Redesigned and Electrified
by rue on Monday February 07, 2011 @08:13AM
(#2188759)
Actually, pedelecs are getting rather common right here in the EU. In addition to still requiring pedaling oneself, I think most countries restrict the power output somehow; here it's max 250W and turns off at 25km/h. And sure, you probably shouldn't embark on a 100km ride but the batteries are certainly sufficient to last a daily commute, <50km, and are only going to get better.
One thing I, as a racing-type cyclist, suffered from was the feeling that it was somehow “unfair” that people would have assistance cycling, but it's really an entirely different beast: there's cycling, and then there's transportation by means of a bicycle. By all means love your bicycles – I like mine very much – but pedelecs don't really detract anything from you.
A pedelec won't make people lazier, it enables them to use their bike loaded heavier, in worse conditions[1] and with less effort which is important if they aren't terribly fit or don't want to sweat on their way to work. This translates to more people riding. I'd argue that there's enough exercise involved to actually get direct health gains, but even assuming there's not, we still get the benefit of fewer cars on the roads and a better environment for cycling when drivers and politicians are forced to really pay attention to it (it may shock you to know that in many places in the EU, while certainly better than most of the US, cycling life still is a bit dangerous and inconvenient).
[1] The weather in the winter here is such that bike commutes take 50-200% more time than in the summer even when you work twice as hard. I know a few people who run an electric in the winter: the result is that they get to ride at an effort level comparable to that in the summer.
Re:The Commuter Bike Redesigned and Electrified
by Derbasti on Monday February 07, 2011 @08:18AM
(#2188774)
I completely agree! And I didn't want to say that pedelecs are a bad thing. My grandfather owns one and it enables him to go cycling with his children and grandchildren. That is awesome!
Re:The Commuter Bike Redesigned and Electrified
by jwr on Monday February 07, 2011 @06:51AM
(#2188581)
Agreed. I would much rather have a normal, folding bike. However, I have to admit that these guys got the folding part right. I think folding bike design hasn't really progressed much over the years. People rave about Brompton bikes, but I am not impressed by how they fold, what they fold into, or their weight.
And while I would not pay the exorbitant price for this thing, I would gladly pay a significant amount of money for a modern folding bike. Say, with a carbon fiber frame instead of a steel one.
Re:The Commuter Bike Redesigned and Electrified
by othello on Monday February 07, 2011 @06:47AM
(#2188571)
As a matter of fact, bicycles are one of the oldest and most refined technologies available to us.
Bicycles can hardly be considered an old technology. While Da Vinci had already sketched some designs in the late 15th century [1], the first prototypes could not be built before the early 19th century.
The first recognizable version of the current chain-driven models was only produced in 1885. [2]
The chain-driven bicycle is not as simple as it looks.
Re:The Commuter Bike Redesigned and Electrified
by Derbasti on Monday February 07, 2011 @07:15AM
(#2188620)
Show me another widespread technology that exists since the late 1800s and that has not been completely replaced by another technology. Most technologies get replaced by newer 'disruptive' technologies in rather short times (think gasoline vs. steam vs. electricity for trains or turbine vs. gasoline for planes).
The 'driving force' for bicycles has stayed virtually the same (human muscles), but the transmissions and layouts have been improved steadily. Only the advent of hybrid electric-and-muscle driven e-bikes can be seen as an actual revolution in cycling technology.
Re:The Commuter Bike Redesigned and Electrified
by ez77 on Monday February 07, 2011 @09:13AM
(#2188939)
You are forgetting about a 17th-century invention based on running water [1] which, by the way, to this day is considered by many to be significantly more hygienic than wiping.
Re:The Commuter Bike Redesigned and Electrified
by tzs on Monday February 07, 2011 @06:32AM
(#2188548)
> I have not seen any electric bicycle that offered any real advantage to a normal muscle-operated one.
Some people don't have showering facilities at work, or do not want to carry a change of clothes with them. An electric bike is less likely to produce a stinky cyclist.
Re:The Commuter Bike Redesigned and Electrified
by jdietrich on Monday February 07, 2011 @09:57AM
(#2189080)
This is absolutely the number one error people from non-bicycling nations make about utility cycling.
Don't want to get sweaty? Just use your gears and slow down. You don't run to the corner store, you walk. Likewise with cycling to work - it's easy to travel at a comfortable pace that won't leave you sweaty or out of breath.
Re:The Commuter Bike Redesigned and Electrified
by Derbasti on Monday February 07, 2011 @07:10AM
(#2188609)
Most electric bicycles only enhance your own pedaling. This makes you faster, but it won't make you sweat less as you can still exert the same force (only to greater effect). In other words, if sweating is the problem, ride slower.
Re:The Commuter Bike Redesigned and Electrified
by po on Monday February 07, 2011 @07:48AM
(#2188698)
This makes no sense. I've seen women in skirts blasting up a hill by my house with a kid in a bike seat that would leave me huffing and puffing at any speed. They don't even have to get off the seat.
The enhanced pedaling makes you stronger not just faster. That means less sweating.
Re:The Commuter Bike Redesigned and Electrified
by po on Monday February 07, 2011 @08:35AM
(#2188814)
More like a moped actually. :-)
Where is the point in cycling if you don't have to use your own muscles to ride?
Because sometimes you have the energy and sometimes you don't. Sometimes you're ok with sweating and sometimes you aren't. Some days are 100F degrees and some are 60F. Maybe you're not strong enough to maintain your speed up a hill by your house but you're ok for the rest of the trip. It might lower that one part of the trip from "too hard" to "doable" and it's one more person getting more exercise and driving less.
It's good if everyone bikes more but the whole point of a commuter bike is that the exercise part is secondary. First is getting from point A to point B daily and conveniently.
Re:The Commuter Bike Redesigned and Electrified
by jmm on Monday February 07, 2011 @09:28AM
(#2188984)
Exactly. I got in a little argument with my sister the other day about how obnoxious the modified bikes were that cruise around her neighborhood in San Juan, Puerto Rico. People attach little two-stroke engines (or whatever) that are loud and polluting. My argument was basically, just f'ing pedal. But she made the point that in the tropics, sometimes you want to avoid the sweating that comes from just a few pedals down a sunny street, and, second, not everyone can afford a scooter or moped (or ac'ed car!).
Re:The Commuter Bike Redesigned and Electrified
by tzs on Monday February 07, 2011 @03:32PM
(#2190567)
> Where is the point in cycling if you don't have to use your own muscles to ride?
In the case of the vehicle in the article, it is transportation.
For instance, I live in the Puget Sound area, across from Seattle. If I were to get a job in Seattle, my commute would consist of driving my car to the ferry terminal, paying something like $15 for transportation for me an my car to Seattle, then driving on to work. Reverse the process to come home. $30 in ferry fees for the day.
With a device like the one in the article, that could be changed to driving my car to the free park-and-ride lot near the Ferry terminal, riding the bike to the terminal, folding it up and going on as a walk-on. In Seattle, I could then unfold the bike and head on to work. Reverse the process to come home. The ferry fee for walk-on passengers is $7 in one of the directions, and free in the other direction.
In under a year, the $23 per day saved in ferry fares would pay for the bike.
A regular bike would simply not work for me for this. The hills in Seattle would be too much for me.
Re:The Commuter Bike Redesigned and Electrified
by pmccool on Monday February 07, 2011 @06:43AM
(#2188559)
I see electric bicycles as a tool to help people build a bit of exercise into their daily commute. I'm all for that. I'm a bit leery of devices like this, which help people build no exercise at all into their daily commute.
Re:The Commuter Bike Redesigned and Electrified
by paganel on Monday February 07, 2011 @06:18AM
(#2188531)
> I think bicycles are plain fun. I ride my bicycle to work whenever I can.
I would do the same, if only we'd have a decent shower at our workplace, so that I won't smell all day after a bike-ride from home. Nevertheless, I can't wait for this winter to be finally over so that I can take my bike for photo-taking rides outside the city I live in. (if it matters, I'm a fellow (East-)European whose city doesn't have that many bike-lines, but it doesn't matter anyway, cause I've first ridden a bike on a national road at age 12, so nothing scares me :) ).
Re:The Commuter Bike Redesigned and Electrified
by kristiandupont on Monday February 07, 2011 @08:06AM
(#2188739)
Most electric bikes might not offer much advantage but this one is obviously very compact compared to a normal bike. That is a major advantage to some people.
Re:The Commuter Bike Redesigned and Electrified
by po on Monday February 07, 2011 @05:08AM
(#2188395)
Seems kind of overdone. You can barely use the sidewalk in Tokyo without getting knocked down by a middle-aged woman with a huge sun-visor, a bag of groceries and two kids strapped to something like this:
They're just like a regular bike but they assist you when you climb up hills or just plain get tired. The battery behind the seat-tube slides out for a recharge. I would say about 20% of the bikes you see parked by a train station are electric hybrids.
edit: I will say though, that the foldability part of this is nice, but I prefer the hybrid approach of a standard bike.
Re:The Commuter Bike Redesigned and Electrified
by ot on Monday February 07, 2011 @05:23AM
(#2188415)
IMHO the foldability part is the main point. The typical usage seems to be home -> bus or tube stop -> public transport -> office. Here in UK you can't take bycicles in buses or tube. There are indeed foldable bikes (http://www.brompton.co.uk/) but they are a pain to (un)fold and they are not electric.
Still, price and limited autonomy are real issues. At 1K$ and 20 miles of autonomy I would probably buy one.
Re:The Commuter Bike Redesigned and Electrified
by delackner on Monday February 07, 2011 @09:18AM
(#2188955)
You must be leaving out some salient details on why it takes your friends such a long time to lock up their bikes. You live in a city with a high bicycle theft crime rate perhaps?
So how long are we talking about? The video links by the next commenter shows it taking about 20-30 seconds.
I manage to lock up my bike with a simple 4 digit combo chain in less than 10 seconds, but I can get away with locking it to itself in Tokyo :)
Re:The Commuter Bike Redesigned and Electrified
by samatman on Monday February 07, 2011 @12:09PM
(#2189701)
Yes, SF has very high bike theft rates. Around here a chain or cable isn't considered a lock at all.
That's not why though. One has to get off the bike, get a key out, get the lock out, lean the bike against whatever one is locking it to, put the lock on, and work the key.
With the Brompton, one simply gets off and folds it.
Re:The Commuter Bike Redesigned and Electrified
by noonespecial on Monday February 07, 2011 @05:21AM
(#2188412)
Bicycles enjoy a kind of special status in the US when it comes to tort law and manufacturer liability that is shared with many other older designs. People know they are dangerous and automatically accept this. Things like table saws, ladders, kitchen knives, and roller skates are other examples of things that fit this category.
Inventors of this type of device face a steep uphill climb in the litigious climate of today's United States because its so completely different than traditional bikes. I'm not saying its impossible, I'm just saying that things like this will be magnets for the lawsuit-lottery.
I wonder what the ratio of lawsuits/Segway vs. lawsuits/Schwinn happens to be...
Re:The Commuter Bike Redesigned and Electrified
by davidw on Monday February 07, 2011 @04:53AM
(#2188368)
It'd feel awfully strange riding a bike without my hands out in front of me. Also:
* My crappy commuter bike probably costs between 1 and 5% of the price of this thing.
* How's it deal with rain/dirt?
* Sometimes I do want to just lock it up. Imagine going to the grocery store... at 22 pounds you don't want to haul it around inside. I have a lot more peace of mind locking up my cheap commuter bike outside.
Re:The Commuter Bike Redesigned and Electrified
by buro9 on Monday February 07, 2011 @05:00AM
(#2188378)
It was either going to be you or I who responded ;)
My biggest concern when I saw this originally was the emergency braking scenario. Which basically involves doing a face plant and using your nose and forehead to slow you down by embedding it in the floor.
One of the selling points mentioned in the article is, "you can jump forward off the bike in a crisis; there’s no hardware in your way". Which seems strange as every accident I've had or come perilously close to has been hitting something head-on (from the cyclist perspective... such as peds who walk out in front of you, or cars coming out from a side street).
The weirdest thing I find though is just the speed. These things tend to be speed limited as this helps classify them separately from the soon to be coming breed of electric scooters and motorcycles. Obv' electric bike manufacturers do not want to be forced in complying with that set of regulations and all that it entails. But the speed limiting is such that even a commuter on a cheap bike is going to be going the same speed, and a fit commuter will achieve a higher average speed than someone on this thing.
Re:The Commuter Bike Redesigned and Electrified
by Derbasti on Monday February 07, 2011 @09:04AM
(#2188906)
My thoughts exactly. I guess they put the battery in the tail end to keep it from flipping over when breaking. Still, it seems kind of dangerous.
As for speed, many cyclists will go considerably faster than any of these things, especially if it goes downhill. It might spoil some of the fun to be regularly overtaken by muscle-powered bikes...
Re:The Commuter Bike Redesigned and Electrified
by JoeAltmaier on Monday February 07, 2011 @10:13AM
(#2189146)
A road bike is a piece of athletic equipment. It can be maneouvered in several ways to emergency brake, drastically swerve or accelerate to avoid an accident.
This little thing looks more like a tea cart. With you as the bumper. No way am I riding this dangerous little thing.
Re:The Commuter Bike Redesigned and Electrified
by delackner on Monday February 07, 2011 @09:27AM
(#2188981)
On the "face plant when braking" angle, even a normal bicycle is at risk for this with a lot of handlebar designs, like the simple straight length of tube I have. I slammed my brakes once last year when a car turned in front of me, and the bike stopped. I kept going, yanking the bicycle to then fly over me.
* At speed I now always brace my arms behind the handlebar.
* Damn I'm glad I was wearing gel padded gloves.
* I am very much considering different handlebars.
Re:The Commuter Bike Redesigned and Electrified
by atgm on Monday February 07, 2011 @05:02AM
(#2188388)
You can buy regular bicycles with little electric motors on them here in Japan for about $1,000. That seems a lot more reasonable than completely redesigning the bicycle...
Re:The Commuter Bike Redesigned and Electrified
by flipbrad on Monday February 07, 2011 @05:24AM
(#2188420)
I doubt many japanese take those on the subway though! I don't recall seeing standard bicycles on the tokyo metro at all, in fact.
To the person who said you prefer to lock it up outside a grocery store - what exactly stops you from doing that with this device?
The cost is a major stumbling block; mind you, I see a lot of heinously expensive road bikes around London, and I suppose their actual utility is lower (harder to take onto buses and rail services; harder to store at home, in the street or at the office; not electric)
I'd be interested to see a study done on the device's eco credentials; I've heard persuasive arguments that electric bikes are greener than pedal powered bikes when you consider the petrochemical requirements of a pedal bike's energy source (your food)...
Re:The Commuter Bike Redesigned and Electrified
by atgm on Monday February 07, 2011 @08:07AM
(#2188742)
No subway out where I live. Plenty of older people use them because of the hills/mountains out here. You can see them on the buses that take bikes, or the non-JR train lines that let you take bikes.
Re:The Commuter Bike Redesigned and Electrified
by diziet on Monday February 07, 2011 @06:43AM
(#2188562)
It seems horribly unsafe in case of an accident. Sure, 15mph is turtle speed when it comes to bicycles (disclosure: I've been racing road bicycles for five years) but you can still get hurt pretty horribly if you fly out of that thing. There's no frame/hand compression to stop you.
Re:The Commuter Bike Redesigned and Electrified
by arethuza on Monday February 07, 2011 @07:17AM
(#2188623)
Not to mention he isn't wearing a helmet!
[NB I've had one accident where a helmet definitely saved my life and a couple of close calls - two my own fault cycling off road and another where kids threw a brick at me].
Re:The Commuter Bike Redesigned and Electrified
by pmccool on Monday February 07, 2011 @06:53AM
(#2188584)
The more I think about it, the more the 6-mile range sounds like a crippling flaw. Hills and headwinds will presumably knock this around, but that aside, there's just so little room for error. Forget to charge, make a short detour to buy groceries and there you are walking home with a bag full of perishables and an immobile chunk of carbon fibre.
Nice to see some attention paid to lighting though. It's an important issue for commuter bikes, and one that doesn't seem to get as much attention as it should.
Re:The Commuter Bike Redesigned and Electrified
by gjm11 on Monday February 07, 2011 @07:10AM
(#2188611)
PG says: "Someone riding a motorcycle isn't working any harder. But because he's sitting astride it, he seems to be making an effort. When you're riding a Segway you're just standing there." and: "So there may be a way to capture more of the market Segway hoped to reach: make a version that doesn't look so easy for the rider. It would also be helpful if the styling was in the tradition of skateboards or bicycles rather than medical devices."
This thing does in fact look rather like a bicycle, and the rider does sit astride it. Perhaps the YikeBike people have read PG's note about the Segway.
On the other hand, I think it still makes it look as if the rider is "too lazy to walk". If that (rather than, say, the $3600 price tag) makes the YikeBike fail, then it'll indicate that PG's basic analysis was right even though his proposed ways of solving the problem were wrong.
Re:The Commuter Bike Redesigned and Electrified
by lacerus on Monday February 07, 2011 @07:27AM
(#2188644)
I tried an electric GoCycle the other day. It is the best looking folding bike I've ever seen, reaches 30 km/h (faster than all other cyclists around you) and you don't smell when you arrive at work.
Re:The Commuter Bike Redesigned and Electrified
by mechanical_fish on Monday February 07, 2011 @08:21AM
(#2188785)
I don't know about the bike itself, but the pricing is an excellent innovation. Now I can buy the Brompton of my dreams, secure in the knowledge that I'm getting an amazing bargain.
In other news, it might be time to reread Cialdini. ;)
Re:The Commuter Bike Redesigned and Electrified
by marknutter on Monday February 07, 2011 @09:05AM
(#2188912)
Too bad you look like an idiot riding one of these things. There's a huge barrier of entry for strange and unique transportation devices, and that's the strong aversion most people have to sticking out like a sore thumb.
As a matter of fact, bicycles are one of the oldest and most refined technologies available to us. They are marvelously efficient, they are light and versatile. Adding an electric motor and battery makes them heavy, limits your range and decreases the amount of control you have over the bike. Which is nice for, say, elderly people.
And maybe you are American and you don't know this, but many European countries have excellent biking routes everywhere and cars actually brake for cyclists. All that talk about cycling being dangerous is mainly an American problem. In most other countries, bikes are actually a lot safer than cars for the simple reason that they don't go as fast.
I think bicycles are plain fun. I ride my bicycle to work whenever I can. I love my bicycles. All three of them!
One thing I, as a racing-type cyclist, suffered from was the feeling that it was somehow “unfair” that people would have assistance cycling, but it's really an entirely different beast: there's cycling, and then there's transportation by means of a bicycle. By all means love your bicycles – I like mine very much – but pedelecs don't really detract anything from you.
A pedelec won't make people lazier, it enables them to use their bike loaded heavier, in worse conditions[1] and with less effort which is important if they aren't terribly fit or don't want to sweat on their way to work. This translates to more people riding. I'd argue that there's enough exercise involved to actually get direct health gains, but even assuming there's not, we still get the benefit of fewer cars on the roads and a better environment for cycling when drivers and politicians are forced to really pay attention to it (it may shock you to know that in many places in the EU, while certainly better than most of the US, cycling life still is a bit dangerous and inconvenient).
[1] The weather in the winter here is such that bike commutes take 50-200% more time than in the summer even when you work twice as hard. I know a few people who run an electric in the winter: the result is that they get to ride at an effort level comparable to that in the summer.
And while I would not pay the exorbitant price for this thing, I would gladly pay a significant amount of money for a modern folding bike. Say, with a carbon fiber frame instead of a steel one.
Bicycles can hardly be considered an old technology. While Da Vinci had already sketched some designs in the late 15th century [1], the first prototypes could not be built before the early 19th century.
The first recognizable version of the current chain-driven models was only produced in 1885. [2]
The chain-driven bicycle is not as simple as it looks.
[1] http://www.ltolman.org/davinci.htm [2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicycles
The 'driving force' for bicycles has stayed virtually the same (human muscles), but the transmissions and layouts have been improved steadily. Only the advent of hybrid electric-and-muscle driven e-bikes can be seen as an actual revolution in cycling technology.
There have got to be hundreds.
Traffic lights and air brakes, 1868
Four-stroke internal combustion engine, 1876
toilet paper, 1880
Rayon, 1884
Steam turbine, 1884
Gas-powered automobile and motorcycle, 1885
dish-washer, Coca-cola (is that an invention?), 1886
radar, contact lenses, 1887
AC motor/transformer, 1888
cordite, 1889
escalator, 1891
zipper, 1893
Vs the first pedal-equipped bicycle, developed by Pierre Michaux, Pierre Lallement and the Olivier brothers in the 1860s.
Pretty much anything. Of course some of these methods are still in use today, depending on where you look.
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bidet
Some people don't have showering facilities at work, or do not want to carry a change of clothes with them. An electric bike is less likely to produce a stinky cyclist.
Don't want to get sweaty? Just use your gears and slow down. You don't run to the corner store, you walk. Likewise with cycling to work - it's easy to travel at a comfortable pace that won't leave you sweaty or out of breath.
Personally, I ride slowly to work, and fast back.
The enhanced pedaling makes you stronger not just faster. That means less sweating.
Where is the point in cycling if you don't have to use your own muscles to ride?
Because sometimes you have the energy and sometimes you don't. Sometimes you're ok with sweating and sometimes you aren't. Some days are 100F degrees and some are 60F. Maybe you're not strong enough to maintain your speed up a hill by your house but you're ok for the rest of the trip. It might lower that one part of the trip from "too hard" to "doable" and it's one more person getting more exercise and driving less.
It's good if everyone bikes more but the whole point of a commuter bike is that the exercise part is secondary. First is getting from point A to point B daily and conveniently.
Puerto Rico just announced proposed penalties for these modded bikes, which seem a bit harsh: http://www.elnuevodia.com/noticia_noticias_politica-879951.h...
In the case of the vehicle in the article, it is transportation.
For instance, I live in the Puget Sound area, across from Seattle. If I were to get a job in Seattle, my commute would consist of driving my car to the ferry terminal, paying something like $15 for transportation for me an my car to Seattle, then driving on to work. Reverse the process to come home. $30 in ferry fees for the day.
With a device like the one in the article, that could be changed to driving my car to the free park-and-ride lot near the Ferry terminal, riding the bike to the terminal, folding it up and going on as a walk-on. In Seattle, I could then unfold the bike and head on to work. Reverse the process to come home. The ferry fee for walk-on passengers is $7 in one of the directions, and free in the other direction.
In under a year, the $23 per day saved in ferry fares would pay for the bike.
A regular bike would simply not work for me for this. The hills in Seattle would be too much for me.
I would do the same, if only we'd have a decent shower at our workplace, so that I won't smell all day after a bike-ride from home. Nevertheless, I can't wait for this winter to be finally over so that I can take my bike for photo-taking rides outside the city I live in. (if it matters, I'm a fellow (East-)European whose city doesn't have that many bike-lines, but it doesn't matter anyway, cause I've first ridden a bike on a national road at age 12, so nothing scares me :) ).
http://us.sanyo.com/Commercial-eneloop-bike
They're just like a regular bike but they assist you when you climb up hills or just plain get tired. The battery behind the seat-tube slides out for a recharge. I would say about 20% of the bikes you see parked by a train station are electric hybrids.
edit: I will say though, that the foldability part of this is nice, but I prefer the hybrid approach of a standard bike.
Still, price and limited autonomy are real issues. At 1K$ and 20 miles of autonomy I would probably buy one.
I have challenged a dozen people to get their bikes locked to a post in the time it takes me to fold the Brommy. No one has succeeded to date.
Still, they are not electric and cost around 1400$
EDIT: This video shows how to fold/unfold one http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNnOdoUn3kg . I'm sold!
So how long are we talking about? The video links by the next commenter shows it taking about 20-30 seconds.
I manage to lock up my bike with a simple 4 digit combo chain in less than 10 seconds, but I can get away with locking it to itself in Tokyo :)
That's not why though. One has to get off the bike, get a key out, get the lock out, lean the bike against whatever one is locking it to, put the lock on, and work the key.
With the Brompton, one simply gets off and folds it.
Inventors of this type of device face a steep uphill climb in the litigious climate of today's United States because its so completely different than traditional bikes. I'm not saying its impossible, I'm just saying that things like this will be magnets for the lawsuit-lottery.
I wonder what the ratio of lawsuits/Segway vs. lawsuits/Schwinn happens to be...
http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=806150
http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=810787
http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1161537
http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1275109
* My crappy commuter bike probably costs between 1 and 5% of the price of this thing.
* How's it deal with rain/dirt?
* Sometimes I do want to just lock it up. Imagine going to the grocery store... at 22 pounds you don't want to haul it around inside. I have a lot more peace of mind locking up my cheap commuter bike outside.
Still, it looks like it's beautifully engineered.
My biggest concern when I saw this originally was the emergency braking scenario. Which basically involves doing a face plant and using your nose and forehead to slow you down by embedding it in the floor.
One of the selling points mentioned in the article is, "you can jump forward off the bike in a crisis; there’s no hardware in your way". Which seems strange as every accident I've had or come perilously close to has been hitting something head-on (from the cyclist perspective... such as peds who walk out in front of you, or cars coming out from a side street).
The weirdest thing I find though is just the speed. These things tend to be speed limited as this helps classify them separately from the soon to be coming breed of electric scooters and motorcycles. Obv' electric bike manufacturers do not want to be forced in complying with that set of regulations and all that it entails. But the speed limiting is such that even a commuter on a cheap bike is going to be going the same speed, and a fit commuter will achieve a higher average speed than someone on this thing.
As for speed, many cyclists will go considerably faster than any of these things, especially if it goes downhill. It might spoil some of the fun to be regularly overtaken by muscle-powered bikes...
This little thing looks more like a tea cart. With you as the bumper. No way am I riding this dangerous little thing.
* At speed I now always brace my arms behind the handlebar. * Damn I'm glad I was wearing gel padded gloves. * I am very much considering different handlebars.
Forget that, how's it even deal with rough/uneven pavement!?
To the person who said you prefer to lock it up outside a grocery store - what exactly stops you from doing that with this device?
The cost is a major stumbling block; mind you, I see a lot of heinously expensive road bikes around London, and I suppose their actual utility is lower (harder to take onto buses and rail services; harder to store at home, in the street or at the office; not electric)
I'd be interested to see a study done on the device's eco credentials; I've heard persuasive arguments that electric bikes are greener than pedal powered bikes when you consider the petrochemical requirements of a pedal bike's energy source (your food)...
Also, it doesn't look like a bicycle, at least compared to something in the similar price range: http://www.londoncyclesport.com/Assets/LondonCycleSport+Digi...
[NB I've had one accident where a helmet definitely saved my life and a couple of close calls - two my own fault cycling off road and another where kids threw a brick at me].
Nice to see some attention paid to lighting though. It's an important issue for commuter bikes, and one that doesn't seem to get as much attention as it should.
I may try electrifying my bike, a local guy does this and it looks reasonable. You can see the pictures here:
http://prodavalnik.com/sglobyavam-elektricheski-velosipedi-p...
For the electro-motor, inverter, controls and batteries you pay:
1. 250W motor 36V+ lead-acid battery (3 х 12V 9Ah)- 300 €
2. 250W motor 36V+ lead-acid battery (3 х 12V 14Ah)- 323 €
3. 250W motor 36V+ li-ion battery (36V 10Ah)- 524 €
4. 250W motor 36V+ lithium iron phosphate battery (36V 12Ah)- 633 €
4. 250W motor 36V+ lithium iron phosphate battery (36V 15Ah)- 790 €
5. 500W motor 36V+ lead-acid battery (3 бр.х 12V 9Ah)- 338 €
6. 500W motor 36V+ lead-acid battery (3 бр.х 12V 14Ah)-363 €
7. 500W motor 36V+ lithium iron phosphate battery (36V 12Ah)- 674 €
8. 500W motor 36V+ lithium iron phosphate battery (36V 15Ah)- 830 €
9. 800W motor 48V+ lithium iron phosphate battery (48V 15Ah)- 980 €
10. 1000W motor 48V+ lithium iron phosphate battery (48V 15Ah)- 1025 €
Range is 30-80 km and you can always pedal more. I think this product could be a hit, with a bit better design and manufactured at scale.
This thing does in fact look rather like a bicycle, and the rider does sit astride it. Perhaps the YikeBike people have read PG's note about the Segway.
On the other hand, I think it still makes it look as if the rider is "too lazy to walk". If that (rather than, say, the $3600 price tag) makes the YikeBike fail, then it'll indicate that PG's basic analysis was right even though his proposed ways of solving the problem were wrong.
There is a chap who commutes through central Edinburgh on a unicycle and it does indeed cheer me up every time I see him.
http://store.gocycle.com/
Also you can fold it up and take the subway if it starts to rain unexpectedly.
In other news, it might be time to reread Cialdini. ;)