I suppose I should take care not to appear obsessed with Kickstarter . . .
For a while I have looked at the Bike Portland blog fairly regularly because I guess I thought of Portland as somehow advanced in its support for cycling. Now I'm not so sure "advanced" is the right word, but anyway, it is a source of bike related news that can be stimulating to read.
They just had a blog post about a company ceasing operation - the company, Conscious Commuter, was trying to bring a folding e-bike for commuter use to market. Although not evident from their web site, they have packed it in - the Bike Portland blog post quotes extensively from an email sent out from the company to its Kickstarter supporters.
So yes, in addition to other funding sources, this company sought and got $25,000 through a Kickstarter effort. Thirteen of the people who contributed were at the $1,395 level, for which the "reward" was to be, "You are pre-ordering and will receive a numbered, signed, limited edition folding e-bike, numbered in the order your Kickstarter pledge was placed. In addition to special pricing, you will get another pre-release offer -- a 2 year warranty!" (Estimated deliver - March 2012.) Anyway - no, that didn't and isn't happening, as it turns out. Instead you get an email more than two years later that says, "We appreciate your support of Conscious Commuter. We wish we had been able to raise the additional funds needed to continue what we believed was a very promising business- but after two and a half years filled with momentous achievements and challenges, financial issues have forced us to close our doors." Actually the email says a lot of other blather. At this point anyone who gave them $1,395 is probably not too surprised.
Since this proposal was made in 2011, Kickstarter has tried to clarify that there is some risk in such things with their "Kickstarter is not a store!" blog post, that requires proposal to include a "risks and challenges" section (which the e-bike proposal didn't have) but in my experience these never say, "there is risk we spend the money on something other than producing the thing you think you will get."
Just from the fifteen minutes or so I have spent acquainting myself with this effort (admittedly after the fact) it appears they had problems staying on track. Even the Kickstarter people say, "under-promise and over-deliver" - instead they seemed to have tried to come up with every conceivable variant imaginable - the same bike without the electric drive, the same bike with the e-drive but you don't have to (or can't?) pedal the thing, even a version in carbon fiber.
A slick video pushing a carbon-fiber variant
Most amazing to me, for a project that involves Kickstarter funding, is the "about us" page on the Conscious Commuter site. (This page is most likely going to disappear soon, but no worries, I used the Internet Archive's "archive this" functionality to make a copy for posterity, which is here: https://web.archive.org/web/20131222164759/http://www.consciouscommuter.com/pages/our-people-1.) I mean, good lord, the company describes nine different management or adviser types and nothing about anybody who puts their hands on a bicycle!! You know, to make one. The 25,000 bucks from Kickstarter, less the five percent to Kickstarter and the credit card charges, wouldn't pay for this crew's $ needs for very long. (Yeah, I get that maybe one of these people was focusing on this full-time - but still, can't they say something about someone who gets grease on his hands occasionally?)
Again, it's easy for me to look at this critically more than two years after they created their Kickstarter proposal. Perhaps there is something be learned here. Hmm.
Showing posts with label electric bicycles. Show all posts
Showing posts with label electric bicycles. Show all posts
Sunday, December 22, 2013
Sunday, November 3, 2013
Kickstarter Your Way Out of Sweating
One of the "problems" that apparently needs solving is to create a bicycle that requires less effort to pedal. One doesn't want to "break a sweat" after all.
Electric bikes have been increasingly popular worldwide - even (or particularly) in places where bicycles are a more serious form of everyday transportation than in the U.S., such as the Netherlands.
"Smart Wheel is a pedal assist which means it helps you ride your bike effortlessly. The motor turns on when you start pedaling and begins accelerating to your desired speed. It stops when you stop. It saves you time by getting you to your destination faster and gets you there without losing your breath or breaking a sweat. There’s no need to worry about what to wear to that business meeting or 8 o’clock date."
The clever aspect of this Kickstarter, which is aimed at urban residents who already have a bicycle but aren't always interested in using it as much as they perhaps hoped and for any one of several possible reasons don't want to buy a purpose-built electric bike, is that it supports an easy and not too expensive conversion of an existing bike to an electric bike. In fact, one can easily switch back and forth by swapping in the standard rear wheel or the e-wheel! Oh and the whole shebang is controlled by your smartphone that you attach the handlebars. And a smartphone recharging system is helpfully part of the deal.
Of course the only fun in looking at Kickstarters like this is in critiquing them. Yeah.
* Purpose-built electric bikes are typically heavy. This wheel weighs only 9 pounds and has both the motor and the batteries in it - in fact, nothing more is required than the smartphone to control it. So leaving aside the phone, it only adds 7-8 pounds to the previous weight of whatever bike you use it with. But a reason that electric bikes are heavy is not just because their electric bike specific components (batteries, motors, controls) add more weight (than this one) but also because the whole bike is built up to support heavier loads since the force propelling it is now not just your legs. In particular, the brakes of your average bike intended to be ridden around at 9-10 mph are going to be working hard to stop a bike that now weighs 1/4 to 1/3 more that is routinely going 15-20 mph. So you would likely end up having more maintenance issues with a bike not designed with such use in mind and some safety issues with stopping, at least potentially.
* Carrying the bike up stairs - an obvious advantage for urban residents in apartments is a bike that isn't so heavy that you can't easily carry it up stairs. Arguably taking the typical bikes they are showing that weigh 25-30 pounds as manufactured and then adding 7-8 more pounds will result in a bike that can be carried easily by some people up stairs but by others not so much.
* Smart phone controlled - OK, I'm not strictly speaking a Luddite but the idea that I need to manage my bicycle through my smartphone takes away a considerable amount of the elegant simplicity of what a bike is. However since many if not most people now have some such device with them anyway, avoiding the extra weight of a specific control system for the e-wheel makes sense.
* The smart phone charging system - the cell phone charging system relies on a wired connection to a type of generator that is still used in Europe but is not very commonly seen now in the U.S., where a small wheel presses against the tire and drives the generator - a so-called dynamo generator. I had one of those on a bike when I was a teenager! On some level, given the rest of it, the thing is charmingly retro. I guess. But arguably it is a necessity only because your bicycle, with this wheel, requires your working smartphone and that in turns requires it is juiced up. So one is stuck by extension with providing an independent charging source for the smartphone.
* Anti-theft system - locking the wheel. Uh, they must be kidding. You would still need to lock this thing up, and in NYC that would require a locking system that weighs as much or more than the wheel. (In fact, a bike like this would be a high theft target, with its exotic wheel.) While in a certain way it may be helpful to have the GPS to find it when it is stolen, this is a poor substitute generally for not having it stolen in the first place.
* The gearing - in response to a question on this point, it says, "Smart Wheel is actually fully compatible with multi-geared bikes since the rear gear cassette gets removed together with your old rear wheel once you replace it with the Smart Wheel. This of course turns your bike into a single-speed bicycle but we don't see that being much of a problem since shifting is no longer necessary beause Smart Wheel is already doing most of the work for you." Leaving aside a bike with a front derailleur (that would remain and could presumably still be used) it appears that the e-wheel has 18 teeth, so in order to ride the bike with its pedal assist at 20 miles per hour you would have to maintain a pretty high cadence (how fast you turn the pedals) even if you aren't using much force to do so. This assumes that smart phone control aside that "pedal assist" means that in order for the motor to apply force, you have to be pedaling.
* Riding in the rain - the photo in the Kickstarter shows a woman riding a bike with no fenders, just of those plastic things that sticks out vaguely over the rear wheel. What one learns after riding a bike with properly fitted full fenders is that it is really the front fender that does the most useful work, keeping your feet dry by keeping water from flying from the front wheel into the frame of the bike and then down onto your circling feet in a more or less continuous stream as you ride. This isn't so much a drawback of it being an e-bike, but it would seem to me that in order to have a good example of an all weather bike they should have shown the rider in rain with full fenders.
But no worries - this thing is well over-funded by folks looking forward to early delivery of their own one of these thingsfrom the Kickstarter store as a Kickstarter "reward."
Interestingly while FlyKly.com is now all about their Smart Wheel for bikes, they have also worked on e-motor scooter development as evidenced by photos of the things in Flickr. Good e-scooters would seem in some ways more helpful for society since the gas powered scooters that are increasingly popular around here with folks who can't afford cars and don't want to use transit seems problematic in various ways, some of which would be addressed by a electric version.
FlyKly's e-scooter - now past?
I guess that's enough for this for today . . .
Electric bikes have been increasingly popular worldwide - even (or particularly) in places where bicycles are a more serious form of everyday transportation than in the U.S., such as the Netherlands.
"Smart Wheel is a pedal assist which means it helps you ride your bike effortlessly. The motor turns on when you start pedaling and begins accelerating to your desired speed. It stops when you stop. It saves you time by getting you to your destination faster and gets you there without losing your breath or breaking a sweat. There’s no need to worry about what to wear to that business meeting or 8 o’clock date."
The clever aspect of this Kickstarter, which is aimed at urban residents who already have a bicycle but aren't always interested in using it as much as they perhaps hoped and for any one of several possible reasons don't want to buy a purpose-built electric bike, is that it supports an easy and not too expensive conversion of an existing bike to an electric bike. In fact, one can easily switch back and forth by swapping in the standard rear wheel or the e-wheel! Oh and the whole shebang is controlled by your smartphone that you attach the handlebars. And a smartphone recharging system is helpfully part of the deal.
Of course the only fun in looking at Kickstarters like this is in critiquing them. Yeah.
* Purpose-built electric bikes are typically heavy. This wheel weighs only 9 pounds and has both the motor and the batteries in it - in fact, nothing more is required than the smartphone to control it. So leaving aside the phone, it only adds 7-8 pounds to the previous weight of whatever bike you use it with. But a reason that electric bikes are heavy is not just because their electric bike specific components (batteries, motors, controls) add more weight (than this one) but also because the whole bike is built up to support heavier loads since the force propelling it is now not just your legs. In particular, the brakes of your average bike intended to be ridden around at 9-10 mph are going to be working hard to stop a bike that now weighs 1/4 to 1/3 more that is routinely going 15-20 mph. So you would likely end up having more maintenance issues with a bike not designed with such use in mind and some safety issues with stopping, at least potentially.
* Carrying the bike up stairs - an obvious advantage for urban residents in apartments is a bike that isn't so heavy that you can't easily carry it up stairs. Arguably taking the typical bikes they are showing that weigh 25-30 pounds as manufactured and then adding 7-8 more pounds will result in a bike that can be carried easily by some people up stairs but by others not so much.
* Smart phone controlled - OK, I'm not strictly speaking a Luddite but the idea that I need to manage my bicycle through my smartphone takes away a considerable amount of the elegant simplicity of what a bike is. However since many if not most people now have some such device with them anyway, avoiding the extra weight of a specific control system for the e-wheel makes sense.
* The smart phone charging system - the cell phone charging system relies on a wired connection to a type of generator that is still used in Europe but is not very commonly seen now in the U.S., where a small wheel presses against the tire and drives the generator - a so-called dynamo generator. I had one of those on a bike when I was a teenager! On some level, given the rest of it, the thing is charmingly retro. I guess. But arguably it is a necessity only because your bicycle, with this wheel, requires your working smartphone and that in turns requires it is juiced up. So one is stuck by extension with providing an independent charging source for the smartphone.
* Anti-theft system - locking the wheel. Uh, they must be kidding. You would still need to lock this thing up, and in NYC that would require a locking system that weighs as much or more than the wheel. (In fact, a bike like this would be a high theft target, with its exotic wheel.) While in a certain way it may be helpful to have the GPS to find it when it is stolen, this is a poor substitute generally for not having it stolen in the first place.
* The gearing - in response to a question on this point, it says, "Smart Wheel is actually fully compatible with multi-geared bikes since the rear gear cassette gets removed together with your old rear wheel once you replace it with the Smart Wheel. This of course turns your bike into a single-speed bicycle but we don't see that being much of a problem since shifting is no longer necessary beause Smart Wheel is already doing most of the work for you." Leaving aside a bike with a front derailleur (that would remain and could presumably still be used) it appears that the e-wheel has 18 teeth, so in order to ride the bike with its pedal assist at 20 miles per hour you would have to maintain a pretty high cadence (how fast you turn the pedals) even if you aren't using much force to do so. This assumes that smart phone control aside that "pedal assist" means that in order for the motor to apply force, you have to be pedaling.
* Riding in the rain - the photo in the Kickstarter shows a woman riding a bike with no fenders, just of those plastic things that sticks out vaguely over the rear wheel. What one learns after riding a bike with properly fitted full fenders is that it is really the front fender that does the most useful work, keeping your feet dry by keeping water from flying from the front wheel into the frame of the bike and then down onto your circling feet in a more or less continuous stream as you ride. This isn't so much a drawback of it being an e-bike, but it would seem to me that in order to have a good example of an all weather bike they should have shown the rider in rain with full fenders.
But no worries - this thing is well over-funded by folks looking forward to early delivery of their own one of these things
Interestingly while FlyKly.com is now all about their Smart Wheel for bikes, they have also worked on e-motor scooter development as evidenced by photos of the things in Flickr. Good e-scooters would seem in some ways more helpful for society since the gas powered scooters that are increasingly popular around here with folks who can't afford cars and don't want to use transit seems problematic in various ways, some of which would be addressed by a electric version.
FlyKly's e-scooter - now past?
I guess that's enough for this for today . . .
Friday, April 6, 2012
Learning to Live with the e-Bikes
Until recently, I almost never saw e-Bikes - there is one fellow near where I live who rides along much of the same route I take who, depending on our respective schedules, I would see often enough, but that was pretty much it.
Suddenly I am seeing them a whole lot more - I assume this is a result of higher gasoline prices combined with increasing options for the e-Bikes available. I am having trouble getting used to them, which is not very tolerant of me, I guess.
An e-Bike, parked on the bike rack where I work
Wikipedia has a reasonably good article describing e-Bikes, although some of the conclusions aren't terribly current, based on 2010 information. The kind of e-Bikes I am seeing are various types of "hybrids" that combine pedal power and electric battery driven power - I think most of these require pedaling in order for the electric drive to engage, but it isn't obvious when looking at them whether this is true. By federal law, they are supposed to be limited to 20 mph with electric power alone and 750 watts.
The above e-bike, which has been parked recently at work, is a http://prodecotech.com/bikes/storm-500/">Prodeco 'Storm-500' model (the 500 is for 500 watts). It has the most common configuration I am seeing, with the drive in the rear hub - I believe that the the drive system (in the hub) is made by a separate company, because I see this same sort of hub on different companies' products. The main utility of this is that it means the chain doesn't have to carry the power of the motor's propulsion, just the (much lower wattage) energy of the rider, so presumably no special chain is required and all the parts of the bike associated with the chain are the same as a regular bike. (Another way of achieving this result is to put the drive in the front hub.)
The information on the Prodeco web site is a little vague. It does not appear one has to pedal to engage the motor, since it has a "Press the Throttle for ‘Power-On-Demand’ propulsion system." I assume the frame is still, but perhaps it is aluminium - they don't say. The "group" is reasonable, although I'm not sure I agree entirely with the later part of Prodeco's statement that it has, "High quality components (as with all Prodeco, we use only the highest quality components)." In some of their choices, they could have made more costly choices that would have represented higher quality, I think. The most obvious place to offer something better would be the cable actuated disk brakes, where hydraulic would seem a better (but more pricey) choice. But if one accepts that the cable brakes are OK, then what they have is "the highest quality" (since there isn't that much difference between the choices, as far as I know). The rotors are nice and big, which should help.
The Prodeco site also leaves the bicycle weight out of their "product details" - but lifting the Storm-500 up at the bike rack, it's clearly over 50 pounds. (I did find a review of the 200 watt Storm model saying it weighed 46 pounds, so "over 50" seems about right comparing features etc.) One of Prodeco's priorities is to keep the weight of the bike down compared to other companies' products, but without the electric propulsion, riding this bike would be a real chore at this weight. So I'm not sure I'm very impressed with its "low weight." For $1,299 however, it seems like a pretty good deal, all things considered.
It still takes some getting used to, having folks who don't exactly look like Speed Racer zipping along on the trails with these things - again, I need to work on my tolerance. I remind myself that they are more like cyclists than motorists, and therefore presumably our ally - but I'm not all that sure. I read in Wikipedia that one in eight bicycles sold now in the Netherlands are e-Bikes, so we likely have many more such bikes on the roads and trails in our future.
Something to ponder.
By the way, electric bicycles were attempted very early after the introduction of the diamond frame "safety" bicycle - here is a short item from the 1892 "Pittsburg Dispatch" (yes, spelled without an "h" at the end of Pittsburgh).
By "subtle fluid" they mean electricity. Of course, electric, steam, and gas-powered two wheel and three wheel vehicles evolved into cars. Round and round the cycle goes. So to speak.
Suddenly I am seeing them a whole lot more - I assume this is a result of higher gasoline prices combined with increasing options for the e-Bikes available. I am having trouble getting used to them, which is not very tolerant of me, I guess.
An e-Bike, parked on the bike rack where I work
Wikipedia has a reasonably good article describing e-Bikes, although some of the conclusions aren't terribly current, based on 2010 information. The kind of e-Bikes I am seeing are various types of "hybrids" that combine pedal power and electric battery driven power - I think most of these require pedaling in order for the electric drive to engage, but it isn't obvious when looking at them whether this is true. By federal law, they are supposed to be limited to 20 mph with electric power alone and 750 watts.
The above e-bike, which has been parked recently at work, is a http://prodecotech.com/bikes/storm-500/">Prodeco 'Storm-500' model (the 500 is for 500 watts). It has the most common configuration I am seeing, with the drive in the rear hub - I believe that the the drive system (in the hub) is made by a separate company, because I see this same sort of hub on different companies' products. The main utility of this is that it means the chain doesn't have to carry the power of the motor's propulsion, just the (much lower wattage) energy of the rider, so presumably no special chain is required and all the parts of the bike associated with the chain are the same as a regular bike. (Another way of achieving this result is to put the drive in the front hub.)
The information on the Prodeco web site is a little vague. It does not appear one has to pedal to engage the motor, since it has a "Press the Throttle for ‘Power-On-Demand’ propulsion system." I assume the frame is still, but perhaps it is aluminium - they don't say. The "group" is reasonable, although I'm not sure I agree entirely with the later part of Prodeco's statement that it has, "High quality components (as with all Prodeco, we use only the highest quality components)." In some of their choices, they could have made more costly choices that would have represented higher quality, I think. The most obvious place to offer something better would be the cable actuated disk brakes, where hydraulic would seem a better (but more pricey) choice. But if one accepts that the cable brakes are OK, then what they have is "the highest quality" (since there isn't that much difference between the choices, as far as I know). The rotors are nice and big, which should help.
The Prodeco site also leaves the bicycle weight out of their "product details" - but lifting the Storm-500 up at the bike rack, it's clearly over 50 pounds. (I did find a review of the 200 watt Storm model saying it weighed 46 pounds, so "over 50" seems about right comparing features etc.) One of Prodeco's priorities is to keep the weight of the bike down compared to other companies' products, but without the electric propulsion, riding this bike would be a real chore at this weight. So I'm not sure I'm very impressed with its "low weight." For $1,299 however, it seems like a pretty good deal, all things considered.
It still takes some getting used to, having folks who don't exactly look like Speed Racer zipping along on the trails with these things - again, I need to work on my tolerance. I remind myself that they are more like cyclists than motorists, and therefore presumably our ally - but I'm not all that sure. I read in Wikipedia that one in eight bicycles sold now in the Netherlands are e-Bikes, so we likely have many more such bikes on the roads and trails in our future.
Something to ponder.
By the way, electric bicycles were attempted very early after the introduction of the diamond frame "safety" bicycle - here is a short item from the 1892 "Pittsburg Dispatch" (yes, spelled without an "h" at the end of Pittsburgh).
ELECTRIC BICYCLES
One Devised in England for Which Great Things Are Claimed.
SOME GROUND FOR GRAVE DOUBT as to the Practicability of the Machine Until Thoronghly Tested
THE LATEST ABOUT THE SUBTLE FLUID
The electrical bicycle is again cropping up. This time it is in England, and its inventor promises to give the public a machine that can go from the most northerly to the southern extremity of Great Britain without stopping to have its batteries refilled. The weight of the batteries when filled with liquid is to be 44 pounds, and the whole weight of the apparatus is to be 155 pounds. The English financial papers also announce that a small company is to be brought out with a capital of $15,000 for the manufacture of electric cycles. Until, however, the practicability of the electric cycle is demonstrated beyond question, the public may be pardoned some degree of incredulity concerning it. The electrical tricycle, which was designed by a well-known electrician in this country some two years ago, failed to reach the practical stage, and although the storage battery is turned to better account in England than here, the record of English electrical bicvcles is not by any means satisfactory. Whether this latest form of bicycle will be an improvement on its predecessors remains to be proved.
By "subtle fluid" they mean electricity. Of course, electric, steam, and gas-powered two wheel and three wheel vehicles evolved into cars. Round and round the cycle goes. So to speak.
Saturday, October 1, 2011
Kickstarter Funded Folding e-Bike
A Kickstarter project for an e-bike that is fully funded. It is a very attractive design.
Kickstarter page for folding e-bike
The informational site (that doesn't have much information yet.)
Since a $1,390 Kickstarter pledge meant one received one of the early bikes at a "special" price one can deduce that the expected sale price will be somewhere north of that. A Dahon electric folding bike with a more traditional derailleur shifting system can be had for around $2,000, so that's a point of comparison in the folding bike world. Performance has a Schwinn 8-speed comfort bike (no folding) with a 250 watt front hub for $999, which is probably the low(est) end for pricing for what is probably an OK (not for heavy use) electric bike.
Putting the battery in the frame seems lovely from a design standpoint but not necessarily very practical otherwise, but in the notes to funders, apparently it will be possible to attach supplemental batteries.
A strong advantage of this design compared to many e-bikes is that it looks to be reasonably light. In one of the videos, someone commented on the bike being light, which is hardly the first thing people typically say about e-bikes. The Schwinn mentioned above, near as I can figure out, must be around 50 pounds (or about 20 pounds more than it would otherwise).
Otherwise it has some issues, I think. Looking at the set-up, there appears to be a single brake lever yet one can see two brake units, front and back. A single brake lever that controls both brakes? I know this is technically possible but it seems highly undesirable. There does not appear to be any shifting mechanism for the pedal-drive system - the traditional drive system that the electric drive in the front hub supplements. Perhaps it just a single speed bike? And the use of a direct drive system rather than a chain (or a Gates belt drive, if one is insistent on getting rid of greasy chains) isn't something I find appealing, even if it is a elegant design element. I suppose since it is an electric bike, the loss of some pedal power due to the inherent inefficiency of direct drive is OK. Real bikes have tires that run on roads and sidewalks etc where there is dirt - in the rain, quite a lot of messy stuff, actually - so while you can get rid of the chain, folding the bike may still involve some mess.
I find most puzzling the use of "recycled aluminum" for the frame - presumably this is recycled aluminum appropriate for a bicycle frame and not just former beer cans. Or perhaps turning former beer cans into 6061 bicycle frames or similar is easy.
At least this bike project got funded!
Kickstarter page for folding e-bike
The informational site (that doesn't have much information yet.)
Since a $1,390 Kickstarter pledge meant one received one of the early bikes at a "special" price one can deduce that the expected sale price will be somewhere north of that. A Dahon electric folding bike with a more traditional derailleur shifting system can be had for around $2,000, so that's a point of comparison in the folding bike world. Performance has a Schwinn 8-speed comfort bike (no folding) with a 250 watt front hub for $999, which is probably the low(est) end for pricing for what is probably an OK (not for heavy use) electric bike.
Putting the battery in the frame seems lovely from a design standpoint but not necessarily very practical otherwise, but in the notes to funders, apparently it will be possible to attach supplemental batteries.
A strong advantage of this design compared to many e-bikes is that it looks to be reasonably light. In one of the videos, someone commented on the bike being light, which is hardly the first thing people typically say about e-bikes. The Schwinn mentioned above, near as I can figure out, must be around 50 pounds (or about 20 pounds more than it would otherwise).
Otherwise it has some issues, I think. Looking at the set-up, there appears to be a single brake lever yet one can see two brake units, front and back. A single brake lever that controls both brakes? I know this is technically possible but it seems highly undesirable. There does not appear to be any shifting mechanism for the pedal-drive system - the traditional drive system that the electric drive in the front hub supplements. Perhaps it just a single speed bike? And the use of a direct drive system rather than a chain (or a Gates belt drive, if one is insistent on getting rid of greasy chains) isn't something I find appealing, even if it is a elegant design element. I suppose since it is an electric bike, the loss of some pedal power due to the inherent inefficiency of direct drive is OK. Real bikes have tires that run on roads and sidewalks etc where there is dirt - in the rain, quite a lot of messy stuff, actually - so while you can get rid of the chain, folding the bike may still involve some mess.
I find most puzzling the use of "recycled aluminum" for the frame - presumably this is recycled aluminum appropriate for a bicycle frame and not just former beer cans. Or perhaps turning former beer cans into 6061 bicycle frames or similar is easy.
At least this bike project got funded!
Friday, June 10, 2011
Yike Bike & Picycle - Electric Bicycles For All?
It seems likely that cyclists will be seeing more and more electric bikes - for some reason, this seems to take some getting used to. Performance Bike has several Schwinn models now for under $1,000 that looks pretty good and at that price, when people are otherwise buying "city bikes" for close to that price (or more), it seems like a reasonable option.
Some of the options seem a little too exotic, however. The Yike Bike in particular I find puzzling since it doesn't include any ability to pedal the thing at all. Is this really a bicycle?
Promotional video for a Yike Bike
Actually, I can't tell if it is legally a bike or not - the focus of the explanations of the legality of electric bikes is usually on the upper limits for the amount of electric power and not being able to exceed 20 mph unassisted.
Video that attempts to persuade that the Yike Bike can cope with the real world - does not seem the rider read the Yike Bike "warning" page
The above video looks convincing but I doubt I would want to be out on the road much on one. Apparently most of the rider's weight is distributed to the front wheel, but that tiny back wheel . . . And the various Yike Bike videos never show a rider wearing a helmet. I'm not obsessive about helmets, but it seems at least as likely to crash a Yike Bike as a regular one, so why not a helmet? (The unsettling "warning" page for Yike Bike says "always wear a cycling helmet which meets the latest safety standards applicable in your region for YikeBike usage." Oh.)
The steering set-up for the Yike Bike would take a little getting used to (and yes, the "warning" page has some advice there, too). The basic "handlebars from behind" isn't a new idea - a patent I looked at in an earlier post is the same in that regard although the small wheel is in front (and the materials are mainly wood and not carbon fiber!).
In one respect the Yike Bike goes way back, to the "ordinary," with it's extra large wheel in front and tiny wheel in back, when strong braking could lead to "headers" as the rider went over frontwards upon a sudden stop, landing on his (or her) skull. The safety video above actual shows such a sudden stop, but presents it as a "feature" - but on grass. Going down a steep hill might be a bit different. The "warning" page advises (among other things) "never use the YikeBike on steep hills (over 5 degrees) and only go slowly down hill."
Another issue is that the Yike Bike has zero built-in cargo capacity, other than for the rider to carry a backpack or messenger bag. The Yike Bike site states that the combined weight of rider and bag should not exceed 100 kilograms (or 220 lbs, give or take). The Yike Bike itself (the basic model) weighs 23 lbs, which is more than a typical high end road bike these days and about the same as my 30 year old steel Bridgestone road bike. When folded and tucked in the optional $60 carry bag, that would be a bit of weight. And of course if the drive system fails this isn't a bike in the usual sense (that is, with pedals) so carrying would be the only option.
A more traditional electric bike, if not in appearance, is the Picycle.
The basic Picycle
Here the exotic aspect comes from the design, and not from most of the electric bike features. The base version is under $3,000 while another version with a fancier internal hub system (for the pedaling) and a belt drive rather than chain (again, for pedaling) puts the cost up around $5,000. Of course, for either sum, you have a "bicycle" that will attract lots of attention!
The main technical advantage (or difference, anyway) of the Picycle over "traditional" e-bicycles is that the drive system does not boost the existing drive system to the rear wheel but rather has a motor in the front hub. However the Schwinn models for under $1,000 use the same approach. The Picycle also recharges as you coast down hills. On the other hand, it takes 3.5 hours for a Picycle to recharge (per their site) while the cheap Schwinn claims 30 minutes to full charge, allowing the same 20 miles of riding (without pedaling - this seems to be the basic metric for these things).
A version of the Picycle is available with two motors (and no pedals/chain) but that model, able to hit 35 mph, is not legally a bicycle (but the Picycle people ignore that). I certainly wouldn't want such a thing on the bike trail (where the speed limit, much ignored, is 15 mph).
A review of the Picycle from the LA Times - the reviewer wears a leather jacket and a motorcycle helmet since she is apparently more a biker than a cyclist.
The Picycle models have rear fenders, in part because the seat post is integrated with it (I think) but no front fender. Typically I'm not too concerned with fenders (by which I mean none of my bikes have them even though I ride in all weather) but because the front wheel is motorized I suspect it would spit up far more debris in all weather, so I think despite the uncool design aspect that a fender for the front wheel would be good. The Yike bike also allows attachment of a typical rear rack, but generally the publicity photos don't show that kind of ordinary set-up.
The Picycle is heavy - over 60 lbs. If the drive system fails (which is probably not that likely) or you run out of battery power, pedalling this thing would be a chore; still, in a pinch it is better than the Yike Bike no-pedals-at-all approach. (For comparison, the Schwinn models are said to be 12 lbs over the "normal" weight for such a bike, which I would guess would put them at something under 45 lbs.)
The Picycle people offer an amazing set of (pricey) options, including belt drive (rather than chain for the pedal-driven "drive system") and even "PiFi" which is some sort of wireless system (for a bike?!) and naturally, at prices of $5,000 and beyond, GPS theft location capability.
I'm assuming the thinking of the Yike and Picycle people is that there is a market for thrifty green "cyclists" who would find a traditional bike that has added a motor to a traditional bike design to be too pedestrian (perhaps that's a pun?) and that these thrify folks will gladly part with several additional thousand dollars to be special.
It's a theory.
Some of the options seem a little too exotic, however. The Yike Bike in particular I find puzzling since it doesn't include any ability to pedal the thing at all. Is this really a bicycle?
Promotional video for a Yike Bike
Actually, I can't tell if it is legally a bike or not - the focus of the explanations of the legality of electric bikes is usually on the upper limits for the amount of electric power and not being able to exceed 20 mph unassisted.
Video that attempts to persuade that the Yike Bike can cope with the real world - does not seem the rider read the Yike Bike "warning" page
The above video looks convincing but I doubt I would want to be out on the road much on one. Apparently most of the rider's weight is distributed to the front wheel, but that tiny back wheel . . . And the various Yike Bike videos never show a rider wearing a helmet. I'm not obsessive about helmets, but it seems at least as likely to crash a Yike Bike as a regular one, so why not a helmet? (The unsettling "warning" page for Yike Bike says "always wear a cycling helmet which meets the latest safety standards applicable in your region for YikeBike usage." Oh.)
The steering set-up for the Yike Bike would take a little getting used to (and yes, the "warning" page has some advice there, too). The basic "handlebars from behind" isn't a new idea - a patent I looked at in an earlier post is the same in that regard although the small wheel is in front (and the materials are mainly wood and not carbon fiber!).
In one respect the Yike Bike goes way back, to the "ordinary," with it's extra large wheel in front and tiny wheel in back, when strong braking could lead to "headers" as the rider went over frontwards upon a sudden stop, landing on his (or her) skull. The safety video above actual shows such a sudden stop, but presents it as a "feature" - but on grass. Going down a steep hill might be a bit different. The "warning" page advises (among other things) "never use the YikeBike on steep hills (over 5 degrees) and only go slowly down hill."
Another issue is that the Yike Bike has zero built-in cargo capacity, other than for the rider to carry a backpack or messenger bag. The Yike Bike site states that the combined weight of rider and bag should not exceed 100 kilograms (or 220 lbs, give or take). The Yike Bike itself (the basic model) weighs 23 lbs, which is more than a typical high end road bike these days and about the same as my 30 year old steel Bridgestone road bike. When folded and tucked in the optional $60 carry bag, that would be a bit of weight. And of course if the drive system fails this isn't a bike in the usual sense (that is, with pedals) so carrying would be the only option.
A more traditional electric bike, if not in appearance, is the Picycle.
The basic Picycle
Here the exotic aspect comes from the design, and not from most of the electric bike features. The base version is under $3,000 while another version with a fancier internal hub system (for the pedaling) and a belt drive rather than chain (again, for pedaling) puts the cost up around $5,000. Of course, for either sum, you have a "bicycle" that will attract lots of attention!
The main technical advantage (or difference, anyway) of the Picycle over "traditional" e-bicycles is that the drive system does not boost the existing drive system to the rear wheel but rather has a motor in the front hub. However the Schwinn models for under $1,000 use the same approach. The Picycle also recharges as you coast down hills. On the other hand, it takes 3.5 hours for a Picycle to recharge (per their site) while the cheap Schwinn claims 30 minutes to full charge, allowing the same 20 miles of riding (without pedaling - this seems to be the basic metric for these things).
A version of the Picycle is available with two motors (and no pedals/chain) but that model, able to hit 35 mph, is not legally a bicycle (but the Picycle people ignore that). I certainly wouldn't want such a thing on the bike trail (where the speed limit, much ignored, is 15 mph).
A review of the Picycle from the LA Times - the reviewer wears a leather jacket and a motorcycle helmet since she is apparently more a biker than a cyclist.
The Picycle models have rear fenders, in part because the seat post is integrated with it (I think) but no front fender. Typically I'm not too concerned with fenders (by which I mean none of my bikes have them even though I ride in all weather) but because the front wheel is motorized I suspect it would spit up far more debris in all weather, so I think despite the uncool design aspect that a fender for the front wheel would be good. The Yike bike also allows attachment of a typical rear rack, but generally the publicity photos don't show that kind of ordinary set-up.
The Picycle is heavy - over 60 lbs. If the drive system fails (which is probably not that likely) or you run out of battery power, pedalling this thing would be a chore; still, in a pinch it is better than the Yike Bike no-pedals-at-all approach. (For comparison, the Schwinn models are said to be 12 lbs over the "normal" weight for such a bike, which I would guess would put them at something under 45 lbs.)
The Picycle people offer an amazing set of (pricey) options, including belt drive (rather than chain for the pedal-driven "drive system") and even "PiFi" which is some sort of wireless system (for a bike?!) and naturally, at prices of $5,000 and beyond, GPS theft location capability.
I'm assuming the thinking of the Yike and Picycle people is that there is a market for thrifty green "cyclists" who would find a traditional bike that has added a motor to a traditional bike design to be too pedestrian (perhaps that's a pun?) and that these thrify folks will gladly part with several additional thousand dollars to be special.
It's a theory.
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