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Greg LeMond’s New 26 LB. Carbon Fiber Ebike

lemond.com

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Re: Greg LeMond’s New 26 LB. Carbon Fiber Ebike

#11

Post by robert_foss »

_verandaguy wrote: post #5

Coming from conventional bikes, I don't understand who this is for. Carbon fibre frames are prohibitively expensive and the market for them serves very involved, often professional or semi-pro cyclists whose performance bottlenecks are imposed by the bike instead of themselves. Ditto for some of the other details on the bike, like the medium-dish carbon rims — all for the sake of weight savings and aerodynamics (sinc…

> A lightweight carbon frame weighed down by a battery.

My thoughts exactly. Who's the target audience? And at that price point?

Re: Greg LeMond’s New 26 LB. Carbon Fiber Ebike

#12

Post by globular-toast »

~12kg for anyone wondering. Minimum bicycle weight in the Tour de France is 6.8kg (~15lb). It's possible to make bicycles significantly lighter than this, but most manufacturers don't because of the rules of the Tour.

I do recommend to anyone who hasn't done it yet to take a moment and marvel at the technological accomplishment that is the bicycle. The car takes far too much credit but ultimately it can only work by burning fossil fuels. The bicycle, on the other hand, is a machine weighing less than 7kg, that is up to 99% efficient and enabled a human to travel 5x faster than walking with no extra energy required.

Adding an electric motor to a bicycle removes much of the elegance for me. But still better than cars when it comes to moving sacks of meat around, of course.

Re: Greg LeMond’s New 26 LB. Carbon Fiber Ebike

#13

Post by benmanns »

_verandaguy wrote: post #5

Coming from conventional bikes, I don't understand who this is for. Carbon fibre frames are prohibitively expensive and the market for them serves very involved, often professional or semi-pro cyclists whose performance bottlenecks are imposed by the bike instead of themselves. Ditto for some of the other details on the bike, like the medium-dish carbon rims — all for the sake of weight savings and aerodynamics (sinc…

I have an older ebike with a large battery and it is outrageously heavy and hard to handle for everything except the actual ride. Perhaps there’s a market for people who want an ebike that’s a little easier to get up apartment stairs? For riding I don’t see a need.

Re: Greg LeMond’s New 26 LB. Carbon Fiber Ebike

#14

Post by jeffbee »

YawningAngel wrote: post #4

I'm always confused by people of working age who ride bikes like this. What's the attraction of a more expensive and heavier bike that's no faster than pedaling yourself?

A typical bicycle rider only exerts about 100W. A bike with a 250W motor will more than triple your output. I don't know why this rig is limited to 20 MPH, other than they must have wanted to qualify for "class 2" regulation. It is probably powerful enough to act as a class 3 bike, with a software change.

Re: Greg LeMond’s New 26 LB. Carbon Fiber Ebike

#15

Post by scoopdewoop »

chrismorgan wrote: post #6

A remark from a web developer on the implementation of this site: On my laptop, scrolling by touch, when I reach the image immediately above the colours section, I can’t easily go any further, because the carousel thingy that takes up most of the screen has schnaffled touch actions, and is only translating them into horizontal scrolling of that component, even if my finger is moving perfectly vertically. This is a ba…

FWIW, lots of web devs here. Thats why this is in the guidelines:

Please don't complain about website formatting, back-button breakage, and similar annoyances. They're too common to be interesting. Exception: when the author is present. Then friendly feedback might be helpful.

Re: Greg LeMond’s New 26 LB. Carbon Fiber Ebike

#16

Post by nroets »

_verandaguy wrote: post #5

Coming from conventional bikes, I don't understand who this is for. Carbon fibre frames are prohibitively expensive and the market for them serves very involved, often professional or semi-pro cyclists whose performance bottlenecks are imposed by the bike instead of themselves. Ditto for some of the other details on the bike, like the medium-dish carbon rims — all for the sake of weight savings and aerodynamics (sinc…

I agree with you entirely, BUT

Isn't this how Tesla started ? A sportscar with subpar performance and impractical for many journeys due to limited range and charging options.

Re: Greg LeMond’s New 26 LB. Carbon Fiber Ebike

#17

Post by globular-toast »

YawningAngel wrote: post #4

I'm always confused by people of working age who ride bikes like this. What's the attraction of a more expensive and heavier bike that's no faster than pedaling yourself?

Having the electric motor for assistance up hills makes cycling significantly easier and more accessible. It's claimed that you can turn up at work without breaking a sweat. Also laziness.

Re: Greg LeMond’s New 26 LB. Carbon Fiber Ebike

#18

Post by compiler-guy »

YawningAngel wrote: post #4

I'm always confused by people of working age who ride bikes like this. What's the attraction of a more expensive and heavier bike that's no faster than pedaling yourself?

Lower effort means easier commutes and less sweat. That can be very useful for an office worker without a shower or time for a shower at the other end. Easier to take hills and such as well.

Re: Greg LeMond’s New 26 LB. Carbon Fiber Ebike

#19

Post by ebg13 »

benmanns wrote: post #13
_verandaguy wrote: post #5

Coming from conventional bikes, I don't understand who this is for. Carbon fibre frames are prohibitively expensive and the market for them serves very involved, often professional or semi-pro cyclists whose performance bottlenecks are imposed by the bike instead of themselves. Ditto for some of the other details on the bike, like the medium-dish carbon rims — all for the sake of weight savings and aerodynamics (sinc…

I have an older ebike with a large battery and it is outrageously heavy and hard to handle for everything except the actual ride. Perhaps there’s a market for people who want an ebike that’s a little easier to get up apartment stairs? For riding I don’t see a need.

> Perhaps there’s a market for people who want an ebike that’s a little easier to get up apartment stairs?

A detachable battery might also help with this.

Re: Greg LeMond’s New 26 LB. Carbon Fiber Ebike

#20

Post by jeffbee »

robert_foss wrote: post #11
_verandaguy wrote: post #5

Coming from conventional bikes, I don't understand who this is for. Carbon fibre frames are prohibitively expensive and the market for them serves very involved, often professional or semi-pro cyclists whose performance bottlenecks are imposed by the bike instead of themselves. Ditto for some of the other details on the bike, like the medium-dish carbon rims — all for the sake of weight savings and aerodynamics (sinc…

> A lightweight carbon frame weighed down by a battery. My thoughts exactly. Who's the target audience? And at that price point?

The price point is comparable to the Specialized Turbo Vado 5 SL, a third-generation e-bike from another American company. The weight savings can make a big difference when you have to carry your bike up stairs or bring it on a train. Keep in mind that e-bikes compete with cars.
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