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Twike

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Re: Twike

#181

Post by jascii »

frereubu wrote: post #3

I love this in principle, but the one thing I always wonder about recumbent bicycles is how visible they are to lorries / trucks. I've seen some with a tall aerial-like stem and a flag on top of it, but knowing how bicycles can be pretty invisible to cars even when wearing a reflective top at their eye height, I think I'd always be anxious about being crushed from behind. I suppose that says a lot about cycling infra…

For all practical purposes bicycles and motorcycles are invisible to drivers. FortNine has an amusing video on it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x94PGgYKHQ0

My personal experience, after years as a courier on both upright, recumbent, and motorcycles is that I am more "visible" on a recumbent then the other options because I'm "weird" enough to make it into a drivers consciousness...

None of this is ofcourse scientifically relevant data.

Re: Twike

#182

Post by bruce343434 »

Y_Y wrote: post #113
bserge wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ah, so they just multiplied the ridiculous cost of bicycles by the ridiculous cost of electric cars. Brilliant.

That would have units of money^2 and wouldn't type-check. You'd have to do something like a geometric mean or choose a money-valued scale, like the price of a smug bumper sticker, to divide by.

divide it by 1€

Re: Twike

#184

Post by rsynnott »

yohannparis wrote: post #135
ofrzeta wrote: post #132

The price of the Twikes is absolutely ridiculous. You have to be an idiot or an absolute enthusiast to buy one because with every other vehicle you get a lot more for the money. I wonder how they got to that price. Obviously no economy of scale here but still, I can't create a business on the grounds that I will only sell like two vehicles per year, so I need to make them ridiculously expensive to make my company sus…

Mostly because it's made in an highly develop country with strong labour law and high quality of life. Sure, you could built it in Turkey or U.S.A. and lower significantly the cost, but not as much as you think.

I mean, it's made in Germany. For the price, you could get _two_ VW e-ups (worst electric car name ever), also made in Germany, or a small herd of German-made e-bikes.

Re: Twike

#185

Post by dylan604 »

rswail wrote: post #85
dijit wrote: post #81

Reminds me of a Sinclar C5[0] (my grandfather worked for the company I believe, there are photos with him, my mum and a bunch of these C5's) It was mired in troubles; low visibility, low range (lead-acid batteries being... low density compared to li-ion), quite easy to break and being easy to steal. Still, I think the form factor is a wonderful idea and it's nice to see some alternative methods being explored for ele…

Those Fatboys look perfect for all sorts of local delivery, food, drugs, groceries in general. Not sure why it's particularly sad that drug dealers have adopted a practical delivery vehicle though.

Drug dealers are not necessarily dumb, and can be quite creative when figuring out how to go about their criminal enterprising.

History is full of stigmatized industry leading change, especially porn. Porn legitimized VHS, the internet, streaming video on the internet, etc.

Re: Twike

#186

Post by ofrzeta »

jmrm wrote: post #129
hkt wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the UK they're limited to 15mph and only operate in assist mode (as opposed to full drive). Where are you that allows that kind of speed?

But who keep an eye on that? In Spain the speed limit of any bike is 45 km/h (around 28 mph), and when we are in the road with bigger limits to other vehicles, outside the city normally, we are faster than that (if we can) and nobody bothers. Even the police won't tell you anything unless you're doing something dangerous.

Might be an insurance issue, though.

Re: Twike

#187

Post by brudgers »

tpm wrote: post #140
brudgers wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Compared to the geography of Switzerland, it makes sense to talk of a trans-continental railroad in the US and is absurd in relation to Switzerland. You can put three Switzerland's (or one Portugal) in the Mojave desert. To put it another way, Europeans haven't built high speed rail from London to Baku for similar reasons. The tree lined cloisters where political theory makes all nation states equal is not a good mod…

Europeans haven't built high speed rail from London to Baku mostly because they (we) can't agree that's in their best interest and then invest accordingly. The Swiss did vote for and consequently built things like the Gotthard Base Tunnel. The Chinese are also building a lot of rail infrastructure and are of a similar size to the US. But then they have higher population density. But it's probably more a question of p…

It is a question of economics. Because it is engineering and cost benefit analysis is part of engineering.

The US geography makes high speed rail at the Federal level economically infeasible. Air transport reaches everyone including Alaska and Hawaii and Puerto Rico.

Re: Twike

#188

Post by theodric »

jtwaleson wrote: post #63
frereubu wrote: post #3

I love this in principle, but the one thing I always wonder about recumbent bicycles is how visible they are to lorries / trucks. I've seen some with a tall aerial-like stem and a flag on top of it, but knowing how bicycles can be pretty invisible to cars even when wearing a reflective top at their eye height, I think I'd always be anxious about being crushed from behind. I suppose that says a lot about cycling infra…

Wow, that is expensive for such a simple design. I live in the Netherlands and these are too fast for bicycle paths and too unsafe for regular roads. Love the idea, but we would need much cheaper mass production and a completely different road infrastructure.

I used to live in NL, so I know the paths you mean, and the same applies here in Switzerland. But in Switzerland they instead plate them as cars and drive them on regular roads, keeping up/competing with automobile traffic. These are not uncommon here despite their cost and moderate practicality, probably because their cost relative to salary is lower than elsewhere in Europe.

Re: Twike

#189

Post by medstrom »

jascii wrote: post #181
frereubu wrote: post #3

I love this in principle, but the one thing I always wonder about recumbent bicycles is how visible they are to lorries / trucks. I've seen some with a tall aerial-like stem and a flag on top of it, but knowing how bicycles can be pretty invisible to cars even when wearing a reflective top at their eye height, I think I'd always be anxious about being crushed from behind. I suppose that says a lot about cycling infra…

For all practical purposes bicycles and motorcycles are invisible to drivers. FortNine has an amusing video on it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x94PGgYKHQ0 My personal experience, after years as a courier on both upright, recumbent, and motorcycles is that I am more "visible" on a recumbent then the other options because I'm "weird" enough to make it into a drivers consciousness... None of this is ofcourse scienti…

It's strange that this is a meme, because my experience is the opposite: as a motorist, bicycles are the most visible things around. As a cyclist, I see cars react to me every time I'm close enough to them that it's relevant. They're clearly aware of me.

My theory is that cyclists become invisible in areas where the roads force them to mix with cars. Where I live, they rarely mix, so when they do, it's an unusual event that promotes itself to your attention.

Either way, it backs up the idea that weirdness counts for a lot.

Re: Twike

#190

Post by medstrom »

bipson wrote: post #89
Hamuko wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Too bad it doesn't really work. Winter biking is still cold as shit and breathing in -20°C air is not fun.

Not in a Velomobile. Actually, you need a fan for forced ventilation.

Or to ride semi-naked. Now there's a sight for winter.
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