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Asus Bike Booster

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Re: Asus Bike Booster

#401

Post by righthand »

mikestew wrote: post #100
righthand wrote: post #74

Anything for the world to actually avoid the health benefits of riding a bike. What is wrong with a standard human powered bike? I expect a global obesity epidemic in 10 years as people begin buying/building WALL-E-style beds.

Found the person who lives in Kansas. Sometimes I just want to ride to work without having to deal with that 2km hill on the way. And my bike is still human-powered, with electric assist. Do you not know how e-bikes work, perhaps? Signed, former Cat 2 road racer

I have ridden a pedal assist ebike and the amount of push I apply to a pedal is 100x less effort than I would to a standard bike. There is no way the physical benefits are remotely the same. Good for you for avoiding exercise though. Also I live in Brooklyn with plenty of long hills. I also have plenty of friends with ebikes here who swear by them like you do. They struggle with health issues related to physical activity. Obviously having some sort of engine, pedal-assist or not is convenient but do you really understand the cost. You might as well drive and move the non-gas pedal foot up and down for the same benefit.

Re: Asus Bike Booster

#402

Post by righthand »

dreamcompiler wrote: post #119
mikestew wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Found the person who lives in Kansas. Sometimes I just want to ride to work without having to deal with that 2km hill on the way. And my bike is still human-powered, with electric assist. Do you not know how e-bikes work, perhaps? Signed, former Cat 2 road racer

> Do you not know how e-bikes work, perhaps? I suspect not. Even though ebikes are common now, I often hear this comment. Ebikes assist your pedaling; they don't pedal for you. (Well some can pedal for you but you learn quickly that if you let the motor do all the work you'll run the battery down and then you will have to do all the work pedaling a 65-lb bicycle home.) Lots of people seem to think if a motor is prese…

Not only does it remove the steepness and length, it removes practically any physical benefit you get from using a bike. As is stated in my original point.

Re: Asus Bike Booster

#403

Post by Yizahi »

selfhoster1312 wrote: post #181
fwipsy wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow, $2k? You could get a decent ebike for that money. And the installation doesn't look any easier than a hub motor... Only seems worth it if you already have an extremely nice bike. I think of friction drives as being aimed at budget-conscious commuters, not serious mountain bikers.

I was shocked by the price, too. I mean a motor and a battery can't be so expensive, especially such a "small" battery (300Wh). That being said, having driven electric bikes for a while, here in France they're ridiculously limited in speed and power. 25km/h limit on flat land usually makes sense (except on long straight lines), but when you get climbing even slightly you get down to ~10km/h and have to provide more e…

Not a single country in the EU limits a speed or power of the EV motorcycles. They do limit these vehicles to an appropriate places which are called "roads" and do require a proper vehicle license and registration. A person can ride their Suicide Killer 9000 Pro Max with any motor power and any speed in the whole EU area really, no problem. On. A. Damn. Road. Where. It. Belongs.

Re: Asus Bike Booster

#404

Post by incanus77 »

donatj wrote: post #285
mvdwoord wrote: post #187

It seems to me this is a product for almost no one. Inefficient delivery of power, bulky, "smart" detection in stead of reliable operation and most importantly, the only target market I could imagine cannot use it. Not sure about other places and climates, but over here, most bicycles have fenders. Bicycles without fenders are typically used for specific recreational activities and those sure as heck do not want this…

> Bicycles without fenders are typically used for specific recreational activities I'm guessing you are European? Bicycles in the US almost never have fenders except for old timey / retro style models. Fenders fell out of style in the 1980s and never really returned. People who do have them usually install them themselves as an upgrade. Speaking as an American who owns a basic beach cruiser bicycle and - puts less th…

> Bicycles in the US almost never have fenders except for old timey / retro style models. Fenders fell out of style in the 1980s and never really returned.

Counterpoint: Portland OR, where I live — enormous bike city (in some rankings, the highest in the country) — and most have fenders due to the rainy climate much of the year.

Re: Asus Bike Booster

#405

Post by mchusma »

I really think ebikes, and things like this, would have a much better reputation if they really only supported up to maybe 10 km/h or 6 mph. This is a normalish running/jogging pace. Basically, they helped up hills and when tired but were not "motorcycles-lite". At least around us, in an area with lots of kids, people want to have them but there are so many injuries and problems that sentiment is generally very negative. And I think all you need to "make biking easy" is low speed assist. You don't need support up to 20 mph for that.

Re: Asus Bike Booster

#406

Post by DenisM »

fwipsy wrote: post #132
molsongolden wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This bike booster will probably come in at less than half the cost but the Bimotal kit is another option that doesn't have the tire wear issue, offers better performance, and the form factor is much nicer. https://bimotal.com/products/elevate

Wow, $2k? You could get a decent ebike for that money. And the installation doesn't look any easier than a hub motor... Only seems worth it if you already have an extremely nice bike. I think of friction drives as being aimed at budget-conscious commuters, not serious mountain bikers.

Mountain bikes one level down from professional tier start at 6-8k. If I could pay 2k and get a nice electric bike from my nice muscle bike it would be a bargain.

However bimotal is not that nice - adding a motor to rear triangle alters weight distribution and adds unsprung weight. Also unlike actual nice MTB e-bikes it cannot use chain/casssete for gearing, so gearing is fixed at the factory. If you’re used to nice bikes you will want your ebike to be dialed in just right.

One place where it makes sense is as an alternative to shuttling on forest roads / lifts for downhill-focused riding. F you’re going strictly downhill you can move the motor to the backpack after finishing the climb to reduce unsprung weight. This opens up a large number of trails where forest roads are blocked to car traffic. It also allows dh riding on trail where motor bikes are prohibited.

Re: Asus Bike Booster

#407

Post by unethical_ban »

mchusma wrote: post #405

I really think ebikes, and things like this, would have a much better reputation if they really only supported up to maybe 10 km/h or 6 mph. This is a normalish running/jogging pace. Basically, they helped up hills and when tired but were not "motorcycles-lite". At least around us, in an area with lots of kids, people want to have them but there are so many injuries and problems that sentiment is generally very negat…

In that case I would support promoting 20+ mph e-bikes as e-scooters, make them easy to get, cheap/free to license and call it a day.

"Bikes" with 20-30mph speed are awesome, much healthier than gas vespas, and much cheaper and more sustainable than cars.

Re: Asus Bike Booster

#408

Post by wahnfrieden »

pbhjpbhj wrote: post #318
wahnfrieden wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Police here don’t even care to help if your car is stolen and you have GPS on it. Cameras and jail do nothing to help protect your property if the police refuse to work.

"here"? We don't know where you are. In the UK police will ask the value of the property stolen and use that to decide whether to do anything. Low-value is under a few £k.

Toronto or NYC same story

Re: Asus Bike Booster

#409

Post by DenisM »

Toutouxc wrote: post #211
molsongolden wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This bike booster will probably come in at less than half the cost but the Bimotal kit is another option that doesn't have the tire wear issue, offers better performance, and the form factor is much nicer. https://bimotal.com/products/elevate

As a mountain biker I don’t see the appeal of this. Yes, this rather expensive solution could transform my nice bike into a shitty e-bike, but the point of having a nice bike is to avoid a shitty experience. A proper e-bike needs to be designed as an e-bike from the beginning.

Shuttling? Once you remove the motor and put it into a backpack downhill riding should be quite decent. Decent enough I think to make it worth it for the space and cash saved.

Re: Asus Bike Booster

#410

Post by tty456 »

GuB-42 wrote: post #348
bri3d wrote: post #12

Friction drive e-bike conversions were popular years ago. They generally: * Wear tires surprisingly quickly * Absolutely suck in any form of weather or terrain condition (dirt, rain, etc.) * Have ~20% less efficiency than any other drive form. But, they are easy, and they do work.

About tire wear, I know a guy who did custom "Solex" type bike racing, with a small, friction drive petrol engine on the front wheel. It was so bad that the rear wheel ended up getting bigger at the end of the race, as it picked up rubber deposited by the front wheel! Keep it mind it was custom bikes though, the front tire just had to finish the race, they used a roller made of hard materials and knurled. I don't rem…

Had to look this up: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmKoC57UWUI
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