Tesla makes a greener more efficient car, this is neither a greener nor more efficient bicycle.
This is for bicycles what Tesla is for cars
31–40 of 68 posts
Re: This is for bicycles what Tesla is for cars
#32This is not what I would call a bicycle. It's a motorbike that allows you to pedal should you want to. In the UK, this would need a motorbike licence. There are strict rules as to how an electric bicycle may assist you and up to what speed. Non-pedal assist (just turn the handle) are limited to 20kmh otherwise they are considered a motorbike. Pedal assist are effectively self-limiting. Also in the video, the woman ac…
"Also in the video, the woman accelerates away from a motorbike then loses him when she decides to carry on through a pedestrianised area at I guess 30kmh. WTF?"
To be fair the guy on the real motorbike did shake his head at that point, presumably thinking "what a loon".
Re: This is for bicycles what Tesla is for cars
#33At my previous agency we built the website for a competitor to a bike like this. They gave us one to keep at the office so I have a little experience with it. The bike in this article has all the same problems as the one we had. It's waaaaaay too heavy. You can't really peddle it, not for long anyway, it's virtually impossible. It's only a matter of time before the battery runs out on you and you find yourself stuck.…
Electricity powered bicycles are not that rare here in Denmark, they look like this:
http://www.ecykler.dk/dame/863-raleigh-society-da-n7-elcykel...
which is not particularly more heavy than your average bicycle. They are mostly used by elderly ladies and heavy-set women, so the Tesla marketing aspect is not huge.
Re: This is for bicycles what Tesla is for cars
#34Could you see yourself riding this regularly on the commute to the office? If not, it's a toy, not a Tesla equivalent. It's a shame, as I think there's a lot of room for innovation in bicycles. Not to mention, I'm waiting for the day where magic happens and I can get stats for all of my cycle rides without first having to load up a phone app (or stick on a cycle computer, for that matter).
Bicycles are probably one innovative and competitive markets out there, the amount of cutting edge technology used to shave gram weight from components is absurd, there are thousands of manufacturers for each niche in the bicycle industry.
Bicycles are probably one innovative and competitive markets out there, the amount of cutting edge technology used to shave gram weight from components is absurd
Somewhat unfairly, I consider the above as variations on a theme, rather than innovative new solutions.
Three problems I'd like to see solved (admittedly, with no idea other than "by magic" at present):
- It's absurdly easy to steal bicycles, locked up or otherwise.
- Trip statistics magic mentioned in grandfather comment
- Making cycling in wet/windy conditions more pleasurable without relying on special clothes
Re: This is for bicycles what Tesla is for cars
#35This is not what I would call a bicycle. It's a motorbike that allows you to pedal should you want to. In the UK, this would need a motorbike licence. There are strict rules as to how an electric bicycle may assist you and up to what speed. Non-pedal assist (just turn the handle) are limited to 20kmh otherwise they are considered a motorbike. Pedal assist are effectively self-limiting. Also in the video, the woman ac…
> This is not what I would call a bicycle. It's a motorbike that allows you to pedal should you want to.
Yes. It's an electric, modern, version of mopeds like a puch maxi. (http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Puch_Maxi_Special_by_Fox...)
Those were great fun to ride, and useful in traffic, and the pedals wre pretty much hopeless for anything but starting the bike. Not so popular in the UK anymore, where similar power machines are dressed as faux motocross or "race inspired" (http://www.mopeds.co.uk/50cc-mopeds-for-sale.html).
Re: This is for bicycles what Tesla is for cars
#36This isn't the Tesla of bicycles, it's the Tesla of mopeds. Bikes don't need a Tesla equivalent, and this isn't powerful enough to be a motorbike. It's a moped.
Re: This is for bicycles what Tesla is for cars
#37Could you see yourself riding this regularly on the commute to the office? If not, it's a toy, not a Tesla equivalent. It's a shame, as I think there's a lot of room for innovation in bicycles. Not to mention, I'm waiting for the day where magic happens and I can get stats for all of my cycle rides without first having to load up a phone app (or stick on a cycle computer, for that matter).
Yes, I could ride it to the office everyday. The bicycle angle is a distraction - I'd want to take the pedals off. But an electric moped is something that is appealing to me.
Re: This is for bicycles what Tesla is for cars
#38At a weight of 49 kg, this is way too heavy to be considered "sort of a bicycle". Pedelecs assist the rider, whereas here it's necessary to have a charged battery, or you'll feel like there's another person riding along with you. Taking a look from the other "what is a bicycle" side, this thing fills an interesting niche: even when you only have to pedal for 1% of the power in street mode, you're still pedaling, so i…
Only 40kg too heavy!
Re: This is for bicycles what Tesla is for cars
#39This isn't the Tesla of bicycles, it's the Tesla of mopeds. Bikes don't need a Tesla equivalent, and this isn't powerful enough to be a motorbike. It's a moped.
Right, the comparison is off. A Tesla is a less polluting car. If we compare this thing to a bicycle, it’s a more polluting one.
As for the Tesla of mopeds, those have been around for years and cost $2500-3500. For example, the Peugeot e-Vivacity, which has a range of 40 miles: http://www.e-vivacity.com/en
Re: This is for bicycles what Tesla is for cars
#40At my previous agency we built the website for a competitor to a bike like this. They gave us one to keep at the office so I have a little experience with it. The bike in this article has all the same problems as the one we had. It's waaaaaay too heavy. You can't really peddle it, not for long anyway, it's virtually impossible. It's only a matter of time before the battery runs out on you and you find yourself stuck.…
Electricity powered bicycles are not that rare here in Denmark, they look like this: http://www.ecykler.dk/dame/863-raleigh-society-da-n7-elcykel... which is not particularly more heavy than your average bicycle. They are mostly used by elderly ladies and heavy-set women, so the Tesla marketing aspect is not huge.
I owned the predecessor to that about 10 years ago (it was also a Raleigh, although the battery was on the downtube, not the luggage rack). It was very heavy, but ride-able, although not up hills.
The electric part of it only lasted about an hour, and it took all night to charge. Old school lead-acid thing, very temperamental. The battery was removable, though, so you could leave the bike outside and just bring that in to charge - and you could also ride the bike without carrying it with you everywhere.
Also, it only doubled your input power, IIRC, so you always had to peddle (although it more than made up for itself, weight-wise, on long climbs.)