This is for bicycles what Tesla is for cars • Hacker News Board

Re: This is for bicycles what Tesla is for cars

#61

Post by gjmulhol » Thu, Sep 05, 2013, 11:25 AM UTC

TheAnimus wrote: post #59

gjmulhol wrote: post #29

This, my friends, is an electric moped. I wouldn't pay 600 euro for it, let alone 6000. If you are looking for fuel economy, regular old-school gas mopeds can get >100mpg. Admittedly, though, they do not offer a tablet and fingerprint reader interface. This will only carry forward on the force of hype, not because it is a truly great product.

Why do I want a finger print reader? It doesn't strike me as practical. On my bicycle I normally wear gloves, in London only for about 8 months do I wear gloves that don't cover my fingers. The only reason is a nasty one, sweat build up. I would on an electric bike want to wear finger protection and wind stopping gloves. This whole concept strikes me of someone who hasn't thought about how it would be used on a stand…

I totally agree with you on all fronts. The fingerprint reference was written more in jest and sarcasm than sincerity. To me, this product reeks of the "lukewarm tea problem". This is a neat engineering project, and I am sure it is actually quite fun and fancy to use, but it is not a market winning product.

Re: This is for bicycles what Tesla is for cars

#62

Post by okso » Thu, Sep 05, 2013, 11:38 AM UTC

oblio wrote: post #52

Does riding it as a bike recharge the battery? That would be great.

It does when you brake.

Re: This is for bicycles what Tesla is for cars

#63

Post by quchen » Thu, Sep 05, 2013, 1:08 PM UTC

mcv wrote: post #54

quchen wrote: post #5

At 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…

49kg is not too heavy to be considered "a sort of bicycle". Modern cargo bikes can be up to 60 kg, and I suspect classic cargo bikes are a lot heavier than that, yet they're all "a sort of bicycle", just not a very fast one. What disqualifies this as "a sort of bicycle" is the fact that it's powered. Well, there are power-assisted bicycles, but they don't generally go up to 65 kph. Mostly, this is a kind of moped tha…

A 60 kg cargo bike is as much "sort of" of a bicycle as a truck is "sort of" a car.

Re: This is for bicycles what Tesla is for cars

#64

Post by anip » Thu, Sep 05, 2013, 2:02 PM UTC

This is a pretty ugly machine, and too bulky to be comparable to a bicycle.

This is the Tesla of bicycles: http://www.faradaybikes.com/

Currently selling for $3500, I would buy the Faraday if it sold for around $1000-$1500.

Re: This is for bicycles what Tesla is for cars

#65

Post by yor » Thu, Sep 05, 2013, 3:25 PM UTC

kristopolous wrote: post #3

Can't carry it on my shoulder, can't put it on my car's bike rack and how would I secure it? U-lock the front part of the frame? It also doesn't appear to have turn signals or a place for license plates. I'm guessing this isn't meant to be used in the US, or in California at least, where both would be required. (see http://www.dmv.ca.gov/pubs/vctop/d03/vc5030.htm and http://www.chp.ca.gov/html/motors.html ) A nice to…

You might be interested in the Specialized Turbo[1]. It's an improvement over the Greyp G-12 with respect to every criteria you just mentioned.

[1] http://turbo.specialized.com/

Re: This is for bicycles what Tesla is for cars

#66

Post by Fuzzwah » Thu, Sep 05, 2013, 4:00 PM UTC

yor wrote: post #65

kristopolous wrote: post #3

Can't carry it on my shoulder, can't put it on my car's bike rack and how would I secure it? U-lock the front part of the frame? It also doesn't appear to have turn signals or a place for license plates. I'm guessing this isn't meant to be used in the US, or in California at least, where both would be required. (see http://www.dmv.ca.gov/pubs/vctop/d03/vc5030.htm and http://www.chp.ca.gov/html/motors.html ) A nice to…

You might be interested in the Specialized Turbo[1]. It's an improvement over the Greyp G-12 with respect to every criteria you just mentioned. [1] http://turbo.specialized.com/

Looks cool, but I have to say that the video on that site did pretty much nothing to explain to me what the bike is all about.

Re: This is for bicycles what Tesla is for cars

#67

Post by kken » Fri, Sep 06, 2013, 8:27 PM UTC

This is a nice one that still behaves like a bike and does not look like it was made for the elderly.

http://www.electrolyte.cc/de/technik/einarmiger-bandit/

But seriously, there are many many contenders. It's an interesting market, but there is no "Tesla" out there.

Re: This is for bicycles what Tesla is for cars

#68

Post by yor » Fri, Sep 06, 2013, 9:27 PM UTC

Fuzzwah wrote: post #66

yor wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You might be interested in the Specialized Turbo[1]. It's an improvement over the Greyp G-12 with respect to every criteria you just mentioned. [1] http://turbo.specialized.com/

Looks cool, but I have to say that the video on that site did pretty much nothing to explain to me what the bike is all about.

You're right. That's a fantastically useless link. Here's some reviews:

* http://mashable.com/2013/09/04/specialized-turbo-review/

* http://reviews.cnet.com/search-results/specialized-turbo-ele...

A little tinkering with the crankset (which, unlike the cassette, looks accessible and nonproprietary) and removal of any speed limiter that might be in place could make for a 50lb machine that easily tops 30mph at a comfortable cadence.