A Worthy Segway Challenger?

[hubbahbubbah]

Interesting article in Design News about a small, lightweight, gasoline powered retrofit motor for bicycles:

http://www.manufacturing.net/dn/index.asp?layout=articleWebzine&articleId=CA279140

Certainly raises a lot of interesting points. At the very least, it's a different solution to the same problems the Segway attempts to solve.

Hubbah

[pt]

hmm,

-the speed is actually around 10 mph.
-the range is less than 20 miles.
-2 stroke engines are usually noisy and pollute, but maybe this one doesn't.
-you'll most likely only get 400 miles out of this engine with a 100:1 gear ratio without rebuilding it.
-the inventer goes after ebikes in an odd way..."battery-powered bicycles are not the answer to the world's traffic dilemmas because the problem is that it takes about 377 lbs of lead-acid batteries to equal the energy stored in a pound of gasoline" that's not accurate, maybe it was years ago, but not now.

all that said, i'll try one-- why not, seems cool if it does what say is does. i think the article would have been better if it didn't go on the offense of electric stuff...kinda weird.

cheers,
pt

http://www.bookofseg.com

[toybuilder]

Being a 2-banger, I suspect it's probably much louder than electric bikes. I wish the article had more technical data. It's a clever way to retrofit a motor onto a traditional bike frame.

In the end, he essentially created a lightweight moped, which retain most of the traits of other motorized bicycles.


http://www.pasadenasegway.com

[Brooster]

Almost sounds like the rebirth of the old "Whizzer" bicycle motor from 50-60 years ago.

Brooster

[Stan671]

Clever idea! But I am not in favor of a 2-stroke motor in front of me so that I get to breath the exhaust while riding.

Stan Dobrowski

[lipinsky]

Can't use it inside a building.

[bicycledriver]

There are lots of gas-powered kits already available for bikes. The advantage of fast refueling over slow recharging is nice for those who travel more than 20 miles in a day, but the noise and smell is unattractive and I don't think my employer would allow me to bring it inside where I park my bike. I have seen some proposals for fuel-cell bicycles that would be less obnoxious.

However, all this discussion fails to cover the main reason why all the available electric bicycles are not more popular: most of the people who would be willing to ride bicycles prefer to pedal all the time, either for exercise, or for economics and simplicity. The slightly heavier electric or gas powered scooter (complete with suspension, fenders, kickstand, luggage compartments, etc.) is a more optimally evolved configuration of powered, compact, affordable, lightweight two-wheel transportation for use in the real world.

-Steve Goodridge

[BruceWright]

quote:Originally posted by pt



-the inventer goes after ebikes in an odd way..."battery-powered bicycles are not the answer to the world's traffic dilemmas because the problem is that it takes about 377 lbs of lead-acid batteries to equal the energy stored in a pound of gasoline"


Good thing we aren't using lead-acid batteries anymore. What era is this guy living in?

Lithium-Polymer anyone?!!? Hello??!!?

-Bruce Wright

Segway: Vehicle of Dream