Slashdot Mirror
Building a Better Motorized Bicycle
toyotaboy writes "Saw this in 'design news' magazine. It's a bicycle using an engine that looks like something pulled off of an R/C airplane. He uses a gear reduction system as well as a overrunning clutch to keep the engine running while stopped. Claims to get 20 mile range from its 1/4 gallon gas tank (80mpg). If you figure most engines like that are 30k rpm with 1:100 gear reduction, and an average bike rim is 26", you should get potentially 1,458,000 inches per hour, or 23mph! He goes on to say that similar devices in electric form (segway) fail because of their heavy 80lb weight and limited 10-15 mile range (and where do you recharge?) This thing can be filled back up at any gas station."
well, as of yesterday i've been using the segway ht for 100 days and over 500 miles. slashdot wouldn't ever dream of releasing that story of course :-]
i wrote about here:
http://www.bookofseg.com/100days/
the bike article says that there aren't places to charge a ebike, there are more outlets than gas stations. and for me, for my commute- i take my ht to work and charge it while i'm at work (it's not needed, but i do charge it since it's just sitting there). i don't see why the goal is to trash electric bikes or things like the segway ht. the article didn't even mention the segway, but slashdot felt the need to. ebikes don't need to be trashed to make his gas bike look better, he could have just talked about the bike, it's cool. i'll actually try his solution out if / when it comes out, looks kinda neat.
cheers,
pt
No we're not.
"Eve of Destruction", it's not just for old hippies anymore...
riding a moped is like banging a fat chick...fun until your friends find out
No longer will they have to have their bikes collect dust or sell them on ebay. Hell, hide the motor, pedal slowly, and amaze people with your large size and 20mph transit. Just please don't wear any lycra...