Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

The Year of the E-Bicycle

Posted by kdawson on from the daisy-daisy dept.

theodp writes "Electric bicycles have been around for more than a century, but they have never quite captured the imagination of auto-obsessed Americans. That may be about to change. At CES this month, Sanyo showed off its sleek, lightweight Eneloop Hybrid Bicycle. Priced at $2,300, the e-bike sports a black lithium-ion battery strapped to the frame beneath the seat. Press a button on the left handlebar, and a 250-watt motor kicks in, providing about twice as much power as your own pedaling. Some basic e-bike models, like the Ezip Trailz can be had for as low as $500. Both Trek and Schwinn began selling e-bikes last year, and Best Buy is offering e-bikes in three test markets: Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Portland, OR."

3 of 494 comments (clear)

  1. MOD ME DOWN, WASTE A MOD POINT by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Did you know that the first knights in Medieval times were actually Negroid? Indeed, the word "knight" comes from the Old English "niht" meaning night or darkness. As time progressed, more and more Caucasians were accepted into this sacrosanct brotherhood, but many historians agree that, while King Arthur was definitely a white man, his entire round table of knights were exclusively colored!

    1. Re:MOD ME DOWN, WASTE A MOD POINT by hao3 · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      knight |nt|
      noun
      1 (in the Middle Ages) a man who served his sovereign or lord as a mounted soldier in armor.
        (in the Middle Ages) a man raised by a sovereign to honorable military rank after service as a page and squire.
        poetic/literary a man devoted to the service of a woman or a cause : in all your quarrels I will be your knight.
        dated (in ancient Rome) a member of the class of equites.
        (in ancient Greece) a citizen of the second class in Athens.

      verb [ trans. ] (usu. be knighted)
      invest (someone) with the title of knight.

      DERIVATIVES
      knightliness |natlin1s| noun
      knightly |natli| adjective & ( poetic/literary) adverb
      ORIGIN Old English cniht [boy, youth, servant] ; related to Dutch knecht and German Knecht. Sense 2 dates from the mid 16th cent.; the uses relating to Greek and Roman history derive from comparison with medieval knights.

      --
      "Impartiality is a pompous name for indifference, which is an elegant name for ignorance." - G.K. Chesterton
  2. Re:Great, still doesn't fix the Houston problem. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    30 to 35 mph on a bike - even pros have a hard time doing this.