Sexiest Eco bike in the world?

[fizzwheel]

Seems a sound enough concept, what if you just wanna pedal like mad ? Can I ride aroud charging them all up and then put them back in the rack fully charged

It does sound like a great concept though, Will go and have a proper read...

[Spiderman]

I'm sure they'd love you if you did mate. The stored charge would give the next user the relevant discount on the bus or they could use the change to run the motor in scooter mode and off they go.

TBH apart from jayneflakes well pointed out batteries issue i cant see any downside to the concept. Cost obviously but an any new concept being introduced will come with an initial charge.
And i wonder how many car batteries and other types we currently make every year? I for one would rather see them put into use in a more renewable way.

Originally Posted by fizzwheel

I really should add that word to the swear filter, horrible things...

A "Friend" came out with us on one of our Mountain bike jaunts a couple of years ago , we train a fair bit on Conwy Mountain on the darker evenings in the Autumn . On our way home we spot a recumbent in the distance and catch it up , the said "Friend" starts shouting abuse at the person from behind about getting a "proper Effing Bike" and how much of a "Charley hUNT" the person looks on it . I was deeply horrified by this person but the icing on the cake was as we travelled past and the street lighting illuminated the recumbent user ........ they had no legs and were pedalling the modified recumbent with their hands . I apologised for our "Friends" comments and we eventually dropped off one by one until it was me and this pillock left , he stopped to turn off for his road and I pulled up next to him and said in no uncertain terms to remove our phone numbers from his mobile and not to darken our presence with his detestable company ever again . It is the only time I have ever seen one in the street .

^ theres a big great yelow one buy where i live with modded cafe racer farings on it (no joke) will try and get a pic but i have to say the thing is bloody fast when the old bloke is going for it

Ahhhh , old bloke , I have a sneaking suspiscion that he has a shed , is slightly mad, and is fond of science .

lol well he also has a long grey beard and grey hair and weres spandex LOL

[Jayneflakes]

The problems with Recumbents is that historically they were banned by the Cycling Governing body (UCI I believe) because they were claimed to be too aerodynamic and gave an unfair advantage. That was about a hundred years ago. Do remember though folks, that the Governing body is currently trying to ban the use of prototype equipment at the top level because they claim that these products make the sport uncompetitive (and the doping doesn't!), products such as improved gear components, light weight frames and frames that are deep bladed that cut through the air too fast! The manufacturing companies have logged a protest and some aspects have been allowed, but the fight continues.

My choice to develop a recumbent off roader is because I have had to give up cycling my mountain bike due to the chronic pain I suffer with, seems unfair that to get a cheap recumbent, one must spend the equivalent money that can buy a top flight conventional bike. Oh well... Damn the UCI!

Originally Posted by fizzwheel

Personally Spidey, I'd not buy one dont see the point in it. But for fat lazy commuters well why not

I'd have one. I'm a lazy commuter, and with Christmas and the party season coming up I'll probably be piling on a few pounds as well. Plus it's cool and so am I - so it's like it was meant to be!

I used to cycle quite a bit, but I never have been very good with hills, so the 'assistance' on that front sounds fab. Funnily enough I had a go on some electric bikes when I stumbled across a demo event recently and they were actually surprisingly good.

IMO they fill a gap where you don't have time or it's too far to walk, but don't necessarily want to be lugging all your motorbike stuff about, and they are very cheap to run as well. If you make a lot of relatively local journeys they do make quite a bit of sense...