FlyKly guys: Welcome to HN. I know that a lot of this thread is going to look like we're hating on your product. (Personally I think that if you deliver it with the level of finish you're aiming for, it will be pretty cool). Mostly we're not, this is how we roll. For geeks, we've got x-ray vision when it comes to most new technologies so we see right down to the basic principles (which are almost always simple) right away. These are almost never the most interesting parts of new product releases but will elicit the predictable "pfft, Thomas Edison did it in 1913...". Water off a duck.
What we will do is pour our thoughts like water through your product and ideas. Anything that's not perfectly thought through is going to leak. I hope you'll take the criticism in the (mostly good) spirit in which its offered and use it to build a better product.
We're also going to read one sentence of your copy and assume that we know everything about how it works. We're going to draw a quick conclusion despite have never developed anything in that space and assert that your product has fundamental flaws without understanding your research, your market, or your funding model. We're going to compare your product to previous market failures despite fundamental differences that actually go so far as the previous product never having been produced.
But hopefully you'll still be able to get something useful out of this crowd :D
We also do our best to be critical. It makes us look smarter.
"Negative reviewers were perceived as more intelligent, competent, and expert than positive reviewers, even when the content of the positive review was independently judged as being of higher quality and greater forcefulness." — http://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=7402
Thanks! We're fully aware of how HN usually works, some of us actually regulary reside here. That's actually why we rather hang out here and answer your questions than in other comments sections where the debate would not be so intriguing.
We're looking forward to replying to all of your posts here since we believe this is one of the best ways to articulate our points more efficiently. We have the highest level of trust in our product and we'd love to see how could we be able to present it even better.
We appreciate your support, so bring out the big guns, okay?
noonespecial, I have no idea who you are and why you think you can speak for me. Stick to the "I" next time you decide to bundle everyone here into a single amorphous mass with you as its speaker.
I was going to join everyone else in this thread in bashing elements of the design and product, the specifications, etc. But I won't do that.
Instead I'll do the opposite.
I'll point out upfront, I own 5 bikes, I run one of the largest cycling forums in the world, and I run one of the largest cycling clubs in the UK. I get cycling.
I like it. The FlyKly.
I like it because it allows a rider to keep their existing bike, and yet to retrofit for a really reasonable price an electric motor.
I like it because the vast majority of the weight within the wheel isn't a moving thing, the batteries are fixed.
I like it because the 30 mile range, whilst not suiting my 18 mile commute for a daily charge, actually does suit the vast majority of cyclists that I know who only commute fewer than 10 miles.
I like the 1,000 cycles, which is probably 900 in reality, is actually a few years of use for the average cyclist. Even most cycle commuters don't actually cycle 7 days a week, and those do diligently do so on all work days only do so for 220 > 250 days per year.
It hits all of the sweet spots:
1) Can I keep my existing bicycle?
2) Can I just get the electric bit and not pay to replace all of the other bits I have?
3) Will it just work and be easy to install?
4) Will it help me on my commute?
5) Will it realistically last a couple of years?
6) Is it priced such that I can afford it?
For the majority of cyclists I know, the answer is yes to all of the above.
I think it's got a good chance, which doesn't mean I'll be buying one but then I'm not your average cyclist.
PS: FlyKly, you show several times the use of the wheel on a brakeless fixed-gear bike. That's just for the aesthetics right? Or is the wheel fixed compatible such that you're fine with people skid/skip stopping?
You need to differentiate from the long-existing BionX hub motors[0] which do regen braking at user-selectable levels AND allow proper 7, 8 or 9-speed clusters, unlike the single gear your pictures show.
Edit: the big differences would be (a) this has the battery integral to the hub, where the BionX uses a separate battery pack; and (b) that this communicates to its controller -- your phone -- wirelessly, where the BionX console[1] connects with a wire.
IMO as owner of a BionX-equipped bike, I'm dubious about whether either difference is a positive one. For (a), the in-hub battery is clearly size-limited, can't be removed from the bike for charging indoors, and would be harder to replace.
As for (b), is it really a good idea to require a smartphone to be attached to your handlebars whenever you ride? That's not an easy environment, it has a lot of vibration as well as exposure to water, dust, and sweat. A minor point, the BionX dedicated controller has an optional thumb operated throttle lever for proportional control when you don't want to pedal, and it's hard to see how that could work with a smartphone.
It also seems to be four times the price? That's what's listed here[1]. Either way, could you describe your experience? What do you use it for, and is it worth the expense? I'm wary of electric bikes because they are expensive, heavy, and let you exercise less.
Point (b), since the connection is via bluetooth, it doesn't have to sit on the handle bar, you could just put it in your pocket. I think it is just for ease of access and view. The mount does have straps it says, to buckle it down in rougher terrain.
I also think a safer (for the smartphone) and simpler interface to the FlyKly would be a killer feature. A battery indicator and an assist-level switch on the wheel itself would be gravy.
"it can quickly be located and tracked via GPS" but the only radio in it is Bluetooth, so I guess you can track it if you're in the same room...
"36V Lithium" battery, but no spec about how many kWh it stores.
"Top Speed 20mph". Given that it only operates when the human puts in some effort, what does that even mean? I'm guessing this is written down because US Law says if it goes faster than 20, it's no longer a bike.
"In 2011 Niko Klansek introduced the first line of electric bicycles to the USA market." Nope; ebikes have been available in the US for far longer than that.
GAH. There are lots of conversion kits you can buy today. The kickstarter gives no way for you to figure out if this is anything better.
'"36V Lithium" battery, but no spec about how many kWh it stores.'
Speculating here…
They look like standard 18650 cells to me - they're readily available in both LiFePO4 and LiPo chemistries, but with 22 cells visible in the pictures, I'm guessing they're LiFePO4 because the nearest configuration to "36V" I can think of for 22 cells is 11S2P LiFePO4 cells at 35.2V, (the LiPo cells in 11S2P would be 40.7V nominal - a 10S LiPo would be "37V", but that doesn't make sense with 22 cells all up - maybe a 10S2P "motive" battery and an independant 2S pack to run the electronics?).
Typical LiFePO4 cells in 18650 size are 1350mAhr, so I'm guessing thats a 2.7Ahr @ 35.2V or a 95Wh - call it a 0.1kWh if you like. That seems a little low to get the indicated range/speeds quoted though - if you assume reasonable efficiency at half power, and that the bulk of power at top speed is aero drag, then the 250W used to ride at 25kmh would drop to doing only 19.5kmh at 125W (power going up with the cube of the speed thanks to the v squared term on the aero drag), so your 90Whr battery will only get you ~15km. If you halve the power again to 65W, and drop to 15kmh, you'd still only get a range of ~21km.
If they're LiPo cells though (with their increased fire risks), you can get inexpensively 2600mAhr cells in 18650 size - 22 of them (ignoring the difficulty in configuring a "36V" pack) gives you a bit over 210Whr - that'd still only give a 32km range @19kmh based on my assumptions above. Cells of 3000mAhr and over are around, they'd give you 244WHr and get maybe 40km @ 19kmh and _perhaps_ 50km @ 15kmh (but that'd take you 3 hours 20 mins)…
The "1000 cycle" battery life perhaps suggests LiPo instead of LiFePO4 (which is more commonly quites as "2000 cycles").
If I had to guess - I'd say it's a ~100Whr LiFePo4 pack at 35.2V, ad that the "50km" range relies on you providing over% of the motive power and travelling at a maximum of half top speed or so.
A GPS module is of course also located on the Smart Wheel itself so it sends a signal on its own once the motion sensors (that turn on only after you lock it) notice it's moving without your knowledge.
The top speed means exactly that - because the Smart Wheel is a pedal assist this means it helps you accelerate until you reach 20 mph and no further. You're correct in stating that the top speed is also set in accordance to the US Law (or European Law, which allows for speeds up to 25 km/h).
We're sorry about the confusion about "the first line of electric bicycles" - this was of course meant to inform the reader about the first line of e-bikes that we're introduced by FlyKly, not the first e-bikes EVER.
Top speed of 20mph specifically means that the electric assist cuts out at 20mph, and you're correct in assessing the reason. If you want to go over 20mph, you either need to do it with pedal power or get registered as a motorcycle.
I guess I just assumed from the comment in the video about SMS that it would integrate a Qualcomm chip or something. But now that you mention it, that seems a stretch. Such a component would serve no other purpose, and really change the pricing.
...the first line of electric bicycles...
Really suspect that "the" should be "our". I have sympathy for non-native speakers of English, but this is an error that ought to be fixed, since it really undermines their credibility.
They show about 20 cells. For cheap lithium ion batteries, that will be something like 150 to 200 watt hours. This is not a ridiculous figure relative to the stated range.
Niko (the CEO) is real deal - he used to work across my cubicle at Projective Space in SoHo. He first introduced FlyKly electric bikes in NYC (he did manage to sell a lot in the area). His personal story is full of inspiring entrepreneurial journey! He is now back with smart wheel! Good luck man!
5 kg is light for a battery/motor module, but it still adds about 50% to the weight of a decent bike. The added thickness also means it's probably not practical to put a multi-gear cassette on it. End result, this will cripple most bikes once the battery runs out. More weight and poor gear ratios = hell for the cyclist. However, most smart-bikes are crippled anyways once they run out of juice.
The great thing is that you can use the same bike for commuting that you use for your sweatier, long-haul weekend trips. All you have to do is swap the original dumb-wheel back in. If you buy a dumb-bike and a smart-wheel you almost get two bikes for the price of one.
Tip for the makers: Stress the ease of hot-swapping that wheel in even more than you are now. This is a major selling point.
P.S. I don't see a quick-release clamp on this sucker in your pictures or video. This is a no-brainier and absolutely needs to be on there.
> P.S. I don't see a quick-release clamp on this sucker in your pictures or video. This is a no-brainier and absolutely needs to be on there.
I'd only put a quick release on it if I was sure that everyone who used it was going to lock up their back wheel (I'd encourage the Sheldon Brown lock strategy [1]). Most people lock the frame and maybe the front. This back wheel would make up the majority of the cost of your average bicycle in the rear wheel alone, making it easier to steal isn't the best idea. Maybe ship it with a nice hex wrench to make taking it off easier, but a quick release on that would be a bad idea if you're marketing it to cycling novices.
I know if I got it, it'd be pitlocks all the way. My commuter is barely worth $500, this would double what it's worth in a single easily-removed part.
The weight of the bike doesn't matter. A 20 pound bike plus a 200 pound rider is about the same as a 30 pound bike plus a 200 pound rider. You're the heavy part, not the bike. (People complain about citibikes being too heavy, but I rarely get passed even on a citibike, so my guess is the problem's the rider, not the bike.)
Also, I don't think a quick release will work for this. The motor needs to push against the bike in order to move the wheel relative to the bike. A quick release will slip.
>>More weight and poor gear ratios = hell for the cyclist.
>>Stress the ease of hot-swapping that wheel in even more than you are now. This is a major selling point.
These points are really crucial. A true pedal assist is something that can assist you while it can, and then not make it difficult for you to pedal when it can't.
Besides, I feel this market has immense potential you could do amazing things with a good control system on that smart wheel. And probably some day even an ECU.
Riding my local streets, I always need to have my rims trued. Were I to buy one of these, I'd want the beefy model, or some assurance that I could find someone who could true it.
Given that old Lotus bike, Im surprised one for the F1 teams hasn't rustled something up. I'd have a chat with one of them and see if they would like to partner up. Especially as they are trying to be all green these days.
If you slow the bike from either the front wheel or the back wheel, energy is removed from the whole bike. There's little to no benefit from harvesting from both wheels.
My wheelchair-using family and friends have been rocking Alber e-motion wheels[1] for some time, and would highly recommend them. Those don't recharge from motion (or as fast), or support bluetooth, but work in a similar way.
IANAMechanicalEngineer, but do we need to worry about additional stress on the left dropout? The forces to which this component is typically subjected are the weight of the system and the tension of the chain. This device would seem to add an additional torque associated with driving the wheel via the pill-shaped peg that slides into the dropout.
This probably wouldn't be an issue for most bikes, but it seems like it's outside the design specs for any existing bike.
This is less efficient than putting all the batteries and other gear on the frame, right? Spinning all that mass around will take energy. I don't see an advantage unless you expect to swap wheels out often.
The Smart Wheel actually consists of two halves one of which is fixed (it doesn't turn). The battery is therefore stationary and doesn't require any kinetic energy to be spinned around the axis.
But from a business perspective, people who care about their bikes enough to spend big coin often care about the way they look. And attaching a battery w/ leads to an electric wheel is a major buzz kill imho.
It doesn't appear to support bicycles with gears. Is that something planned for a future model? Or do gears somehow become unnecessary with electric assist? Could you even retrofit this to a standard cheap 15-gear bike, or is it strictly fixed-gear only?
I think it supports bikes with gears where the pedals are( in the middle not on the last wheel ). If you look in the video at about 3:58 you will see some bikes with gears. This does limit you to two to four gears but that should be enough. Just have two low gears and one high one.
I mentioned that on Twitter. It turns out that those are the limits according to the laws in US (20 mph) and EU (25 km/h), so it's top speed is limited accordingly depending on the country it's in. It's also an amazingly confusing way of putting it.
The chances of me sticky-taping my phone to the front of my bike are non-existent.
...but also, won't charging this be a complete pain? I'm just imaging a bicycle sitting next to all the other USB charge devices on my desk. Awkward...
I like the concept very much, but they're being a bit dishonest about the "fits practically any bicycle frame". Even in their own video, they show the wheel mounted on bikes where it absolutely does not fit with the brakes: see http://imgur.com/lZZ2ABg
Could you fit it the front wheel instead? Less work with the chain, and you can keep all your old gears. Not sure how it would affect the "drivability" though.
I was wondering about having a trike with both back wheels motorised (or a wheelchair?). Weight at the front does make it easier to fall off though I feel.
It's an interesting idea. But there are some big obstacles:
1. I question the need for a retrofit product. There are many mature e-bike designs on the market. I doubt it would be hard to find an ODM or CM that could sell you a good design off the shelf.
2. Many e-bikes have removable batteries. You can charge them at work. This doesn't look like it could.
3. Maybe the e-bike isn't the sweet spot. Maybe a slightly larger electric scooter is it. Or maybe an even bigger three-wheeler like Toyota has shown.
4. Outside of China, where gas scooters are prohibited in many (all?) cities, e-bike have not caught on (though I see quite a lot of them in Manhattan, still not enough to be mainstream)
While we're plugging ones we've used, I like http://www.ampedbikes.com/ I have an old ugly battery; they now have a shiny frame battery that I can't justify buying.
These guys made an electric bike/scooter hybrid a few years back that had some buzz here in NYC before release, but just seems to have fizzled. I'd be curious to know what happened.
[+] [-] noonespecial|12 years ago|reply
What we will do is pour our thoughts like water through your product and ideas. Anything that's not perfectly thought through is going to leak. I hope you'll take the criticism in the (mostly good) spirit in which its offered and use it to build a better product.
[+] [-] zorpner|12 years ago|reply
But hopefully you'll still be able to get something useful out of this crowd :D
[+] [-] davidjohnstone|12 years ago|reply
"Negative reviewers were perceived as more intelligent, competent, and expert than positive reviewers, even when the content of the positive review was independently judged as being of higher quality and greater forcefulness." — http://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=7402
[+] [-] FlyKly|12 years ago|reply
We're looking forward to replying to all of your posts here since we believe this is one of the best ways to articulate our points more efficiently. We have the highest level of trust in our product and we'd love to see how could we be able to present it even better.
We appreciate your support, so bring out the big guns, okay?
[+] [-] svmegatron|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|12 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] huhtenberg|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] buro9|12 years ago|reply
Instead I'll do the opposite.
I'll point out upfront, I own 5 bikes, I run one of the largest cycling forums in the world, and I run one of the largest cycling clubs in the UK. I get cycling.
I like it. The FlyKly.
I like it because it allows a rider to keep their existing bike, and yet to retrofit for a really reasonable price an electric motor.
I like it because the vast majority of the weight within the wheel isn't a moving thing, the batteries are fixed.
I like it because the 30 mile range, whilst not suiting my 18 mile commute for a daily charge, actually does suit the vast majority of cyclists that I know who only commute fewer than 10 miles.
I like the 1,000 cycles, which is probably 900 in reality, is actually a few years of use for the average cyclist. Even most cycle commuters don't actually cycle 7 days a week, and those do diligently do so on all work days only do so for 220 > 250 days per year.
It hits all of the sweet spots:
1) Can I keep my existing bicycle?
2) Can I just get the electric bit and not pay to replace all of the other bits I have?
3) Will it just work and be easy to install?
4) Will it help me on my commute?
5) Will it realistically last a couple of years?
6) Is it priced such that I can afford it?
For the majority of cyclists I know, the answer is yes to all of the above.
I think it's got a good chance, which doesn't mean I'll be buying one but then I'm not your average cyclist.
PS: FlyKly, you show several times the use of the wheel on a brakeless fixed-gear bike. That's just for the aesthetics right? Or is the wheel fixed compatible such that you're fine with people skid/skip stopping?
[+] [-] fernly|12 years ago|reply
[0] http://www.bionxinternational.com/bionx-international-north-...
Edit: the big differences would be (a) this has the battery integral to the hub, where the BionX uses a separate battery pack; and (b) that this communicates to its controller -- your phone -- wirelessly, where the BionX console[1] connects with a wire.
IMO as owner of a BionX-equipped bike, I'm dubious about whether either difference is a positive one. For (a), the in-hub battery is clearly size-limited, can't be removed from the bike for charging indoors, and would be harder to replace.
As for (b), is it really a good idea to require a smartphone to be attached to your handlebars whenever you ride? That's not an easy environment, it has a lot of vibration as well as exposure to water, dust, and sweat. A minor point, the BionX dedicated controller has an optional thumb operated throttle lever for proportional control when you don't want to pedal, and it's hard to see how that could work with a smartphone.
[1]http://www.bionxinternational.com/bionx-international-north-...
[+] [-] egonschiele|12 years ago|reply
[1]http://electricbikereview.com/bionx/sl-350/
[+] [-] kamjam|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] maliki|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] cjensen|12 years ago|reply
"36V Lithium" battery, but no spec about how many kWh it stores.
"Top Speed 20mph". Given that it only operates when the human puts in some effort, what does that even mean? I'm guessing this is written down because US Law says if it goes faster than 20, it's no longer a bike.
"In 2011 Niko Klansek introduced the first line of electric bicycles to the USA market." Nope; ebikes have been available in the US for far longer than that.
GAH. There are lots of conversion kits you can buy today. The kickstarter gives no way for you to figure out if this is anything better.
[+] [-] bigiain|12 years ago|reply
Speculating here…
They look like standard 18650 cells to me - they're readily available in both LiFePO4 and LiPo chemistries, but with 22 cells visible in the pictures, I'm guessing they're LiFePO4 because the nearest configuration to "36V" I can think of for 22 cells is 11S2P LiFePO4 cells at 35.2V, (the LiPo cells in 11S2P would be 40.7V nominal - a 10S LiPo would be "37V", but that doesn't make sense with 22 cells all up - maybe a 10S2P "motive" battery and an independant 2S pack to run the electronics?).
Typical LiFePO4 cells in 18650 size are 1350mAhr, so I'm guessing thats a 2.7Ahr @ 35.2V or a 95Wh - call it a 0.1kWh if you like. That seems a little low to get the indicated range/speeds quoted though - if you assume reasonable efficiency at half power, and that the bulk of power at top speed is aero drag, then the 250W used to ride at 25kmh would drop to doing only 19.5kmh at 125W (power going up with the cube of the speed thanks to the v squared term on the aero drag), so your 90Whr battery will only get you ~15km. If you halve the power again to 65W, and drop to 15kmh, you'd still only get a range of ~21km.
If they're LiPo cells though (with their increased fire risks), you can get inexpensively 2600mAhr cells in 18650 size - 22 of them (ignoring the difficulty in configuring a "36V" pack) gives you a bit over 210Whr - that'd still only give a 32km range @19kmh based on my assumptions above. Cells of 3000mAhr and over are around, they'd give you 244WHr and get maybe 40km @ 19kmh and _perhaps_ 50km @ 15kmh (but that'd take you 3 hours 20 mins)…
The "1000 cycle" battery life perhaps suggests LiPo instead of LiFePO4 (which is more commonly quites as "2000 cycles").
If I had to guess - I'd say it's a ~100Whr LiFePo4 pack at 35.2V, ad that the "50km" range relies on you providing over% of the motive power and travelling at a maximum of half top speed or so.
[+] [-] FlyKly|12 years ago|reply
The top speed means exactly that - because the Smart Wheel is a pedal assist this means it helps you accelerate until you reach 20 mph and no further. You're correct in stating that the top speed is also set in accordance to the US Law (or European Law, which allows for speeds up to 25 km/h).
We're sorry about the confusion about "the first line of electric bicycles" - this was of course meant to inform the reader about the first line of e-bikes that we're introduced by FlyKly, not the first e-bikes EVER.
[+] [-] fennecfoxen|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jessaustin|12 years ago|reply
I guess I just assumed from the comment in the video about SMS that it would integrate a Qualcomm chip or something. But now that you mention it, that seems a stretch. Such a component would serve no other purpose, and really change the pricing.
...the first line of electric bicycles...
Really suspect that "the" should be "our". I have sympathy for non-native speakers of English, but this is an error that ought to be fixed, since it really undermines their credibility.
[+] [-] maxerickson|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] chintan|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] beloch|12 years ago|reply
5 kg is light for a battery/motor module, but it still adds about 50% to the weight of a decent bike. The added thickness also means it's probably not practical to put a multi-gear cassette on it. End result, this will cripple most bikes once the battery runs out. More weight and poor gear ratios = hell for the cyclist. However, most smart-bikes are crippled anyways once they run out of juice.
The great thing is that you can use the same bike for commuting that you use for your sweatier, long-haul weekend trips. All you have to do is swap the original dumb-wheel back in. If you buy a dumb-bike and a smart-wheel you almost get two bikes for the price of one.
Tip for the makers: Stress the ease of hot-swapping that wheel in even more than you are now. This is a major selling point.
P.S. I don't see a quick-release clamp on this sucker in your pictures or video. This is a no-brainier and absolutely needs to be on there.
[+] [-] xanderstrike|12 years ago|reply
I'd only put a quick release on it if I was sure that everyone who used it was going to lock up their back wheel (I'd encourage the Sheldon Brown lock strategy [1]). Most people lock the frame and maybe the front. This back wheel would make up the majority of the cost of your average bicycle in the rear wheel alone, making it easier to steal isn't the best idea. Maybe ship it with a nice hex wrench to make taking it off easier, but a quick release on that would be a bad idea if you're marketing it to cycling novices.
I know if I got it, it'd be pitlocks all the way. My commuter is barely worth $500, this would double what it's worth in a single easily-removed part.
[1] http://sheldonbrown.com/lock-strategy.html
[+] [-] jrockway|12 years ago|reply
Also, I don't think a quick release will work for this. The motor needs to push against the bike in order to move the wheel relative to the bike. A quick release will slip.
[+] [-] kamaal|12 years ago|reply
>>Stress the ease of hot-swapping that wheel in even more than you are now. This is a major selling point.
These points are really crucial. A true pedal assist is something that can assist you while it can, and then not make it difficult for you to pedal when it can't.
Besides, I feel this market has immense potential you could do amazing things with a good control system on that smart wheel. And probably some day even an ECU.
[+] [-] unknown|12 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] specialist|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] alan_cx|12 years ago|reply
Given that old Lotus bike, Im surprised one for the F1 teams hasn't rustled something up. I'd have a chat with one of them and see if they would like to partner up. Especially as they are trying to be all green these days.
Can you harvest from the front wheel too?
[+] [-] leecbaker|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] MBCook|12 years ago|reply
EDIT:
dangooer found the relevant part of the page. It does KER. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6563287
[+] [-] kamjam|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mdisraeli|12 years ago|reply
[1] http://www.alber.de/en/products/wheelchair-drive/mobility-wh...
[+] [-] jessaustin|12 years ago|reply
This probably wouldn't be an issue for most bikes, but it seems like it's outside the design specs for any existing bike.
[+] [-] farnsworth|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] FlyKly|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] iambateman|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] crazygringo|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] deletes|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] lostsock|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] stcredzero|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] grannyg00se|12 years ago|reply
The speed conversion is way off. But the distance conversion is pretty good. Wonder why that is.
[+] [-] davidjohnstone|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] shadowmint|12 years ago|reply
...but also, won't charging this be a complete pain? I'm just imaging a bicycle sitting next to all the other USB charge devices on my desk. Awkward...
[+] [-] ginko|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] LaurentVB|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Robin_Message|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] pbhjpbhj|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Zigurd|12 years ago|reply
1. I question the need for a retrofit product. There are many mature e-bike designs on the market. I doubt it would be hard to find an ODM or CM that could sell you a good design off the shelf.
2. Many e-bikes have removable batteries. You can charge them at work. This doesn't look like it could.
3. Maybe the e-bike isn't the sweet spot. Maybe a slightly larger electric scooter is it. Or maybe an even bigger three-wheeler like Toyota has shown.
4. Outside of China, where gas scooters are prohibited in many (all?) cities, e-bike have not caught on (though I see quite a lot of them in Manhattan, still not enough to be mainstream)
[+] [-] towski|12 years ago|reply
http://www.electric-bike-kit.com/hill-topper.aspx
Otherwise I've been using a wheel and battery from http://www.leafmotor.com/hub-motors/16r-electric-hub-motor.h...
If you're more into plugging stuff together yourself. They also offer more wheel sizes, like 700c.
[+] [-] aidenn0|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] hipsterelitist|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] soperj|12 years ago|reply