Concept Bikes & Bike Innovation - for better or worse

https://www.eurogamer.net/simple-airbike-makes-travelling-in-zelda-tears-of-the-kingdom-a-breeze

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😬

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xeGi7kFFs-4

BSA eccentric bottom bracket. Single speed all the things

https://velo-orange.com/collections/bottom-brackets/products/eccentric-bottom-bracket-bsa

Why did you have to post that? Now I don’t need to get ‘that’ frame.

You're welcome

Have we had this yet?

https://www.bikeradar.com/news/smart-tir­e-company-metl/

They have just raised a suspiciously low target amount (~£20k) on kickstarter for a small run of bike tyres. I can only imagine that they're getting people to pay for the privilege of being beta testers and the real money is coming from equity investors. Using bicycles as the test because there's no safety regulations, so you don't have to pay people to run the tests on private test areas, which you would with any other class of vehicle. Still an odd choice because I'm fairly sure they'll fail to match pneumatics in high speed low drag markets, and bikes aren't a very good test proxy for the markets where Metl tyres will work, if anywhere, which is the same places as Tweel already works.

https://www.dezeen.com/2023/09/29/mypowerbank-hacks-santander-bikes-homeless-charge-phones/

Love this. Simple but a great idea

Hell yeah, love it - especially the inhuman-culture jamming ethos behind it.

Beautiful!

Spotted this in the wild - desparately wanted a shot

Bit of googling suggests it's got a 50 mile range with a top speed of 40mph, like a futuristic C5

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Bit of googling suggests it's got a 50 mile range with a top speed of 40mph, like a futuristic C5

It may be able to do those things, but there’s no classification for it to be road legal with those specs.
If it was restricted to 28mph, it had mudguards and a few safety extras if could possibly get through MSVA as an L2e (moped).
But at 40mph not a chance in hell, it would be in the same classification as a Reliant Robin etc. Not that I’ve looked into it at all ;)
Oh and aren’t they massive! Definitely designed by car guys (ex of TVR)

if morgan made bicycles

ohh ...... https://morgan-motor.com/new-pashley-morgan-range/

E-velobikes have been around for awhile, what’s the innovation involved?

The 10 at the bottom of the page looks great.

Relatedly, at £69 this seems quite good value. It's be too hot to ride in though right...

Apparently the top-end model comes registered as a moped complete with indicators etc. & is restricted to 28mph BUT also has a bluetooth motor control which could most likely bypass that at the touch of a button.

@withered_preacher - maybe not completely novel, but most velomobiles look like a dog's dick - this actually looks pretty good in the flesh. At first glance I genuinely thought it was a kit car (until I spotted the wheels) - it's huge!

I know they claim that, but it’s hard to see how it can meet the field of vision tests and many and various other requirements for an enclosed body moped. If it can pass the MSVA test it does open up the path for some better more useful mini EVs as well. Especially as you can run a 4kw motor and carry up to 300kg of cargo in the L2e category. One to watch for sure.

Yeah fair point, i'm not familiar with all the regs for the licence categories - this does look like an interesting step in the right direction for small, battery assisted e-velomobile type things though - especially if they were designed round carrying a bit more as you say

Anyone want another friction point while cycling? Saddle Spur has the answer!

Surely, at some point before launching the website, someone pointed out that some of those photos make it look exactly like a big black dildo.

Surely.

another friction point

Aside from the obvious comment, that looks like a lower friction version of the appoggio lombare concept

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I reckon it would function as what it looks like if you stood up on the pedals and went over a few bumps

That's more of an expert level version. Not for beginners.

If you mount by throwing your leg over the bars and sit well behind the BB, it might work. Not gonna hit the preorder button, but I'd definitely give it a go if they actually get into production.

“Proven” by a single university study is a bold claim.

Got to be careful coming back on to the saddle after a climb / sprint mind... HELLO!

Is this epic fail? 🤣