German E-Rocket (bicycle/motorbike 50mph)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8147104.stm

                                                            A Berlin inventor has come up with an electric bike which you power by pedalling that can reach speeds of 50 mph. 

Stefan Gulas has developed a system that amplifies the effort you put in by a factor of 50, meaning you can accelerate quickly and maintain high speeds with very little effort.

Sweeeeeeeeet.

Thats really nice looking bike, seems perfectly engineered. So simple, just like riding a regular bike but you go a lot faster. Great.

I don't get it. Are chains/sprockets so hugely inefficient that the simple switch to electric transmission allows speeds of 50mph?

Or do you have to charge it up?

In which case, why is it news? It's an electric bike but with pedals.

Wicked but 40.000 bucks though.........!!!!!!!

I just love the fact that the bloke is clearly so stoked about inventing it. He almost wets himself during the interview.

This is a seriously viable means of sustainable transport and the would be pretty cheap to manufacture and market once a big automotive player steps in and buys up the technology.

that's brilliant, it's a fantastic alternative to scooter without needing to pay for petrol, and does look like a genuine idea.

all we have to do is simply wait for it to be cheaper/better designed.

Forgive my limited understanding of these things (GCSE Physics) but surely it is impossible to get 50 times the energy out of of a mechanism than you put in?

So I would have to assume that there is another source of energy being used here- presumably the pedalling powers a generator that tops up the battery, but this means that at some point it is going to run out of zoom, at which point it looks pretty heavy.

I am ready and waiting to be proved wrong however- after all cold fusion did work for a few days.

wow just need to hook up a porsche to that nmachine and you get a 2,000 hp machine (NOT)

hmmm creating energy is science fiction !

well apart from fission / fusion which is which now ?

As far as I can gather it has got an electric motor + battery in it and still needs charging, its just that it has no throttle, the speed and energy input of the motor is proportional to your cadence so its really just a normal electric assisted bike.

Looks very cool though, would love to turn up to a time trial on one of them and do a 12 minute 10 XD

As far as I can gather it has got an electric motor + battery in it and still needs charging, its just that it has no throttle, the speed and energy input of the motor is proportional to your cadence so its really just a normal electric assisted bike.

hexactly. i rode an early one of these about 12 years ago. it also featured regenerative braking to top up the battery. very broadly speaking i would expect regenerative braking to extend efficiency/battery life by 20% or so?

They therefore need a very small magnetic containment toroid filled containing a controlled fusion reaction.

nice invention.

but can i kill the inventor? please? maybe just slap him around a bit?

They therefore need a very small magnetic containment toroid filled containing a controlled fusion reaction.

The only problem with this is that you need to cycle for 8 million miles to overcome the initial activation energy... but after that you would be off like a rocket.

Have you not seen Back to the Future?

One simply procures a banana peel from a nearby bin, drop it in and there you are.

needs a higher bottom bracket ;)

seriously though, it looks great, would love to have a go on one.

edit: hahaha i love the over-excited tremble in the inventor's voice :)

jaa!

Hmmm belt drive as well, who on her listened to him speak and thought, ah Bruno?

As far as I could make out it's just an electric motorbike, where the throttle is operated by pedaling. No energy being generated to extend the battery life (although you'd be mad not to if you could without it generating too much resistance.)

i dont get why youd want an electric bike that you still have to pedal. either you want to pedal a normal bike or you want the motor to do the work for you. you ceratinly wouldnt want to pedal that thing without the motor assist.

i actually really want an electricbike. which is why im going to look at a crash damaged electric moped this weekend. it got written off in a crash but aparently the drive is still in working order. i still need to see it to check it out, but id like to transplant the drive into somthing else.

with that said im not sure what. i origionally wanted to fit it to a 700c skinny tyre road bike. but now im thinking about it i reckon some fatter/stronger MTB wheels and some disk brakes might be a much safer option! maybe even suspension! i have a feeling that it might end up sitting my garage for a while.

The pronunciation of 'pedal' and 'pedalling' is just pure comedy.

Electric bikes have a field of application currently in, for instance, a mid-distance commute in a rural area, say 15 miles. Not easily done for many people on a non-electric assist bike, but quite easily done on an electric bike.

The bike in the video is clearly overkill and so advanced that it really blurs boundaries. Without figures on energy consumption, it's not possible to tell how 'green' it is. But who knows? It may plug more of the gap between motorcycles and pedal cycles and may enable more people to discover the pleasure of less motor-dependent transport.

It's still way too fast. The primary objective of any sustainable transport policy is not to cater for the high need to travel, but to reduce it. A bike that seemingly offers such mobility can only be as counterproductive to sustainable land use planning as other motorised vehicles.

Germans are bonkers, anyway.

Ja, richtig

Electric bikes have a field of application currently in, for instance, a mid-distance commute in a rural area, say 15 miles. Not easily done for many people on a non-electric assist bike, but quite easily done on an electric bike.

The bike in the video is clearly overkill and so advanced that it really blurs boundaries. Without figures on energy consumption, it's not possible to tell how 'green' it is. But who knows? It may plug more of the gap between motorcycles and pedal cycles and may enable more people to discover the pleasure of less motor-dependent transport.

It's still way too fast. The primary objective of any sustainable transport policy is not to cater for the high need to travel, but to reduce it. A bike that seemingly offers such mobility can only be as counterproductive to sustainable land use planning as other motorised vehicles.

What?? Rural area? Overkill?? Too fast!? The reason most people don't ride bicycles is because they're too slow!

Sorry to drag you out of your bubble, my friend, but a lot of people do not care about how 'green' a form of transport is, only the price, speed, and comfort and the trade-off between them. These are faster and more comfortable than a bicycle, only it's price is higher. Once more companies start manufacturing them, the price will come down. I hope they sell hundreds of thousands.