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A genuinely useful inventionFollow

#1 Dec 05 2013 at 6:41 PM Rating: Decent


Basically, it's a motorized bicycle assist that charges from your own kinetic energy output and assists you when necessary.

Is it worth the list price of $700? Maybe if you live in a large city with a high population density?


Edited, Dec 5th 2013 6:42pm by BrownDuck
#2 Dec 05 2013 at 7:02 PM Rating: Good
If biking around was an actual reasonable way to get around, around here, I could see me making the investment. However it is not, and I've not rode a bike in almost 11 years, so the idea is cool but not something I would consider buying any time soon.
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#3 Dec 05 2013 at 7:06 PM Rating: Good
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Looks like a big, red $700 "I'm out of shape" sign to me.
#4 Dec 05 2013 at 7:43 PM Rating: Excellent
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Seriously, you need to move somewhere with hills already.

$700 would get you a cheaper electric-motor assisted bicycle (you can get a converter kit for what, a couple hundred dollars?), so it's probably priced about right for something not in the mass market yet. Does it hold its charge well? Or if you day starts with an awful uphill are you out of luck?
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#5 Dec 05 2013 at 8:05 PM Rating: Good
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I was hoping for a glow-in-the-dark sandwich. Smiley: frown
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#6 Dec 05 2013 at 8:05 PM Rating: Good
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I would love to, I like hills and mountains and rugged terrain. Still doesn't make an electric motor on your bicycle anything more than admitting you're either out of shape or lazy.
#7 Dec 05 2013 at 9:16 PM Rating: Excellent
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someproteinguy wrote:
Seriously, you need to move somewhere with hills already.

Why? So I can need a $700 bike assist?
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#8 Dec 05 2013 at 10:08 PM Rating: Excellent
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Jophiel wrote:
someproteinguy wrote:
Seriously, you need to move somewhere with hills already.

Why? So I can need a $700 bike assist?
Yup, economic stimulus and stuff.
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#9 Dec 06 2013 at 3:14 AM Rating: Excellent
Sandinmygum the Stupendous wrote:
If biking around was an actual reasonable way to get around, around here, I could see me making the investment. However it is not, and I've not rode a bike in almost 11 years, so the idea is cool but not something I would consider buying any time soon.


I know it's not that reasonable in the US, but in other countries (a lot of warmer climate European ones for example), bicycles are a preferred method of transportation over cars. I know if I lived in a big enough city, I'd use a bike rather than a car for at least going around in city.
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#10 Dec 06 2013 at 3:37 AM Rating: Excellent
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The warmer climate countries in Europe have some seriously awful bicycle infrastructure. It's The Netherlands, Denmark, Germany & Belgium that have the best cycling infrastructure.

I think it's pretty much only large cities in the Netherlands where bicycles actually dominate traffic with Amsterdam topping the list at 59% of all trips within the city made on bicycle, mostly because Amsterdam is an utter nightmare of one way streets for cars and the insane parking costs (if you can even find a spot) don't help either.
#11 Dec 06 2013 at 7:32 AM Rating: Good
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I heard about this the other day. It's pretty smart.
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#12 Dec 06 2013 at 8:11 AM Rating: Good
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Professor Shock Vlorsutes wrote:
I know if I lived in a big enough city, I'd use a bike rather than a car for at least going around in city.
Well, if the city is big enough then chances are there is also an established public transit system in place, and hell chances are also pretty good that a lot of the places you'd want to go are walking distance. I really can't think of a practical reason to get a bike when I'm home, but in Dix things are spread out far enough to where I might consider it an option over waiting on a bus or walking.
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#13 Dec 06 2013 at 8:50 AM Rating: Good
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lolgaxe wrote:
I really can't think of a practical reason to get a bike when I'm home.
Cheaper than public transport and faster than walking?

Although without the infrastructure in place bicycles aren't really a great way to get home from the bar while you're drunk and the metro in NY is probably widespread and large enough to still be useful at 4 AM.
#14 Dec 06 2013 at 9:00 AM Rating: Good
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His Excellency Aethien wrote:
lolgaxe wrote:
I really can't think of a practical reason to get a bike when I'm home.
Cheaper than public transport and faster than walking?

Although without the infrastructure in place bicycles aren't really a great way to get home from the bar while you're drunk and the metro in NY is probably widespread and large enough to still be useful at 4 AM.

In much of the civilized word, bar time is 1 or 2am.
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#15 Dec 06 2013 at 9:09 AM Rating: Excellent
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Elinda wrote:
In much of the civilized word, bar time is 1 or 2am.
In the 1800s?
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#16 Dec 06 2013 at 7:25 PM Rating: Good
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someproteinguy wrote:
Jophiel wrote:
someproteinguy wrote:
Seriously, you need to move somewhere with hills already.

Why? So I can need a $700 bike assist?
Yup, economic stimulus and stuff.



Wouldn't it be more stimulating to get a bike assistant? Oh and economically too I suppose.
#17 Dec 06 2013 at 9:02 PM Rating: Decent
lolgaxe wrote:
Elinda wrote:
In much of the civilized word, bar time is 1 or 2am.
In the 1800s?

I was gonna say, you don't get the reputation for being "the city that never sleeps" if you shut everything down at 2:00AM.
#18 Dec 07 2013 at 10:24 PM Rating: Excellent
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MentalFrog wrote:
someproteinguy wrote:
Jophiel wrote:
someproteinguy wrote:
Seriously, you need to move somewhere with hills already.

Why? So I can need a $700 bike assist?
Yup, economic stimulus and stuff.



Wouldn't it be more stimulating to get a bike assistant? Oh and economically too I suppose.
You mean an electric assist motor on a tandem bike pulling a kid carrier? Cause those get a little spendy.

Whatever does it for you though. Smiley: um
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#19 Dec 09 2013 at 2:48 AM Rating: Good
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Tie a car seat to a lawn mower. Multiple problems solved.
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#20 Dec 09 2013 at 12:19 PM Rating: Excellent
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someproteinguy wrote:
MentalFrog wrote:
Wouldn't it be more stimulating to get a bike assistant? Oh and economically too I suppose.
You mean an electric assist motor on a tandem bike pulling a kid carrier? Cause those get a little spendy.

I'm thinking like a rickshaw.
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Wow. Regular ol' Joph fan club in here.
#21 Dec 09 2013 at 1:37 PM Rating: Good
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His Excellency Aethien wrote:
Still doesn't make an electric motor on your bicycle anything more than admitting you're either out of shape or lazy.


Unless you're, you know, old... or handicapped...
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#22 Dec 09 2013 at 3:10 PM Rating: Good
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Jophiel wrote:
someproteinguy wrote:
MentalFrog wrote:
Wouldn't it be more stimulating to get a bike assistant? Oh and economically too I suppose.
You mean an electric assist motor on a tandem bike pulling a kid carrier? Cause those get a little spendy.

I'm thinking like a rickshaw.

Robot rickshaw.
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#23 Dec 09 2013 at 3:26 PM Rating: Excellent
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Elinda wrote:
Jophiel wrote:
someproteinguy wrote:
MentalFrog wrote:
Wouldn't it be more stimulating to get a bike assistant? Oh and economically too I suppose.
You mean an electric assist motor on a tandem bike pulling a kid carrier? Cause those get a little spendy.

I'm thinking like a rickshaw.

Robot rickshaw.
Robot rickshaw demo derby!! Smiley: nod

Smiley: popcorn
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#24 Dec 09 2013 at 5:27 PM Rating: Good
Motorised rickshaws are fun but cause so much pollution.
#25 Dec 09 2013 at 9:44 PM Rating: Good
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Pollution is tomorrow's problem.
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George Carlin wrote:
I think it’s the duty of the comedian to find out where the line is drawn and cross it deliberately.
#26 Dec 10 2013 at 10:56 AM Rating: Good
My husband is seriously interesting in buying this. He wants to buy the bike they'll eventually offer for sale with it too, since he figures it'll be performance tuned to work best with the wheel or something. He asked if he could borrow my smart phone for use with it and I said heck no - if he wants to have the advantages of smart phone apps, he can darn well get his own smart phone. (Maybe an iPod Touch will work just as well, though.)

He has to wait until they finish the highway extension past our house that has actual bike lanes, though. Right now, riding a bike on the nearest complete highway is a total death wish. No sidewalks, no bike lines - just five lanes of pissed off commuters going ten miles above the speed limit.

On Black Friday, we actually walked down the side of that road relatively safely for once - because traffic was so clogged up it was at a standstill.
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