So that was you I passed going up Regents?
I passed some guy uphill on a motorized electric bike
awhile back. I wasn't too impressed, as it wasn't hard to catch and go by this electric thing. I
usually maintain a 15-16 mph average on my rides around SD.
Jon Isaacs wrote:
>>Interesting article, but will it stand up to r.b.t scruitiny?
>>
>>
http://www.manufacturi
>
> To quote from the article:
>
> "Denver?If the world's streets are teeming with motorized bicycles a decade from now, then
> engineer Stephen Katsaros believes the internal combustion
> (IC) engine will have played a key role in that revolution.
>
> The Denver-based patent agent is convinced that battery-powered bicycles are not the answer to the
> world's traffic dilemmas, and his gasoline-based Revolution Motor serves as proof of that belief.
> "There's a real move toward electric (bikes) right now, but those bikes all weigh around 80 lbs
> and only have a range of 10 to 15 miles," Katsaros points out. "The problem is that it takes about
> 377 lbs of lead-acid batteries to equal the energy stored in a pound of gasoline."
>
> His Revolution Motor provides a lightweight, energy-efficient alternative to the electric bike by
> employing a 27 cm3, two-stroke engine and a gear train that neatly fits within the 3-inch-wide
> confines of a conventional bike frame fork. "
>
> ------
>
> A couple of points here:
>
> 1. Two stroke motor means it will have a difficult time meeting any pollution requirements. I
> believe a small 2 stroke like this will pollute the air more than a large SUV.
>
> 2. At the last SD Velodrome swap meet I picked up a Cruiser style bike with a SRAM Sparc Electric
> Assist unit. I currently have $72 invested in it and it is only slightly heavier than a
> similar bike without assist. My guess is that it weighs between 35 and 40 lbs.
>
>
http://www.sram.com/product/featured/sparc/index.asp
>
> Interesting ride and the power assist is a significant factor.
>
> 3. One advantage of electricity is that one does not fool with gasoline. An electric bike can be
> brought into buildings and stored inside the house without problems, gasoline is a potential
> for fire problems and messes.
>
> Bikes like this, whether it is a whizzer from the 40's (which are kind of neat and use a 4 stroke
> side valve motor I believe) or more modern bikes with weed eater motors are around and available
> as kits. They don't require a hub conversion ( I wonder how that suspension fork handles the mass
> of the motor).
>
> I don't see much difference.
>
> Jon Isaacs
--
Mark Wolfe
http://www.wolfenet.org gpg fingerprint = 42B6 EFEB 5414 AA18 01B7 64AC EF46 F7E6 82F6
8C71 Your job is being a professor and researcher: That's one hell of a good excuse for some of the
brain-damages of minix. (Linus Torvalds to Andrew Tanenbaum)