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I'm just as skeptical as you, but... Electric mopeds cannot go on freeways. An electric motorcycle is better for nontrivial distances. On the other hand, an
by cjensen 14y ago
I'm just as skeptical as you, but...
Electric mopeds cannot go on freeways. An electric motorcycle is better for nontrivial distances.
On the other hand, an electric moped which cannot travel faster than 20mph also has an advantage: in California it is treated as a bicycle and can travel on bike paths on major bridges.
My main complaint: if neither electric motorcycles nor self-balancing motorcycles are currently popular, why would an electric self-balancing motorcycle be popular?
- InclinedPlane 14y agoWell, if you want a highway vehicle then you can buy an electric motorcycle for half or a quarter the cost of this thing (such as the Brammo Enertia or the EMC GPR-S). Electric motorcycles seem to have some degree of minor popularity, but are certainly a tiny niche even compared to plug-in hybrid cars. But the value-add of a self-balancing motorcycle seems highly dubious.
- Yxven 14y agoPersonally, I've always wanted a vehicle with the speed and fuel efficiency approaching a motorcycle and a 5-star crash safety rating. Motorcycles are a death trap, and I refuse to ride one despite their many advantages.
- elviejo 14y agoAnd this is the value add.
- heretohelp 14y agoNo...it's not. This thing is just as dangerous as a motorcycle. The danger is from not having the steel cage protecting you, not from tipping over in a parking lot. Motorcycles aren't even difficult to balance...at all. They're easier than bicycles in that respect because they self-stabilize from the speed that operate at. You only need balance when puttering about in the parking lot, and even then, scarcely. I have to stop reading this thread. I'm a keen motorcyclist and it's vividly apparent none of you know what you're talking about in the slightest. This vehicle is useless.
- DeepDuh 14y agoSorry, but aren't you contradicting yourself? If the danger of a motorcycle lies in the lack of a cage, why is this useless?
- heretohelp 14y agoIt's useless because it's inferior to a motorcycle in every respect including safety.
- ken 14y agoUnfortunately, I think you're imagining a fantasy vehicle: your requirements are pretty much in direct conflict with each other. The smaller the vehicle, the less it can rely on passive safety (crashing better), and the more it has to rely on its advantages at active safety (avoiding crashing). You can't cheat physics: a tiny personal vehicle is never going to have passive safety as good as a midsize car. Even relatively safe compact cars like the Toyota Yaris don't have 5-star crash ratings, so I don't see how a 2-wheeler ever will. Motorcycles are dangerous primarily because (a) small fast vehicles tend to attract more than their share of irresponsible people (which, not uncommonly, includes alcohol), and (b) car drivers have trouble seeing tiny vehicles. I don't see how this vehicle proposes to change either of these factors.
- adrianbravo 14y agoThis vehicle is likely more difficult to see in a rear- or side-view mirror than a motorcycle given it's so low to the ground.
- jack-r-abbit 14y agoI would imagine we don't have self-balancing motorcycles because we don't need them to self-balance. You can just put your foot down when you stop. But this isn't a normal motorcycle. The enclosure makes it necessary to do something else. Self-balance is what they decided to try. Another option could have been some speed triggered training wheels that popped out but that wouldn't be quite as cool looking.