3 ms·

I'm mystified at the multitude of "this is great" comments on an essentially unspec'd and implausible product. Is this elaborate joke that everyone's in on? HN

I'm mystified at the multitude of "this is great" comments on an essentially unspec'd and implausible product. Is this elaborate joke that everyone's in on? HN has been an engineering-oriented forum and bicycles are "real engineering". Every kind of modern bike is engineered for it's intended use and the idea you can add power and weight without consequences should be suspicious to the engineering mind. Note: The video shows a USB cable for a charger, which couldn't charge a large-ish battery in an acceptable period, at one point it seems to show power imparted direct to the tire (which would lose a lot of power) but really, how this thing works at all is hard to tell, it's kind of silly to take seriously, even but jeesh.

nickkell 2y ago
Do you believe it's fake? There are many kits on the market to turn old bicycles into e-bikes. As to the USB charging - that's an outlet for charging things like mobile devices, not for charging the battery on the bike.
xandrius 2y ago
If you were as attentive as you might think you are, you would have noticed that the USB plug being inserted was the host side, so it's the side generally which charges the connected device.
Saris 2y ago
USB-C does 240W, what makes you think it can't charge an E-Bike battery? Most are under 500Wh and would take at most 2 hours. Also it looks to be a USB source, for charging your devices, not the other way around. It's a nice bit of engineering, making it an all in one package that can bolt onto a frame with minimal effort is quite neat. I'd love to know why you think it's implausible, from all my work on ebikes it looks legitimate.
NegativeLatency 2y ago
Sure there are tradeoffs to not having a nicely integrated system, but there's nothing wrong with having other options for people to pick from.
Mashimo 2y ago
The right side is what seems like a C13? C14? plug. It has also a USB outlet to charge your phone.

nickkell 2y ago

Do you believe it's fake? There are many kits on the market to turn old bicycles into e-bikes. As to the USB charging - that's an outlet for charging things like mobile devices, not for charging the battery on the bike.

xandrius 2y ago

If you were as attentive as you might think you are, you would have noticed that the USB plug being inserted was the host side, so it's the side generally which charges the connected device.

Saris 2y ago

USB-C does 240W, what makes you think it can't charge an E-Bike battery? Most are under 500Wh and would take at most 2 hours. Also it looks to be a USB source, for charging your devices, not the other way around. It's a nice bit of engineering, making it an all in one package that can bolt onto a frame with minimal effort is quite neat. I'd love to know why you think it's implausible, from all my work on ebikes it looks legitimate.

NegativeLatency 2y ago

Sure there are tradeoffs to not having a nicely integrated system, but there's nothing wrong with having other options for people to pick from.

Mashimo 2y ago

The right side is what seems like a C13? C14? plug. It has also a USB outlet to charge your phone.