15 ms·

I don't understand why you'd "simplify" out the most important part of the bicycle - the gears. A bicycle (even a fixie/single) is the most amazing, important h

I don't understand why you'd "simplify" out the most important part of the bicycle - the gears. A bicycle (even a fixie/single) is the most amazing, important human-powered machine because of the mechanical efficiency introduced by the gears. Without gears, it's just a unicycle with two wheels. While interesting, and probably a nice novelty to ride, I wouldn't call this a triumph of "Design" by any means. I hate shitting on people's inventions on HN (way too easy to potshot and armchair QB) but the way they sell this as a "design" product sort of irked me. It looks fun but good design it ain't. EDIT: Maybe the headline should have been "the unicycle, made slightly more complicated"

alexkus 14y ago
A 27" gear from direct drive is utterly impractical. Direct drive is only 8mph at 100rpm. You go at a nice cruising/commuting speed of 20mph you'd need to spin out 250rpm. I can only maintain 200rpm for short bursts! It needs something akin to a the Schlumpf "mountain drive" cranks (to lengthen the gears rather than shorten them) to give a gear up in to at leas the 60"-70" gear inches range that's more suitable for road use.
- snogglethorpe 14y ago
  They say this in the comment section: > "To address the problem you bring up, we have designed an overdrive hub system that will make the gearing comparable to that of the average singlespeed bike." Of course, there goes the "simplicity"...
  - deleted 14y ago
    [deleted]
  - alexkus 14y ago
    Aha, thanks, missed that.
Peroni 14y ago
Without gears, it's just a unicycle with two wheels. ...so, a bicycle?
- Terretta 14y ago
  No. A unicycle with an added front wheel to lean on. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXmBrD4b4EI&sns=em http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXmBrD4b4EI&sns=em