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At my previous agency we built the website for a competitor to a bike like this. They gave us one to keep at the office so I have a little experience with it.

by aidos 13y ago

At my previous agency we built the website for a competitor to a bike like this. They gave us one to keep at the office so I have a little experience with it. The bike in this article has all the same problems as the one we had. It's waaaaaay too heavy. You can't really peddle it, not for long anyway, it's virtually impossible. It's only a matter of time before the battery runs out on you and you find yourself stuck. You can't get it around. The one we had took several people to move up and down things. This is a pretty big issue when you're living in a London apartment (their target market). Then there's the segway effect. Was it PG who said that you can't ride one without looking like a smug twat? The first time my boss took it out some guys in a white van slowed down to yell "get a real bike, you lazy !#&*"...

ulvund 13y ago
Electricity powered bicycles are not that rare here in Denmark, they look like this: http://www.ecykler.dk/dame/863-raleigh-society-da-n7-elcykel-12.html http://www.ecykler.dk/dame/863-raleigh-society-da-n7-elcykel... which is not particularly more heavy than your average bicycle. They are mostly used by elderly ladies and heavy-set women, so the Tesla marketing aspect is not huge.
- tehwalrus 13y ago
  I owned the predecessor to that about 10 years ago (it was also a Raleigh, although the battery was on the downtube, not the luggage rack). It was very heavy, but ride-able, although not up hills. The electric part of it only lasted about an hour, and it took all night to charge. Old school lead-acid thing, very temperamental. The battery was removable, though, so you could leave the bike outside and just bring that in to charge - and you could also ride the bike without carrying it with you everywhere. Also, it only doubled your input power, IIRC, so you always had to peddle (although it more than made up for itself, weight-wise, on long climbs.)
TsiCClawOfLight 13y ago
This is what E-Bikes look like here: https://dfp2hfrf3mn0u.cloudfront.net/227/227804_31945_tif_zoom_1.jpg https://dfp2hfrf3mn0u.cloudfront.net/227/227804_31945_tif_zo... can't complain about that one...

by aidos 13y ago

ulvund 13y ago

Electricity powered bicycles are not that rare here in Denmark, they look like this: http://www.ecykler.dk/dame/863-raleigh-society-da-n7-elcykel-12.html http://www.ecykler.dk/dame/863-raleigh-society-da-n7-elcykel... which is not particularly more heavy than your average bicycle. They are mostly used by elderly ladies and heavy-set women, so the Tesla marketing aspect is not huge.

tehwalrus 13y ago
I owned the predecessor to that about 10 years ago (it was also a Raleigh, although the battery was on the downtube, not the luggage rack). It was very heavy, but ride-able, although not up hills. The electric part of it only lasted about an hour, and it took all night to charge. Old school lead-acid thing, very temperamental. The battery was removable, though, so you could leave the bike outside and just bring that in to charge - and you could also ride the bike without carrying it with you everywhere. Also, it only doubled your input power, IIRC, so you always had to peddle (although it more than made up for itself, weight-wise, on long climbs.)

TsiCClawOfLight 13y ago

This is what E-Bikes look like here: https://dfp2hfrf3mn0u.cloudfront.net/227/227804_31945_tif_zoom_1.jpg https://dfp2hfrf3mn0u.cloudfront.net/227/227804_31945_tif_zo... can't complain about that one...