The Commuter Bike Redesigned and Electrified

I would do the same, if only we'd have a decent shower at our workplace, so that I won't smell all day after a bike-ride from home. Nevertheless, I can't wait for this winter to be finally over so that I can take my bike for photo-taking rides outside the city I live in. (if it matters, I'm a fellow (East-)European whose city doesn't have that many bike-lines, but it doesn't matter anyway, cause I've first ridden a bike on a national road at age 12, so nothing scares me :) ).

Some people don't have showering facilities at work, or do not want to carry a change of clothes with them. An electric bike is less likely to produce a stinky cyclist.

Bicycles can hardly be considered an old technology. While Da Vinci had already sketched some designs in the late 15th century [1], the first prototypes could not be built before the early 19th century.

The first recognizable version of the current chain-driven models was only produced in 1885. [2]

The chain-driven bicycle is not as simple as it looks.

[1] http://www.ltolman.org/davinci.htm [2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicycles

And while I would not pay the exorbitant price for this thing, I would gladly pay a significant amount of money for a modern folding bike. Say, with a carbon fiber frame instead of a steel one.

One thing I, as a racing-type cyclist, suffered from was the feeling that it was somehow “unfair” that people would have assistance cycling, but it's really an entirely different beast: there's cycling, and then there's transportation by means of a bicycle. By all means love your bicycles – I like mine very much – but pedelecs don't really detract anything from you.

A pedelec won't make people lazier, it enables them to use their bike loaded heavier, in worse conditions[1] and with less effort which is important if they aren't terribly fit or don't want to sweat on their way to work. This translates to more people riding. I'd argue that there's enough exercise involved to actually get direct health gains, but even assuming there's not, we still get the benefit of fewer cars on the roads and a better environment for cycling when drivers and politicians are forced to really pay attention to it (it may shock you to know that in many places in the EU, while certainly better than most of the US, cycling life still is a bit dangerous and inconvenient).

[1] The weather in the winter here is such that bike commutes take 50-200% more time than in the summer even when you work twice as hard. I know a few people who run an electric in the winter: the result is that they get to ride at an effort level comparable to that in the summer.

Still, price and limited autonomy are real issues. At 1K$ and 20 miles of autonomy I would probably buy one.

My biggest concern when I saw this originally was the emergency braking scenario. Which basically involves doing a face plant and using your nose and forehead to slow you down by embedding it in the floor.

One of the selling points mentioned in the article is, "you can jump forward off the bike in a crisis; there’s no hardware in your way". Which seems strange as every accident I've had or come perilously close to has been hitting something head-on (from the cyclist perspective... such as peds who walk out in front of you, or cars coming out from a side street).

The weirdest thing I find though is just the speed. These things tend to be speed limited as this helps classify them separately from the soon to be coming breed of electric scooters and motorcycles. Obv' electric bike manufacturers do not want to be forced in complying with that set of regulations and all that it entails. But the speed limiting is such that even a commuter on a cheap bike is going to be going the same speed, and a fit commuter will achieve a higher average speed than someone on this thing.

Forget that, how's it even deal with rough/uneven pavement!?

To the person who said you prefer to lock it up outside a grocery store - what exactly stops you from doing that with this device?

The cost is a major stumbling block; mind you, I see a lot of heinously expensive road bikes around London, and I suppose their actual utility is lower (harder to take onto buses and rail services; harder to store at home, in the street or at the office; not electric)

I'd be interested to see a study done on the device's eco credentials; I've heard persuasive arguments that electric bikes are greener than pedal powered bikes when you consider the petrochemical requirements of a pedal bike's energy source (your food)...

[NB I've had one accident where a helmet definitely saved my life and a couple of close calls - two my own fault cycling off road and another where kids threw a brick at me].

This thing does in fact look rather like a bicycle, and the rider does sit astride it. Perhaps the YikeBike people have read PG's note about the Segway.

On the other hand, I think it still makes it look as if the rider is "too lazy to walk". If that (rather than, say, the $3600 price tag) makes the YikeBike fail, then it'll indicate that PG's basic analysis was right even though his proposed ways of solving the problem were wrong.

There is a chap who commutes through central Edinburgh on a unicycle and it does indeed cheer me up every time I see him.