From the Necessity is the Mother of Invention category, comes the Neodymics self-contained, powered-wheel conversion kit. With gas prices raising and increasing interest in electric bikes, I expect to see more entrepreneurs and inventors developing their own take on powering bikes. Using Dewalt power tool batteries is practical and even thinking of just popping off a non-powered wheel for a powered one is an interesting approach. It also looks like something that fell off a moon-lander or was once connected to a Cyborg …
Ok, so this is snarky just to be snarky, but the last time I checked bicycles already had a power source…
And not just to be snarky (though snarky nonetheless) Electricty comes from someplace and often it comes from burning coal.
(my bike didn’t seem to have much of a power source this morning…)
In response to the snarkiness, I agree- why bother when you can pedal? But never underestimate the general population’s ability to convert money into laziness when it comes to transportation.
However, my concern is all of those exposed batteries. In a city with a climate like Seattle, I can’t imagine that placing them in an uncovered spot inches off the ground is a great idea.
For me, the bigest advantage of this would be in the middle of the day.
To go to any restaurants for lunch I have a pretty decent climb back to work. I hate sustained climbing on a full stomach, and I don’t like exerting myself that much while in my work clothes….If I could power up the hill without working much harder, I could greatly expand my lunchtime choices.
To me, these things aren’t made for people going short distances…they’re for people who either have long ride, a prohibitively steep climb (or just annoyingly long and they’re running late), or even people with a cargo bike who need some help with the heavy load.
2 thumbs way up if this works as advertised and if they can ever get it produced for a fairly reasonable price.
Regarding electrical energy use for bicycle transportation, please see our page about environmental benefits of this ride, and our paper published in The Open Energy and Fuels Journal. The Cyclemotor increases the utility of the bicycle, even if one fit and industrious, because one is also often in a hurry.
http://www.neodymics.com/green.htm
http://www.bentham-open.org/pages/content.php?TOEFJ/2008/00000001/00000001/11TOEFJ.PDF
Electric assist makes HUGE sense for COMMUTER bikes. It means people who don’t bike because there is a huge hill on the route, or it’s just too far, can start biking. And it means people who are too lazy to bike can start biking — and then ditch the motor in a year once they’re in shape.
Don’t think about it as “gee it would be better if everybody only used their feet.” Think of it as “gee it would be swell if we could replace millions of cars with vehicles that give people some exercise and get 500 miles to the gallon.”
Brilliant idea, cannot believe it is not being manufactured in the US right now. GM or Ford should consider this wild american invention then go begging for a bailout. Andres fron Santiago, Chile.
i like the idea that you can have extra batteries and exchange them instead of charging them on the bike.