Anyone any experience or opinions on them? thinking about ditching the car completely and using one for my "too tired to cycle to work" days.

where does the electricity it uses come from?…..

i have NO idea as to the specific numbers, but if it were me, i would get a scooter (rinnngadingdingdingding.)

WELL over 100mpg, and a box to keep your helmet in in the day, and clean work clothes in for the ride (or just wear waterproofs)
leccy bikes strike me as being quite limited on speed and range.
and a sod to pedal, as your lugging the battery around.

having said that, i know someone who has one that compliments thier effort, rather than doing it for them, it pulls them up hills, but doesnt really do anything on the flat…

where does the electricity it uses come from?…..

That is a bit of a silly half-question that people often wheel out in relation the electric vehicles. The question should be: Is it more efficient to generate and distribute energy via the grid, compared to shipping petrol around and burning it in your vehicle? I think I'm right in saying that an internal combustion engine is only about one third efficient, so electric vehicles can afford to lose a bit on the energy distribution system.

Having said that – what's wrong with pedalling?

I bloke at work rides in about 3 miles everyday on one. He's got a fairly pricey heinzmann based one. Quite good fun to play with. He get's great pleasure riding past roadies whilst having a puff on a fag 🙂
I was tempted to get one of the more powerful (though illegal) motors that are good for 30mph, but never got round to it.

http://www.onbike.co.uk

check out their Emotion sports wheeeee! Not yer typical leccy bikes from them. I tried one earlier this year.

i agree glenp, hence the "no idea about the numbers" part of it.

The question should be: Is it more efficient to generate and distribute energy via the grid, compared to shipping petrol around and burning it in your vehicle?

No.

I think I'm right in saying that an internal combustion engine is only about one third efficient, so electric vehicles can afford to lose a bit on the energy distribution system.

Sounds about the right sort of figure, but then power stations don't do a huge amount better even before you consider distribution losses and conversion efficiency in the motors. IIRC the end to end efficiency (as far as you can compare) is about twice as good with an ICE.

Of course it's worth bearing in mind that if you do these things properly you should be charging using off-peak leccy, which reduces the actual environmantal cost hugely.

thx all but I'd prefer if this didn't become a discussion on whether they are/are not environmentally friendly. I'm more interested in tales of ownership…

100W ay 10% efficiency is still a lot less energy than 50kW at 33%…

There will be some at the Big Bike Bash along with a manufacturer so you can ask them and try one too

I got tailed by one on a training spin round Dunham Massey a few months back. Went into the drops and put the hammer down thinking it was jsut another rider and that I couldn't be working hard enough if he was catching me up. He lost ground but was still there at 25+ mph.

And obviously whilst I was going rapidly into the red he was sat up looking at the view.

I like the look of those Emotion ones, particularly the drop barred version. The one I was followed by was a big clunky shopping bike type thing. Must have weighed a ton.

was thinking about this, to be truthful:

would be used on cycle lanes and forest roads for my commute to work.

A bloke in the office rides one. He's a lifelong cycle commuter but uses one of these to ease the stress on his knees which give him trouble apparently.

I had a spin on it and found it very good. It's like riding, but easier. Would cetrainly be a great help on the hills.

He rides about 8 miles in, wearing his work clothes and never seems remotely knackered. And he charges the battery at work too.

Thats a nice piece of kit.

Could you trickle charge the battery from some side mounted solar panels perhaps? You can get them from maplin for charging laptops and such.

100W ay 10% efficiency is still a lot less energy than 50kW at 33%…

Given that with 50kW you'd be going well over 100mph on a bike shaped object, exactly what has that got to do with anything?

I got tailed by one on a training spin round Dunham Massey a few months back. Went into the drops and put the hammer down thinking it was jsut another rider and that I couldn't be working hard enough if he was catching me up. He lost ground but was still there at 25+ mph.

Either you don't have a speedo and don't go as fast as you think, or it was an illegal one, given they're not supposed to provide power above 15mph.

aracer. I think sfb was saying that people are arguing over % efficincy but the OP is talking about switching a car for a bike. A bicycle wasting 90% of 100W is wasting a lot less energy than a car wasting 67% of 50kW. Even a scooter will use a lot more energy than a leccy bike.

How long before riders are going "quite fast" up the hills of Eastnor under cover of a large Rohloff wheel?

Yes, but by the time efficiency got brought into the argument, the scooter alternative had already been suggested. Of course a bicycle is more efficient than a car (though 50kW is still a red herring with a car, since even a car won't be using that), but we've gone beyond that to compare the efficiency of a scooter – or at least that's what I assumed we were discussing, since a car really isn't at all comparable.

Even a scooter will use a lot more energy than a leccy bike.

Sure about that? Got any figures to back up that assertion?

(though 50kW is still a red herring with a car, since even a car won't be using that)

50kW at 33% effic is 22BHP…

motor on the giant unless they have changed for the new model year is woefully weak …

used to be a 24volt motor (can any one confirm this as they no longer list it in their spec sheets)

tried it on one or 2 local hills where i know a powabyke storms up and it was dyre ….basically just said no

powabykes original shopper 5 speed with its 36volt motor had no problems

id recccomend looking at the new powabyke X-bike range which are basically raleigh pioneers with a motor and li-ion battery added £995 rrp and are more like normal bikes weights ! – and driven from the front wheel so dont wear out free hubs like the old giants used to …

* havnt personally ridden the giant twist pictured but have ridden previous incarnations.

50kW at 33% effic is 22BHP…

You're not making any kind of sense at all now Simon. 50kW is 67bhp, whatever the efficiency!

SFB makes me laugh… he's just soooo consistantly silly, it's endless.
(And I actually mean that as a compliment)

You're not making any kind of sense at all now Simon. 50kW is 67bhp, whatever the efficiency!

if you're burning fuel at 50kW you'll get 22BHP with 33% efficiency of conversion. BHP = brake horse power = what actually comes out, the usable power

A colleague has the Airnimal version – a good quality folding bike with the Bionx electrics. Not cheap but she got it on the cycle to work scheme.

http://www.airnimal.eu/Joey/Move.php

Absolutely loves it! She has bad knees, had stopped walking to work and even the hills in Bristol were proving too much on a normal bike – now she has been able to ride more and more by slowly building up the time riding vs using the assist, and faster as it works as a boost.

he's just soooo consistantly silly, it's endless

do you mean a car really hardly uses any more power than an electric bike ?

If you are looking for a proper looking bike, not the shopper type try:
Cytronex

if you're burning fuel at 50kW you'll get 22BHP with 33% efficiency of conversion.

Oh, so you're actually playing moving goalposts.

http://www.trekbikes.com/uk/en/bikes/bike_path/electric_bikes/73fxpluse/

>Oh, so you're actually playing moving goalposts.

C'mon, you're talking semantics – it was pretty obvious what he meant.

it was pretty obvious what he meant.

When he said "100W ay 10% efficiency is still a lot less energy than 50kW at 33%…"?

When he said "100W ay 10% efficiency is still a lot less energy than 50kW at 33%…"?

I should actually have said 1000W not 100, but it's still a huge difference 🙂

Well that makes all the difference – I'm guessing you'd already noticed that, but were enjoying the argument! Of course I refer you back to my point that "by the time efficiency got brought into the argument, the scooter alternative had already been suggested"

You want one of these – posted on here earlier this week
ugly as sin but what do you want?
Hope brakes too, if I'm not mistaken

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8147104.stm

http://www.erockit.net/en/

Of course I refer you back to my point that "by the time efficiency got brought into the argument, the scooter alternative had already been suggested"

OK, but my experience of motorbikes suggests they use nearly as much fuel as a car on the same journey unless driven by the elderly…

Hello!

http://www.chevincycles.com/news.php?articleid=387

Matthew

Having ridden one of these a bit, you can't help coming back grining…Out of Otley up East Chevin Road as if flat, then roll back down and it has more charge than when it went out!. Demo Bike in the shop!

Matthew

then roll back down and it has more charge than when it went out!

so they have invented perpetual motion ?

so they have invented perpetual motion ?

No, because it's using some of your energy to get up the hill…. I think that's right!

chvck – spot on! The battery recharges – you don't!

This lot are based locally (in Bath) and I'm seeing quite a lot around town.

powabyke

I commute on my bike most days (Brompton) but it would be nice to have some assistance to get up the hills so as not to arrive in a sweaty heap.