Ok, as long as I’m harshing on silly bike designs, I’ll throw another one out there. CNN had a list of “Gadgets to die for“, and the Electrobike Pi was the first item listed.
I’m sure the designers of this bike think they’re very clever, but haven’t they ridden a bike before? Have the bothered to look at bike design over the last 100 or so years? Do they have testicles? Really, why make a top tube that arches upward, forward of the seat? I don’t get it. And they lose a lot of credibility by offering not just a gas motor, but even a 2-stroke gas motor!
But back to the “human-electric” hybrid. It weighs sixty freakin’ pounds! I cannot imagine anyone trying to pedal a bike that heavy, meaning that it’s more like an electric bike with variable-position opposing footrests. Adding a gas motor makes it even less likely to ever be pedaled.
Am I done yet? Not even close. I’ll overlook the typographical errors on the site and focus on the some of the content. For instance – “Just one year’s fuel savings can pay for your chosen flavor of Electrobike Pi’”great food for your ego, your wallet, and our planet.” Uh, their base model is $7,500.00. Let’s look at the math: Assuming fuel remains around $3 per gallon, you would have to more than double the national average annual mileage (12,000) at less than half the average fuel economy (25MPG) to come up with that figure.
And here’s an interesting choice of incorrect spelling – “When pedaled, gas-powered or coasting, Electrobike’s unique, electric brushless DC power with flywheel-regeneration feeds excess power back to recharge the battery instead of simply losing it to friction. This leapfrogs Electrobike way past other vehicles to segway it smoothly and solidly into the transport technology mainstream”. That’s golden.
Yeah, they’re out to save the environment. If you’ve got $7,500 to $39,000 for a bike, I suspect you’ll be spending it elsewhere.
But it’s shiny… and comes in all those different colors… and you can get motors and engines and stuff for it… and you can… oh the hells with it, I don’t like the bloody thing either.
Looks like something out of Demolition Man 2.
*Picture shows overwhelmed looking kitten*
Caption: “Why would you do such a thing?”
I’m sorry, but it’s too ugly for me to give it any further consideration.
Brian, you don’t have to possess testicles to be scared off by that frame.