Paraphrased from the website: "The 2000 mpg human-electric hybrid vehicle augments the rider's pedal power with an electric motor and battery traveling 50 miles on $.08 worth of electricity at 30+ mph." Okay, now that I got all the hype out of the way, this is really a very cool bike. It's not a moped, so no loud smelly engine stuff. It's not a recumbent, but it is so cool that I forgive that one design flaw (could be fixed). Electric assist bikes just don't get the attention they deserve. I want. See also the Optibike Owner's group. (This or even this is much more within the realm of the possible for me however.)
3 comments:
My car has the planetary gears, so I kind of drooled over that post. Now what you need to do is merge the direct drive hub with the Optibike and transform it all into a recumbent (almost wrote incumbent, oops). That would revolutionize bicycling!
A direct drive hub, while technically and aesthetically interesting, brings with it limitations and peculiarities, as well as a few unique advantages. What you describe sounds like a good idea, but each of these bikes fills a very specialized niche. The Optibike is like a motorcross racing bike, putting a direct drive hub on it, or even making it recumbent, would decrease its ability to handle very rough terrain. However, a recumbent Optibike is actually a project that Optibike was working on, though it was put on hold as the economy is currently depressed (I asked them about this earlier). One nice thing about any bike with a motorized bottom bracket like Optibike is that it goes very fast with great range, but with speed you really appreciate full suspension and good brakes. The ability to use body English helps too. So a recumbent Optibike should have full suspension; you can see that quickly the price of such a machine soars through the roof. The market for expensive bikes is small; the Optibike is already pricey!
I would love to see a recumbent Optibike, though I am not sure including direct drive would add anything to it functionally. But I could be wrong. What you have suggested is like talking about the Ipod Nano when you have only just invented a Comodore 64!
LOL!
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