Industrialized Cyclist Notepad


E-bikes vs. bikes

Pedelec. A new word to me.

In a vote at the European Parliament today, MEPs have decided to keep the original European Commission proposal; only pedelecs with a maximum speed of 25 km/h and 250 watts power will remain exempt from motorbike regulation. Europe’s cycling organisations have welcomed the move, seeing it as a clear separation between bicycles and motorbikes

via European Cyclists' Federation – 20.11.2012- EU Parliament Backs ECF And Bicycle Industry Campaign To Protect Future Of Cycling.

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Also known as “The Cancellara”

The annual competition has brought forth the latest trends of the industry and has also shown what the bikes of the future might become, the center said recently.

“There has been an obvious growth of popularity in electric bikes,” a spokeswoman of the center said, adding that six of the 19 finalists used such products.

Apart from a smaller motor system, how the battery is concealed in an aesthetic way is also crucial, she added.

The “Velocity,” an urban bike designed by Chen Cheng-liang of Taiwan, for example, has a hidden and detachable power assistance system inside the frame.

via Light electric vehicles, urban bikes foci of design competition | Eco-Business.com.



Shared E-Bikes in SF

Hilly San Francisco to Get Shared Electric-Bikes : TreeHugger.

As awesome as the bike is as a way to get around, sometimes human muscles don’t quite pack enough oomph to deal with hilly terrain.

Especially if the bike, even without the motor, weighs almost as much as a Jetta.

While history shows us it is a natural progression to want to add motors to leg-powered bikes (this is the same impulse which brought us the automobile age), the motor makes the bike potentially much more dangerous while taking away most of its health benefit, neither of which is positive for the beginners who tend to be drawn to e-bikes.

But this is an interesting development in the SF bike share program, no doubt.