BIKEPGH MESSAGE BOARD ARCHIVE

yeah. this has blown up around the internet. i haven't seen how heavy it is. or maybe i saw it in kg and didn't do the conversion.

it is pretty cool.

I've wanted regenerative braking on a bike for years now.

In another thread Salty pointed to an article talking about the problems for regenerative braking (RB) and bikes:

http://www.ativsolutions.com/cblog/index.php?/archives/24-Regenerative-Braking.html

That article made me skeptical about having RB work.

It's hard to tell, because the AtivSolutions article throws numbers around in ways that are difficult to comprehend, and I haven't spent the time to figure out if all the numbers are offal. Some of their calculations, like using acceleration down hill, when they are talking about moving at constant speed, strike me as misguided at best.

So it might be that MIT has this the problems figured out.

On a practical level - it might be useful for flat Copenhagen and not useful here.

I wonder about putting the weight of the batteries and motor/generator on the wheel itself - this makes for difficulties accelerating.

For me at least, the whole bluetooth/bike computer thing is just a technoturd. I had a bike computer for a while, but it didn't do much for me.

Recently I've thought about train locomotives. They convert Diesel to electric for power.

Why not just diesel?

An engineer geek told me it is for torque and gearing - to power up a train with Diesel alone would require many, many gears and converting to electricity avoids that. So essentially the convert-to-electricity-and-run-an-electric-motor process, which loses some energy, is the equivalent of an automatic super-transmission.

I've wondered if they could do the same for a electic/regenerative braking bike.

The Copenhagen Wheel appears to be a single gear unless there is interal hub geearing.

I hope regenerative braking does start working on bike - I'm aging more rapidly than the Pittsburgh hills are eroding.

Mick

it looks more like a gimmick than anything practically useful, but I'd be happy to be proven wrong... the prospect of storing up enough energy to get up Negley is certainly appealing

the phone integration makes no sense, why exactly does the wheel need to be involved in any of that? i can already capture and upload gps tracks on my android if the mood strikes me.

i still think that the technology that has helped the cycling cause more than any other tech is the the LED

This page says it incorporates a 3-speed internal hub gear. The Bluetooth interface lets you use your smartphone to "unlock and lock your bike, change gears, select how much the motor assists you and for viewing relevant real-time information".

So I guess without a smart phone, you can't change gears (or unlock your bike, for that matter). Better make sure your cell phone's fully charged.

now, you guys are way more bike savvy than I

I would really like to get some sort of e assist for my bike (so I can make my biweekly trek from SouthSide to Mckeesport by bike). My bike is the Yuba Cargo bike, which i'm sure you know, I talk about it enough : ), which has thick tires with practically a million spokes to hold up all my cargo. Is a hub motor of this type (not particular this one, it just got me thinking) an option for my bike? It looks like the hub is connected to the tire, and you change the tire. I don't think I can change this tire.

So, my question, after all that, is how does this thing go on your bike.

i think xtra cycle makes some sort of assist for long bikes

The Practical Pedal did a review of at least one e-assist system last year.

I am, however, too lazy to find it.

This page says it incorporates a 3-speed internal hub gear.

3-speeds are great for people who live where it's flat.