Jay Leno
Posted by Stijn | Filed under abroad, celebrities
Jay Leno is a cool dude! We all know that Jay Leno has a garage full of cars and motorcycles. But I was surprised to find this clip on the internet where he is telling about this electric bicycle!
Tags: blacktrail, electric bike, jay leno
The Copenhagen Wheel Project
Posted by Stijn | Filed under abroad, design
Notice the red smartie in the back wheel of this bicycle? It transforms ordinary bicycles quickly into hybrid e-bikes and also functions as a mobile sensing unit. Excuse me? Indeed, the smartie captures the energy dissipated while cycling and braking and saves it for when you need a bit of a boost. But it also maps and tracks pollution levels, traffic congestion, and road conditions in real-time.
How? It’s controlled by your smart phone (like e.g. I-Phone). You can use it to unlock and lock your bike, change gears and select how much the motor assists you. As you cycle, the wheel’s sensing unit is also capturing your effort level and information about your surroundings, including road conditions, carbon monoxide, NOx, noise, ambient temperature and relative humidity.
Tags: copenhagen, design, electric bike, i-phone
Push the (red) button
Posted by Stefan | Filed under Brussels, test drive
What’s more fun than riding a bike? Testing a new, innovative bike – boys and their toys, I know. Thanks to EVstart we were able to take the brand new Gocycle out for a spin.
And here’s the twist: the Gocycle is an electric bicyle. Which means that you can ride this bike like any normal one, but when you push the red button, you’ll receive a boost that will keep you going strong without moving a leg muscle.
If you’re a cycling purist, you might consider that cheating. But unless racing is your game, it’s not. If anything, it might just convince the folks who are scared of breaking a sweat or long distances to leave the car aside. Plus, there are no emmissions involved, unlike a motorcycle.
The Gocycle is designed by Richard Thorpe, who in the past has worked for classy car brands like McLaren Cars, Bentley, Audi, Ferrari and Mercedes. And it shows. This bike, with its magnesium frame, looks sleek.
Some figures for the gear heads: the bike weighs 16kg and delivers a constant 250 Watt through a 9 Ah accumulator (charging time of 3 hours) to keep you going for 30 km. Pricetag? 1399 euro.
Riding the Gocycle as a normal bicycle actually feels pretty comfortable. The photo below is me giving it a typical big city run for its money. When riding in Brussels, a swift and manouvrable bike is of the essence. And though I wouldn’t wanna try and jump a side curb because of all the technique hidden in the frame, I must say this is one very flexible cruiser. Perfect for urban traffic.
And here’s my buddy D’Hauwers doing his urban thang.
Tags: Brussels, electric bike, gocycle, test drive
