Clip-on motor to turn a bike into an ebike

boing
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Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2021/01/06/clip-on-motor-to-turn-a-bike-into-an-ebike.html

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Seven pounds hanging out mostly high in front of the front axle? What will that do to stability on downhill rides? No, thank you.

Do all these inventors live in almost entirely flat country with no snow or rain on the streets?

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Stability will be a problem on level ground as well. This will change the bike’s handling considerably, unless it’s a bike that was designed to have a weight cantilevered out front, like some cargo bikes.

This will chew through tires very quickly, and will probably create weird vibrations on tires with knobby treads.

Also, 10-15 miles range is not great. Although with a 40-minute claimed charge time, you might be able to get away with frequent charging.

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In 1996 something similar was made in France, except was using a 2 stroke engine: the Velosolex 3800

Unfortunatel now the brand was bought and used to make some “regular” e-bikes.

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The practicality of a front wheel drive not connected to your pedaling or braking seems very limited. As in if you have one extended climb as part of your commute, you could attach this at the bottom and remove it at the top and it would make the climb easier. In any other scenario I can’t imagine wanting this on my bike.

And that scenario is iffy. As already pointed out above it would mess up the treads and shorten the life of your front tire

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The Whizzer bicycle engine goes back to 1939 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whizzer_(motorcycles)

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What a confusing image. I guess they’re contrasting the middle bulky rental e-bike with two of their more minimal solution flanking it, but the composition makes the motor on the left bike bleed into the housing of the middle bike. Very poor product shot.

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I’m a fan of electrifying all forms of movement smaller than a car

That’s a curious thing to say. What about car sized or larger?

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One of these is more elegant, even if it requires swapping wheels should one want to return to a lighter electricity-free ride.

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