ErockIT, the 50mph pedal-powered bike

[subversplat]

At £2k it will be directly competitive with other commuter cycles such as the Honda CBF125, Yamaha YBR125, Vespas and Piaggios, et and cetera. Quality used vehicles will run around £700 to £1500.

You can hardly call commuter motorcycles "planet raping" "indulgent toys", can you?

 

[Cobbles]

At £2k it will be directly competitive with other commuter cycles such as the Honda CBF125, Yamaha YBR125, Vespas and Piaggios, et and cetera. Quality used vehicles will run around £700 to £1500.

You can hardly call commuter motorcycles "planet raping" "indulgent toys", can you?

2K for a designer leccy moped that'll only do 50mph so that you need another vehicle for anything other than posing around with a messenger bag!

Mind you, nobody's ever going to expand this niche (unless they ditch the pointless pedals and just make it a Duracell bike) so it'll remain a 30K wankfest........

 

[T & P]

In preference to a nice second hand car with a roof, ability to cart home a week's shopping etc. At 2 grand, it's still just an indulgent toy and therefore more planet raping than pretty much anything else.........

You are quite mad, or deliberately obtuse.

Have you heard of the word 'commutting'? Look it up in a dictionary. It might make you understand.

 

[Cobbles]

You are quite mad, or deliberately obtuse.

Have you heard of the word 'commutting'? Look it up in a dictionary. It might make you understand.

Apart from Lunnun which has public transport subsidised by all of the UK's taxpayers, most other cities rely on cars for the daily commuting grind.

 

[stupid dogbot]

Apart from Lunnun which has public transport subsidised by all of the UK's taxpayers, most other cities rely on cars for the daily commuting grind.

Do any of them have crippling traffic problems, by any chance?

Ah, yes.

 

[London_Calling]

It's fantastic!

One of the really big companies could buy this and build production lines, preferably German companies. Get that price down quicker.

 

[London_Calling]

Apart from Lunnun which has public transport subsidised by all of the UK's taxpayers, most other cities rely on cars for the daily commuting grind.

Taxation generated in London subsidises the whole country.

 

[T & P]

Apart from Lunnun which has public transport subsidised by all of the UK's taxpayers, most other cities rely on cars for the daily commuting grind.

Well I'd say if we can get only half of people who drive into London from the suburbia out of their cars and into one of this, the bike would be worth its weight in gold as far as quality of life for Londoners is concerned.

Ditto to countless towns and cities across the land, both in the UK and abroad, that see heavy car commutting traffic within a relatively small radius.

I really don't get you; instead of holding such hostile position towards this bike it you should be happy about it and hopeful that it goes into mass production and is affordible, should you not? That would mean urban roads would become less congested for you.

Why do you have to view everything as such a threat? If everybody shared your unconditional love of the car for all situations, even those when the car is ill suited for the job (such as, er, commutting into busy town and city centres), then cities and towns would simply be no-go areas for cars due to the permanent 24/7/365 gridlock they'd endure.

 

[ViolentPanda]

Apart from Lunnun which has public transport subsidised by all of the UK's taxpayers, most other cities rely on cars for the daily commuting grind.

That'll be news to all the subsidised private bus and train companies that provide public transport in "most other cities".

 

[ViolentPanda]

Why do you have to view everything as such a threat? If everybody shared your unconditional love of the car for all situations, even those when the car is ill suited for the job (such as, er, commutting into busy town and city centres), then cities and towns would simply be no-go areas for cars due to the permanent 24/7/365 gridlock they'd endure.

Small penis syndrome, that's why.

 

[Hocus Eye.]

I have thought of a useful adaptation for these bikes. They could be used as rickshaws to augment the bus and tube services.

 

[gentlegreen]

I may have to trot out once more my cautionary tale of my car-loving colleague whose early retirement was tragically short-lived.

Very few people can afford not to cycle - unless they're into living fast and dying young.

And it's fun.

 

[elbows]

Thinking about it, I'm pretty sure you would need a motobike licence for this- I think the limit for power assisted machines is a not-very-fast 15mph!

Yep, 15mph, 200 watt motor & weight less than 40kg is the max for uk legal road use without license, helmet, number plate, tax, insurance. Tricycles and tandems can have a 250 watt motor and weigh up to 60kg.

I think its fair enough to need a license for anything that goes at a reasonable speed.

 

[Cobbles]

Well I'd say if we can get only half of people who drive into London from the suburbia out of their cars and into one of this,

That's the problem - you don't get "into" this, it's just a bike with a battery.

Great in Aberdeen in November.......

 

[XR75]

Yep, 15mph, 200 watt motor & weight less than 40kg is the max for uk legal road use without license, helmet, number plate, tax, insurance. Tricycles and tandems can have a 250 watt motor and weigh up to 60kg.

I think its fair enough to need a license for anything that goes at a reasonable speed.

I'm sure any fit person on a road bike will be going faster than that.

It should be at least 25mph with enough torque to go uphill at that speed.

 

[stavros]

Ah, so that's what David Gower does these days.

 

[8ball]

They're not necessarily going to be so expensive for ever.

It would be nice to have a fairly normal bike with a variable 'boost' function if they could make the technology more streamlined.