the idea behind it is that it can get you going again after you have stopped. it would only really be suited to cycling in a city where you would be stopping alot.

at the moment it does not provide much acceleration (can get you going to a speed of 5km/h), but as you said, it is a start...

after testing it and analysing the results we have realised that a lighter flywheel spinning faster would be more beneficial as the speed has more effect on the energy of the flywheel than the weight does.
at the moment it has a 15kg flywheel with approx 7.5:1 gear ratio from the rear wheel. this means that when you engage the flywheel at 30km/h, the bike will slow to 17km/h and the flywheel accelerates from 0 to 1000rpm. by increasing the gear ratio (therefore increasing the inertia of the flywheel) the bike will slow down more and the flywheel will spin faster storing more energy.

We have found that the bike can re-gain up to 12% of its initial kinetic energy.
With re-designing the flywheel we could increase this to perhaps 20% and it would be more worthwhile overall.

Thanks for the comments and yes, the spinning disc between my legs makes me nervous to!! safety bar in that area would also be part of future development.