For those that haven't seen it yet. The Copenhagen wheel.


https://www.wbur.org/2013/12/18/cambr...penhagen-wheel

Hopefully not on the CCRT!

Scott

That wheel costs the same as a few months worth of parking in Boston. Sounds like a good deal when you look at it that way.

Looks a bit "black box" to me. But I am a skeptical guy. This would be a concept that I would have to ride with to consider it a product.
It does have the advantage of being red, and red is always fast.

It may cause more people to sit on a bike saddle while being propelled along by power not their own. Don't know that it will cause more more people to engage on what most of us would call cycling.

If they've developed battery technology to get any significant distance out of batteries small enough to be tucked into that device, that will be much more significant than the wheel. My guess is they haven't and the range on this thing will be pretty short.

Stylish**********? Maybe if I plastered Campy stickers all over it...

Wonder if they have a non hipster version? (multi speed)

I'm wondering how big, or small, the motor must be to fit in that red flying saucer. Doubt if it can provide much "oomph". Maybe enough to keep the bike rolling along at an achieved inertia on flat ground from peddling.

They need to make a black one.

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Speed limited to 20MPH?
They need to rename it the "Nanny wheel".

Heh. Maybe they could incorporate an electric shock generator which feeds a "reminder" up into the saddle if you exceed the speed limit.

"track your data and share with friends"...yeah, right..."friends".
Aside from that, the rest of it all looks like an elaborate internet hoax, but that's just little old cynical me.

I mean, I scoffed at the Segway being the big breakthrough to personal transportation problems and just look at it now: small hordes of tourists in cluster-umm...rides...with fanny packs. It has obviously fulfilled all its promise and then some.

I predict a similar bright future for this Cope-n-wagon Whee.

+1 don't think the tech is real or all there yet. For this thing to work these yahoo garage mechanics would have to have cracked perfected battery technology in fairly short time that nearly every major tech company in the world has been working on for 30 years without success.

Also wasn't this a bad plot from one of the later seasons of the TV show "Weeds".

I think the technology is pretty close. I've ridden the Specialized system (Specialized Turbo). It uses a downtube, replaceable Nimh battery which my son figures is getting about 25-30 miles on a charge. What is very clever and hard to describe without riding it is how well it works. There is no throttle. You set a max assist level and then it only adds power as you add torque and rpm - it feels very natural and smooth - literally as though your legs are 2-3 times more powerful than they actually are. So you coast and it coasts, you add rpm and it adds power, etc. If you are used to MTB hydraulic brakes the braking is very smooth and also pretty strong.

OK, I'm off base to think this is a hoax, it's apparently real...or at least as real as Facebook.

I will dial back my cynicism to "borderline" prior to actually riding one.

I will not use the iPhone app.

I'm thinking, so if the wheel is spinning it is charging, so you need to overcome the drag of the generator to go forward… then need the motor to assist you in keeping going at a pace… up to 20 mph.
What happens above 20 mph, say on a descent? Regenerative braking? A bit to perpetual motion machine to me until I ride one.

I believe it is real. I heard a segment of 'news' on it on NPR's 'Here and Now' program. At any rate, not to say this device is any good, gizmos of this kind have been around for a while. An alternate take on the same idea, called the "stoke monkey," was on the market a few years ago, temporarily withdrawn because it had some problems.

I'd want to look at the mechanics of this one (not the electronics, which I wouldn't understand anyway) before making any pronouncements, but it must have some kind of reactor arm and I wonder if it has some kind of IGH mechanism. As I understand it, it is not for lazy people who want to sit and not pedal. It does not replace the power you put into the pedals, but merely adds to it. It definitely has some regenerative braking; you backpedal to engage that. I don't know what it does at speeds over 20mph but am under the impression that it would merely cease adding to your power at that point. If you're in the habit of riding at 20 mph this won't slow you down; but it will let you maintain your speed on hills where you would otherwise slow down considerably.

I'm certainly intrigued. Not for myself, per se, but I do think it has potential. I live in a comparatively affluent, bicycle-friendly and environmentally-conscious town, and I see a lot of e-bikes, cargo bikes, and such. Most commuters, especially those with kids in tow, don't want to lug their child/gear/groceries/etc. very far or up an incline. Some of those e-bikes are very expensive ($3k or more), so I definitely think this would be a nice alternative in a growing market. Too bad about the speed limit, though.

You still have to pedal. That is most people's main objection to biking. Followed closely to being exposed the dangers of riding in traffic and being exposed to the elements. If it is real, it may have a small market but certainly not a game changer, IMHO.

The speed limit isn't unique to this bike/wheel -- I believe every e-bike sold in the US is legally required not to provide "boost" over 20 MPH. One is still free to pedal (or coast) the bike over 20 MPH.

As someone who enjoys riding hard and getting a workout, it's hard not to look down my nose at e-bikes and the people who ride them as being lazy slobs who should just go the rest of the way and buy a moped. But I'm trying... these bikes serve a niche for people who have physical limitations, or who want to ride a little farther or maintain a little faster minimum speed on their way to work or the grocery store or what have you. And it may indeed get people on bicycles who want to ride "leisurely", but at a faster clip. The Copenhagen Wheel is getting discussed all over the place and looks like it may be a feasible solution. To answer a question from earlier in the thread, there is support for multiple speeds, but I don't know if that involves a freewheel or a special hub.

At any rate, I stay out of the Electric Bikes forum, lest I troll it.

Kinda takes the term "dork disc" to a whole new level.

I'm inclined to think the rear wheel weighing several times more than a normal wheel will indeed slow you down above twenty if you are a fast rider. even if the mechanism itself gives no drag there, the weight will. at least upon acceleration.

I was working at a start-up this year on e-bike share program prototypes, and off-road gov't contract prototypes.
The article makes claims, and has left out some details of this wheel. It's been announced in Europe a while ago.
Power: from my development mule, it takes 800W from a hub motor to reached that max speed with a 48V pack.
20 mph is the max speed mandated by the Federal government for e-bikes used on public roads.
IIRC, this wheel is supposed to be recharged by the rider's input and when descending, relieving the need to plug it in. It's meant to give assist, but you still must pedal.
I think that may be a good thing to not make the rider 'lazy' and lose the benefit of cycling.
The range is limited, based on the restricted volume of the wheel, battery capacity isn't much.

It'll sell, because people will think it looks cool.