In via email: It's not exactly a flying car, but it's still way futuristic-looking. Kinda like if Batman had a Segway.
Still, it's stupid expensive for something that's too slow for the street and too motorized for the Monon Trail. Do want, but only in a very abstract gadget-lust sort of way.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
29 comments:
WTH is the green vapor it's farting?
;-)
Gad, that's an annoying ad. 45 seconds before you get a fleeting look at the thing, which is probably for the best because my subsequent reaction was "wouldn't be seen dead on that." After which I gave up because the wind's blowing and my satellite connection isn't liking video.
Segways actually manage to be less dorky than ... what appears to be a backwards tricycle.
Much rather have a folding mountian bike on the boat or in the back of the van. Segway was ban enough but thats just tooo dorky
Bruce
Crankyoldmanwithgun@yahoo.com
3,500 EURO? That's, what, over FOUR GRAND?
You can buy a right nice little motorcycle for that much. Won't be as smug, but you can get on the highway with the damned thing.
I swear to Gaia if I see those around here I'm gonna bounce my towing mirror off the dork's helmet.
And then steal his lunch money...
Interesting little toy, but I'd like to see someone my size trying to ride it.
Dunno
Way less cumbersome (and technologically simpler) than a Segway, and I have to give them, pretty nifty engineering.
BUT approx $4,500 ?!
A little steep for something that can go 10km, only carries 220lbs/i person, no cargo
I like it, but I don't see the market niche.
Basically you have lots of money, can't park a cheaper (electric assist) bicycle safely where you go, and can't use / afford a small old used car, or public transit, and the weather isn't too grim.
Like Segways, a cool answer to a question that very few people care about.
If the price dropped 50%+ I could start seeing a market.
Yeah, hit the binders a little too hard on that puppy. Instant faceplant. No thanks.
Hank
A few years ago skateboards with weedeater motors attached were hassled out of any meaningful existence as alternative urban transpo.
The GoPed and its imitators combined easy operation with decent speed (up to twenty mph), economy (100 mpg), a price affordable for everybody ($400 or less), and folded up for carry as easy as a briefcase.
Not very PC though. Two-stroke motors made a little smoke, and they weren't the quietest contraptions; that and "safety" concerns were used to legislate them off the streets and sidewalks.
But a more suspicious mind might think the powers that be recognized that you can't get rich grippies on board unless batteries are involved, prices are in five digits, and functionality is umm, iffy. These GoPeds were being used by office workers, students and even being tricked out by afficionados of the more traditional skateboards; hard to get your palm greased for a few quid pro quo favorable ordinances from that group.
Let 'em keep that stand-up Prius; I'll take an old-school GoPed with the fat tires, diamondplate deck, , oversize carb jet, and expansion-chamber exhaust. I might be a gray-haired fatass, but philosophically and politically...I'm a "skater".
Al Terego
Those have popped up on a few pilot boards as a potentially easier solution for how to get from where you park your aircraft to where the food is. The compact and lightweight is pretty spiffy, the price isn't. Ah, well, that's what folding mountain bikes were made for.
I prefer the courtesy car instead...like the ex-popo sled at Athens, GA.
WV: umpated: what happens when you HK UMP breaks and they won't fix it.
"3,500 EURO? That's, what, over FOUR GRAND?"
It won't be that much after the crash.... but then again, the inventors will have been eaten shortly thereafter, so good luck getting one then....
For some reason, it reminds me of the Entity from South Park.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Entity_%28South_Park%29
Call me skeptical.
Mr Fixit
One "Yike" is from seeing the price. $4000? Yikes!
The next is from when you need to stop in a hurry. Angular momentum swings you around the axis of the front wheel and you do a face plant on concrete. Yikes!
No thanks. I'll keep my Trek.
Everyone here is complaining about the price. But for the Euro market it is a much cheaper and practical alternative to the car. Gas is about $8/gal over there and parking, insurance, commuting tax and CARBON tax make this a good idea for a large Euro-city, but not in USA, except maybe NYC.
Ooooh! I've always wanted a coal powered bicycle.
Heh. The original GoPed was actually the California GoPed. Like a lot of cool/crazy/commie stuff, they originated there. Now apparently they're banned there.
Here's a new-old-stock GoPed that sold for $325 on fleabay; note the disclaimer for shipping to Cali; where've we seen that before?
http://cgi.ebay.com/BRAND-NEW-GO-PED-X-PED-In-BLUE-WOW-GOPED-RARITY_W0QQitemZ250585110885QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item3a58095965
Anybody care to wager that its net pollution contribution is less than that $4K Yike?
Yet another object lesson for Alanis Morissette.
AT
As sources of pollution, these look to be almost as bad as hybrid cars, what with all the huge, choking clouds of smug they emit.
These guys might be saving the planet, but they're making the world a much worse place to live.
Can I get a Rokon?
With locking Kolpin gun case. I would love to chain that to a lamppost on 7th Ave. and 56th St.
Instant apoplexy to all the urbanites:-)
Liquid fuel still beats batteries, even for bikes.
Batteries are lousy for bikes, which are extremely weight sensitive.
The only coal-burning bike applications I've seen that make any sense are the various "assist" setups, like Trek's "Ride+ that use a motor to feed a selectable amount of assist to the rear wheel on a conventional bicycle.
It's a mini electro Penny Farthing!
I'm referring to plug-in hybrids as "coal-powered" from now on. Ought to make a few heads explode here at work.
It looks cooler folded than deployed. That fact alone should worry the manufacturer.
wv: stylo. What the Yikebike is not.
I WANT a nice penny-farthing. Now that would be cool, and even more eco-friendly. Not sure I could go with the tweed acorn cap, though
P.S---I've had this idea knocking around what passes for my brain, about a penny-farthing with a worm-gear in the hub, for added ease in climbing these damnable hills around here. Can anyone tell me if this has been done, or if it's even feasible?
B. Smith: I suspect that you could put a planetary gearbox in the hub, and get several gears for the hills.
Batman?
Why did I keep thinking of Mr. Bean?
Post a Comment