Is this the game changer for commute riding?
>For 2,999 yuan (that's around $455) users get a bike that can assist the rider's pedaling for 45 kilometers on a single charge, and comes with a companion app that logs your distance, speed, GPS location, calories burned, and more. The QiCycle also has Shimano three-speed gears, folds down into a (relatively) compact package that weighs 14.5 kilograms, and has front and rear lights built into its frame.
http://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2016/6/23/12011786/xiaomis-foldable-electric-bicycle
e-bikes are already a thing. they're basically ostracized from bike communities though because they're lazy fat fucks who consider bicycle riding a kind of punishment to be endured in exchange for being "healthy", except actually using their legs to pedal is too traumatic to them so they think they can ease themselves in by getting an e-bike to test the waters.
anywhere that actually doesn't suck bans their use and possession, although enforcement is spotty.
>>971907
Counterpoint: physically disabled people.
>anywhere that actually doesn't suck bans their use and possession, although enforcement is spotty.
wot
In the EU and straya there are standards for up to 200 W / 250 W depending on how the assist works.
>>971904
because when i think "safe and reliable" i think "chinese"
its like you've never good stuff, then harbor freight stuff.
>>971904
Impressive price. I don't understand cagers. If everyone got e bikes the world would be such a better place.
I honestly think they are just lazy fucks.
Even with the battery power these cagers are too sensitive to stand the hot, cold, wind, lack of a soft ride, having to balance or contribute any amount of muscle power etc. They are truly subhuman.
>>971908
>physically disabled
Sure, if your spine is broken or some such thing, I'm ok with this
I don't consider being obese and lazy a disability. That's the target market for these things, though. Not the legitimately disabled.
>>971912
>Impressive price. I don't understand cagers. If everyone got e bikes the world would be such a better place.
It's cute that you're trying to talk like the cyclists you read about on the internet, but please, just fuck off to /o/ with your fat people "solutions". No one is fooled just because you used the word "cager" for someone who has a different opinion than you.
>>971915
>In 2014, The European Court of Justice ruled that morbid obesity is a disability.
Although I don't disagree with you.
>>971916
SHUT UP FAGGOT I AM NOT A CAGER I HATE HAVING TO SHARE THE ROAD WITH THOSE CUNTS
>>971915
>I don't consider being obese and lazy a disability. That's the target market for these things, though. Not the legitimately disabled.
Not everyone is going to be perfectly fit and energetic all the time. It doesn't matter why they need the motor if they are commuting rather than competing for strava times, it's better than a cager.
>>971919
>ot everyone is going to be perfectly fit and energetic all the time.
Spoken like a fat fuck who has to be "in the mood" to get out of his fat chair and fetch some diet dr. pepper from the fridge
In cities where people ride and walk everywhere, nobody complains that "what do you mean my electric fatty fat scooter can't fit on the stairs, not everyone can be an olympic athlete lmao"
If you actually used your body sometimes you might find you won't feel so fucking lethargic and depressed all the time
>if they are commuting rather than competing for strava times, it's better than a cager.
No, it's actually it's worse because you don't have any bike control skills and you're zooming around at speeds that in the cycling world are only seen when descending Ventoux. At least in your cage you've got your years of cager experience helping you.
Feel free to take the bus if you want to take a cage off the road, you'll find they have all the advantages of your 2 wheel mobility scooter, plus you can watch Oprah on your tablet instead of the boring task of pretending to be paying attention to your surroundings
Xiaomi makes great products but $450 for an electric bike seems dodgy. Also from the image, it looks like it doesn't fold at the top/down? tube. I'm guessing only the handlebars and rear wheel are foldable, still a great price for a working e-assist bike.
I think sales of these are going to be slow, besides any issues with the bike itself, many folks are going to be wary of buying anything with cheap Chinese batteries after the recent problems with flammable hoverboards.
I want a flammable hoverboard- do these exist?
>>971924
It looks like you pull the seat out, the rear wheel/chainstays fold up over the top tube, and then the handlebars/headset fold down. Seems like you MIGHT be able to use the front wheel as a roller so you dont have to carry the thing though
>>971910
This isn't 2000 anymore. iPhones are made in China and they are branded as the most reliable phone.
>>971922
Says the nordic cunt who never had to live in a country with 35 C summer averages where if you pedal to work you're drenched in your suit.
>>971980
>not bringing a change of clothes in your panniers
>not showering before work
Spoken like a gross neckbeard with no hygiene
>>971927
xiaomi isn't like other chink shit, it's some of the best chink shit you can get.
>>971945
Well, that was my plan.
>buying anything from China
![9Wtg9ti[1].png](https://i.imgur.com/GINc98i.png "9Wtg9ti[1].png")
>>971907
God post
Here (Dutchlands)e-bikes are mainly sold to elderly fucks who think cycling is so exhausting because they ride their crappy gazelle brand pos with deflated poo-in-loo noslar tires at 2 bar while it 8th gear(nexus 8)with a cadence of 30.
>>972023
e-bikes = no survivors
>>971979
>
>>971907
I live in a hilly area and cycling is a fucking chore. I can't get anywhere with out ending up sweaty and taking too much time.
Ebike lets me get up the dozens of fucking hills with out a Tour de France effort.
Deliver people in cities use e-bikes and they're awesome
If you have a massive commute, like 25+ miles, and want to live a life outside of cycling, an e-bike is a cool option
But the conversion kits out there give you better options and are cooler than a $450 china bike
I had a 30 mile commute, but the highway sucked so bad I could get there on an e-bike faster than a car. I almost bit the bullet and built a ridiculous aero e-bike but I quit before I was forced to do that
>>971907
isn't most ebikes sorta a handicap when you're actually pedaling on flat ground because of the extra mass? not sure how assisted pedaling works, but ideally it eases climbs?
14.5kg isn't bad honestly.
i think it'd be neat if there were ones which charged as you pedaled, but I doubt it'd be efficient at all.
>>972124
On flat ground weight doesn't matter too much, between my 24kg e-bike and 12kg unassisted bike there's like 2-4mphmph difference for a similar effort, the electric bike also being full suspension and having much fatter and lower pressure tyres.
Being so light (mine is pretty light for what it is and still 10kg heavier) and having small wheels should mean that thing will climb and accelerate pretty well even if it's a road legal 250w, it just won't be very fast also due to the small wheels and probably low geared IGH.
> think it'd be neat if there were ones which charged as you pedaled, but I doubt it'd be efficient at all.
It's always going to be less than 100% efficient, which means you're putting out more energy than you're getting back. Combine that with the fact that the motor also wastes a lot of energy as heat and there'd be absolutely no reason not to just drive the bike with pedal power.
>>972126
yeah you're probably right on self-charging.
curious how it'd handle cornering downhill, honestly doesn't seem like a bad urban bike. with battery tech advances I can see stuff like the R1--which is just a road bike with electric shifting and sensors built in--picking up too.
>>972126
You could benefit quite a bit from a regenerative breaking system though.
Instead of losing all of the energy you have put into getting up to speed every time you hit a traffic light you could store a good chunk of it and then use it to help get back up to speed.
Overall, yeah it would be more energy expended by you, but at a more constant pace
>>972317
If you've got regen braking (I do believe it's controller dependant and can be used with any motor) then by all means use it, it's basically free energy that would otherwise be wasted as heat. However it's not going to be a huge amount of energy due to the low speeds and weight, it's not like trying to slow down a Tesla.
The Verge doesn't know a damm thing about bicycles or the bike industry. That's a press release and nothing more.
And if you're going to get the corporate line, you might as well get a better quality one from the source.
http://en.miui.com/thread-298523-1-1.html
There's four glaringly obvious issues. First is the existing price of folding bicycles. Good quality folding bicycles are already very close to that price point, even without the electronics. Folding bikes are so hard to do right that even BD won't touch them, and they'll do pretty much anything.
Second, it's made from CF, and the batteries are stored in the frame tube. Look at where CF prices are on folding bicycles. Also, high heat does bad things to CF epoxies.
Third. Their launch method is effectively a kickstarter. And there's no video or prototypes. Even OP's pic is of a 3d model.
Fourth, if there were an initiative like this that I expected to be successful, it would be a direct corner cutting clone of an already existing functioning e-folder, like the ones from Dahon, as already exist on Alibaba.
>>972124
Weight is primarily an issue with accelerating and agility.
>>971980
I'm drenched even after commuting in a comfy Nordic 15 °C summer morning. However as I'm a civilized person I don't ride in the clothes I wear at the office and take a shower after arriving to work.
>>972455
I'm sweaty when I get to work in January in New England, but that's because I actually have some distance to travel and I don't see any value in spending 2 hours commuting just to avoid getting my heart rate up.
Also of course, shower and change of clothes. What is wrong with some people.
>>972510
I never suggested that your company would have a shower. I use the gym downstairs, a membership is worth the price for the shower alone, but they also have a great weight room so I don't end up looking like a skellington roadie despite riding more than most actual roadies.
>>972511
Good for you. However if showering isn't an option the best thing is to avoid getting sweaty in the first place.
>>972512
Do you live on Arrakis? Showering is always an option, pack one of these babies in your panniers if there's no gym.
>>972514
Not sure if you're being serious or not. There are many places of work that don't have showers in them, and taking a diversion to a gym can be inconvenient and add extra cost.
>>972516
As opposed to the diversion of fighting for a parking spot twice a day, and the cost of gas, maintenance, and insurance for your cage?
I bet you're one of those people who uses the word "accident" to refer to criminally negligent homicide.
>>972517
Or how about this, riding an electrically assisted bike? That's what this whole thread is actually about.
I don't drive, I don't have the money for a car. I cycle to work and thankfully it's a short enough commute that I usually don't get very sweaty, however I understand that not everyone is as lucky as me in that regard.
>>972517
>>972519
or you know, you could take public transportation to work.
Okay, so here's why I brought this up: I took a not a foldable, but a collapsible bike, which is very similar to what >>971945 said. In fact, you can check pic related, it's a scooter with pedals. Very light, but no gears so it's main use was assisting my commute AFTER the public transportation. This allowed me to not sweat as much I feared, and where I work at, the nearest gym is very expensive and not near at all.
Basically:
>ride to bus stop/subway
>collapse your bike, pull it next to you like a carriage
>get out of the public transport
>ride every distance in between
This works because in Turkey there are no bike routes and if you try to use the car road, cagers will kill you.
I bought this for about $80. It was exciting to see how much people were interested at me dragging the folded bike behind me in the subway.
>>971907
/thread
>>972542
That's a neat little contraption.
>you could take public transportation to work.
That's not always a good option. It could be inconvenient, add cost, add time, or simply not be an option at all.
>>972546
why should this thread be moved to >>>/o/15330406
a bike is a bike is a bike is it not?
>>971907
>if you don't wear lycra you can't bike waaaaa
>>971915
in germany , mostly old people use them.
I think it's great.
if i wanted to modify my non-chinese bionx battery would it be able to tell that i may have added say, another 10 or so amp-hours?
what sort of issues would i see with adding all that gross weight to its 350watt hub motor?
>>972908
I don't have any specific experience with Bionx stuff but I don't see why it wouldn't work.
Regarding the weight you're only adding about 3kg, not a lot for what is likely an already heavy bike and relative to the total weight of you and the bike it will have almost no effect in terms of motor performance. It will affect the handling of the bike however, dependant on where you place the battery. Also it's going to take up quite a bit of extra room.
if i wanted to build an electric assist with range in mind, say 200-300 kilometers would it be more effeciant to go for low speed high torque or just add as many batteries as the frame can hold?
where i live there is easily 15-20% grades for atleast 150 meters and i always see cyclists having to hop off and walk it in shame,even in thier lowest gear, even myself.
>>973237
>200-300 kilometers
If you're talking assisted range then that's never going to happen.
Actual usage range can vary drastically. For example you can have a bike setup with an assistance cutoff of say 15mph, if you only rode on reasonably flat ground then the motor would only be used for accelerating and the range would be massive (it's quite easy to maintain more than 15mph on flat ground). If you instead rode the same bike in a hilly area the motor would be used for both accelerating and climbing. If you increase the cutoff limit or remove it entirely then the motor will be used even more often or all the time, reducing range even more.
Regarding your question, more/larger batteries. Adding a second gets you double the assisted range, no motor is going to have double the efficiency of another. The practical limit for a regular bicycle is probably four batteries (one in the main triangle, one on a rear rack, and then two more on panniers) and you can expect to get about 40-52 Ah depending on voltage.
electric bikes are dangerous they could explode at any moment and should be banned from ownership except by trained police officers to chase after illegal electric bike owners because only a good guy with an electric bike can stop a bad guy with an electric bike because we know women cant operate electric anything. prove me wrong you cant because i find you offensive and feels>reals
>>971910
xiaomi is legit company but with the chinks its always you get what you pay for.
A 64 GB usb drive sold for the price a 512 MB drive is actually a 512 MB
Its a death Trap.
Seat too High
Handles too high
Frame too low
Sharp turn
under turn
hard break
misanticipate pedal assist
will all send you flying off the piece of shit.
>In chinese traffic, guys this is literally a eugenics operation DO NOT BUY
>>976994
>not knowing what a folding bike is
literally every folding bike has handlebars that can be adjusted on the fly. tern even has one with an adjustable stem.
