http://www.yikebike.com/
I dig the concept... thoughts?
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http://www.yikebike.com/
I dig the concept... thoughts?
I tink I'd yike it more if it were a pedal bike.
It looks uncomfortable, awkward, and slow. The guy riding it looks very uncomfortable, and wobbly. The show straight lines, not maneuvers that are often necessary.
More than anything else, there is a glitsy video carefully not showing the bike until the very end - and the point of the video seemed to be that people thought it looked funny.
Gosh, I must be in a bad mood this morning!
(oh, and I ride a recumbent, so maybe a we bit hypocritical this morning, too).
That's cool. It looks fun to ride, but I'm not sure how realistic it would be for transportation unless you're traveling solo and don't have to carry anything to work - no kids, no gear, no books, no laptop, no big purses. Maybe a backpack.
I wonder how heavy it is. It does look fun.
Roxy
Interesting. Kind of like a folding Segway.
I can see it's appeal, but it looks dangerous to me. I think it's the fact that if you hit something with the front wheel, there is nothing to prevent you from being pitched forward. One little curb or sidewalk heave and you could be flipped out into the middle of traffic!
It looks pretty unstable and dangerous to me too. Looks like you'd land right on your face if you had to suddenly brake.
Illegal to ride it on most city sidewalks....and if that guy were to pass lots of cars on the right in traffic, he's gonna get creamed. I can just see him slamming broadside into a cab running a red light in NYC. :eek:
Maybe they should have named it Yikes!. LOL If I wanted to avoid pedaling, I'd feel way safer on a scooter, which would get about 90 miles per gallon.
It's a cool 'concept', but maybe best for places with no cars or hills or bumps or.....
Sorry to jump on that's-a-stupid-bike bandwagon, but aside from what has already been said:
It weighs 21 lbs! (he makes it look like it weighs about 10!)
Its range is only 10k (6 miles)
Its carbon fiber (or parts are), but so what?
You can't even have the LBS service it (you have to pack it up and ship it off).
NOT a product ready for the market. I have no idea why Time would feature it as a great invention. Seems gimmicky.
Just watch: it'll totally take off and save the planet:rolleyes:
Apparently it weighs about 10kg...... whch is a lot to lugg about between uses !
It was designed by a Kiwi guy from Christchurch.......brave man to be riding that round the roads, particuarly Christchurch with it's boy racers problems.....
I think I'd have prefered it if it was pedal power too....
It's won quite a few awards
Yeah, I'd injure myself terribly, but it's an interesting concept. I support anything that gets people out of their cars. But dude could use a helmet!
I'm waiting for these to hit the market-
http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/b...atsJetpack.jpg
Hi Zen,
were you thinking of this man? I don't think quaker oats will do this.
jet man
Me, too. Part of my love of cycling is the exercise I don't get any other way.Quote:
Originally Posted by indigoiis
Deb
My first thought was "Wow, that's an uncomfortable position", followed by "That's really unstable". It looks like you'd go flying if you hit the slightest bump.
A little bit of un-comfort and danger actually make it sound even more fun to me.
Anything that cuts down on traffic is a fantastic idea.
If you fell you would be able to catch yourself easily. Like "falling" off of a chair.
I carry a backpack around all of the time that weighs more than the bike. Carry that up the stairs and you'd have yourself a nice workout!
The Yike looks unbalanced to me in much the same way as a Segway 'scooter'.
You have your hands on the handlebars and yes you'd think you could get your hands out fornt to break your fall easily, but that fast forward momentum on either the segway or the Yike would I think slam you forward pretty fast if you hit a bump. This is a rather upsetting clip of someone doing a fast faceplant on a segway while riding on an apparently smooth mall floor:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvWUWtA5jIA
I personally don't think falling forward off a fast moving Yike would be anything like falling off a chair. I imagine it would be more like getting thrown off a chair-catapult. :(
Riding on a normal bike is substantially different when doing a sudden stop- you have the advantage of having a large wheel in front of you that you can brace back against, and your center of gravity is well behind it. Of course people do get thrown forward off their bikes, but it just looks to me like you wouldn't be able to avoid falling forward at all on a yike if you do anything more drastic than a real gentle stop. You get a lot more leeway when stopping on a normal bicycle.
ummm well the concept is good. A foldy thing that rides around with no effort and lowers traffic too. Cooler then a segway.
Maybe throw some handlebars on there instead of that wierd under the seat steery thing... it does look like it would be very easy to flip, and even worse, your hands are behind you so you would be landing on your face, with no time to put your hands out to break your fall. ouch... With hands in front it would be a lot more stable looking and safer in case of fall. I guess it would kind of look like a big wheel, lol.
other then that it's kind of cool. I think handlebars would just about do it...