Here's an interesting one - Ford launching two e-bikes. They will certainly have some purchasing clout and engineering expertise, although precious little cycle experience that I know of.
Michael
Michael
Ford launches e-bikes
- Thread starter mfj197
- Start date
Why does my heart not leap with joy? Why am I not forming a neat orderly queue at my local Ford dealer's? Why ...Bet they will be fast like the Ford Transit.
Rusts so fast it fizzes in the rain!
Rusts so fast it fizzes in the rain!
I don't see the problem.
If they do hit the market place, and I hope that they will, the bikes have the potential to open up a new customer base of buyers that might otherwise not have ever thought about, or even known about e-bikes.
And also as they say, competition is always good.
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If they do hit the market place, and I hope that they will, the bikes have the potential to open up a new customer base of buyers that might otherwise not have ever thought about, or even known about e-bikes.
And also as they say, competition is always good.
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You can repair Alloy wheels, the car industry has been doing it for years. I'd expect though you'd get less damage on a bicycle as the whole thing is lighter then a car.
I think the ratio of width to diameter would be a problem too, most bikes using 26" or larger wheel sizes. To be strong enough the weight would be high. Also it would split the market, only disc brake bikes could use alloy wheels unless the rim walls were expensively ceramic coated.
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It's just the auto industry wanting to appear as having green credentials but they won't make them,just concept marketing.
Am I allowed to say that I found them ugly in appearance but I like e-bikes to still look like bicycles.
The most interesting of the auto manufacturer e-bike concepts was that presented by VW a few years back. It had a very clever fold that enveloped into a diameter no greater than the wheel diameter and no fatter than 2 wheel rim thicknesses. The fold was very clever,it fitted into the spare wheel well of many cars.
That VW design was not a true pedelecs,from memory it was throttle only operation so not legal. I wanted to take the fold concept and add in frame circular batteries and a proper bottom bracket...it could be done with the design and manufacturing clout of a major manufacturer,a small business such as Kudos would have to make too many compromises to select standard parts and that would spoil the overal design.
But it needs to be cheap,say less than £1k,then it ,or maybe a pair,could be sold onto the option list of a £20k auto. All the releases from such as BMW are just badge engineered clones and expensive.
Perhaps someone like Dyson should have a go.
KudosDave
Am I allowed to say that I found them ugly in appearance but I like e-bikes to still look like bicycles.
The most interesting of the auto manufacturer e-bike concepts was that presented by VW a few years back. It had a very clever fold that enveloped into a diameter no greater than the wheel diameter and no fatter than 2 wheel rim thicknesses. The fold was very clever,it fitted into the spare wheel well of many cars.
That VW design was not a true pedelecs,from memory it was throttle only operation so not legal. I wanted to take the fold concept and add in frame circular batteries and a proper bottom bracket...it could be done with the design and manufacturing clout of a major manufacturer,a small business such as Kudos would have to make too many compromises to select standard parts and that would spoil the overal design.
But it needs to be cheap,say less than £1k,then it ,or maybe a pair,could be sold onto the option list of a £20k auto. All the releases from such as BMW are just badge engineered clones and expensive.
Perhaps someone like Dyson should have a go.
KudosDave
I think they look strange. The small one called MODE, what on earth? it looks like my 7 year old granddaughter's electric scooter.
I don't think we can look to car companies for better ebikes. I think cycle companies will be the drivers of ebikes.
I don't think we can look to car companies for better ebikes. I think cycle companies will be the drivers of ebikes.
The traditional cycle companies have tiny - if any - research and development budgets, and they certainly won't spend it on the small niche market of ebikes.
We need to look elsewhere if we want genuine technological development and innovation.
Ford is a possibility, and it matters not if their motives are just to tick a green box.
Like Kudos Dave, I wonder if the Ford ebikes will ever be built in any quantity.
But the blue oval tends to be rather good at what it does, so I hope they will have a genuine run at developing this project.
We need to look elsewhere if we want genuine technological development and innovation.
Ford is a possibility, and it matters not if their motives are just to tick a green box.
Like Kudos Dave, I wonder if the Ford ebikes will ever be built in any quantity.
But the blue oval tends to be rather good at what it does, so I hope they will have a genuine run at developing this project.
D
Deleted member 4366
Guest
Back in the seventies, Honda gave you a free Honda P50 moped with their cars. The P50 was the petrol equivalent of those Ford bikes - in simple words, 'kin useless. Maybe Ford has a similar idea to give those bikes free with their cars - woopee!
I'm confident it won't happen, the nature of the announcement bears all the hallmarks of previous introductions by the car companies. It's usually their token way of appearing to have green credentials to help offset all the criticism that they get.
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