LiIon update for the Blade electric motorcross

[kraeuterbutter]

well..
this as an onroad-version (should come this year)
would be a great inner-city-bike i think..

4sec to go from 0-30mph
topspeed at 40mph

for the update:
the 16.8Ah 48Volt battery is now replaced by an
LiIon
50Ah and 60Volt battery

has anybody driven a Blade sofar in real-life here in the forums ?

 

[flecc]

Maybe, but it's just a motorbike, high weight, needing registration, insurance, crash helmet etc, so not in our electric bicycle area of interest.
.

 

[kraeuterbutter]

yes.. the big benefit for ebikes is that we can use it on bike-ways...
and here in vienna we have a lot of bike-ways !

for sure it shows us what is possible..
heavy: well, its lighter than a ICE-competitor in this class

 

[flecc]

Yes it certainly is a low weight by conventional motorbike standards, but our police would have a fit at one of those on a cyclepath!
.

 

[FatPete]

I have a 40meg video of the pre-production bikes back when they used sla's. I was really interested, right up untill I found out the wanted £3500 + shipping. And this was a few years ago. With Li ion, Bill Gates would need to sign the cheque.

 

[nigel]

Nigel

YUK
dont see the point in that if you were going down that road you might as well get a petrol engine NIGEL

 

[kraeuterbutter]

hmm.. is that realy so expensive ?

a highend biketec flyer F8 costs also 3750 Euro !
and thats a bike with 250Watt Motor..

an Optibike rated 400-600Watt costs between 5500 and 8000 US$

a Sweezbee costs around 3200 Euro
with 240Watt rated motor

so: if you want something special, it would costs something..

on the long run you can safe costs (gas vs. charge)
they have a calculation on the website:
when you use it 5-6hour per week (consider: 30min to work, 30min back)
you safe 1000-1400Euro compared to a ICE-bike of this size and power
beside its lighter as well

another thing: i would be possible to ride it every day at home behinde my house in the woods...
i think when doing this with a ICE-bike people would not be that happy..

so: is it a bike to be cheaper than with ICE-bike ?.. maybe not (charging is lot cheaper than fuel, less maintenance is needed than on ICE-bike BUT: batteries wear down too, and have to replaced some time, so that maybe equals out things)

at the end its maybe more expensive.. but its not always a question of price alone..

on the press-site they say:
Presse

... 1400euro safed on fuel/year...
anyway, the BLADE was not developed for economical reasons - anytime-anyplace is what blade is all about....

EDIT:
forgot to say:

we had a dirt-track here for 1 year in vienna area...
was closed after 1 year because of noise !
with electric blades it would most like be still open..

same thing for rc-hobby...
two tracks, both closed..
and one electric-only-track -> meanwhile also closed because - also it is forbidden - there were many driving nitro-cars
the noise was too much, city closed the track
so no track anymore in vienna because of noise

hopefully there come more of bikes like the blade..
price will go down... maybe not to the level of 1000Euro-Wallmart-Dirt-Bikes, but to a region that you realy can considere buying one

 

[flecc]

That's the difference kraeuterbutter, Vienna tried, but here in the UK, people who want to ride off road have almost no facilities at all, so nearly all their riding is illegal. Our police forces even buy trail bikes themselves for no other reason than pursuing the offenders.

Therefore, almost the only market for that sort of bike is the very low price petrol ones, with bikes costing from about £175 only! They are junk of course, but when they are confiscated and crushed, which is what our authorities do, it's not a disaster.
.

 

[kraeuterbutter]

??

there is no legal way for you to drive the bikes ?
unless i stay of the official streets - where is the problem ?
i mean: on my own ground at home (2 woods, some meadows around the house) the police can say nothing...

the problem is: i would not want to drive when i know, that my neighbours would not like to hear every second day the noise of a ice-bike...
for that, the electric would be cool..

maybe i have a different approach to that..
iam willing to spend 3000 Euro for an electric helicopter..
so i would also be willing to spend some money for such a bike..

to deepen this equation:
there are tousands of people buying junk-"rc-helicopters" from ebay for 40-100Euro
well.. they play 2-3 month with it, than it is broken and before they realy came in touch with the hobby they leave it anyway..
and then there are guys like me, who invest several thousands of Euro into rc-helis and the equidment..
doing the rc-hobby now for 20years, and iam addicted !
maybe there are more people that buy junk-helis than high-tec helis.. but still there are also some guys that invest 3k euro into an Acrobat Shark (f.example)...
at least enough people, that Stefan Plöchinger can live alone from selling this helicopter he builds in his workshop in his garage..

and that are the people which may be interested in the Blade..
people who buy 170Euro - 500Euro cheap Junk-Bikes..
they are not the audience
they would also not be the audience when the bike costs only 2000Euro

 

[flecc]

It's not allowed to ride in woods and meadows in Britain unless it's your own property, and sometimes not even then. The only possibilities are on professional facilities like commercial off road grounds, or on a very few tracks called Green Lanes. There are very few of either of these and most parts of Britain have neither. The few green lanes are mainly in northern Britain.

One if Britain's earliest vehicle laws at the beginning of the twentieth century was a ban on any motor vehicle going more than 15 feet (4.6 metres) from a public road without the land owner's express permission.

As for private land, very few of us have it. We have the smallest homes and land areas in the western world, by far. Even the few who have land are subject to laws controlling it's use and any nuisance caused to neighbouring properties.

Don't be surprised if you switch on the television one day and learn the British have committed mass suicide.
.

 

[kraeuterbutter]

well - "officially" its even not allowed to go with a normal bicycle through woods which do not belong to you..
(you can hurt yourself, and the owner of the woods can be liable for that)

but thats a law nobody cares about..

the same with bikes..
when i go with a loud, noisy ICE-bike ruining the ground by tyres i would more likely get problems, than with a quiet electric bike with strong, environmnet-friendly mountainbike-tires..

there is another bike aswell, maybe "FatPete" was mentioning this ?
http://www.electricross.com/

the basic bike costs 5500US$
thats less than a optibike costs..

at least: this you can´t do with an ICE-bike, (at least not when you are a women like ont he picture or NOT Arnold Schwarzenegger)

36kg light without batteries !!
(batts weight only 13kg)
so more power than a Honda CRF150, but MUCH MUCH less weight..
thats an argument besides of no load noise

 

[flecc]

Yes, I accept absolutely that they are good, but they'd still end up in the crusher here.

I'm surprised you are such a lawless lot in Austria! I thought you were very obedient like the Swiss, but it seems from what you say that you are really Italians in disguise! (Sorry Leonardo ). Here we have lots of people who resent the laws and ride the bikes in the country anyway, but with our lack of space they do a lot of damage. Here the main space they invade is a nature reserve for example.

They do get caught and some of our local youngsters had just had their bikes crushed, but since they were the very cheap ones, they don't much care and will be in the saddle again in the Summer holidays.
.

 

[kraeuterbutter]

'm surprised you are such a lawless lot in Austria! I thought you were very obedient like the Swiss,

well.. drive on a highway in Austria.. there is everywere 100km/h max. or 130km/h max..

nevertheless when i drive home with my VW Polo (which rarley runs 150km/h) iam all the time overtaken by other cars...
some running 180km/h and more
nearly nobody running only 130km/h

then go to swiss and compare that !
they are very disciplinated drivers..

have never driven a car in England for my self.. just noticed that all English people seem to be drunk, not knowing difference between right and left...

for police and beeing caught:
in my region is only 1 police station with 3-4 police-officers..
there are two positions where they check cars for speed (using this two positions i think for 20years at least now)
so: i have not seen any policeman in my little village since they closed the police-station 5 years ago...

so even running a 500ccm bike would not cause me getting arrested and my bike crushed..
but: the less i put attraction on me, the less it he risk that somebody would say something
iam driving moutainbike in my area for 20years now, do hoursbackriding for 5years .. never had a problem..

 

[flecc]

just noticed that all English people seem to be drunk, not knowing difference between right and left...

Just to clear up this common misunderstanding. In England we drive on the right side, but most of the world drives on the wrong side.

It sounds good where you are, plenty of freedom. In England we also never have police at times, but that's when we want them. It's only when we don't want them that they turn up, usually to enforce the latest politically driven order for our further loss of freedom. The latest is that we must not smoke in any public venue. I don't smoke anyway, but sympathise with those who do.

You'll gather that I'm a bit of an anarchist.
.

 

[kraeuterbutter]

In England we drive on the right side, but most of the world drives on the wrong side.

i thought you drive on the left side..
(funny, you have one word for right and right *gg*
ok.. we say "rechts" for driving on right side and "recht" for beeing correct, so also not that much difference)

here the place were i would ride such a bike (without autority problems, because there is no autority)
http://www.kraeuterbutter.at/Bilder2/Acrobat10/Weizenfeld_fuer_Autorotation/Weizenfeldpanorama_klein.jpg
thats fotographed from my terrace

and here 200m behind my house (you see the house were "hier wohne ich" is printed)
http://www.kraeuterbutter.at/Bilder2/sonstiges/Flugfeld_Hang_Acrobat10.jpg
the wood belongs to me.. some of the grass land as well

so driving here with a ICE-bike --> you would hear it all over the village.. when i do it every day 30min-1h i think it MIGHT happen, that somebody says: shut up
with an electric bike nobody would be offended


(normaly there are no cars.. but 3 days a year there is a big event (over 1000 people coming all over the country (ok.. from the next villages )
and see how we separated the wheat from the chaff 50 years ago (by hand),
drink must, and eat a lot...)

and this kind of landscape (with the hills) goes on and on and on for many many hills..
(called "neuhaus rolling country")
i like bicycling here very much..
when i first time took my girlfriend with me, she told me: NEVER EVER AGAIN (with a red head)

 

[flecc]

You lucky man! Very few people in this country have space like that, and in the crowded South East where I live, mostly just the multi millionaires.
.

 

[coops]

have never driven a car in England for my self.. just noticed that all English people seem to be drunk, not knowing difference between right and left...

Hahaha! Touché kb! Thats the funniest thing I've read for a long time!

I don't drink alcohol, but I sympathise with those who do .

I think I have anarchic tendencies .

I don't smoke anyway, but sympathise with those who do.

You'll gather that I'm a bit of an anarchist.

Stuart.

 

[kraeuterbutter]

@flecc:
indeed, its realy nice here..
no big city in the surroundings (ok, one about 25km away with 4000 people living in it the next bigger city with 200.000 people is nearly 100km away )..
even the airport (vienna, schwechat) is about 200km away, and there seems to be no flight-corridor over our region, so there is absolut no noise of airplanes..
(also when flying 10km high you "hear" them (of cousre no noise but you hear them, and i find this annoying when you are in the nature, enjoying mother natures sound and silence and than you here in 30.000feet hight a plane)

so like it a lot at home... even when iam on a moutain in the alps, you often here more noise from the village of the bottom of the mountain (noise works itselfs up the mountains) than when iam at home..

for smoking: i don´t smoke..
i think it should not be forbidden..
but there should not be rooms in restaurants for people that do not smoke,
BUT there should be rooms for people that do smoke..

its like: i would nobody disturbe when NOT smoking...
but when iam eating and on the neighbour-table 3 guys are smoking i do not like that..
so for me: you have as many rights as long as you do not cut the rights of somebody else..
and when iam disturbed by the smoke its cutting my rights..
so: i think, they should make spaces FOR the smokers... and not other way round - some spaces in the dark area of the restaurants for the kill-joys who do not smoke..

my opinion

problem is, that smokers do not realize how disturbing smoke can be..
(specially when there are more than 1 smoker at once)

so.. its seems: we are 3 non-smokers, but nevertheless it stands 2:1