OK, it's not a bike, but it is electric... Bubble cars are back!

matthewslack

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sjpt

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Does it suffer the issue a teacher at school had? Drove into his garage right to the front. No reverse gear (*), and no room to open forward opening door.

(*) I think it was classified as a motor cycle.
 
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flecc

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Announced a long while ago at a too high £14,000, now at a ridiculous £22,000. the rather flimsy Microlino has no hope. The full size, well equipped MG EVs start at £30,000, not much more, and there will be better small EVs from China shortly, if we in Europe don't kill them with anti-dumping taxes.
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flecc

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Renault discontinueed manufacture of the Twizi in September 2023. Being in truth a moped with four wheels and not a car, it failed in the market.

It will be replaced by a similar car under a new brand name as the Mobilise Duo, but unlike the Twizy it will sensibly have the two seats side by side and the cargo version will be far more practical. Unfortunately though it will only be rentable of first and will be cursed with having no key, only operable though another idiotic App. (No Smart Phone signal and you're stranded, when will these bloody morons learn)

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matthewslack

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Does it suffer the issue a teacher at school had? Drove into his garage right to the front. No reverse gear (*), and no room to open forward opening door.

(*) I think it was classified as a motor cycle.
Allegedly, from an owner I used to know, that is why the last generation of front opening bubble cars all had sun roofs!
 
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sjpt

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Not for me ... worrying about low steps as it's getting difficult to manage a cross-bar. I can't image clambering out of a sunroof!
 
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matthewslack

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Not for me ... worrying about low steps as it's getting difficult to manage a cross-bar. I can't image clambering out of a sunroof!
Different health and safety environment back then! The idea made me laugh when I first heard it, and still does!
 

guerney

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"I found an old electric bike at my local bike graveyard"

Where are those exactly? And does everyone have one? Is there an interactive map showing locations of bike graveyards, ideally with photos and stock levels of free dead ebikes categorised by motor type, condition, size, colour, number of wheels etc?
 
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Ghost1951

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I suppose the top speed and range are ok, but the idea of paying £22,000 for that is ridiculous. That's over £2000 more than I paid for my new Skoda last February and it is really nice car with a 500 mile range. It costs about 10 pence a mile in petrol at today's prices.

That bubble car is bound to fail as a real proposition.

When I was a lad on my paper round in the mid 1960s there was a bloke who had one of those Messerschmitt bubble cars. I was green with envy every time I passed it on the roadside. At the time, I thought it was the ultimate cool thing. I had a Raleigh RM1 which I rode about with no driving license or any kind of paperwork at all. It did have a log book, but that was it.

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MikelBikel

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I suppose the top speed and range are ok, but the idea of paying £22,000 for that is ridiculous. That's over £2000 more than I paid for my new Skoda last February and it is really nice car with a 500 mile range. It costs about 10 pence a mile in petrol at today's prices.

That bubble car is bound to fail as a real proposition.

When I was a lad on my paper round in the mid 1960s there was a bloke who had one of those Messerschmitt bubble cars. I was green with envy every time I passed it on the roadside. At the time, I thought it was the ultimate cool thing. I had a Raleigh RM1 which I rode about with no driving license or any kind of paperwork at all. It did have a log book, but that was it.

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Love those Isetta/BMW's. Wish we had that former continental exemption for pedal motor bicycles, mopeds that is.
 

Ghost1951

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Love those Isetta/BMW's. Wish we had that former continental exemption for pedal motor bicycles, mopeds that is.
Not sure what you mean about the exemption.
 

jimriley

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Renault discontinueed manufacture of the Twizi in September 2023. Being in truth a moped with four wheels and not a car, it failed in the market.

It will be replaced by a similar car under a new brand name as the Mobilise Duo, but unlike the Twizy it will sensibly have the two seats side by side and the cargo version will be far more practical. Unfortunately though it will only be rentable of first and will be cursed with having no key, only operable though another idiotic App. (No Smart Phone signal and you're stranded, when will these bloody morons learn)

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Once followed a Twizy from Wrynose Bottom* up Wrynose Pass, don't know if he'd come up and over Hardknott.

*My fave road ever, first heard it mentioned as we passed a sign for it on a family day out, aged 8, you can imagine the hilarity, not seeing it written. Not long ago I was overjoyed when Google maps directed me that way to a job near Whitehaven, I was on my own, road was quiet, so went lickety spit, boiled the brakes dropping down from Hardknott pass. Another time took LWB transit over, 4 year old granddaughter in middle front seat, she was bouncing about in joy and amazement. Teach em young.
 
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Ghost1951

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Once followed a Twizy from Wrynose Bottom* up Wrynose Pass, don't know if he'd come up and over Hardknott.

*My fave road ever, first heard it mentioned as we passed a sign for it on a family day out, aged 8, you can imagine the hilarity, not seeing it written. Not long ago I was overjoyed when Google maps directed me that way to a job near Whitehaven, I was on my own, road was quiet, so went lickety spit, boiled the brakes dropping down from Hardknott pass. Another time took LWB transit over, 4 year old granddaughter in middle front seat, she was bouncing about in joy and amazement. Teach em young.
I remember riding my Dawes Galaxy up Wrynose about thirty years ago. I was heading from Egremont railway station to stop at Tebay for the night, and then on to Newcastle over Smardale, Teesdale, and Weardale the next day.

It was an excellent climb into the Lake District, except on the way down the eastern side, there was a heavy shower of rain that so stung my eyes, that I had to stop because I couldn't open them at all. They just clamped shut of their own accord. It was a bit late in the year and by the time I got toTebay for the night's stop over, I had been riding at least an hour in the total dark on little remote roads.

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That climb must have just about drained the battery on that Twizy!
How fast was it going?