We're all being pulled along by magnets. Wonderful!

[eBoy]

I love the feeling of gliding along silently on my little folding bike, knowing that I am, in effect, being pulled along by magnets, and I often wonder why e-bikes weren't around decades ago. I mean, we've had electric motors, lead-acid batteries and rheostats for more than a century, and 60-odd years ago we had the Cyclemaster powered wheel with a tiny two-stroke engine in its hub.

If only...I could have had 60 years of electrocycling under my belt by now!

I actually had a Sinclair C5 in the mid-1980s, but strangely never really took to it. I didn't like the riding position, yet it's so similar to a modern recumbent. I think it would have been nicer with two wheels at the front, and one at the back, like a little Morgan. Maybe things are just of their time!

Johnny

 

[flecc]

If only...I could have had been 60 years of electrocycling under my belt by now!

You could have had that 60 years of e-biking Johnny, even 93 years if you were old enough. Heinzmann's first bicycle hub motor kit was launched on sale in Germany in 1922 and at that point others were showing prototypes, including one from Dutch electrical giant Philips.

So they've been available for nearly a century, but the restrictions of heavy lead acid batteries held back their progress. That's why small petrol engines took their place as add-on bike motors from 1945 through into the 1980s.

It was in the mid 1980s that the electric ones finally returned with SLA and then NiCad batteries, but the real market had to wait until the end of the 1990s before taking off properly.

There were also earlier attempts, here's a Humber electric tandem from 1898, but you'll see what I mean about the batteries:

.

 

[eBoy]

Great picture, Flecc! Those tandem riders look fagged out just standing still. Had never heard of the ancient e-bikes you mentioned. I seem to remember that the law changed in the 1980s and that gave Sir Clive the impetus to bring out his C5. Prior to that, I suppose one would have needed a number-plate, insurance, etc for an electric vehicle. I also remember reading, years and years ago, about a chap getting into hot water for putting an electric motor on a pram to help his better half push it up a steep hill more easily, near their home.

Ah, well, must go now. I've got to take my e-bike accumulators along to the local radio shop for charging!

Johnny

 

[flecc]

I seem to remember that the law changed in the 1980s and that gave Sir Clive the impetus to bring out his C5. Prior to that, I suppose one would have needed a number-plate, insurance, etc for an electric vehicle.

Yes that's true. The petrol motored bicycles of the 1940s onwards had to have registration, number plates, road tax, insurance and the rider had to have a full motorcycle licence. That didn't stop their popularity though, in the trade we sold loads and they peaked at over a million powered bicycles on Britain's roads, as many as there are regularly used motorcycles now. Here's a BSA 49cc "Winged Wheel" added to a bike, complete with number plate and tax disc: