What's in a Name? Or, We Want Our Name Back!
- Thread starter flecc
- Start date
Aren't they already? Now I feel like an idiot. I'd better get changed.With a bit of product "stylising", you might even make helmet and cape wearing cool
Howstuffworks "How the Batsuit Works"
It's all explained here. You just need to apply a charge to the fabric and it takes on an aerodynamic shape, thus saving your battery power at high speeds....
It's all explained here. You just need to apply a charge to the fabric and it takes on an aerodynamic shape, thus saving your battery power at high speeds....
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I always thought Clive Sinclair hit the spot with his two wheeled battery powered creation.
The Zike.
Good name, shame about the product.
The Zike.
Good name, shame about the product.
Yes, it is a good name, though polluted by the product as you say.
Poor Clive's done it again with the A bike now, equally useless! Since his early success with the pocket calculator, I think his motto must be, "If at first you don't fail, try try and try again".
C5, Zike, A bike, not to mention his teenage career writing for Babani Publications, about which the less said the better!
Poor Clive's done it again with the A bike now, equally useless! Since his early success with the pocket calculator, I think his motto must be, "If at first you don't fail, try try and try again".
C5, Zike, A bike, not to mention his teenage career writing for Babani Publications, about which the less said the better!
yeah "cell bike" sounds interesting and non geeky
Now all we need to do is get rid of all the anorak stuff that comes with cellbikes.. mudguards, racks etc
Andrew
Ironic Giant Suede E (wearing out fast)
Now all we need to do is get rid of all the anorak stuff that comes with cellbikes.. mudguards, racks etc
Andrew
Ironic Giant Suede E (wearing out fast)
I think we've got a good selection of both the geeky and non geeky bikes on the market now.
Most of the market is for commuting and utility use though, so some or all of the geeky bits have to stay for those
Most of the market is for commuting and utility use though, so some or all of the geeky bits have to stay for those
Andrew Ironic Giant Suede E (wearing out fast)[/QUOTE said:Was the wearing out bit wishful thinking?
Probably my fault, my other thread mentioning cells.What's the connection between Cell(ular) and Bike?
Cybike, from Cyberbike I guess, good for the kids acceptance.
I think we've got a good selection of both the geeky and non geeky bikes on the market now.
Most of the market is for commuting and utility use though, so some or all of the geeky bits have to stay for those
Was the wearing out bit wishful thinking?
yes and no. The hefty steel twin stand eventually fell off my suede e this week... I`ll post a thread.The connection between Cells and Bike, is just as Flecc guessed. All our batteries contain cells which contain the energy to power the electric motor. And theoretically soon we are to expect (in fact I think there are already some in Canada) Hydrogen cell powered bikes, but again powering the electric motor. So 'energy-cell-powered-bike' to 'CellBike'.
I dont really like it though, just throwing it into the pot.
I still like Cyberbike
John
(Cykerpath - cool....a demon electric biker???)
I dont really like it though, just throwing it into the pot.
I still like Cyberbike
John
(Cykerpath - cool....a demon electric biker???)
ebike is always a good fallback. concise, established.
cyclotron could be borrowed from particle physics, but it sounds a bit 1930s.
Or you could go out on a typographical limb and use +cycle or -cycle, but that has negative connotations.
wirecycle, ampcycle
A bike used to be called a 'grid' round our way. As in "let's ave a goo on ya grid" - and that would be the last you saw of it. Grid has obvious links with electricity, but I can't see it catching on outside a small corner of the East Midlands. (ref)
Thing is though - electric guitar has stuck through the years, maybe electric bike will too, with certain brands earning names for themselves like Fender and Stratocaster did.
cyclotron could be borrowed from particle physics, but it sounds a bit 1930s.
Or you could go out on a typographical limb and use +cycle or -cycle, but that has negative connotations.
wirecycle, ampcycle
A bike used to be called a 'grid' round our way. As in "let's ave a goo on ya grid" - and that would be the last you saw of it.
Grid has obvious links with electricity, but I can't see it catching on outside a small corner of the East Midlands. (ref)Thing is though - electric guitar has stuck through the years, maybe electric bike will too, with certain brands earning names for themselves like Fender and Stratocaster did.
Hmm it would take a Tony Hawks / Jimi Hendrix of electric bikes though to put them squarely on the map. Not sure its the right medium.
I think it has to be done the same as Apple did it. OK, here is an admission, I understand computers and technology (as in computer based) really well, always have. I taught myself Z80 assembler when I was 15, COBOL when I was 17, and since have stuck with VBA (for shere simplicity and cheapness), ok computer nerd, guilty as charged.
However, FYI - In 1999 I bought my wife a 1 Gb mp3 player from Frontier Labs of Hong Kong. Thats 18 months to 2 years before Apple released their first iPod. All Apple did was identify a technology they could bring to market, and even though those in the mainstream technology world knew that we already had mp3 players that could more or less do anything, Apple marketed to the non-technology crowd (at first) and in that way gained a foothold on a market that they had no presense on at all until the first iPod (Do you remember the advert, the shadow of a kid dancing down the street to music and it was from a tiny device). For those with mp3 players, it was nothing. Both my wife and I have had mp3 players built into our cars since 2001, we didnt have to wait for the'iPod' port.
What I am trying to say is that we dont necessarily need a product that society wants or even needs (even if we think they do), it just needs good marketing. If we give it a cool name, have it talked about in really cool circles (e.g. the Gadget Show), and then make the product exclusive (well Cyberbikes already are), then your on a winner.
Marketing is the key.
IMHO - John
I think it has to be done the same as Apple did it. OK, here is an admission, I understand computers and technology (as in computer based) really well, always have. I taught myself Z80 assembler when I was 15, COBOL when I was 17, and since have stuck with VBA (for shere simplicity and cheapness), ok computer nerd, guilty as charged.
However, FYI - In 1999 I bought my wife a 1 Gb mp3 player from Frontier Labs of Hong Kong. Thats 18 months to 2 years before Apple released their first iPod. All Apple did was identify a technology they could bring to market, and even though those in the mainstream technology world knew that we already had mp3 players that could more or less do anything, Apple marketed to the non-technology crowd (at first) and in that way gained a foothold on a market that they had no presense on at all until the first iPod (Do you remember the advert, the shadow of a kid dancing down the street to music and it was from a tiny device). For those with mp3 players, it was nothing. Both my wife and I have had mp3 players built into our cars since 2001, we didnt have to wait for the'iPod' port.
What I am trying to say is that we dont necessarily need a product that society wants or even needs (even if we think they do), it just needs good marketing. If we give it a cool name, have it talked about in really cool circles (e.g. the Gadget Show), and then make the product exclusive (well Cyberbikes already are), then your on a winner.
Marketing is the key.
IMHO - John
Agreed John, and the potential improvement in marketing is what the thread was aimed at.
Tim,
Electric bike has worked ok, and as you say, a make that captures the public's imagination could have as good an effect for the whole market if it happens.
I also like Ebike and think it's easily a good enough name, but unfortunately it's been damaged in the same way as Moped by an association with something else, in this case, throttle control only bikes.
It's this confused mess in the way all two wheelers are known that really does none of them any favours in marketing:
Bike meaning Bicycle, or Motor Cycle aka Motorbike
Moped meaning motor assisted bike or restricted scooter or Autocycle.
Electric Bike meaning Ebike or Pedelec or Moped.
and the meaning of many of those words is different for differing generations.
Nothing wrong with multiple names for things if the understanding is the same, as when what was known by everyone as a wireless set became what everyone calls a radio.
Tim,
Electric bike has worked ok, and as you say, a make that captures the public's imagination could have as good an effect for the whole market if it happens.
I also like Ebike and think it's easily a good enough name, but unfortunately it's been damaged in the same way as Moped by an association with something else, in this case, throttle control only bikes.
It's this confused mess in the way all two wheelers are known that really does none of them any favours in marketing:
Bike meaning Bicycle, or Motor Cycle aka Motorbike
Moped meaning motor assisted bike or restricted scooter or Autocycle.
Electric Bike meaning Ebike or Pedelec or Moped.
and the meaning of many of those words is different for differing generations.
Nothing wrong with multiple names for things if the understanding is the same, as when what was known by everyone as a wireless set became what everyone calls a radio.
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