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Page added on October 24, 2013
Turn your bike electric just by changing the wheel.
FlyKly Smart Wheel “looks like any other rear wheel, except that it has a monster-sized hub stuffed full of electronics,” Gizmodo says. It’s like the Prius of bike wheels — it stores energy as you pedal and while you’re going downhill. And then it uses that energy to speed you along, if you want, at up to 20 mph for 30 miles. It also can track your routes, speeds, and times, and suggest better routes.
It goes onto your bike like any other wheel. And it comes in different colors, if that helps.
I was sold as soon as I watched this promotional video – which begins with a biker huffing up one of those steep bridge overpasses — because I am a wimp and, oh man, does biking up New York city bridges suck.
8 Comments on "Turn your bike electric just by changing the wheel."
BillT on Fri, 25th Oct 2013 2:56 am
Another high tech gadget that is nothing more than a profit center for the wealthy to get more before it dies like any other fad that is not a necessity and costs too much.
The Prius buyers might want one for the same reason they want a Prius, prestige. A ‘look, I’m conserving’ therefore, I am good type person. The same ones who, as females, buy Gucci and Prada to get attention. It is a neon sign that says “Steal ME!” And besides, a swift kick by some thug and it is toast.
Why cannot these dreamers come up with a real invention? Something that is not high tech but is a necessity and can be used for many years? Oh, that’s right, no profit in that.
As I said, no profit, not happening in this world. That is why all of the techie junk will soon disappear. Not enough consumers, no economy of scale, and then even fewer consumers as it gets priced out of the market.
Keith_McClary on Fri, 25th Oct 2013 6:15 am
Do they make a version of these magic wheels for my old gas guzzler?
mike on Fri, 25th Oct 2013 8:21 am
thanks for the vid, needed a giggle 😀
Arthur on Fri, 25th Oct 2013 1:53 pm
Technology lite beats the many ‘world made by hand’ – stone age – ‘Thoreau/Walden’ fans/romanticists around here.lol
“As I said, no profit, not happening in this world.”
To add insult to injury, it IS happening, here is what you can do to make cycling more relaxed in a more conventional way: add a battery under the carrier and a tiny motor to your cycle to add quit a lot of extra power:
http://www.meridawebshop.nl/e-bike/e-bike/e-spresso+city+8+eq/2013/
These bikes are sold in the Netherlands by the tens of thousands, in fact the most sold type of cycles today in aging Holland.
And Bill, Soviet and Chinese communism have proven that these kind of things never get invented in their system, just arms for the MIC. Thanks, but no thanks. Nothing wrong with a modest profit.
DC on Fri, 25th Oct 2013 5:29 pm
Interesting looking product. Not a big fan of the I-crap apps however to control it. Did it occur to that fellow that he knowingly installed a way for the NSA state to track people?
On there bikes….yes. Even the orwellian state we are building now needs to track the movement of cyclists.Putting tracking chips in the frames might not fly, but using your Icrap to tell the NSA what your travel plans are-priceless.
If he made a NON-ICRAP controlled version, I may keep on my watch list. Otherwise, Ill just keep using my legs. No need to voluntarily inform the NSA when Im heading out for a bike ride tyvm.
BTW,nice way to throw ‘communism’ into a article on electric bikes there Arthur. I am sure if you check under your bed, you wont find any communists hiding there. And there probably wont be any hanging out at the bike rack handing out subversive literature either.
Yeesh.
Arthur on Fri, 25th Oct 2013 7:17 pm
“BTW,nice way to throw ‘communism’ into a article on electric bikes there Arthur.”
That was a reaction to Bill’s rejection of this bicycle because ‘it would only serve some profit center’. Bill already once asked ‘what is wrong with communism?’. Well the answer is that this kind of stuff will never get invented in a communist system.
“I am sure if you check under your bed, you wont find any communists hiding there.”
Not really. Communist parties don’t exist anymore in Europe and in China in name only. But there are quite a few who would like to ‘do it right this time’.
DC on Sat, 26th Oct 2013 3:51 am
There is nothing inherently wrong with profit centers-so long as they serve a useful social purpose and pay there fair share of taxes,yes-even for bikes industry. I like quality bike products myself. I wont argue that sometimes people here…sometimes take positions that are a little extreme and not exactly warranted.
As for the whole commie trope…whatever. Useless arguments over who should own the means of production, or the holy sanctity of the ‘free-markets’ wont be long forgotten once the oil, agri-food and nuclear industries destroy the living world for everyone. It will equal-opportunity misery for whoever is left standing.
But..if you got a good bike and had the foresight to keep a good supply of spares…at least it will be easier to forage for roots and bark soup eh Arthur?
Arthur on Sat, 26th Oct 2013 9:50 am
“But..if you got a good bike and had the foresight to keep a good supply of spares…at least it will be easier to forage for roots and bark soup eh Arthur?”
Haha, I noticed a certain sensitivity/irritation with you before, when it comes to my occasional fulminations against Marxism/communism, rooted in an intensive study of the history of the 20th century over the past five years.
Why should I look under my bed for communists like a mini-McCarthy, if I can see the re-rise of that ugly dragon before my eyes in North-America? No, they won’t call it communism this time, but the effect will be the same: the rise of an overarching super-state, controlling and spying on every aspect of public and even private life and at the same time try to threaten and usurp the rest of the world into their ghastly system.
I find it extremely difficult to reconcile that both you and Bill are very much aware of the current negative trends in the US, yet at the same time display a certain soft-spot for communism. Not openly, but between the lines.