Yikes! It's the Yike Bike
Leccy penny-farthing, anyone?
What you need to know about cloud backup
A bunch of “entrepreneurs, engineers and dreamers” have turned their backs on headline-grabbing e-cars to come up with an electrically powered shrunken penny-farthing.
Yike Bike has supposedly been designed to “dramatically change” urban transport by providing city dwellers with a fast, safe and easy way to get around town.
Can't see the video? Download Flash Player from Adobe.com
Safety conscious consumers look away now, though, because instead of sitting firmly on a saddle with handlebars in-front of you, Yike Bike asks you to perch atop in 20in wheel and grab onto a pair of rear-mounted handlebars.
Yike Bike: the future of urban transport?
The travel gadget’s frame is constructed from carbon composite, weighs in at 9.8kg and folds away into a compact 43l unit once you reach your destination.
An integrated lithium-ion battery lets the rider travel at speeds of up to 14mph, but Yike Bike only has a maximum distance of six miles. Its battery can be fully recharged in 30 minutes, the designers said.
Yike's short range and high price could put some off
Online advance orders are currently being taken for the Yike Bike, which will cost up to €3900 (£3480). A UK launch is planned, but an arrival date hasn’t been announced. ®
COMMENTS
Yike
If you can do the electric parenting tool I want one!
As for using resources I hope you don't have a TV, stereo etc. as that would be pot calling the kettle stuff. At least the Yikebike serves a function that will get some people out of their cars.
Also not everyone wants to get sweaty on their way to work etc.
E-bikes
On the environmental front electric bikes are surprising better for the environment than normal bikes www.yikebike.com/site/blog/save-planet-–-dump-your-bike-and-use-yikebike
While it may be true that you don’t find running and biking boring lots do. I personally hate running, quite like biking but generally prefer other sports to say fit. I find it odd that people want to impose an arbitrary list of technologies that society should and shouldn’t use based on what they personally prefer. While it may be tempting to assume people are too stupid to work out how to stay fit and healthy most people can actually manage (where I live anyway....)
To my surprise I have found that I use my YikeBike more as a replacement for car trips than biking or walking. It is perfect for business meetings where you don’t want to get hot and sweaty on a bike or have the hassle of finding a park with a car. I do genuinely struggle to understand why anyone would have a problem with that.
and go for a walk
My main issue with this, and all other electric urban mobility solutions such as Segway, is that they use up environmentally unfriendly resources for batteries etc to perform a function that is catered for by walking/running and cycling, which are environmentally friendly and good for you. Your claim that this wont make you fat is valid of course, but misses the point as the user will then have to find an alternative form of exercise in the time saved by using this device. Other examples of modern labour saving devices on your link point to consumer devices such as washing machines, but this is removing a task of drudgery. Walking running and cycling are not boring tasks though, and provide healthy ways of exercise that everyone can and should do.If you find walking running and cycling drudge work, then you need to start inventing the electric football player, or the electric parenting robot to take the drudge out of those activities to.
IT infrastructure monitoring strategies
What you need to know about cloud backup
Enabling efficient data center monitoring
Agentless Backup is Not a Myth
Top 10 SIEM implementer’s checklist
